I’m Dusty T. Dog of song and legend. I am a black dog and I’m large, everyone says so. I guess that’s a matter of comparison. My “little” sister is bigger than I am, but I guess everyone’s right. I have a very loud bark and that’s a good thing because I must always protect my territory and my human against danger, especially squirrels.
I’m eleven years old, and I’ve been lucky because I lived all my life with my human except a little bit at the beginning that I barely remember. For a while I lived in a shelter and then I lived with my human.
For a while I had a big pack. I remember my Siberian Husky Sister/Mothers very well and sometimes I miss them, especially Lily T. Wolf. Back in the days of my Siberian Husky Sister/Mothers I had many adventures because they liked to explore. I don’t like to explore unless my human is there, but they would sometimes get out of our territory and run up the street. Of course, I went with them but I didn’t like it. It’s not always easy being a pack animal because if you think for yourself, you can’t always act on your own.
Me as a puppy with my sister/mothers
I had a brother for a while, but he hated me and sometimes attacked me when I went into our yard. He never hurt me bad. I did about as much damage to him as he did to me. Our human hated this. She understood it, but she didn’t like it. Once she got a big bottle of antibiotics down at the feed store and gave us both shots instead of taking us to the vet. That was a big surprise for everyone.
But I understood my brother. Like me, he’d had some bad times in his life. It doesn’t take long for canines to learn everything about each other when they join a pack. I’m a peaceful dog, in spite of my big bark. Now I have my pack mates, Mindy and Bear. Bear came to live with us after Lily T. Wolf died. When Lily T. Wolf died, I was very sad and I didn’t want to meet a new canine, but Bear was a puppy and someone had to train her. It turned out she’s a lot of fun. She taught me to play. I hadn’t played since I was a puppy. Life for us has been pretty serious a lot of the time. My human says I’m a serious dog, anyway.
I love Colorado. Since we came here, my life has been even better. Our human is always with us and every day we go hunting. People here are nice to me, too.
Hunting with my human
My favorite food is coffee with cream. My human gives me a tiny bit every day when she’s finished her coffee. Otherwise I eat kibble, and sometimes I get some chicken or scrambled egg, or a tiny bit of wet food, but I’m happy with what I have. Occasionally I find something good to eat when we’re hunting, but I have to be careful my human doesn’t see me. Fox poop, raccoon poop and cat poop are among my favorites.
My human ONLY shares her coffee with ME
What? Oh, my human is telling me to write about black dogs.
She says that black dogs are the last dogs adopted from shelters. She says there’s a bias against black dogs that’s based on, what? Super what? Superstition. Telepathic communication is efficient but I don’t always get it. You can learn about it here. We dogs don’t really see color, so I don’t understand what my human is talking about.
But if this is true, I can say if you find a barky black dog at a shelter adopt it. It will love you as much as I love my human and there are no words or barks to describe that. ❤
“Summer is the season of inferior sledding” - Inuit proverb 
I love our two beautiful rescue dogs, who are also big black dogs. I was surprised to read that black dogs were the last to be adopted out of shelters. For us, it was love at first site with both our puppies.
Yeah, I don’t get the “black dog” thing either. I was surprised to learn about it!!
Dusty T. Dog was a “problem” dog. He’d been beaten and pushed out of the back of a truck on the interstate in CA. He was picked up by animal control and taken to the shelter. They tried to rehabilitate him, but psychologically, he was a wreck. They kept him for 6 weeks. I got him when he was 4 mos old. They said he couldn’t be a pet; he was too scared, prone to defensive barking and urinating out of fear. I don’t know what happened, but when that dog saw me, he came to the bars of his cage and tried to get my attention. I asked to meet him and they tried to talk me out of it and explained his problems and said he was going to a rescue. I insisted. The shelter worker had to go into Dusty’s cage to get him. When she brought him out, he flopped on his back and peed. They took us to a little room made of chain link so the keeper could watch the interaction in case something went wrong. Dusty put his paw on my knee, his head on my chest and just TALKED, like he was pouring his heart out. He was difficult to train and I ultimately had him trained professionally so he’d get more socialization than I could give him. He did well. He’s had his problems but he’s an awesome, awesome dog who LOVES his training, loves the people he knows and is happy to meet new ones — now. Life in a small town in Colorado is MUCH better for Dusty (and me). That’s the story Dusty probably can’t tell on his own. 🙂
That’s such a beautiful story! I’m sure Dusty is so grateful for his new mom. Ours were so young when we adopted them and they knew nothing, but life in a shelter. When we brought Athena home she was 3 months old. I don’t think she had ever seen grass before. She just played and rolled around in it like it was the best thing ever.
❤ At first, Dusty was so grateful, and so afraid he'd lose his home, that when I came home from teaching every day, and walked through the gate, he peed on my foot. I always wore rubber flip-flops from the car to the hose to the house. He loved his Siberian husky sister/moms, also. After two of them died, he peed on the one who was left, Lily, every day FOR YEARS. She lived to be 17. Nothing was going to take her away from him. Needless to say, Lily got washed very often, like daily. 😀 Shelter dogs can be a little more complicated… Athena is a beautiful name.
That’s a great touch, he loves coffee and cream. very cool dog.
He is 😀🐾
I enjoyed Dusty’s writing, what he revealed about himself and his human, and what he taught me like black dogs are the last adopted. the photograph I like best was of Dusty and his human who looks healthy and happy.
Thank you for reading my blog post. I like the photo of me with my human best, too, or I would if I could see in two dimensions. But generally, if my human is there, I’m happy. I also like coffee. Thank you again, Your pal forever and ever, Dusty T. Dog
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