The Greater North American Velvet-Headed Wuppie Pog

by Wuppie Mom
(Collin County, TX)

He is called Wuppie Pog because a certain preschooler was unable for the longest to say Puppy Dog when she wanted to play with him. He's good with the ear pulling, tail pulling, riding, flopping on and all the abuse that a 3 year old can dish out. He's 80 pounds of snuggly, lovely, tail-wagging, slurping doggie happiness.

That wasn't always the case. Penny, the eldest, will be 15 next year. Waldo is the "middle" at about 6 and Nellie is 3 or 4. The other three are all beagles since my hunny bunny was involved with beagle rescue before I stole him away to Texas. He is, however, very attached to Penny. I have to take a moment to talk about the Biggles. Penny is the oldest of them and they all qualify as "special needs". Due to her previous living conditions, Penny's hips never developed properly. She never learned to jump, go up or down stairs, and now that's she's become a grand old dame, she's got some mobility issues.

I wasn't sure that Penny would last this long and was mentally bracing myself to have "that talk" with my hunny bunny about one last run to the vet for her. I wasn't looking forward to it because he is so very attached to Penny. So I had been keeping an eye out for an addition that might give my hunny bunny a new special puppy to love.

We were at Pet Smart and I guess the Fates intervened for all of us because we happened to go during a "Last Chance" adoption event. The Red River Humane Society was there and they had my guy there. I started asking questions about him, because in the midst of all the chaos - other dogs, children, parents - he was off to one side, laying down and just taking it all in. I went to pet him and he perked up a bit but wasn't overly excited. Calm is good considering Waldo has attachment issues and Nellie is...well, short for Nervous Nellie.

I started asking questions.

Me: How old is he?
Them: Oh, the vet says he's about 3.

Me: So he's fully grown?
Them: Oh yes...

Mind you, we got him in May. In November of that year, he cut 2 more teeth and had doubled his body weight.

Me: Where did you get him?
Them: He was an involuntary surrender.

With all the dogs going by, he obviously wasn't dog aggressive. His story is still a mystery. And the more I find out the stranger it gets. He's got a big scar on one leg from a knife. He has shot gun pellets lodged in a shoulder. He was terrified of cars and trucks. He didn't know how to jump. Up was a direction that just didn't exist for him. Neither did down. He didn't know what peanut butter was, or cheese, or yogurt. Now he has his own blog and line of doggie clothing. www.giantwuppie.wordpress.com