One day, I decided to go to a shelter, just to go look around. I wasn’t necessarily planning on adopting that day, but I wanted to see the dogs. That is when I saw Churro.
He looked like the saddest dog there. His eyes were just so heavy, and he seemed completely defeated by his surroundings. I noticed that he had no applications on him.
No one had shown any interest in him at all. So, I was like, “Oh, I’m just going to take him home.” It was a very spontaneous decision, but something about him just pulled at my heart.
When I brought him home, I said, “Hey.” He just looked at me, and I could see a change happening right away. He was just in love with being free from the shelter.
You could tell immediately. The moment we walked through the front door, he just made himself at home. He found his spot on the couch, he explored every corner of the house, and he had this constant smile on his face.
It was like he couldn’t believe he was actually in a real home.
Even when he is sleeping, he looks content. He will be completely passed out, and I will come in and say, “I’m home.”
You cannot wake him up. He is in such a deep, peaceful sleep that nothing disturbs him. I will call his name, I will make noise, and he just stays there, curled up and dreaming.
Sometimes I ask him, “Want to go on a walk?” and he barely stirs. It is the most relaxed I have ever seen any dog.
When I first brought him home, I would notice some weird things about him. He didn’t respond to sounds the way I expected. I would call his name, and he wouldn’t look up.
I would drop something loud in the kitchen, and he wouldn’t flinch. I started to wonder if something was wrong. So, I took him to the vet, and they ran some tests.
They were like, “He’s most likely deaf.” That explained so much. It explained why he was so calm in the shelter, why he didn’t react to the noise of other dogs barking, and why he slept so deeply.
I think someone dumped him, because he knows some things. He knows what a walk is. The moment I pick up the leash, he gets excited.
He knows what food is. He knows how to sit and give a paw. He is very socialized.
He is friendly with people, he is friendly with other dogs, and he knows how to behave in a house. Someone clearly spent time with him at some point. But then, for whatever reason, they let him go.
That is the only explanation that makes sense to me.
He has really, really bad separation anxiety. He is like an umbilical cord dog.
Everywhere I go, I turn, and he is there. If I go to the kitchen, he follows. If I go to the bathroom, he waits outside the door.
If I sit down on the couch, he is right next to me, leaning against my leg. He cannot stand to be apart from me. It is as if he is terrified that if he loses sight of me, he will end up back in that shelter again.
It took a long time for him to feel safe enough to even let me leave the room without him getting upset.
Look, this is him right now. He is just lying there, watching me, with that big, goofy smile on his face.
When he started playing outside by himself, it made me so happy. That was a huge moment for us. He was running around the yard, chasing a leaf, and he didn’t look back to check if I was still there.
That was like a step closer to him just being more comfortable and knowing that I am not going to leave him. He is finally starting to understand that this is his forever home.
It was a lot of patience.
There were days when he would cry if I walked out of sight. There were nights when he would wake up anxious and need to be comforted. I had to teach him that I would always come back.
I would say, “Come,” and he would follow, and slowly, he started to trust the routine. But I think about it as if I would get a puppy. I would have to work with the puppy, and I would have struggles with a puppy.
Puppies chew things, they have accidents, they need constant training. So, if I get a shelter dog, I am going to be doing the same amount of work with a shelter dog. It is just a different kind of work.
And it paid off.
Good. See, he is doing so good now.
He is calm, he is happy, and he trusts me completely. Everyone talks about his smile. When people meet him, the first thing they say is, “Look at that smile.”
I have never experienced a dog smile as much as he smiles. His whole face lights up. His mouth opens wide, his tongue hangs out, and his eyes get all squinty.
He is just grateful to be there. You can see it in everything he does. He is grateful for the food, grateful for the walks, and grateful for the love.
People assume he is a pitbull, so I mean, some people do judge me. They see him and they cross the street. They make comments about his breed.
They assume he is dangerous or aggressive. But I do not care, because I know he is a sweet boy, and I know he would not do anything to hurt anyone. He is the most gentle dog I have ever met.
So, if they want to judge him, they have no idea what they are missing out on, because he is the biggest teddy bear, and they do not even know it. He just wants to cuddle and be loved. He wants to rest his head on your lap and fall asleep.
He wants to follow you around the house and be part of your life. And every single day, he wakes up with that smile, reminding me that I made the best decision of my life when I walked into that shelter and chose the saddest dog in the room.
