Mungo’s Schnauzerfest 10 For 10 Journey
I’m always heartened by the incredible depth of support that Schnauzerfest attracts. It’s not just people who have adopted dogs who support the charity. Very far from it. But when someone has and shares their experience, it can illuminate the charity’s work in unique ways.
A current example illustrates the journey one dog, Mungo, is following since adoption earlier this year. In a series of tweets, photos show the small signs his adopter picked up on as Mungo slowly shed the shackles of his puppy farm past.
The trauma for dogs from breeding lives can run deep and hard. It can be many months, years even, before they can really be said to live happily. What they learn to do is adapt. To cope with the alien world into which they are thrust when adopted.
Mungo’s good fortune included adoption by John and Joanna. Joanna is a psychotherapist and brings a sensitive awareness to their life with Mungo. Joanna is sharing a photo a day for the #Schnauzer10For10 event. A major part of Schnauzerfest’s work is education and this does it in a visually effective way.
One of the behaviours which Mungo brought with him, which took a little while to understand, was an inability to eat from a dog bowl. This is not uncommon in dogs from puppy farms, many have no choice but to eat off the floor their whole lives. Bowls can be scary. Or at the least, baffling.
Mungo took to the comforts of home fairly quickly, assisted by following the lead of his canine sisters Matilda and Luna. There was a persistent wariness, a state of caution he held close for his own protection but it steadily lessened as weeks passed.
And then I look at this beautiful little soul who has joined our family… every “first time” he does something new – like jumping up next to us on the sofa, or climbing up four steps instead of three, or allowing Luna to share his bed – he is releasing and re-writing a little bit of that old story and it makes my heart melt, because he’s letting a little bit more of his light shine.
Joanna Taylor’s blog
Walks have helped Mungo’s healing, but he does them his way. Sometimes preferring to walk alone with Joanna, without his sisters accompanying, a trait recently recognised.
Today’s photo brought memories of Susie-Belle’s early weeks with us. She would go into what I liked to think of a state of Zen. Just sitting and appearing deep in thought. Now I know more, I understand that she was more likely to be processing all that was around her. All that she found challenging. Everything that was normal to us but alien to her: comfort, peace, safety, love, quiet. Joanna’s tweet this morning was Mungo undoubtedly feeling similarly.
The series on Twitter offers simple, but stark reminders of how much a dog has to adjust and learn when saved from a breeding life. Living a regular life as a beloved member of the family should be the easiest transition for our best friends, sadly it’s not.
Follow Mungo’s Schnauzerfest 10 For 10 Series here
Read how Schnauzerfest helped Mungo here.
