Street Meat

It was only a matter of time. As many of you know Jeff and I spent the year before we moved to Shanghai working with a dog rescue organization. Fostering dogs was a great learning experience that was both very rewarding but at times a little traumatic. When we moved to China my parents graciously offered to keep Doozer during our time here. It was hard to adjust to not having a happy wagging tail to greet us every time we came home.

Recently, on our way in to our apartment, this little guy was hanging around the front door. Our friends had seen him around with the security guard who was trying to give him to anyone that would take him. At that time he was hobbling around on three legs because he was kicked by a kid. With no one around to claim him and the temperatures dropping outside I decided to bring him in and feed him.

He was pretty nervous at first and I am not sure he had ever been inside a warm home. He spent the first couple hours keeping a 15 ft distance. As the time clicked by he grew more trusting and crept his way closer, inch by inch.

After a day or so he made himself right at home, including constantly trying to join us on the couch! I found out that our complex workers called him Dadu or “big belly” since he was always looking for a handout. It is quite possible that I stole someone’s pet since Dadu already knew how to shake paws, sit and was pretty much potty trained. He was quite popular around the complex as well. He happily greeted everyone he came across. I ran into his former caretaker who told me to keep him. He was just trying to help out this friendly little pup and just wanted him to have a good home.

The first night he was here I immediately felt some buyer’s remorse and was worried about what we were going to do with him. We definitely had no plans to get a dog and we travel frequently. Having one long term was not in the cards. I contacted Jaiya’s Animal Rescue who offered to help find temporary fosters during our vacation and they posted him online. There are not very many qualified vets and most people are not too knowledgeable about pet training. I was worried we would not be able to find Dadu a good home.

We decided to check out the adoption event ourselves when we returned home from the Maldives. Dadu had spent the week with an expat family with two little girls and he had done great. So I was hopeful he would find a good family. As we arrived at the event we were a little shocked. This was not the small organized rescue event we had become accustomed to. Over 50 people arrived with dogs on leashes, puppies in crates and a few random cats. Most of the dogs were little and appeared to be pretty young. We found out that this event was more of a ‘pet exchange’, volunteers looking after their rescued pups and some willing people looking for a new pet.

One family quickly was drawn to us. The fact that Jeff was wearing Tigers gear and that we were not Chinese probably helped. The Dad of the family was also from Detroit and was wearing a Tigers hat as well. Their little boy immediately took to Dadu. Within 20 minutes he was giving him walks around the place and asking how much we wanted for him. I was getting pretty hopeful since they did not get too distracted by the other puppies running around.

Flash forward a month and our little guy found his forever home. Dadu now Duncan has a big house with heated floors, a small backyard (not common in Shanghai!), and two kids to love him. I am so grateful that this family decided to take a chance on our little rescued pup!