Name/Age: Demo- 10.5 y/o, Elwood Blues - 5 y/o & Twitch - 3 y/o
Family Members: Terra & twin kitties Edy and Oy
How long have Demo, Elwood & Twitch been in the family? Demo for 10 yrs, Elwood for 4.5 yrs & Twitch for 1.5 yrs.
Profession: Project Engineer
Location: Lawrenceville, GA
Nicknames:
Demo: My Love, Little D, Bubby, Dem-O-Lition (when he is in trouble and needs a full name used)
Elwood Blues: Slimer, Bubs, Hippo, EW, Nasty Mo-Fo
Twitch: Little Miss, Ladybug, Cow, Spaz, Dana (shelter name and what she responds to best when in trouble)
5 words/phrases that best describe Demo, Elwood & Twitch?
Demo:
Sensitive
Silly
Bubbly
My little Soul Puppy
Pee Monster
Elwood Blues:
Goofy
Lovable
Soulful
Snores like a freight train
Leaves a slime trail everywhere he goes
Twitch:
Crazy
Neurotic
Most Energy I have ever seen in a dog
Ball Obsessed
Very Very Sweet
What makes each dog unique? Demo’d bubbly personality is his best trait. All the neighbors love him and he used to be known in the neighborhood as the doggy UN because anytime someone got a new puppy Demo was the dog they wanted to borrow/play with. He has never met a person or animal he doesn’t want to love on. He does not have a mean/tough bone in his body.
Sweet Man Demo coming in close to say Hello!
Elwood, Oh this guy…he likes to bop your nose with his nose even when you aren’t ready. When you’re sleeping, trying to do yoga, scrubbing the floor…. Although he is 70lbs he knows his calling in life is to be a lapdog. As soon as I sit down, where I sit down he is on my lap. On the couch, in the recliner and even at the dinner table he tries (although I think that is more for the food options than the mama option) .
Elwood with the full stretched out leap…..
Twitch is insane. I don’t think this makes her unique to the breed but it is unique to my household. She is BY FAR the most high energy of the group. She never lays down for longer than a 2 minute power nap and then she is off again. If in that two minutes I adjust my seating position she gets up to come over and make sure we aren’t going anywhere. She is also the most likely to be protective of the house, sometimes she sleeps with me but usually she sleeps downstairs on the couch and because she is such a light sleeper she is the first to hear any noise that does not belong.
Twitch the girl on the go and always with her ball.
Rescue Stories: Demo’s Story: I have one of those friends and 10yrs ago, pre-FB she would send emails out every week of dogs that were in danger of having to take “the walk” if no one stepped up. I never looked at these emails because I knew I would fall for one of the dogs and my now ex had put his foot down that we could have NO MORE ANIMALS (we had 3 large dogs and 5 cats). On a random Tuesday, I got the email and for some reason that day I opened that email and almost at the bottom of the list was this picture of this little smiling face with these giant ears, I looked into those eyes and even though it was just a picture I KNEW he was MY dog. He had been left tied to the fence of the shelter one night two months earlier and his time was up. I called my boyfriend immediately and all he said was no. This continued for the remainder of Tuesday, all day Wed & Thurs. On Friday when no amount of tears and anger and pleading seemed to be working, I went to my Mom’s after work because I was so upset that I couldn’t even be around him. Somehow this was the thing that worked. He showed up at my Mom’s about 4:30 and said if it meant that much to me, we could get the damn dog. But he was scheduled for the walk that afternoon…and he was in Greenville, SC. So I called the shelter and called and called until someone finally answered and begged them to let me pay the fee over the phone and I promised I would be there at 8am the next morning but please please PLEASE hold him over. And thankfully they did. When we got there the next morning (at 7:30 before they opened) he was in an outside kennel, stinky and dirty but he was SO freaking happy. His smile was contagious. Only then did we find out he was a dog assigned to a prisoner and that prisoner shook our hand and cried as we signed the papers. He was so thankful we had been able to save this special little dog.
The day Demo was saved!
Elwood Blue’s Story: Elwood was found as a stray in Fayette county when he was roughly 7 months old and pulled by a rescue in Rhode Island. My friend had agreed to foster this goofy looking guy while he awaited his transport since she had just placed a dog in a new home. She was supposed to have him for 3 weeks. After a little less than a week she was contacted by her previous fosters new parents that the adoption was not a fit and they were bringing the dog back. So I agreed to take in this guy until the transport came. He was totally different than Demo. He seemed happy but he also seemed a little...”special”. His tongue was constantly hanging out of his mouth with a drool string attached to whatever he was standing near. His head is a little crooked, he has a burn scar down his back and he roared like a lion anytime he “played”. The other dogs and the cats where petrified of him except Demo. Demo claimed him immediately. My doggy UN decided this weird looking drool factory was going to be his best friend forever and ever. So after 2 weeks, I contacted the rescue group to ask if he was being transported to a foster or a home. When they said he was being transported to boarding it was decided, he was staying and a different kid got their freedom ride up north.
