Lessons From Lion-O: Don’t Let Your Past Define You

A couple of years ago my dad and I rescued an abandoned Border Collie from a very neglectful situation. Lion-O came to my dad after the death of his trusty Airedale Terrier, Chewbacca. At the time, my dad wanted to help Lion-O, but didn’t know if he was ready to take in a new dog just a couple of weeks after Chewy’s death.

“Let’s just go get him,” I said. And we did.

Neglect may be too light of a term for what was happening to Lion-O. He was downright disgusting when we brought him home. His skin was flaking off, all of his bones were very visible, and patches of hair were missing. It took several rounds of bathing before the water finally ran clean. When taken to the vet, he had to be treated for nearly every parasite. He was a mere 25 pounds. His teeth had grown so long that you could feel them when you rubbed his chin. He walked with a hunch and dragged one of his back feet (he still does this), likely, the vet said, from being hit and never treated.

Over time, Lion-O grew strong and healthy. His coat became soft, his hair grew back in, he put on a bit of weight, and slowly he began to trust humans again. Even in the beginning, we wanted to see if he would be okay around other dogs, so we began walking Caesar and Lion-O together.

I don’t know if it’s the herding dog in him or the fact that he had to learn to defend himself, but Lion-O would occasionally take a couple of stabs at Caesar’s rear end when he wasn’t looking. Luckily, Caesar is a gentle dog with others; he’d tuck his tail and quickly dodge Lion-O’s nips, with no desire to fight back.

My dad and I walk our dogs together quite often–several times a week. It wasn’t until this week, however, that I realized how far Lion-O had come with Caesar. Caesar ran right into him while trying to make his way to water earlier this week, and instead of taking a chomp out of Caesar’s butt, Lion-O put his head up and walked away. Then, just yesterday, as Lion-O was trying to receive a treat from me, he stomped right over Caesar, not caring that he was so close. Several times this week Caesar has walked too slowly in front of Lion-O, giving Lion-O the chance to nip if he wanted, but he hasn’t.

He’s certainly come a long way.

We don’t know how old Lion-O is. He’s at least five years old, but he could be much older. His face is aged and his eyes are glazed over. He looks like an old soul, and likely appears even older due to his previous living conditions.

Lion-O came from a bad place, but now he lives a better life than most humans. He’s goes on vacations to Tennessee, rides around all day in the car with my dad, eats actual dog food (and probably a lot of human food), and is well taken care of. When my dad leaves a room, Lion-O is quick to follow, making sure his human doesn’t go too far.

At our local Humane Society shelter, we don’t euthanize dogs for space or because they have been at the shelter for a long time. One of my friends at the shelter always says, “Dogs don’t sit around and think of all the bad times they had before. When they get adopted, they are just happy in the moment.” Lion-O is a perfect example of this. He could be cold toward humans and Caesar, but instead he’s very loving and has even learned that Caesar is a friend. Overtime, and with a lot of training, positive reinforcement, and commitment, we’ve been able to show Lion-O that Caesar isn’t going to hurt him, so there is no need to try to bite his butt.

Rescuing a dog is such a fantastic feeling, but there is an understanding that comes with it that I think we can also relate to humans – not everyone has a fantastic past and we must try to understand that when they do something we don’t like, maybe there is a reason; maybe there was a time when they were hurt and this was the only way they could respond.

But we must also remember that it’s never too late to change and we don’t have to let our bad past experiences continue to define us. Like Lion-O, everyone has the capability to learn new things in life and realize that not everyone is out to hurt you; there are good people in the world, and when we find them, we must learn to trust them. Be like Lion-O: be kind and forgiving, and allow people to show you that there is good in the world.