Thanks to mutt dad John for sharing their Muttville love story. Trinket, now Sparky, has blossomed, thanks to their patience and nurturing. Be prepared! This is definitely an “Aww” story:
On a beautiful Sunday in early May, we were headed to Fitness SF for a workout and discovered that Muttville was conducting a senior dog adoption in front of the gym. David walked over and a little dog named Trinket ambled over and leaned against his leg. There was an immediate connection and before long, David made it clear that we needed to foster Trinket.
Trinket had a broken and disfigured jaw, one back leg that he couldn’t fully use, and he was yet to be neutered. His eyes seemed dim and his spirit somewhat broken. The plan was to foster him until he could have all of the procedures he needed and be ready for adoption.
That first night, we put him in a crate, but he was having nothing of that and he ended up sleeping on the pillow next to John’s head. On Thursday, May 22, we tearfully returned the little guy to Muttville, overwhelmed by the responsibility.
John kept a selfie of himself with Trinket sitting on the couch as the wallpaper on his iPhone and couldn’t stop talking about Trinket. John shared the picture from his iPhone with David…It was soon meant to be.
A Muttville adoption event was coming up on Saturday, May 31, and the decision was made to attend. We found Trinket amongst all of the amazing dogs that were there and it seemed he remembered us. We told Bunny at Muttville that we would continue to foster him and she responded that we would need to leave him for the weekend and pick him up on Monday if he wasn’t adopted. That was it – we had to adopt him on the spot. We could not live without him.
It has taken time, patience, and love, but the payoff has been amazing. When we officially adopted him he still needed dental work (he now has no teeth), he needed to be neutered, and it wasn’t clear what would happen to his leg. (All of that seems like distant history and he uses that back leg as best he can.) He also needed to develop the trust that he had a home with two people (and two sometimes reluctant Chihuahuas) committed to making the rest of his life as happy as possible. We had to adjust and establish a new routine and had to earn his trust.
In the process, we discovered this amazing little dog, now named Sparky (aka Boney James), who had persevered whatever his life had been and still showed love and enthusiasm for life. We recently took a road trip to visit David’s father on his farm in Idaho. Sparky was an amazing traveler, along with his new sisters Pepsi and CocoNut, and he became a new dog even more full of life. Those eyes that were dim and nearly closed when we met him are now wide and bright – amazingly bright for his 10+ years of age. (Just check out the pictures.) Sparky has a home. From early May to late July (3 short months) he has become fully integrated into our lives, just as we are all fully integrated into his life.
8/13/14
Are you the proud parent of a Muttville dog? Send us your story! Include three of your favorite photos and send it to success_stories@muttville.org with the subject line 'Success Story'.
