HAPPY ENDINGS: KOLU (BABAYANI) & RAZZ

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KOLU with PADDY

Hello Boxer Rescue!

This is some long overdue feedback (with photos) to let you know how wonderful Razz and Kolu (formerly Babayani) are and how much we love them. We adopted Razz a little over two years ago, and Kolu about six months later.

When Razz first came to us, he was very submissive and tentative, but his inner goofball was apparent. His tongue was (and still is) perpetually extended. His first maneuver inside the house was to stare longingly at the couch, and later the bed. Of course, he figured out within minutes that we are complete suckers for a cute face, so he immediately claimed both pieces of furniture as his own. He had a spot of mange about the size of a fist on his hip, and he had a punctured ear drum and severe ear infection because whoever owned him in his prior nightmare life had cropped both of his ears very short. He also had stumpy, yellowed teeth and a rather strange looking build - our vet believes he survived distemper as a pup and that his teeth and bones were malformed as a result. Our vet worked on his ears and put him on medicine for both the ears and the mange. We bought some neem soap and lotion products from a local health food store (neem is great for skin disorders), and then learned just how much he hates baths!! The best part of his agreeing to live with us was that he loved our kids, our cats, and Paddy, our extremely cantankerous Pekinese (also a rescue). As he settled in over the next few months, we began to realize that he needed a sibling his own size; the cats were just not good at playing "chase", and Paddy had a superiority complex. So, we took a look at the website again.

Because Razz is very submissive with other dogs and, despite being very high energy, has a very gentle and non-aggressive nature, we knew we would have to match him with a dog who would appreciate his sweet spirit. Lo and behold, we looked at the website and saw a very young dog named Babayani who had just had a mangled leg amputated. He was only four weeks out of surgery and needed a home where he also would not be challenged or treated aggressively by other dogs. (We knew Paddy would be a pain in the neck no matter what, but he's only 10 pounds and has just a handful of teeth, so we said what the heck.) Our wonderful Boxer Rescue volunteer, Joni, was immediately supportive of the idea. We went to pick up our new baby, and the kids said "Babayani" was too long. They re-named him "Kolu", which means "three" in Hawaiian. (In addition to being animal nuts, we are also Hawaii nuts.)

Kolu met Razz for the first time in our backyard. They immediately started playing chase, and Kolu promptly fell in our pool (as did Razz when he first moved in). He looked a bit surprised, but we hauled him out (and we have taught both dogs how to get out on their own, although they have never fallen in again and they both insist they do not like to swim). They spent several hours chasing one another, then ate their dinner, then collapsed next to one another. Clearly, Kolu's missing leg was not going to be a problem at playtime! And it turns out not to be much of a problem otherwise - with a running start, he can jump on our bed and snuggle up next to snoring Razz. More often than not, we have Kolu, Razz, Paddy and two cats on our bed, all sound asleep.

We did not know at the time how very lucky we are that they immediately hit it off - we have found out the hard way that Kolu is dog aggressive with other dogs. After many attempts at socializing him at the dog park, we finally figured out that he is really only happy with his brother Razz and our other pets (Paddy and two cats). Both Razz and Kolu maintain a healthy respect for Paddy, the alpha dog in our house. Kolu has a nervous energy and is very emotional. One of our cats died very unexpectedly at home this past March, and he still hasn't gotten over it. He was frantic the night she died, and he still goes to the spot where she died and whines. He is very, very emotionally tied to everyone (human and animal) in our household. And we love him right back, along with Razz and the others. The three dogs are very comical in appearance, and people who meet them for the first time burst out laughing - Kolu with only three legs, Razz with the permanent tongue hanging out, and Paddy wearing baby diapers because he is incontinent (see, I told you we were animal nuts!).

We are ever so grateful to Boxer Rescue, and especially Joni, for putting Razz and Kolu into our lives. We just love them and we can't imagine them not being here.

Cynthia Hamilton