The Yorkie Who Adopted Me
By: Marcia Middleton-James
Tags: Pet Adoption, Pets And People, Pets

Chase and his human

When you live alone and realize you are talking to yourself way too much, you may decide you need a pet. At least, that’s what I decided. After pooling through various descriptions of small dog breeds, I came across one that I thought suited my personality, a Yorkshire Terrier (Yorkie). With a temperament of being bold, intelligent, independent, confident and courageous; I felt I was up for the challenge. After all, I’ve raised two daughters. Silly me.

When I arrived at the breeder’s home, she asked me to sit on the floor. Then, she set five Yorkie puppies beside me. Four of the puppies ran around, but basically ignored me. However, one puppy walked up, sniffed me and jumped right into my lap. He remained there and growled at the other puppies when they came near. When I tried to set this puppy on the floor to pick up another one, he hopped right back into my lap. The breeder said, “that puppy has adopted you”. I couldn’t argue with that, so I did the only logical thing…I took him home.

Now, I would like to say that I trained this puppy, but I’d be lying. This puppy, whom I named, “Chase”, trained me to be his human.

Lesson 1 — Human Potty Training: Chase was a pro at going on the potty pad. However, he had to train his human (me) that only one pee or poop is allowed per pad. Unfortunately, it took me a while to catch on. I just couldn’t understand why he would pee on the pad and then go poop someplace else or vice versa. It took me almost 3 months to figure out that out. Let me just say, that there is nothing worse than your pet looking at you like you are stupid and you are feeling compelled to say, “Sorry Chase, I’ll do better next time”.

Lesson 2 — How to Serve Dog Food: Most dogs only require their human to put the food in the bowl and they will immediately start eating, but not Chase. I would put food in his dog bowl and walk away, but instead of eating it, Chase would just stand over it and bark. Apparently, to him, presentation is everything. He would not begin to eat his food, unless I piled his kibble into a mound and tell him, “Eat, eat, Chase”. Eight years later, and Chase still insists on me following this routine.

Lesson 3 — Practical Jokes: I’ve only had Chase a few months, when I discovered what a practical joker he is. When my sister came to visit, she sat her suitcase on the floor unzipped in the living room of my one bedroom apartment. The next morning, we woke up to find her underwear laying in front of the my bedroom door in a perfectly straight line. Chase only weighed about 3 pounds soaking wet at that time and my sister’s underwear could have easily smothered the little guy. Yet, he managed to drag her underwear to my bedroom door. Chase’s practical joke, taught his human that pets can do some extraordinary things, despite their small size.

Chase is now 8 years old and he continues to train me on how to best care for him. We have had many adventures together where we’ve learned to take care of each other. No doubt, well have many more as we embark on this journey called, “Life”. Thank you, for adopting me, Chase. You have enriched my life and it would not be the same without you.