Luna and Juno

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome back to another edition of the Dog Park Chronicle.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Today the Park Puff Profiles will introduce you to not one, but two Boston Terriers who are regulars at the park, Luna and Juno. The Boston Terrier is one of the few breeds that originated in the United States of America and was accepted by the American Kennel Club in 1893. The Boston wears a black and white coat in a tuxedo-like style, earning him the title The American Gentleman. They are a small dog with a short, sleek coat. Their head is square with a pushed-in full dog-like face and large round eyes. Bostons are known to be kind, curious, and mischievous. Our Boston mom today calls them Boston terrorists. They are happy-go-lucky, not known to be barkers, and easy to train, according to the AKC. Diane is Luna and Juno's mom. Diane, why are you love for this particular breed?

SPEAKER_00 1:26

I think the one thing I love is also the one thing I don't like is their spirit. They argue, they're Irish like I am. I I usually win the argument most of the time, but they do gang up on me. And they're fun, they're entertaining.

unknown 1:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Well, that's a good reason. Uh Juna, Juno and Luna are both rescues. How and where did you find them?

SPEAKER_00 1:51

I I'm a I'm a foster for Northeast Boston Terrier Rescue, and they came through from New Jersey, and they were they had to be adopted together because they're so bonded and they are. They sleep every night touching each other in one way or the other. They have their arm around each other every single night. They can't be apart. And two is always harder to adopt. So I said, you know, two is better than one. So I I took them both.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Do you know what their background was?

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Well, I know they didn't have much of a background because they came from a family where the there were little boys that taunted them and teased them, and I know that they were not fixed when I got them. They were two years old. They weren't fixed, they were both in heat when they arrived at my house, and I've never had a dog in heat, so I panicked. Not potty trained, nope, and uh didn't know how to walk on a leash, and and well, they still don't come when they're called. They have recall, but it's usually the 42nd time they'll decide to come if they're on their way anyway.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

Lots of fun, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Yep, oh lots of fun.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Now, when you adopted them, did they immediately embrace you and say thank you, thank you?

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Uh, I don't think the Boston Terriers have a grateful bone in their body. I just I I'd like to think so, but they yeah, they they love me. They uh they sleep with me at night and they touch each other and then they have to back up into me. And then Luna is the safety hall monitor. She taps me on the back to wake up if somebody's hungry or thirsty or wants to watch the stars at three o'clock in the morning. So gazers! Yep, I don't and then they have to be under the covers, so we fight about that. Finally, I just give in.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Well, we have seen them make huge progress here at the park. They seem so much more comfortable with both people and dogs now. They are exposure. I understand you have two more Bostons at home that aren't puppies.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Oh boy. Yeah, both of their cheeses have slid right off their cracker, so they're not allowed to go anywhere.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

So, other than your big heart, how did you end up rescuing four Boston Terrier?

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Well, my big heart crowded my little brain, and um actually the Terrier, Boston Terrier Rescue reached out to me and said that Springfield, because they're out of New York, their original group, Springfield Mass had contacted them saying that they have a dog at their city shelter that is running his fever up to 105, and he's gonna die there because when his family dropped him off, he worked himself up so bad that his temperature was out of control, and they had to pull him out of the crate, start an IBM, and they didn't have fosters because it's a city shelter. So they go, Oh, Diane lives in Massachusetts. I think they think everything's next door to each other. So I said, You guys are crazy, and off I went. Yep. I went and got Crackhead Bob.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Now how are you doing with it? Obviously, they're not fit for the park. They're not fit for the party.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

No, you and you won't, because I like you guys. He's um just like his name. He's uh he doesn't stop from the minute he sleeps like a rock. Great. He sleeps in his crate at night most times, and he's happy in there at night. Um, but the day he's either hanging on one of mine's lips or noses, or he just doesn't stop. Mine liked to take a break from playing. Nope, he doesn't stop. It's like he did get into crack or something.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

So and then I'm the name for the pinball.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

That's right. And then and then um I thought it was a good idea. Well, look, there's his mom because she was part of a mill um surrender mill dog, yeah. And she just lived her whole life in a crate. So I thought, well, maybe if I go get her, she'll keep him in line and they'll play together and they'll leave mine alone. And uh now they all get together and play, but it it it really is a diversion for him. He's he does respect her a little bit, and they play more and leave mine alone a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

You are one brave lady. No, I'm an idiot. Well, that's almost a same spray. Yeah, right. I think you have to be an idiot to be brave. When someone rescues a difficult dog, are the resources out there to help both dog and on us?

