My friend Roger

Roger has been a part of our household for sometime now. He was a stray that we kind of adopted. No he didn't follow us home and although we didn't see him, we know that he was just hanging around. He doesn't make a lot of noise, so that helps in his chances of being accepted into the family. He hardly complains, but he'll let you know when he's upset. He is not the first that we tried to adopt, only the longest. Believe me, I am not an Angelina Jolie, but I do already have two dogs, two cats, and a plethora of geckos that my cat Elvis loves to play with! The first animal we adopted was a dog my son named Scooby. When I would come home from work she would be hanging around the front door. I would get out of my truck and chase her away because I didn't want a stray hanging around. This went on for about a week, until my wife mentioned that she and my oldest son would feed her scraps of food, and that the dog was "really friendly". So while I was chasing the dog away, I was unaware they were coaxing her back. It's no wonder that she kept hanging around the house. It's hard to say no to your young son asking to keep her. Sadly she unexpectedly passed. Then came Elvis and Maxine. On a visit to the vet, and my oldest son saw a litter of kittens. That's all it took. You can only take a bombardment of pleases for so long.
The next one to join the family was Jafjaf. She was just a puppy when we went to GAIN to get her. One of the volunteers working there told us that she would make a good indoor dog because she will stay small. Wrong. She didn't stay small, but I guess compared to a Bull Mastiff she is. Inu was the next one to make it in. My wife wanted a lap dog after a recent trip to San Diego. We went to visit her best friend and her family in Lakeside, and they had a teacup terrier. My wife immediately fell in love with it. Soon after we came back to Guam, I had to take Jafjaf to the Isla vet, and one of the staff walked out with a Chihuahua mix in her arms. He was a chocolate brown color with big "please take me home" eyes. A good Samaritan found him on the side of the road by with a broken leg. He was a victim of animal abuse. Wanting to score points with my wife, I took a picture of him and emailed it to her. What a dummy I was. When we got him home we named him Inu which means “dog” in Japanese. We should have named him drip instead. Every time you try to pet or hold him he would run back to his crate with his tail between his legs leaving a trail of pee behind him. He has acclimated, but he still drips when he gets excited. I should invest in Sham Wow's.
That brings us back to Roger. I first met Roger at my neighbors house. He was sleeping under a big piece of concrete. I slowly approached him trying not to wake him because if he did wake he would have been gone in a heartbeat. I tell you, trying to wrangle a creature like Roger is not an easy task, he would squirm all over trying to escape. Once I was able to "break" him, he and I just clicked. We always hang out together, and I try my best to offer him things to do so he doesn't go stir crazy in his makeshift bird cage home. I often let him out to frolic in the yard. Once I took him to the chiropractor to get his spine adjusted which took a pretty long time, for according to Dr. Scott, he had an unusual amount of vertebrae that needed adjustment, and like I said, Roger will let you know when he is displeased. I tried to take him out to dinner, but the proprietor adamantly refused our entrance. Short of saying we don't serve his kind around here, she said that he won't sit so well with the other customers. Kinda silly if you really think about the irony of it all. Besides that, Roger does not always eat a lot, but he does have a real weakness for Spam and Rice. It may be because of his size that she thought that he would eat everything in sight. I took him to the beach once, and we did get an awful amount of stares. Now I know Roger is not the most handsome kid on the block, but he does have a nice personality once you get to know him. We forgot the sunscreen that day so we didn't stay long and he still managed to get burned. A few days later he started to peel like a snake. Literally. Dead skin every where. "Yucky", my 2 year old daughter would say. She likes Roger. Every day she asks to see him and give him water. Now that Roger is a part of our family, my children love to introduce him to their friends. When we barbecue, Roger is right there with me curiously watching me grill the food. One thing I don't have to worry about with Roger, is him stealing my food, unlike Jafjaf who once stole two rib eye steaks off the kitchen counter!


NOTE: Dr. Scott did not really adjust Roger. He did this all in good fun.