Nicky has suffered a fate so many dogs live with. Becoming homeless, lost, lonely and looking for a home like he used to have. He lives on the street, fends for himself and struggles with his situation with bravery. Nicky tells his story in his own voice. A warm tale about his journey to find his forever home. This tale includes10 great pictures to make this a great bedtime read.
My wife and I wrote this about our little guy, a novelized story about how he was rescued. Enjoy
How it all began
There was a Miniature Schnauzer named Nicky who used to roam the streets of Atlanta. Now, Nicky wasn’t always by himself. He had a really nice home at one time, he couldn’t remember how long ago, but he had a really nice person, who he really loved and she took very good care of him. She never ever let him get hungry, though sometimes he made her think he was hungry, so he could get a treat.
They spent a lot of time together when she was home. Most days she left home early in the morning, after taking him for a walk and doing his “business”, as she called it, and she always said “I’ll see you soon”.
When she came home he always got excited, sometimes he would even tinkle because he was so glad to see her, but he learned not to do that, most of the time anyway. Mom was glad.
Well, let’s let Nicky tell this story himself….
Mom and I were a really fun couple for a long time it seemed. We went on long walks, she would let me chase rabbits and squirrels in our backyard, and I could sleep in her bed, sometimes. It was so much fun and I just loved being with her.
Then mom had to go to her doctor and when she came home, she wasn’t too happy. She said she was going away for a while. Mom went away almost every day so I wasn’t sure why she was sad. She went and talked to Sam, he was a neighbor who lived next door and he seemed nice. He played with me sometimes, but not like mom. Mom took me next door to stay with him when she went away. I didn’t really understand, but I couldn’t wait for her to come back home.
Once I got settled in he didn’t treat me like mom did at all, maybe he was just different. He didn’t always feed me when I was used to, so I didn’t have to pretend to be hungry, I really was. There were no treats and no long walks. I never really got to go play and chase rabbits and squirrels in the backyard either.
Sometimes I didn’t get to go out when I needed to and made a mess in the house. Sam got very mad and very loud. It scared me. I wanted to ask him when mom was coming home but I didn’t know how.
One day, when Sam took me for a walk near my home where mom and I lived. Sam started talking to someone who came out of my home. I didn’t understand! Someone else was living in my home and mom wasn’t there. I got very upset and barked at everyone standing there. Sam got very angry and picked me up and took me inside his house. I was very confused and very upset. I wanted to go home to my own house and be with my mom.
Sam didn’t say anything, not that I would understand. Sam didn’t talk to me like mom did. I didn’t know what he wanted or what he was asking. He would say “blah, blah, blah, go out” or “blah, blah, blah, Nicky”, “blah, blah, blah, hungry?” I sort of figured it out after a little while. When he did feed me, the food was terrible, but it was all he gave me. I didn’t know why Sam even took me in, because it seemed he had no time for me and really didn’t want me.
I started to think that maybe my mom wasn’t coming home. I had to try to find her myself. Besides, I really didn’t like living with Sam. He didn’t smell very good and sometimes he just yelled at me for no reason, so I wanted to leave anyhow.
One night Sam just opened the door to let me out and do my “business”. He didn’t walk me much anymore at all. There was no fence in his backyard, but I never realized until just then that I didn’t have to go back. So, I didn’t.
I just went the way that mom and I used to go when we went on our walks. Since I wasn’t at our home anymore, I thought that I would find her if I followed our old walking path. I was sure that is where she had gone.
Chapter 2
Uh Oh! What have I done?
I walked and walked going the same way that mom used to take me on our long walks together. I couldn’t find her smell or hear her voice. I knew she would call me if she thought I was near, so I would bark every time I crossed another street. I kept walking and I was really getting tired. I needed to lay down for just a minute because it was getting dark and that’s when we use to go to sleep right next to one another, and I really missed that right now.
I woke up and it was starting to get bright and, wow, there were cars going back and forth real fast. Mom used to take me in a car when we went to the vet or to the lady who “buzzed” me when I got shaggy, but when we walked on the street she always kept me close on my leash. I think I knew why now.
Now I had no leash to keep me close to anyone. So I stayed behind the bushes where I had slept and waited until it got quiet on the roads again. Once it got quieter, I started out again. I knew mom wasn’t behind me so I just went where I was headed, hoping I would find her or she would find me.
I looked and looked for it seemed like forever. I kept walking and I saw that some building that looked like my home but different. It had a lot of people coming in and out. I was getting hungry now and I thought, “I betcha they have food”.