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Um, it depends on which rescue you go through, but yes. Yes. Unfortunately, the last one I had from this rescue, um, I had to sign a release because he was known to be a biter and they were gonna have to euthanize him, and I thought, well, let's give him a chance. I had no dogs at the time. So he didn't have a very good ending. He people mauled me and he had to go, yeah, he had to go away. Yeah, that was a sad thing. But the the rescue supported me because I tried. I tried for a year, and he was on medication, but it was you know, it was meant to be. Yeah, I was just glad it was me and not somebody else. Well, yeah, you know, better not anybody, but but they were you know, some rescues are better than others, some are a little bit too strict, I feel, and they'll say, Oh no, we can't adopt this the young dog to this old person.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Yeah, that's my year.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Yeah, and to me, it's the goal, the common goal is to find them a nice home.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Somebody who cares somebody who cares.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Yep, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

Um, what does it take for you to cope with and help a troubled rescue dog?

SPEAKER_00 7:36

A lot of Valium. I know you're gonna be bad for me. Alcohol bad. One for yeah, one for me, two for them. What Susie, you're gonna get one? Um I don't know. Like, I don't I don't like explain that. Well what do you mean? What do you mean by that?

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Well, one thing that comes to mind is a sense of humor, but uh I'm I'm more thinking um having a dog that you have to not a happy dog, not a dog that comes wagging his tail, a dog that is very difficult, that has a past. He can't talk to you and say, This is what happened to me and this is right the way I am.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

So you need Yeah, I I work around him. You know, I I like if I have somebody come over to I don't have any friends, so I don't have to worry about people coming over to visit, but if I have a workman come over, he's gotta be in his crate and with a bone. I'm just learning how to work around it and coexist with him.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Right, learn as you go.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Yeah, that's about right.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

Yeah, okay. Diane, you work as a caregiver for people, also, so compassion is something you understand and and practice. Um course, my guess is again, your sense of humor probably uh keeps you going with four boss.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Right. Going to terminally ill people is a step up from sometimes and living with these four.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

Diane also volunteers for hospital. She's an angel. We just had two major snowstorms in Cape Cod. The second one was crippling. 150,000 people were without electric, and shelters were set up in schools for people without heat, light, or food. Cape Cod residents are great and quick to rally in emergency situations. Seniors and others were brought to shelters by first response responders. You, Diane, being you and an EMT to boot, volunteered at one of the shelters for three days. I did. I understand that the pets were at the shelters also. Can you tell us a little about that?

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Well, after Katrina, people uh the government said they had to do something about that because the people weren't were dying and drowning in their homes because they wouldn't leave because of their pets, and the shelters then said no pets, so they wouldn't leave them. My hat's off to them, but so they started giving out grants and started giving out training programs, and and so we have that through the East Ham Dog Owner Association. We have a dog component to the human component that the Red Cross will run. Uh we our my shelter that I'm assigned to is Nosset High School, and you come in, you check, you check in yourself, and then you come down to us and you check in your animal. We had 10 dogs, four cats, and four birds. The most we've ever had.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Wow. Um, so you were a dog wrangler. Oh yeah. And I guess a bird and a cat wrangler. Yes, I so you were basically in charge of food and water for them and walking the dogs.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Nope. Nope. The the family comes down and they're in charge of feeding them and walking them. We have a sign-in, sign-out sheet that we know that they've been fed and watered and walked. A couple people were a little infirmed, so we would do it for them, but that's not the norm. We just house them and babysit them, and then their owners do their care. And they can sit and visit with them.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Well, and why can't the pets be with their owners there?

SPEAKER_00 11:09

Because it the because of the the I guess it's the law, like allergies and people that are afraid of animals.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

Other people who are sheltered there.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Yeah. Yeah. Gotta keep them separate. It would be chaos too with all the dogs.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

I don't know. You said you'd it was easier with the dogs than the people, right?

SPEAKER_00 11:27

The people, yeah. The dog the animals weren't the yeah, the animals weren't the hard part. It was the people, the owners and the people.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

No, y'all started out nause.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

But then what happened? After the first day, the heat quit. And I guess they didn't have it hooked up right to the generator after the big renovation, and the heat stopped. So it took them two days to make the decision to bus everybody to Dennis Yarmouth's shelter. So we bust a hundred people and ten dogs, four cats, and four birds, and they all went up like the ark.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Amazing, isn't it? Well, where were your four dogs while you were at the school? At home?

SPEAKER_00 12:12

At home in the heat on the couch with the generator going.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

Dogs rule.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

Yeah, there's the big heart and the little brain theory again.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Well, thank you, Luna, Juno, and Diane for joining us on the Part Pub Profile.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Thank you. Thank you, Sue. Thank you, too. Thank you, Terry. Yay!

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, and we'll see you next time.