Pacha, a fruit loving dog.

Greetings! My name is Pacha. It's a nice name isn't it? My new owners called me that. Before that I didn't have a name.

Mine is a happy ending story. It wasn't great to start with as I will explain, but it has just got better and better.

I am a black dog, medium size, short-coated with ears that flop over and a tail shaped like a crescent moon. I was part of a large litter of puppies. We played together and did all the things that puppies do. Then the time came for us to start our own lives.

A man came to our house looking for a dog. He wanted a guard dog, he said, and chose me. Me, a guard dog! I ask you! Just look at me! Anything less like a guard dog would be hard to imagine. I just don't have that kind of personality. But, he insisted and took me to his place. This turned out to be a large builder's yard.

He attached me to a long chain, left me food and water, a rickety old kennel, and told me to guard the place. I was proud of the trust he had in me and was determined to do my best. The problem was that we didn't have the same notions of what a guard dog was supposed to do. I ran the full length of my chain, barked a lot and did what I thought a good guard dog should do. He just wasn't satisfied. It may have had something to do with me being over-friendly with everyone who came in. It was then that he got nasty. He had a bad temper and I got badly hurt. He unclipped me from the chain, loaded me into his van and took me to the animal shelter. There he tied me to the gates and drove off.

The shelter took me in, treated my injuries, fed me and gave me a pen with a blanket to sleep on. I gradually got better but the experience had left me wary, difficult to handle. I didn't trust anyone.Days came and went. I settled in but, at the back of my mind was a feeling that there had to be another sort of life for me. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't unhappy at the shelter, bit I wasn't happy either.

One day a young man came. Dressed as a policeman, he was very tall and slim, had kind eyes and a lovely smile. I barked to attract his attention. He came over to my pen and we looked at each other. After a while he went away leaving me sad and bereft. A few days later he returned. I barked loudly, jumping up at the wire enclosure. He came over with a member of the staff, the door opened, I came out and we left the shelter together. Although I didn't know it then, I was about to start the life I'd dreamed of.

The young man, whose name was Mark, took me to his parents' house. On the way he explained that he couldn't keep me as he worked all sorts of strange hours. He felt that because of my sad history I needed somewhere calm and settled, with a constant presence. I needed to learn to trust humans again, not feel that they were all going to hurt me. His parents were the ideal people to do just that.

On arrival I was presented with food and water bowls, a large and comfortable dog bed with a cushion. All these items were indoors!! Also toys, so many toys. It was all too good to be true, as were the long walks I got used to. But it was true! Weeks went by. I gradually calmed down and started to trust some humans. It was during this settling in period that I discovered, as did they, that I love fruit, all fruit, any fruit. Dog food was great, biscuits were nice but fruit......

My new found happiness was then increased a hundred fold. A few weeks after my arrival, my owners took me to their house in the mountains. There I discovered walks in the woods and forests, the joys of a river to swim in, several doggie friends to play with and other humans to learn to trust. I love their other house with its garden but this is the tops! Fortunately we come up here often as they love the place as much as I do.

As you can see, for Pacha, the failed guard dog, thanks to humans who have restored his trust in them, life has become all he ever dreamed of and more!

Copyright Jacqueline Hastings 2009