Alayne and I were headed out this afternoon to start barn chores when we walked into this scene in our living room. Mr. Pig, one of the squeaky toys we handed out on Christmas night, lay dead on the floor, its innards ripped out and scattered far and wide. We had given Mr. Pig to Bailey, the miniature Dachshund, although to be fair, we never saw him ever try to shred it.
We’re not sure who did it, but we do know one thing — the guilty party is NOT old Dillon, who you see in the photo. Dillon doesn’t play with toys, let alone chew them up. He’s too dignified for that.
Dillon is one of our original ‘Seattle six-pack’ of dogs who moved with us to Montana in 2000. He was dog No. 3 actually. Dillon had been in a no-kill shelter in Washington state for four years, living in an outdoor kennel. He was considered unadoptable because he was truly terrified of people — he’d been abused as a puppy and never got over it. We had already adopted another dog, Dolly, from the same shelter a year earlier … she was also an ‘unadoptable’ because of a history of severe abuse. Dolly was still traumatized when we brought her home. But Dolly had blossomed with us, and when we saw that Dillon was still at the shelter a year later, we went back to get him.
(At the time, Alayne thought two dogs was plenty, thank you very much. I had to work on her to let me get Dolly, for heaven’s sake. Three dogs were — ohmigosh — a LOT of dogs! And now….)
Dillon needed more time than Dolly to come around — it took two years before we could let him off-leash and he wouldn’t run from us — but come around he finally did. Even now — at age 15 — he is timid around people he doesn’t know, but no longer a nervous wreck.
It’s not just people who give Dillon the willies. It’s also cameras. So I was lucky to get this shot before he high-tailed it out of the living room!
(Click on photo for larger image.)
Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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