Toe Licking

Steve loves toes.  This kind of grosses a lot of people out!  Especially my dad.   I find it endearing.  It’s one of the things that make Steve who he is. He would lick toes all day of he could.  He especially loves my mom's toes.  Really the whole foot.  He will lick the top of the foot, the bottom and then between the toes.  He takes this work very seriously, but sometimes Steve's foot fetish gets us into interesting situations.

Well the story starts like any other Saturday on a beautiful summer day.  Steve and I were on our way to the dog park (our favourite place to be).  Well, disaster struck.  I got a flat tire.  The park needed to be put on hold while I went to Canadian Tire to get a new tire.

Driving up to the garage, I noticed that there were quite a few people waiting for their cars to be taken care of.  Steve and I were nicely put in the waiting room.  I sat down next to a very nice older woman, grabbed a magazine and settled in for a wait.  The next thing I knew I heard some familiar slurping sounds.  I was pleased that Steve was relaxed.   Then I heard a moan.  It wasn’t coming from Steve, but it was coming from the nice little old lady sitting next to me.  I looked down and there was Steve, in all his glory, tongue between toes making this lady moan. 

As you can imagine, I was mortified!  I profusely apologized and explained about his love of feet.  The woman look at me sweetly and said, "That's ok dear, I have a dog, too".

Our Civic Duty!

Steve and I voted tonight.  I know you might think that this seems strange...a dog voting, but we did.  I was a little worried about marching into the school with my dog where I had to vote, but I did it anyway.

I will just have you all know that the electoral system works!  They like dogs!!  There was already a chihuahua there and as we were leaving, a bichon frise came in!  The volunteers were so happy to see them.  They laughed at Steve's inability to to walk on hardwood slippery floors (imagine four legs going in all different directions) and were very impressed when he sat politely while I voted.  We had a little difference of opinion over who to vote for, but I, as the one with opposable thumbs, got my way.  I will say, though, Steve made it very clear how he felt about the whole election.  He had three poops on the way there and one on the way back.  He was rather unimpressed.

Steve - A Craigslist dog

Steve is a Craigslist dog.  I call him a pre-rescue rescue.  He came into my life with no planning, no research and no idea how to train a dog.  This is not the way you are suppose to adopt a new forever friend, but sometimes the universe works  in mysterious ways.  Here is our story and how Steve became "In the City".

I was moving and needed furniture.  I decided to start my search on Craigslist.  What I needed first was an armoire so I set myself to task.   I looked through ad after ad, not really finding what I wanted.  I moved from the "Furniture" section to the general "For Sale" section and something caught my eye, ”Half Lab/Half Golden looking for a new home”.  It wasn’t an armoire, but there was something about this ad.  I knew.  I knew that this dog was mine.  There was no picture.  There was no story.  There was only the name and phone number of the woman that was looking to re-home her dog.  I called right away.  I don’t know why but I knew it was right. 

The woman and I chatted for a while and I asked her what she was looking for in a new dog owner.  I had never had a dog.   She said “Just love him and give him lots of neck scratches.”  I replied; “I’m your girl!”

I went to meet them that afternoon and got their story.  The dog’s name was Canada.  He was born and had grown up for the last 3 years in the suburbs of Atlanta.  Hot, muggy, no snow Atlanta!  His mom was originally from Toronto, but had fallen in love with an American man and moved to Georgia to get married and start a family.  They got Canada from her friend whose dog had had unexpected puppies.  She raised him and trained him and loved him for almost three years before the day I met them.  She was a good dog mom, but her life had been turned upside down.  She had a new baby, and her marriage had fallen apart.  She flew herself, her baby and dog north to be with her family in Toronto.  Well, her mother lived in a small apartment, her mom was allergic to the dog and her mom’s cat hated him.  She had a new baby, had lost her husband and something had to give.  Canada needed a stable home so she planned on surrendering him to the Toronto Humane Society, but her friend suggested putting an ad on Craigslist.  That’s where I came in.

When I first got to the apartment to meet them, Canada was out for a walk.  When he came back he ran into the living room and immediately put his head on my lap.  The rest happened very quickly.  Before I knew it, we were loading up his food and crate in the back of my truck and I was being handed his vet records.  Canada jumped into the truck and snuggled next to me.  There was no looking back, no pining for his family.  I had him off leash that same afternoon.  He immediately bonded to me.  I call him Velcro dog!  I haven’t peed by myself since 2007!!

Although I think the name Canada is great (if you live in The States and you are Canadian and a little strange - ok, I think the name sucked!), I decided to change it to signify the start of his new life.  I knew his name should be Steve (I mean, he looks like a Steve!), but to respect the past his full name is Steven Canada.  I made a promise to myself that this dog who had got a baby, lost a dad, had an airplane ride and had to deal with snow for the first time, was going to live a happy life.  He had gone from a suburban American to an urban Torontonian - Steve in the City.

Steve and I have been together for over four years now.  Making that call was the best decision I’ve ever made.  This dog was put on the planet to be mine.  I have no doubt about that.  It took us a while to find each other, but once we did, we both thrived.  As I write this, he is snuggled at my feet.  I can’t imagine a weekend without a trip to the dog park or a morning where I didn’t have to wake him up to go out for a pee before I leave for work. 

I never did get that armoire, but I got something I needed much more.  I got unconditional love for life.

So this blog will be our story.  Stories of his idiosyncrasies (of which he has a lot) our adventures and what it is like to be living in the big city as an orange dog.