Romeo, Romeo

Rescue life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get.

Today I took a road trip to Farmville and came home with a Bernese Mountain Dog. The dog was in a bad situation and needed to get out. He's very scared, very poorly socialized with both people and dogs, and yet I think this one is not a lost cause. At the very least he deserves a chance and he deserves more than he's been given thus far in his young life.

His name is Romeo. He's about 16 months old. He's a very scared boy. We had to trick him into jumping into the crate in the van, but once in he rode home nicely. He took treats from me and a McDonald's hamburger on the way home. He's a talker, using his growly voice to tell people to give him space. When we got home he refused to come out of the crate so Clay and I carried the crate with him in it out to Daneland. Once there we just opened the door and he came out on his own.

Once he was out, he immediately began exploring the space and seemed pretty happy with it. It wasn't long before his tail came up. He's still dragging around the slip lead I had the former owner drop over his head because he isn't crazy about me touching him. But, . . . I sat down in a chair where we used to sit to hold the puppies last summer; Romeo came over on his own accord and laid down beside me. He knows that he has to trust at least one human and I think he's prepared to let me be that one. He will need to learn to trust others as well if he is to be successful living among us all.

He's a Promises Animal Rescue pup, but he won't be available for adoption for a while.