I saw a big box, just like the one mom used to throw away food after she ate. I knew it would have food in it, but I couldn’t get in because it was too high. On the ground, though, I saw some paper bags that smelled like food and what do you know, there was food in them. Not what I was used to, but it sure tasted good.
I ate and started out again. I saw a lot of people but none looked like mom and a lot of them looked like Sam so I didn’t go up to anyone. It was getting pretty lonely and kind of scared.
This went on for a lot of mornings and “night-nights”. I can’t count, but it sure was a lot. One morning I saw some people who just stopped and looked at me. One of them said something I remember mom talking about, a “stray dog,” It bothered me and I didn’t want to find out why so I ran away from them and hid behind another very big house until they were gone.
I was walking on a street that had these shiny walls and walked up to one. I looked and I could see the dog looking at me and said to him “boy, you are a mess.”
I waited for him to say something and then I figured out it was me. Sam never took me to the lady with the buzzing thing that mom took me to when I started to get shaggy. Now I know what they meant by stray dog. I had become one. Now I was a stray, I was not at my home and I couldn’t find my mom.
Mom?
I was very confused, very scared and even lonelier. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to think. So I kept to myself. I saw other “stray dogs”, but they were different. Some were not very nice. When I would find some food, or a place to sleep out of the rain I stayed to myself. These other “stray dogs” I kept seeing made me very nervous. Some were very mean and would probably hurt me if I went near them. Others didn’t seem so mean but I didn’t want to find out the hard way. So I just kept away from them.
One day I was walking around looking for food, I sort of thought I might never find my mom. I came to a big fence with holes in it and behind it was a big yard with tracks in it. I could smell food. I was able to squeeze through a hole and went looking for where the food smell was coming from. I was starving.
While I was in the yard looking for the food, I heard what sounded like a loud gurgle. I turned my head and saw these dark eyes, and at that moment a gurgle turned into a growl and I knew it could mean only one thing: Another “stray dog”, and a mean one. It came out of nowhere, scruffy, big, and smelled very bad. I had never seen such a big dog with such big teeth. “What are you doing in MY yard?” he asked, growling the whole time.
I ran to a fence and stopped to if see he was following me. He had a short rope holding him back, so I was safe. Or so I thought.
“Ha-ha.” I said, “What are you going to do now?”
He was really mad, barking and pulling to get to me. “I have my ways,” he said as he jumped at me again. The rope broke and he started after me.
I was across the yard near another fence and tried to jump over it, I almost didn’t make it, but I did. So did he. He was bigger and pretty fast so he was able to keep up with me. I was running and jumping fence after fence after fence and he kept up and was still after me. I jumped over lots of fences and when I got over the last one there were no more fences --- only a yard with big wall.
Now the mean dog had me cornered, I thought all was lost.
That is until a dog much bigger than the mean dog appeared from around the corner. He was very big, much bigger than the mean dog. He looked at me for only a second and then barked and growled at the mean dog.
“Get out of here”, the big dog told me. I guess he didn’t like mean dogs in his yard either. I didn’t wait, I jumped back over the last fence I came over and went across a road and down an alley and I could hear the two dogs fighting, but going by sounds of the barks and growls it didn’t sound like the mean dog was winning.
I walked and ran a lot more, just to be sure I was safe, I was so tired and now I was very hungry too. The whole experience took a lot out of me. I didn’t think I couldn’t go on much more, but I knew I had to get some food and a place that was safe so I could sleep a little bit.
I was too weak to run now so I just walked slowly until I came across some grass yards behind some buildings. I could barely take another step. I just laid down on the grass behind this house that kind of looked like my and mom’s home, I was very tired.
I woke up on the grass outside the house and I saw a shiny wall like the one where I saw myself a long time ago. I went up to the wall and I looked again. I didn’t want to know who I was looking at, but I knew it was me. I had spent so much time without a home that I was really dirty looking, in other words a mess. I felt so sad.
I went back on the grass to lay in the sun for a little more before I went looking for some food.
All of a sudden, I heard scratching, then a whimper like I used to make when I was curious. I looked up at the shiny wall and I saw something I never expected.
A big brown dog looking at me, but she wasn’t growling at me or showing me big teeth. In fact she was wagging her tail. She said “Hi. Who are you? Where did you come from? Why are you in my yard?” So many questions, so fast, I didn’t know what to say.
Then, I guess, because of her noises and scratching, a person who looked like my mom, only a lot smaller, came to the shiny wall. She slid it open and said the same thing the dog did. “Who are you little fellow? Where are you from?” Then a little man, who looked like Sam, only a lot smaller, came to the open wall and asked the exact same things. I still couldn’t speak because I was so tired. I just made a little whimper, that’s all that came out.
