Tesco: Our Best Souvenir!

So this is it . . . the final, final post! We can't close out this blog without a post about our beloved dog Tesco that we adopted from Thailand.  It's been five years exactly since we returned from our year of travels.  At the end of August 2010, we travelled to Montreal to pick up Tesco from Customs at the airport there.  She is the world's best souvenir, hands down!

Waiting for Tesco's arrival at the Montreal airport cargo area

Reunion at last!

Out of the cage at last!

When we first met Tesco, we had dropped anchor in Phuket for a bit and began volunteering with Soi Dogs.  We wrote about meeting Tesco and how she grabbed our hearts in this post.  After Thailand, we travelled on to Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and Samoa.  But before we left, we finalized with John & Gill at Soi Dogs that we would adopt Tesco.  We had become very attached to her and at times it felt like she chose us as much as we chose her. For example, when we sat on the elevated shaded bench in the kennel, she would hop right up to sit next to us. Any other dogs that came near got growled at.  And then she would turn to us with that big grin she has!

At the Soi Dog Shelter

She has adapted so well to life in Canada.  She even loves the snow and refuses to wear the booties I bought for her out of concern for those Thai paws.  For the longest time, we never heard a sound from her.  I wondered if the injuries she had suffered included damage to her vocal cords.  I thought, hmm kind of ironic for a speech pathologist mom to unwittingly adopt a dog that can't "speak".  But after a few weeks, we started to hear her make sounds when dreaming.  All four of us would be woken by her yelping, growling, twitching, and whimpering.  We would get out of bed, gather around her lying on the floor, and remark,"so she can make sounds after all!"  We wondered what dreams, nightmares or experiences she was reliving.

And now, she barks when she's excited and whimpers when she sees a squirrel or a cat.  She has a best doggie friend next door, a black Lab named Bella, and quite a few buddies at the dog park.  People stop us all the time when we're out for a walk and ask about her.  What kind of dog is she? (She's mixed, we explain, probably a fair bit of the Thai Bangkaew in her we were told).  Why does she have that scar? (Someone tied a cord around her muzzle when she was just a pup and left her to die). Why do you call her Tesco?  (She was given that name when she was rescued from a Tesco grocery store in Phuket City). She's very gentle; it seems like there's something special about her.  (Agreed!)

We always expected that someday we would get a dog.  Our boys were actively campaigning.  But we never expected to adopt an older dog. We had nothing against that; it just had not occurred to us.  She was five when she came to live with us and she's a grand old lady of ten now.  I can honestly say adopting an older dog from a shelter is the best thing you can do.  There's lots of practical and logical reasons, as Cesar Millan will tell you, but it was knowing we were giving a beautiful spirit the best years of her life in a real home that sealed it for us. She is the best thing to have come from our Elborn Family Odyssey!