Name/Age: Murphy, Age 8 (approximately, vet thinks he could be a year or two older.)
Family Members: Joy (human), Serena & Dorian, 2-year-old sibling tuxedo cats adopted from Cobb County Animal Services in January.
How long has Murphy been with the family? It will be 1 year in August.
Profession: Journalist
Location: Atlanta, GA.
Nicknames: Mr. Murphy Lawz
5 words/phrases that best describe Murphy?
Shy
Sweet
Gentle
Sensitive
Patient
What makes Murphy unique? His love of stuffed toys, which he's very gentle with and doesn't destroy. He picks a different one each day to carry around and brings one to bed each night.
You need to earn this boys smile! :)
Rescue Story: Murphy's been through a lot and has the scars to prove it. He was brought into the LifeLine shelter program in late 2020 after being found as a stray on the streets of DeKalb County. He has an eye injury (unknown cause) and broke a tooth on the dog catcher pole.
He was terrified when he came into the shelter, and would hide in the corner of his run. The staff worked with him over the months to the point where they could coax him outside, but he was still painfully shy. You can see him trembling in this video taken at the shelter. They also discovered his love of stuffed toys during this time, which offered him some comfort. Once he was diagnosed with heartworms, the staff made it a priority to get him into a foster home for the treatment phase.
In the two foster homes he was in, Murphy began to blossom and show a bit of his personality. His love of stuffed toys never wavered. After seeing him featured on one of LifeLine's Facebook live adoption events in the summer of 2021, I was moved by his story and how much his foster mom adored him. Even though I always thought of myself as a small dog person, I filled out an application and went to meet him. I adopted him in August 2021 and we quickly bonded. He's the easiest dog I've ever had.
He had a sweet relationship with my senior cat, Rosalie. She died at the end of 2021, and I wish they'd had more time together. But now Murphy is "grandpa" to a couple of young cats who keep him on his toes!
Murphy settling in to his new forever home!
What is your favorite pastime as a family? Playing with his stuffed toys, which he sometimes like to bring on our very slow walks around the neighborhood. (I carry the toys while he sniffs everything!)
What is life like since you rescued Murphy? He definitely has forced me to slow down, be patient and be more content in the present. He's also a great sleeper and that has helped improve my mental health status.
I like to think that Murphy feels safe and loved in his forever home after a rough period fending for himself on the streets and then being in a chaotic animal shelter environment and going through grueling heartworm treatment.
I'm sharing his story so that others might be inspired to give a big shy dog a chance. I did a DNA test on him and he came back as a pit bull/Chow Chow/Lab mix with a handful of other breeds mixed in, including Akita and German shepherd. With that mix he might sound like a "scary dog" but he's really a gentle couch potato.
Social Media: Link to his blog: https://www.murphyslawz.com/
Instagram: @mrmurphylawz
Photographers Note: As mentioned Murphy is a very shy boy. So we took our time getting to know each other before jumping in to photo taking. I sat on the floor talking with Joy and let him take his time; which involved him carrying a huge stuffed spider and peaking around the corner at me. Got some treats out to entice him a bit and funny enough when the cats showed interest and came close, he seem to figure out she wasn’t so bad. He started taking treats from my hand and then I knew I was in. We moved to the back yard and again at first he wasn’t so sure about the whole thing. I thought for sure he would be scared of the camera but he pretty much ignored it, just really didn’t want to be doing any of it. After some time, he relaxed (more treats of course) and even started to pose a bit. When the smile came out, I just left my finger on the shutter and kept taking photo after photo. There is this amazing feeling you get when you have to earn a smile from a shy dog. If people take the time with these dogs and let them lead the way, they will be payed back 1000x over. I can see that in the way Murphy looks at his Mom, just pure love & trust there (illustrated in the photo above).The cherry on the sundae, when we were done he followed me to the door to say goodbye. Then I walked to the car with the biggest smile on my face!