Just back up a bit Mr. T!

We had thought hard about the perfect name for our little boy……many came to mind, but we settled on Hugo, or Versace (black and gold) as the two front runners.  Mrs. Alpha had asked me on the phone what names were we thinking of, and she didn’t think Versace was practical enough to shorten.  On the other hand I am sure she was reassured that we hadn’t set our hearts on Rambo or something destructive!  Our choices of names were indicative of how we imagined him to mature.  We all grow into the dreams  and impressions people have when we are given a name….that is what I believe anyway (ok so some rebel against them too, as in the name Melody – never met a musical one, etc)

And I had great plans of volunteering and visiting children in hospital with my boy once he had settled down.

We got him home and he adapted really well.  He was inquisitive, curious, but bold and confident, no stranger to demanding what he wanted!

We had been told that after being severely picked on by his littermates and not able to get enough milk from his mother, he had been raised by hand in a Kangaroo pouch by a lady associated with Mrs. Alpha.  They had grown very attached to him too, but because she was also breeding other dogs, it meant that she couldn’t keep Wil, as she had called him.  Male Dobermann’s cannot be kept with other males – no matter what size or breed, that is the rule.

Mrs. Alpha had named our boy on our papers as Luck, and suggested Lucky…….are you serious????  Lucky or Wil versus Versace or Hugo….no competition there!

Anyway Mr. T, we both decided that Hugo wasn’t fitting, and our boy was truly a Versace.  He was gorgeous, confident, sleek, affable, and a real charmer…..and he knew it!

Was he a ratbag?  You bet he was, but Mr. T., honestly, how mischievous can a goldfish or hamster be??? 

And you think Versace was a handful, you should have been around for Ricky!

I bruise easily and my legs in particular were black and blue from Versace chewing, and biting me.  I didn’t want my pet to have issues like my sisters animals and use anywhere for the bathroom, so I made it a point, even through the night to wake up every 45 mins to an hour to take him out for a Too Too as we would call it. 

I had to eat before him so mornings on little but broken sleep were difficult…..I didn’t eat breakfast usually, but for him I did.  Dry toast stuffed down – I can still recall the scratchiness of it and the reluctance of my body to accept it.

Then the food……yes he was fussy but he also had coccidia which was diagnosed later when he wouldn’t eat very much, and totally lost his appetite. 

It was you Mr. T., who decided that he should have variety in his meals……more variety with dry food in particular.  Versace loved the bright packets of something new.  He loved it until we forked out more for a larger bag of what ever it might be.  That turned out to be a pattern!

Ms. S