“Cool, that dog’s doing a handstand!” I looked up to see a woman next to us on the Elm Street Event Green watching Yogi “water the plants,” clearly in awe of his mad skills.
Yogi’s my 12-year-old, 10-pound, 3-legged chihuahua brother. He learned this potty trick shortly after one of his rear legs was amputated. The rescue group, Hightower Farm, figured he was in a car accident. Either way, he came to live with us as a foster a week later.
The first night in our home, Yogi escaped through an impossibly small hole in the backyard, and took off running. A chase ensued, but Mom and Dad figured he wouldn’t be too hard to catch. After all, he’d just had his leg removed. So, how fast could he be? Crazy fast, as it turned out, because within seconds, he was standing in the middle of East Cherokee Drive, frozen with fear as rush hour traffic whizzed by, swerving to avoid him.
It was a frightening sight, and Mom began pleading for help. “I promise I’ll give him a good life if you just let him live. PLEASE, God!”
Yogi eventually was caught that night, and, afterward, Mom and Dad made the decision to return him to his forever home — our home.
It turned out that Yogi’s “disability” had nothing to do with his legs, but everything to do with his mind. He was terrified of everything and everyone.
He bit out of fear, so it took weeks before Mom could touch him without wearing welding gloves, and it took months before he’d even be in the same room with Dad. But, with a lot of time, love and understanding, Yogi slowly began to trust us.
Today, he’s a happy little dude who lives a very full life. He walks and bikes on the trails, gets belly rubs from Dad, eats lunch at the finest restaurants downtown and enjoys long strolls with his lady friend, Miss Ellie Mae.
And, to top it all off, he’s a loyal friend. In fact, he even chaperoned my Valentine’s date with Brianna at Tiny Bubbles. Yep, he sat in the window all night staring at her to make sure she didn’t try anything funny. He even texted her after the date to make sure she got home OK, and then the next day to see how she was doing. Hey, wait a minute! Maybe he wasn’t there as a chaperone after all! Grrr…
– Teddy the Spaz Man, a social media dog and not-so-humble Hallmark star living in downtown Woodstock.
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Yogi enjoys life in and around Woodstock, despite his disability.
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