Elwood’s 1st day in his forever home!
Twitch’s Story: I was fostering a dog awaiting transport to VA, when the transport arrived we got to talking, he was petting my dogs and commented how sweet they were. He then asked if I would be interested in fostering a small pittie mix girl that was very high energy and that he couldn’t seem to keep in a foster home. She had been in boarding for almost a year. After some thought, I agreed and drove to NC to pick her up a couple weeks later. She was not small, she was covered in fleas, her hair was very sparse and she had fluid pockets on her knees and elbows from sitting/laying in a crate too many hours a day. The only thing that was true is that she was every ounce as crazy as he had suggested (but that’s another story for another day). But I had made a commitment to foster her so I brought her back to GA and straight to the vet for Capstar and a look over to make sure I wasn’t bringing anything into my house to my dogs. Then she hung out in the back yard for a few hours while I waited for the fleas to fall off so I could bathe her. The first week or so she wasn’t overly interested in me, she wanted to hang out on the couch and with the boys but once she got settled in a little all she wanted was to lay next to me with her ball and her head in my lap. She doesn’t care if I’m petting her as long as I am touching her. If I try to hug her she turns into the Tasmanian devil and whirls off around the house so we do everything on her terms. That foster lasted roughly 4 months before I decided to keep her, she just fit and added that last little missing piece to our get along gang as the neighbors call it.
Twitch- the missing piece (& always with a ball)
What is your favorite pastime as a family? For Demo it’s trips to the park. Playing fetch (that he never brings back) but he runs around the yard with whatever toy in his mouth and tosses it in the air. Then there is the adorable way he never picks anything up out of the dirt with his mouth, he uses his paws to wiggle it up to a sitting position so he can keep his mouth “clean”. As he has gotten older I just love sitting with his head on my lap running my thumb along his white stripe between his eyes.
Elwood Blues it’s playing in the water…he LOVES the water. The pool, the hose (he barks from inside the house the WHOLE time I wash the car and then we have to play in the hose as I clean up), the ocean (although he is NOT buoyant and can’t swim for sh*t, he has a life jacket), the shower (he will climb in with you if you forget to close the door) and then the crazy joy he gets out of being dried off afterwards.
For Twitch it is anything to do with her ball. If she had to choose between that ball and food I’m not sure which one she would ultimately select. If we can play ball with a puddle to run through all the better. My yard doesn’t puddle well but my sisters house is the BEST ball / puddle combination. One throw equals 15 minutes of puddle runs before she comes back for another throw. On the plus side – this actually does wear her out so she sleeps HARD.
What is life like since you rescued these three? Demo was my first pittie mix. I have always had rescues but his siblings at the time where a Doberman mix, a husky mix and a retriever mix. He was the littlest of the group but he was just SO happy – ALL THE TIME. Everywhere we went he was smiling, and he really showed me that all that crap you see in the media is just that…crap. These are amazing dogs and everyone everywhere we go loves him and asks about him. He is truly my soul puppy.
Elwood Blues took more getting used to than Demo. He is more rambunctious and because he looks more like a “tough pit” he gets a lot more hurtful comments than the others. Which is RIDICULOUS because he is such a lovebug. He doesn’t seem to have had a great first few months of life as he has the scars, his ears are pretty butchered and he has a ruptured saliva gland (according to the vet). He is petrified of fire, loud noises and the toaster so I skip any holidays with fireworks so I can be home with him.
Twitch loves the couch – sitting, laying, sleeping always on the couch. I think after being in the kennel for so long she just loves the softness. Surprisingly she still does good in a crate during the day but she loves the couch. As far as the rest of the group, it took some adjusting to get used to her energy level for the boys but now they play with her as long as they want and then they ignore her and we play ball again…maybe I just need one more high energy dog….hhhmmm…..
Photographers Note: So this was our last photo shoot before the world went on pause and what an eventful one it was. First of all whenever you have multiple dogs it’s bound to be a little crazy and then adding to that a remote location; well these three couldn’t have been better volunteers. They had a blast swimming and playing ball, when we asked them to get together and pose they would take a break from their activities and comply (with treat encouragement of course, they aren’t crazy). They really were such a pleasure to photograph. The fact that Terra ended up “in the drink” (see Facebook/Instagram posts from this date), made it even more memorable. On top of a great photo shoot day, their stories are wonderful examples of every dog is an individual and also educating the public about these amazing dogs. All three had a rough start but now this motley “get along gang” are where they belong.
The Get Along Gang!