A few days after Jordan passed, I adopted a new dog. I needed new energy in the house, and a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Pinto and Aurora are both getting older, and neither of them is particularly imposing as a home defense deterrent (other than the barking).
I’d had my eye on him for a month or two. If you know me you know I love dog shopping, so I’d been watching the Southern California shelters for young cattle dogs and cattle dog mixes to see how quickly they were getting adopted. I shared some of them with Jordan, he wanted to know what I would do next and getting a dog made sense to him. We’d been talking about getting a dog when Bruiser went to college, but at the time we didn’t think Jordan would be dying a month later. We had a (ridiculous) name picked out that we assumed no dog would ever actually bear.
There were cute puppies that came and went, pure bred adults in far off LA shelters that spent a day or two available at the shelter before getting adopted. There were a few promising pups with rescue groups, but I didn’t know if I wanted to pay that much when there were so many dogs languishing in shelters. Two dogs caught my eye and over the months I was window shopping, and they were still there as Jordan edged closer to the end.
One was a dutch shepherd mix up in Long Beach. He was big and gorgeous, and he’d been at the shelter for close to a year. A quick call to the shelter told me why (and why he wouldn’t work for me): he wasn’t dog friendly.
The second dog was a two year old cattle dog mix at the Chula Vista shelter. Mostly white with an adorable brown spot on one eye. Their social media had a video of him rolling around with toys in a play yard and chasing the hose spray. His shelter name was Luke Skywalker and he’d been picked up as a stray 5-6 months earlier. I called and asked about him, he was nervous when he got to the shelter, but generally friendly and easygoing.
I told Jordan in the days before his death that I was planning to go meet this Luke Skywalker and see how it went with Pinto and Aurora (assuming he wasn’t adopted before then). If it was a match, he’d come home and be the fresh burst of love we (I) needed in the house after losing two family members in as many months.
My friend Melli joined me at the shelter on July 6th – two days after Jordan’s death. Luke was a bit of a beast with the other two dogs at first, needing firm corrections from both of them to reinforce that they didn’t want to be body slammed repeatedly in the name of playtime. But he was also a big doofus. He couldn’t wait to flop on the ground for belly rubs. He tossed soft toys around and romped solo. He distributed big sloppy kisses with wild abandon. He had a clear desire to please and be a good boy.
I made plans to come back and adopt him the next day. I needed to get a crate that was his size and prepare to decompress a smart and active dog that had been stuck in the shelter for nearly SIX MONTHS, but this boy felt right. And – against all odds – he had the perfect personality to fit that ridiculous name Jordan and I had been using as a placeholder for so many months. Krudler.
In the five months I’ve had Krudler (Kruddy, Krud-Bud, Krud-Krud, Krud-muffin) he’s been a deeply worthwhile challenge. He was terrified of everything for the first few weeks, and we still have some trouble on-leash that we’re working through. He’s infatuated with Pinto – follows him around and delights in his attention on the rare occasions Pinto lets him play chase. We took our time with the decompression, he spent a few weeks mostly in the crate observing our house and getting used to the quiet and steady pace of living in a home again. We do solo training walks every day, walking over to the park around the block to practice obedience with the distractions of children playing, people walking, dogs barking.
He plays outside by himself sometimes – throwing toys around and chasing birds with innocent exuberance. He’s a power cuddler, diving into it and throwing his whole body into me to shower me with kisses. He’s the sweetest cattle dog I’ve ever met – he can’t wait to cuddle up with visitors and show them how much he loves to have his belly rubbed and how much he wants to lick their faces.
We did two rounds of PetSmart training (complimentary with his $25 adoption fee). He has a championship sit and a very good down. He’s smart and food motivated (unless he’s too nervous to focus). We’re going to keep at classes in the new year, work harder on leash work and find some extra support in handling the remnants of his insecure nature.
He loves Fiesta Island. Like Bruiser he spends his first few moments at the beach chest-deep in the waves, sniffing the wind. He trails after Pinto sometimes, enjoying the confidence of his tiny pack-mate.
He lies next to me on the floor of my office while I work, chewing on toys and sitting next to me periodically for a few head scratches.
He sleeps on Jordan’s side of the bed sometimes, curled up under the pillow or stretched out big with his face as close to mine as he can be without disturbing me. He comes to console me when I cry, and I throw my arms around his big dumb body and he licks away my tears with gentle patience.
He’s been a good fit.
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