A Poodle and His Clown

It was about six months after our beloved Uncle Bob had to be put down, all the way to summertime and our busy party and picnic schedule as clowns. We hadn’t intended to get another dog, as we had rescued a little-girl mutt puppy who had been unceremoniously dropped off on the road near our driveway. We actually live at the proverbial “end of the road,” bordering the National Forest where irresponsible people come to dump off their unwanted dogs, cats, puppies and kittens. I call it “Evil Stepfather Syndrome.”

They usually die of getting hit by a car, or of starvation, or end up getting shot when they raid a neighbor’s chicken coop or trash looking for something – anything – to eat. We’d kept this puppy because she was so small, and we were dog-less. Not like someone’s big old hound or Doberman that we’d rescue if we could and turn in to the shelter. You never know why people dump their dogs. And hounds will just follow their noses out of your life in no time anyway.

But my husband had picked up a newspaper for the County Seat where he was to be clowning at a big company picnic at a recreational park near the lake the following Saturday. He just wanted to see the advertised announcement, as the picnic was for the largest employer in the county.

Did I say this was a rural (total population: 38,000), Appalachian North Carolina county? One does not often see high-dollar dogs that aren’t some kind of coon or deer hound, fighting Pit Bull, junkyard mean Dobie or Shepherd, or the occasional old lady yapper dog (Pekingese, Chihuahua and such). My daughter has always jokingly referred to them as “punting dogs.” As opposed to hunting dogs, that is…

While leafing through the paper trying to find the ad, a picture popped right out at us. There in the weekly “Adopt-a-Pet” county animal shelter sidebar was a young, black, sad-looking hairy dog that looked suspiciously like a standard poodle. What the heck? We didn’t even know anyone in the county HAD such a swanky dog, much less that there was a homeless one pining away in a cage down at the shelter!

We tried for about five minutes to rationalize ourselves out of it. It’s a mini, the picture just looks standard. It’s a bad dog or it wouldn’t be in the pound. Maybe a biter. Or a cat-killer… it didn’t work, of course. If that was really a standard poodle we were duty-bound to get him out of that cage!

My hubby called the shelter and got some worker on the phone Friday night, asked if that was really a standard poodle. The worker said he thought so. Of course the next question was, “what the heck is he doing at the shelter?” The worker said he didn’t know. So hubby said he’d come to the shelter right after his clown gig the next day to check it out, and the worker said someone would stay until 2 p.m. to accommodate his schedule.

The person who stayed was the director of the shelter. My hubby walked in with full dress tramp clown costume, face, giant shoes and bowler hat, and asked to meet the poodle. Sure enough, there was this spectacular standard about 6 months of age, in a cage. Of all things (poods hate cages, we’ve had ‘em destroy entire clip shops that try it!).

He approached the dog gingerly, as we knew nothing about why he was in such dire straits. The director said the dog was vicious, would bite. He put his face close to the chain link so the dog could see and smell his makeup, then put his hand right up to it while looking that dog in the eyes. Beau’s eyes grew soft and he gingerly licked the hand and lowered his eyes, immediately having recognized a friend. So we took him home.

Turned out the lady who’d bought him (a $700 dollar, AKC registered poodle in a region where poodles don’t count) was paying the shelter extra every week to not kill him, telling them they had to find just “the right people” to give him to. She lived alone and had undergone serious back surgery, simply couldn’t keep up with him – he was a puller.

The shelter director said he knew as soon as my husband walked in with clown-face that we were “the right people” for this dog. Made it easy for us to take him right home that day. And we were never sorry. Beau raised another stray mutt and a couple of kittens too – he was a wonderful ‘Mom’, took the job seriously.

Beau is no longer with us, but we had him for 9 years. We’re now on the list for further rescues. Thought about volunteering to foster (keep homeless poodles until someone wanted them), but once they’re in our hearts how could we let go? I’ll keep you all up to date on how that’s going, and once again refer readers to the poodle rescue links below.

In view of this story, I’d also suggest contacting your area animal shelters in case they happen to get a poodle (and don’t know about poodle fostering). And don’t neglect to share your own rescue stories!

Poodle Rescue @ Standard Poodles USA

Florida Poodle Rescue

Poodle Rescue of New England

Coastal Rescue

Carolina Poodle Rescue

Norcal Rescue [Northern California]

Nebraska Rescue

Related Ads:

Filed under Adoption, Fostering, Poodles, Rescue Stories | Comments (2)