Michelle Moquin's "A day in the life of…"

I have made a tiny bit of progress. ‘Pup progress’ that is. After three weeks of working at a new job, I discovered while putting the recycling out, that a sweet little dog lives in the back yard of the building behind the building where I work in. The caretakers (not exactly the words I would use in this situation) live in this building and own a salon on the ground floor street level, and are our landlords to the building I work in.  

The dog, a little blondie, reminds me so much of my mom’s past dog Zoe, only this dog, which I later found out is named Mia, has no life in her. She is only 4 but she looks so much older and the lack of happiness in her face and stride breaks my heart.  

When I first discovered her Monday, I was shocked. I had gone out in the back before but had never seen her. When she saw me, she cowered from me. I knelt down and tried with my sweetest voice to call her over, but she just started shaking and moved away from me. At that point I backed off and decided to do a bit of investigating. 

I spoke with a coworker and she informed me that she thought that they did not treat the dog very well. She has heard the young daughter of the landlord yell at her in a screeching voice to be quiet.  Hmm…’fruit doesn’t fall to far from the tree’, came to mind. This is not a natural behavior but a learned one. Well…to me it was obvious that Mia was not being treated the best, but I didn’t want to start judging before I found out more. 

The next day I ran into the landlord and I knew that I had to inquire very carefully as to not put him on the defense. My goal was to get more information not accuse. He informed me that they got her at a shelter two years ago and that she is now four. Her name, as I mentioned, is Mia. He said that she was skittish and that in the beginning she cried a lot and they needed to ‘shush her’ because of the businesses in the area that required a quiet atmosphere for their clientele. My first thought was, ‘There is a reason your dog is crying. Instead of ‘shushing her’, find out what it is that is bothering her.’ I of course already knew what was bothering her. She wanted love and attention. I know when a dog is happy. I can see it in Lucy’s face when she is happy and how  sad she is when I leave the house. Mia was not a happy dog, and it wasn’t just because her caretakers left to go to work. I could see from her face that she was not getting love and that she was wanting companionship badly….but of course I did not say this.  

What I did do was ask him if he didn’t mind if I brought her some treats and played with her.  He was okay with this and went on to say that his child plays with her and that Mia was lucky to have them.  Hmm…not the kind of statement that would come from a dog lover who loves his dog. I don’t say that Lucy is lucky to have me. No, I would say that I am very lucky to have her in my life.  

But, I let it go. My goal was to get the okay to hang with her and he granted me it. That’s all I cared about at that point. I made a commitment to myself that day, that if nothing else, I would be the joy in Mia’s life. 

For the next few days, I would visit Mia every day before and after work. I brought her liver treats and placed them a few feet in front of me and walked away. She went to them and nibbled them up.  I knelt down and cupped a few in my hand. Surprisingly she walked over, sniffed my hand and ate them. She was reluctant but did so anyways with great caution.  Then after she had a few she started to shake and cower away. Even when she ate the treats there was not even a glimpse of excitement in her face. Although there was available water for her, her mouth seemed dry and her sad eyes seemed permanently stained with dark tear marks. It made me sad but I didn’t want her to feel my sadness, so I just kept saying her name in a sweet voice and calling her a good girl. 

Wednesday, after I gave here a few treats, she once again started shaking and walked away toward the back entrance to the house. I guess that was a good sign as maybe she was scared and found comfort inside the house. I looked around for a bed. Was there one out here in the yard? I backed off to give her space and then she turned and walked toward this wooden shack where she disappeared inside of it. Oh…her bed must be back there. I turned the corner slowly, holding my energy in so that I did not alarm her, and I found her in her crate sitting on a few blankets. Dirty as there were, at least she had something to keep her warm. I put a few more treats in front of her, said goodbye and left. 

I walked down the walkway and through the window, I saw the landlord watching TV. I waved at him and thanked him thinking, ‘Here you are inside watching TV and how wonderful it would be if you had Mia next to you, loving her, petting her, and giving her the attention that she is craving.’ Again, I said to myself,’ I will be the light in her life that she looks forward to seeing.’

On Thursday, I brought her a bone stuffed with treats. I was excited to give it to her but she just looked at it and walked around the corner to her bed. I followed her and put the bone down in front of her, said a few sweet words to her and left. I needed to get to work.  I cried for a few minutes that day.  I so wanted to hug her and give her love but I knew that I needed to be patient.

During a break, I went outside and I saw her peeking over the child’s gate that held her in. Her nose was black with dirt and it made me smile a bit. I wondered if she had buried the bone I gave her. She still had that lonely look on her face and I thought how sad it was that she was behind there when just down the walkway was Peet’s coffee where so many dogs hung out being loved by caretakers and passersby. 

Then yesterday, I noticed that when I went into the back yard, she was tied up. I was not surprised because the building was getting painted and there were painters working back there earlier. At least the landlord cared enough to tie her up so that she couldn’t get out. I was grateful for that. I walked toward her where she was laying in the sun, her leash stretched to the limit. She lifted her head, but she did not get up, which was a good sign. 

I sat next to Mia and fed her some more treats. She slowly ate them and when she was done, I slowly cupped my hand under her small head petting her and holding it, sending her love. She allowed me to continue loving her as I spoke to her in a soft sweet voice.  Still her eyes showed no signs of life. I went to reach for her belly to give it a rub, but she pulled her legs in tight. Okay..okay, I won’t go there. I went back to pet her face and slowly her legs relaxed back into a natural position. For ten more minutes I caressed her face and while we both sat silently staring at each other, I visualized love coming from my heart and showering her with it. When I got up to leave, she lifted her head and stared at me as I walked away. She was still expressionless. 

I look forward to the day when I walk back to her and see a change in her face…even the slightest bit of joy or recognition will make my day. 

On another note, before work yesterday,  I spoke with the same coworker and she said that I inspired her to do a little investigative work herself. She loves dogs and would love to have one of her own, but she rents and no pets are allowed. However, she lives next to a man who has a dog. Unfortunately she hears him constantly yelling every expletive at his dog. She has never seen the dog but knows that he lives in the backyard most of the time, as she has never seen her neighbor take him for a walk.  She decided that she will join me in my little crusade, by talking to him and seeing if she can play with the dog and take him for walks. I was so delighted and grateful to hear this. 

Readers:  Will you join me and make the time to be a loving companion to someone who needs a friend? 

Have a great weekend! 

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: Your Bad Ass Bitch Editor

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