A special place in Hell...

So, my last post was about becoming the alpha dog to my puppy. If you read you'll probably realize that I don't really believe in hitting dogs. They don't understand it and it has no meaning in their world other than it hurts and makes the human seem like a bully. The dog learns, but there are better ways. So I pin my puppy on her back to show her who is boss. With patience she is learning. I've had this belief for a long time, but it was reinforced this weekend.

My parents rescued two Maltese mix dogs from the humane society a few months ago. A girl Molly who is 7 and a boy Dixon who is 4. Both of them cling to my mom like she is their world and both are hesitant to go to anyone else -- even my dad. Molly is cute, but Dixon is so freaking adorable I just want to hug him all the time. He looks like a cross between Gizmo (from the Grimlins) and an Ewok (from star wars). We suspect that they've been abused, but have no facts. When my folks got them they had been dropped off at the pound about three days earlier -- supposedly the product of a divorce. they were dirty and matted so they had clearly been neglected. It was so sad.

I have a puppy (see all earlier posts) and when she met Molly and Dixon she wanted to play with them. However, they do not want to play with her so she taunts them to try to get them to chase her. It's really cute and funny, but gets annoying. Especially because she does not know when to stop.

On New Years eve I saw the absolute saddest thing I have ever seen in my life. Sassy was tormenting Dixon and Molly again and my dad got frustrated and slapped a fly swatter down on a table really hard to startle her and yelled at her. he wasn't close to her and didn't try to hit anyone -- it was completely harmless, but when he did that, Dixon dropped to the ground, covered his head with his little paws, and started shaking like a leaf. I wanted to cry. My Dad immediately went over to him and he cowered even more.. dad picked him up and I swear I've never seen a dog shudder so hard... dad took him into the other room and just cuddled and petted him until he calmed down. It was sooo sad. It was very clear that he had been beaten before.. he reacted just like a human does when they are used to being hit.. covered his head and cowered... we were all almost in tears at the knowledge that he had been abused... poor little guy!

He did calm down and realized that dad wasn't going to hit him-- would never hit him...

Needless to say they've put away all fly swatters and little Dixon is currently, probably, the best fed dog in the state.. :)

There is a special Hell for people who abuse helpless animals.... I hope whomever did that to Dixon gets it back 10X...