Meet Goofy!
Birthdate: March, 2005Adopted: June, 2005
Breed: Half Pit Bull and Half Chesapeake Bay Retriever
Favorite Food: 3½ cups twice daily of Iam’s lamb and rice
Goofy Stories
"I am smiling while writing this, thinking of the day we adopted Goofy from the rescue shelter. I absolutely did not want a dog. My husband picked me up from work that evening and said we are going to the rescue to look at dogs. For several months he had expressed the desire to own a pit bull for a “family dog” and I was totally against the idea. In the past I of course had only heard the horror stories of pit bull dogs. We went to the shelter to “look around.” I think Goofy (Tuff was his name at the time) was the 3rd or 4th dog we saw. He had his head hanging almost touching the floor, to the floor and seemed to me to be so sad. My husband stopped to look and play with him and then continued forward. My brother in law was with us also and we stopped to look at him. We continued forward and looked at the other dogs. My husband asked the attendant if he could see Goofy. She took him in a room and he played with him. I had no idea that we would be taking him home that day. When I found out that my husband intended on adopting him, I was horrified. I was almost exactly 9 months pregnant and I secretly panicked at the thought of owning a pit bull or for that matter, any dog at that time. We were newlyweds with one child already and we did not have much money. I thought ‘this dog is huge and he is going to eat a lot, he is going to bark too loud and he will be very dangerous’. I didn’t want a smelly house with fur all over the place and large POOPS. Well it has been 2 years since Goofy has been our “family dog” and he still barks too loud, leaves fur all over the house, eats a lot of food, and has bigger poops than before, but the one thing I didn’t realize was how much love he would create in a person, a family and community. He has turned out to be a very gentle, loving, careful and the furthest thing from dangerous I could imagine. He is my children’s playmate. He is my husband’s always willing hiking companion. He is my neighbors solace. He is a learning experience for myself."
-Ayanna Myhre
Attacked by a porcupine!
On September 23rd, 2007, Goofy found a porcupine in his grandpa's back yard. Goofy is a sniffer, apparently didn't know what to make of the porcupine - until Dash arrived. As best as we can make out, Dash went after the Porcupine and all heck broke loose. Goofy got a face and mouth full of quills, but Dash received a full frontal assault of quills that lodged in his face, chest, arms, legs and paws. After the attack, Dash was in sad shape and clearly in pain as his dad pulled the quills out as much as he could.
Goofy, on the other hand, would not let anyone pull the quills out. He was friendly enough - like he always is - but when someone made an advance towards his face, he would pull away. He's a strong dog, and Nick's not a wimp, but Goofy was determined that no one was going to get those quills out. Goofy has a high threshold of pain and was in good enough spirits as he and Dash were loaded into the car to go to the vet. the only way Goofy's quills were going to be removed was under a sedative. Nick said later that Goofy was doing pretty good up until the point that they reached the vet where he could then tell that Goofy was in some serious pain.
Later that evening after the 2 returned home, I ventured over to see how they were doing. Usually, when Goofy spots me, he will bark at me and grin as he gallops over to body-check me and thrash me with his powerful tail (this is Goofy talk for 'Hello. It's so nice to see you again. Care for a cup of tea? No? Perhaps a round of stick throwing then?'). But when I walked in, I saw a dog who's eyes were twice as large as his head was, lying on the floor and unmoving. This was a dog who clearly was feeling no pain whatsoever. He made one attempt at walking, but after almost falling into the kitchen table, decided that where he was at the time, was good enough and promptly laid back down. Dash was found in the corner pocket of the couch looking straight ahead. Not moving, not even his eyes. He reminded me of a 'pig in a blanket'.
Goofy and Dash are doing fine now, they were the next day as well. Although I don't believe Goofy even recall's the incident, I believe Dash is traumatized for life. Hopefully he has learned his lesson and will never go near a porcupine again.
On a side note, we have learned a couple of good suggestions for extracting quills that we would like to pass on to others.
- Using a pair of scissors, cut off the ends of the quills to deflate them for easier removal.
- The use of vinegar on the quills helps to deflate them even more.
- John Baker