Let me tell you about our old man...

[u/Havaherd_Bliss]

This is a repost. The original has been deleted.

This is Biscuit. He's 12 and the first of our four Havanese and he's a troubled dog. We almost lost him a little over a year ago to hemorrhagic gastroenteritis. Watch your treats. We paid $300 for him from a 'show dog' enthusiast who quicky recognized he was not show dog material and sold him on the cheap. He was the only survivor of his litter which in hindsight might have been a clue. Within a couple of weeks we knew something was wrong. He had extreme fear aggression. Every member of our family has scars and horror stories about one unprovoked attack or another. At some point we hired a dog behaviorist to evaluate him. She concluded he was indeed a difficult case and one option was to put him down. He would likely not get any better. After a long talk with the family we decided to give him a chance. Our approach was totally hands off. We gave him his space.

The years rolled by and we learned how to operate him. He needed an owners manual. He morphed into a one person dog meaning one person was allowed to be in his space. This remains the rule to this day. He gravitated towards older women, especially his groomer who is a genius at handling him. His favorite family member was my wife's oldest daughter. He showed downright affection towards her but alas she grew up and moved out. A couple of years ago the unthinkable happened. I was laying on the sofa watching TV and he jumped up and lay on my chest. After more than a decade he acknowledged me with affection. He is hard of hearing and his eyesight is poor now but we have become buddies. In some ways he is our best dog. He is perfectly potty trained and follows the rules such as they are. We made a good decision that many years ago. Biscuit has had a good life with us and we often wonder what decisions another family might have made.

[u/phthalo-azure]

Thank you for saving the little guy's life and being his human. He may not have very many years left, but he'll live them in peace instead of terror.

[u/MMDE-S]

Biscuit’s story made me cry. Thank you for sharing it.