On Dunkin
warning: this is just about my dog & how much I love him
I said we could not get another dog until we had more space. There was no way. We lived in a small one bedroom apartment with just enough room for myself, my wife, and our perfect, elderly chihuahua, Yaya.
Also Yaya is already the perfect dog, so what more could we possibly be looking for? We’d wait until we found a bigger place to live and that would be fine.
Except I have this tiny, terrible habit of checking our local shelter’s website just to see who is there, you know, just to see what’s what, just keeping an eye…..
Well to exactly no one’s surprise I saw a little dog on there and I told Rebecca, we’ve got to go meet him.
That’s the short version of how we met this nervous, funny, needy little boy.
His original name at the shelter was Quick Silver, given to him by the animal control officer who managed to pick him up as a stray after chasing him all across town. He was what the shelter called a “chicken little” dog - a shorthand for dogs who think the sky is falling and act accordingly.
We named him Dunkin because he is the color of coffee at Dunkin Donuts when you order it with cream and sugar. Ask anyone from New England, they’ll confirm this.
The thing we cared about above all else was that he get along with his big sister Yaya. When they first met in the shelter Yaya gave him one little bark and he quickly retreated. The man at the shelter said, “Aww he doesn’t want her to see his tiny balls.” Absolutely no anthropomorphizing going on here. Nope. None at all.
Yaya and Dunkin are perfect companions now even as they go through life at two very different paces. Yaya is the queen of setting boundaries and Dunkin respects them. They share common enemy intimacy over their hatred of the neighborhood cat. One might, might say they are friends. Sometimes they even roll up into the exact same shape of bean and take a little nap, one beside the other.
Soon after we adopted Dunkin, we moved into our dream little home with just enough room for two lesbians and two perfect, weirdo dogs.
Dunkin is not an easy dog. He is not good with children or other dogs (except Yaya) or strangers or chipmunks that look at him the wrong way. He can jump insanely high and can be a little mouthy. He is scared of almost everything. For the first few months we had him he would wake up from a deep sleep, mid-bark ready to pounce on whatever predators had invaded the bedroom while he slept.
And yet, Dunkin is impossibly easy to love. He has the softest fur you’ve ever felt. Once he learned to trust us, he would rest his heavy little head on our knees and let us pet his silky ears. He’s got a wicked sense of humor and he’s never met a toy he didn’t love. He loves to play and I mean capital P, full on, run, jump, wiggle, dance, PLAY.
When he first meets you, he’ll bark and jump (we’re working on it), but if you give him time, he’ll love you like it’s his job. It is, in fact, his full time job.
Everything is delight unless it’s terror. Sometimes, lots of times, it’s both.
That is life with Dunkin.
And also just life.
He works my last nerve. I can’t imagine our life or our family without him.
Taking care of Dunkin and Yaya has taught me I am capable of loving and caring for a being outside of myself. I am responsible for them and I know lots of people have dogs, but man it feels like a weighty, holy, and singular thing.
Lest you think he has just been sitting around seeding chaos and eating bon bons, in the seven months since he barreled into our lives Dunkin has graduated from not one but two doggie skills classes. Doggie Decorum and Remedial Social Skills I for those keeping score at home.
He has been brave. We have been brave. He has grown. We have grown.
At the end of the last class they play Pomp and Circumstance and give every dog a certificate and a big ass biscuit. I truly cannot recommend it enough. I almost think you should get a misbehaving dog just so you can experience this for yourself.
Dunkin is not a catalog dog. He’s no goldendoodle. He’s not ready for primetime, but he is ours, and we wouldn’t change a single thing.
If you’ve read this far, you are very patient and kind, and maybe you have a little animal you love an impossible, nonsensical amount. I’m right there with you.
In the interest of learning everything we can about our mysterious, chaos goblin dog, we sent away for one of those doggie DNA tests.
What a world.
Before I share the results, please know that the fine people at EmBARK Dog DNA Tests wanted us to swab Dunkin’s mouth for THIRTY FULL SECONDS.
Reader, this mutt said not on your sweet life.
So we swabbed for maybe ten seconds. Listen, I’m not a scientist, but can’t they make little swabs that taste like bacon??
Now I want to share with you, dear and patient reader, the irrefutable results of this careful, painstakingly drawn DNA test. Dunkin is 100% chaos goblin and also…
Picture a pit bull in the body of a chihuahua. Then, whatever you are imagining make it sweeter and weirder and softer and more huggable. That’s our dude.
Today is not his birthday or anything special. It’s just another day I get the privilege of taking care of this being who is scientifically proven to be one of a kind.
Now I ask you…. who rescued who????
Tell your dog I said hi.
Love,
Rosamond (& Dunkin)
I read this while curled up to my own gremlin and it made my heart three times larger. ❤️
I saved this as my reward post-workout, and it did not disappoint!! Dogs are just the best, and the weirdo, anxious, difficult dogs, I find, are often the ones that end up loving you most. We stan Dunkin!!