For those of you who don’t know, there was a show that aired for almost all of
the 1980’s titled Cagney and Lacey.
Starring two women, Chris Cagney and Mary Beth Lacey were New York City
police detectives even
though they were very different individuals (like modern day Law and Order).
By the cancellation of the show in 1988, both characters had been
nominated for Golden Globes and Emmy’s and starred in made-for-TV movies as a
follow up to the show. Cagney’s
character was deemed as “tough, abrasive and no-nonsense”, which I find to be
extremely amusing because the Cagney I know is none of those things and my Cagney also has an extra
appendage..
My Cagney came from a shelter in which he, his two puppy
sisters, and mom were not only dumped at the shelter, but also covered in motor oil. Yes, you heard right. Motor oil. Apparently, motor oil is a common backwoods
mange treatment and their previous owner certainly lathered it on. At time of intake, CCB only knew that Mama had
mange, but it soon emerged after closer inspection that the pups all had it
too. They quickly lost all their hair
and were naked, trembling 6 week old babies.
[[In case you are not familiar with mange, there are two types:
demodectic (non-contagious) and sarcoptic (contagious). They are caused by mites that burrow into the
hair follicles and cause intense itching as well as baldness. Super uncool stuff.]]
Mama Val as she was later named, due to the VALvaline Oil dripping from her
ears, and her three babies made it out of the shelter alive; a hard task to do
when you look pretty ghastly with no hair and covered in black, sticky
substances. After splitting the dogs up
to their foster homes, Pup2 and Pup3 were paired together and someone must have
been a giant fan of the show Cagney and Lacey, because that’s what they were
named, even though Cagney is a boy. Bless his heart - he had some gender issues from the start. After proper vet treatment and a lot of TLC, Mama Val, and all the pups got their wonderful shiny coats back. Yayyy!
So, here's the man of the hour -- Dopey! Err, I mean, Cagney … but I called him Dopey a hell of a lot more than I called him Cagney. Dopey would not appreciate me airing his dirty laundry, but frankly, I have thumbs to press a spacebar and he doesn’t. Sorry Charlie.
What shall we start with? How can I describe a normal day with one of the seven dwarfs? Did you hear about the time C forgot that you don’t get traction on hardwood floors and ran full speed into the front door? Ok, so he had an excuse that time, but to “misjudge” the next 6 times and go sliding into the door head first every.single.time with a THUNK? Buddy, what are you trying to do? Dent the damn thing?
Or what about the time Trey and C were playing Keep Away around the island? Dopey decides that since he is obviously not able to take tight turns with his slippery paws, he should go about this a bit differently. He suddenly stopped, paused, and LEAPED ONTO THE FREAKING ISLAND. I looked up from the computer to see a 50 pound dog standing over top of my carefully made Crock Pot dinner. "Oh, am I not supposed to be up here Mom?"
Let's continue -- I have never wanted a camera more than I wanted one the day
that C and I decided to annihilate the Greenway. Training had been going great; he was non-reactive
to other dogs and creatures, easily distracted by treats on my hip, the whole
nine yards. So, I’m feeling good. I have
a sweet little, “I’m a confident female with a well behaved pitbull. Oh yeah,
look at me. I’m awesome” trot going on. You feelin’ where I was at yet? Ok. So,
we start cruising, doing well; head up, dog in hand, beautiful weather, we ROCK.
We get to the part where it’s a little walkway over a foresty swampland and
since it’s really curvy, we decide to kick it up a notch. BAM! We’re off. We’re
zigging and we’re zagging and feeling like we’re flying..
Soon, we come upon a straightaway, and I see
moms with strollers stopped in the path talking to one another. My
morals say, “Slow down, we don’t want to run into them”, Cagney’s puppy morals say, “Trample those bitches!” (I imagine his voice being similar to the Kool Aid voice after
he destroys the wall). As I slow down, Cagney jump kicks in the air to grab and pull the leash and proceeds to fall off the
walkway, 4 feet down into the swampland water.
Embarrassment doesn’t even cover it – I refused to make eye contact with
the gawkers all around. He just stared up at me with big eyes, like "Um, hello?! What are you going to do for me?" He was too far
down to jump back up, so I sighed, bent down and hopped in to join him in the
swamp. In front of everyone, I had to
pick him up, place him back on the walkway, pull myself out of the swamp and
without even looking at anyone, turned and trudged home, shoes squishing and
squirting all the way. DOPEY.
Now don’t you go on thinking that C was a big doof, because he was a very clever little dog sometimes, too. For example, after approximately 18-20
attempts to get on the couch, and me pushing him down and saying, “Off”, he
trotted away. 1 for Shana. I then
look up and he’s standing at the end of the hall way with my shoe in his
mouth. I sigh, get off the couch and as I walk over,
he drops it and walks away, obviously full of shame and regret, right? Nope. I
turn around, shoe in hand, and guess who is all cuddled up in my spot on the
couch, with his head already resting on his paws with his, “Look how cute I am”
face on. Touché, little man, touché.
As many good memories that I have of Cagney, he was not all sunshine and rainbows though, and I doubt any foster I get
will be. He growled at my kitty, had no
leash manners, had issues with house training and couldn’t be left alone for
more than a few seconds. But in no way
did those issues deter me from using every single day, every single car ride,
every single errand as a learning opportunity for him. Cagney was adopted this past Saturday,
October 22, 2011 and after doing a proper dog intro with his forever mom and
forever doggie sister, they all drove home in the same car and are living the
life in Durham, NC. His forever mom is
awesome and I have no doubt that he will live the life he always deserved,
motor oil free.
ADOPTED OCTOBER 2011
Sage
Sage
