Eli
Eli's family writes to tell us:
"Eli is our cherished Passover dog (what we can't
understand is how he wound up on the euthanasia list
four times in NYC, passed over by everyone). We are
not at all surprised that he was the exemplary handler
dog at the NYC shelter, as his temperament is truly
beautiful, with adults, children and all other animals. Oh,
are we ever in love with this guy!
We brought Eli home from HWR on April 1st, 2007,
two months after our beloved 16-year-old shep/collie mix
passed away. The April Fool's joke is on the world, not
us, because this huge imposing-looking fellow (92 lbs.
now!) is a sweet, wonderful, soulful, goofy,
super-intelligent moose-dog. YES, he swipes our two
daughters' Beanie Babies whenever he can and carries
them around gently in his mouth all day like they are his
pups (we find entire litters of them tucked behind the
couch). YES, he's about six feet tall when he greets
visitors at the door on his hind legs. YES, his tail can
clear a coffee table. YES, he had some separation
anxiety in the beginning. YES, he has eaten two pounds
of expensive Irish butter and various other goodies off
the countertop when we were not looking. YES, he
anxiously herds us over to his food bowl (using a WWF
body-check move) when it is empty (considering he was
originally found emaciated and alone in NYC at 40-some
pounds, we're not surprised he gets a little concerned
about an empty food bowl).
And you know what? We love every bit of it, every
moment of him. Our daughters lie on him while they
watch TV. He sleeps on his bed at the foot of ours all
night long. He sits politely to have his leash snapped on,
while his sister, Nina the Red, is jumping around like a
maniac. When visitors drop by, Nina the Red barks like
crazy while Eli sits and offers a big fat paw to the
newcomer. He relinquishes Beanie Babies without fuss
with the command "Drop!" He sits and stays (and drools
like a Pavlovian experiment) until we put his food down
and say "Okay!" He walks beautifully on a leash (even a
double connector leash with Nina). He has never ONCE
barked outside, even when the cranky yellow Lab across
the street lunges and snarls at him. His whole approach
to other dogs is, "Seriously? Are you kidding me? Can't
we all just get along, man?"
Once strangers get over his police-dog look, Eli wins
them over with plentiful paw-shaking and smiles. No one
knows how old Eli is (anywhere from 3 to 9, we've been
told), but we sure hope it's in the low end of that range,
because he is a gem and can't imagine life without him.
He's given Nina new life too, and watching them tussle
and lounge together...well, it doesn't get much better than
that. Thank you, HWR!"
The Lanes
