Rescue Dog: Bazinga!

I first met Michelle and Bazinga at PUPS on SUPS held at Sandy Beach Reserve, Bassendean. PUPS on SUPS is a fun stand up paddle boarding session where owners and their dogs go paddling on the Swan River!! Part of the proceeds are donated to SAFE INC in support of the amazing work that the volunteers do to foster and re home dogs across Western Australia.

Each month I’ll post a blog about a rescue dog! If you have an inspiring story to tell pop down to PUPS on SUPS and support the cause and even have a go on a stand up paddle board!

This is Bazinga’s Story…

Adopted from Shenton Park Refuge on 1st June 2013 at approx 1.5 years of age.

“I was a volunteer dog walker at the Shenton Park Refuge and we can bring dogs home for sleepovers to give them a break from the  kennel environment. Alex and I had no intentions of getting a dog as we both worked full time and didn’t feel we could offer a dog enough time.  The way Bazinga was described at the refuge made him sound crazy. They said he could go from 0 to 100 in a matter of seconds and that he was full of surprises, hence the name they gave him… see the “Big Bang Theory” if you don’t know!!

With the information we had we pretty much cleared the house before bringing him home, expecting him to destroy everything he laid his eyes on. We took him for a walk, where he paid absolutely no attention to us and pulled like crazy, we were starting to regret what we’d let ourselves in for…my husband had never had a dog so it was even more daunting for him. Surprisingly when we got home Bazinga turned into the most polite, best behaved dog I’ve ever seen…he knew exactly what he was doing!!

I’m usually the emotional one and my husband the sensible one, but after a weekend with Bazinga, it was Alex who suggested maybe we should keep him. We decided that if no one had adopted him after two weeks, we would try another sleepover, which we did!

When we took him back to the refuge we had a long list of reasons why we didn’t think we should adopt him. Nearly 5 years on he is still with us!

He certainly showed his true colours and lived up to his name the first few months. He completely redecorated the house, chewing floorboards, door frames, sofas, pulling curtains and curtain rails from the wall, emptying bins and bathroom soaps all over the house, etc, etc!!  We walked him a lot and tried to leave mentally stimulating things around the house to help with his separation anxiety.

After about three months there was a breakthrough, he seemed more relaxed and settled when we left him. It’s taken a lot of hard work and dedication. I even became an animal behaviourist to try and figure him out but he’s a great dog and people often comment on how well behaved he is. He’s still unpredictable and cheeky, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. He’s a huge part of our family and we probably talk about him more than most parents do about their kids!!”

Written By Michelle O’Brien