Then, of all things, a person who looked a lot like my mom came to the door, and, you guessed it, asked the exact same thing... I now tried to bark, trying to answer them all at the same time, I couldn’t hear myself bark. Again, all that came out was that little whimper. It was the only sound I could make.
The little mom cried out something like “Can we keep him?” both little people looked to the mom and she said something about “daddy,” I had no idea what was going on.
Then it happened, a big person who looked like Sam, but different, came to the open wall. I got very nervous but I was too tired to run. The little mom asked him “can we keep him daddy?” The big person said something my mom used to say “maybe” and then “we’ll see”. Then he picked me up and looked at the collar mom had given me and said “Well Nicky, we know who you are, let’s see who you belong to,”
I was brought into a kitchen with the big brown dog, they called her Maggie, right next to me. She sniffed me all over and said “You really need a bath and if you get to stay you are going to get one for sure.” I couldn’t believe my ears. “Stay”? What did Maggie mean? Her tail was wagging big time and I started to wag mine, a little, too. The little mom, her name was Chrissy, and little Sam, his name was Bobby, were petting me and Chrissy was trying to pick me up, but mom said the same word Maggie said “Bath.”
Maggie said that the dad, was looking for whoever I belonged to from my collar.
I saw him shake his head to the mom and looked at me and said, “Well it looks like whoever you belong to isn’t there anymore. Let’s feed you, clean you up, and get you to a vet and see what we can do tomorrow”.
The mom gave me a very long bath. Chrissy and Bobby helped the whole time. Even more than the bath, I actually had some really good food and Maggie was so nice, sniffing and nudging me a lot.
Maggie left and then trotted back into the room and said dad had found an old bed of hers that I could sleep in. I finally had a really good night’s sleep in a home like mine with some really nice moms and dads. Chrissy and Bobby were even talking about who I would sleep with. I started to think and hope I wasn’t going to be a “stray dog” anymore.
The next morning, mom and dad took me to the vet like I had done with my mom. She was very nice person and said I just needed some fattening up and a day or so of quiet time. Mom, dad and the vet started talking together and someone said something about rescue and shelter to the mom, she didn’t look happy at all.
She said “No way, we are all going home together!” The dad and mom were talking and the dad looked down at me and smiled, scratched my ear and said “Well, we all agree that Nicky is a neat name so we will keep it.”
The next day the Dad took me in the car, I liked riding in cars, to a building that looked like a home. He carried me inside and once I was there I saw a bunch of other dogs. I really got nervous until I heard the buzzing sound I remembered from mom taking me to be “spiffed up.”
He told the lady to do what she could with me and said he would “be back later” She picked me up, looked me over with a funny look and said I would be a bit of a challenge. She gave me another bath and dried me off. I started to feel good all over and then she started to do the buzz thing that I never really liked, but this felt different.
It took longer than I remember but when she stopped, she looked at me and her eyes grew very big, she picked up a phone thing and said “You have a beautiful little Schnauzer boy.” I could have told her that.
I didn’t know what to expect. It seemed like forever, but the door flew open and there was everyone, looking at me, petting me and picking me up and handing me back and forth to each other. I was very confused --- happy, but confused.
We all went home in the car and Maggie was there at the door with her big tail wagging. She said “Boy, you look so different. Welcome home.” I almost couldn’t believe it. She said “home.”
I started to feel so warm and happy, I thought I was going to piddle on the floor and ruin everything, but I didn’t. I couldn’t stop wagging my tail, I was home with my new mom and dad, and I never had a dad before, and little Chrissy and Bobby. I had some food and Maggie, Chrissy, Bobby and I played in the backyard for a while.
We all came in very tired but happy. I found my bed that Maggie used to have and hopped right in. It was different, a bit big and it smelled like Maggie, but I thought that was a good thing. I was home in my bed with my new family. I couldn’t have been happier.
While I was in the room with everyone I really felt very tired and was just going to sleep when I heard a funny little noise. I wasn’t sure what it was, or who was making it. Then, from behind the big seat where everybody was sitting, I saw a funny little face that I didn’t recognize at all. It was a white face, funny whiskers, way different from mine, brown spots on its eyes and ears. I never saw such blue eyes except my mom’s.
I looked over at Maggie who was just going to sleep herself. Maggie said; “Oh that’s Katie... she is a Siamese. She thinks she owns the house.” More about her another time ……
All I knew was that I was safe and warm in my new home, with my new family. I was so very, very happy
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