Who is Skip?

You have officially met Birdie, Liza and dear Sage, so now it is time to meet another one of our personal dogs, Skip! Otherwise known as Skippy, Skipper, Skip-Dawg.

This is Skip's Mr March picture. He was picked to be Mr March for the first New Rattitude Calendar 3 or 4 years ago. This was taken just a couple of days after Skip joined our family, little did we know at the time how much he loves to carry a ball in his mouth. This was the first time he picked up a ball at our home. Pic 07/09

Happy 4th Gotcha Day Skip!

Today, is Skip's gotcha day. We have had him for 4 years today and he is pretty close to 10 years old now.

Skip came into our life when a dear friend of mine was working with a woman who was in need of re-homing her dog. She had the dog on Craigslist and had even found a home for him once but after one day he was returned right back to her. This was an ongoing saga and one day my friend asked the woman in conversation what type of dog he was. The woman told her Skip was a Rat Terrier. My friend quickly contacted me wondering if I could do anything. This is all before I was a foster mom for New Rattitude. Not really understanding at the time the intricacies of a rescue group I contacted someone within NR and asked them if I went to get Skip could he be put into foster care to help him find a home. That wasn't an option at the time but I was directed to the re-home program through NR where I could hold on to the dog and work with the volunteers to help him find a good fit forever home so this was the road I had decided to take before I went to actually go pick him up.

When I got to the home to get him I took one look at him and had this quick thought, "We're keeping this guy". His mom quickly told me the story of Skip's first 6 years of life, fraught with bad interactions with her disabled daughters and some other personal dramas of her own. She mentioned off handedly that he had bit the husband of the people who had gotten him off Craigslist which was why he had come back to her the same day they had taken him. It didn't really sink in what we might be in for with this cute little guy who stole my heart the first time I laid eyes on him.

Skip two months after I brought him home. We had gone to a friend's goat farm to meet some farm animals and Skip posed perfectly for me. What a gorgeous boy! Pic taken 9/09

It took all of 15 minutes to retrieve Skip and be out the door. Interestingly enough he jumped right into my car and never looked back. He and I were fast friends and have stayed that way ever since. He is the first male dog either of us have ever had in our life! He was still intact and that was taken care of first and foremost. I guess Skip had been studded out a few times so there might be some little Skips around the area somewhere. He does wear a charm that says "ladies man" that our friends gave him. We think it is pretty funny.

The bottom line is that due to not being socialized properly Skip is what is termed a reactive dog in certain situations. (that isn't all he is but it is part of who he is) When we realized the reality of his temperament we felt we could not adopt him out. He needed to stay with us forever. Our journey of learning how to work with and manage a dog like Skip began. This was definitely new territory for us, we had never had a dog who was reactive like Skip. Trial and error played a big role in his rehabilitaion. And the folks at NR helped by giving us support and education to help us, which was beyond wonderful as he was not a NR dog!

We have always adored Skip even though we have had some hard times with him. None of it is his fault and he has been an excellent teacher. Skip is an intelligent, hilarious, loving, and all around great companion. It is hard to imagine our life without him and we hope he is with us for many more years to come.

Skip attends many dog park rattie meet ups and if any of you have been to one of these you will know him as the boy with the blue ball.

Skip doing a play pose with his favorite ball "blue".

Skip with Blue on a snowy day.

Skip with Birdie....and Blue

Skip on driftwood in Bandon, OR 10/10

Skip doesn't ever let Blue get too far out of his sight.

These last 2 pictures were taken recently at a rattie meet up by Darin Suthapong. She and her partner Aim adopted Boushey a year ago and they have a great blog all about their life with Boo http://boushey.wordpress.com/

Yup Skip is a bit older but he is still full of life and brings such joy to our home every day.

 Thank you Skip for coming into our lives, we love you more than words can say little buddy.