Our Tiny Roo Dog

This is Roo - like as in Kangaroo because of his giant ears (his original name was Casper). He also goes by piggy as he snorts when he eats and runs. Senor longbody is another favourite nickname because he is part daschund and has a very long bod!

We found Roo on Pet Rescue and he was being looked after at a local rescue in a place called Hinton in NSW, Australia. When we called to put an application in the lady who had taken him in advised us that this poor little pup who was only 4 months old had been so badly looked after previously that he may never be able to go for walks near other dogs, play with other dogs or be near children. There were hundreds of applications put in for his adoption and out of all those people they chose us. We knew it was meant to be and that Roo was meant to be a part of our family.

We didn’t care that Roo had “issues”. We were sure that we could look after him and so without any hesitation we finalised our application and agreed to pick him up two weeks later.

When we went to pick him up, it was love at first sight. He was so sweet with and really playful and excited even if he was a little nervous but then he was faced with another dog at the rescue shelter...he became so scared and aggressive it had me in tears but my husband and I looked at one another and new that we needed to take him home and love him because we were sure that no one else could help like we could!

The first month we had Roo was really tough. He would go ballistic at any noise outside our home because he was so frightened. We couldn't even walk him down the street he was so scared of every dog we encountered. At one point my husband used to pick him and shield his eyes if we saw another dog coming to stop him getting so upset. That was the worst part about the whole thing, was how distressed it made him. He also initially had terrible issues with his tummy - at one point we had 50 puppy pads laid out in our one bedroom apartment covering the whole floor in case he had an accident!

But over time, with gentle and loving training he has turned into the most trusting and wonderful little guy, as you can see in our family photo.

When we go for walks now, he is still scared by some dogs but positive reinforcement has taken him so far and he knows how to face those situations with his mum and dad beside him.

His best mate is his cousin Loki (aka my sisters dog!) and he also has several best mates at the park that he loves to play with and his ball is life. He makes a beeline for prams when he sees them and is so gentle and sweet with babies contrary to what the rescue lady said would happen.

We are so blessed that this special little dog came into our lives. We have been on so many adventures and he is our fur baby. He makes us laugh everyday. He curls up like a little caramel donut tucking his nose under his back leg. We sit on our couch and watch as he sleeps (#creeps) and he has bought so much joy in our lives that I cannot even express in words what he means to us. Each morning when we he comes up onto the bed for family cuddles is one of the best times of our day!!