Origin Stories: Archie and Gigi

Hello WalkTail Hour Community,

We are excited to bring you our next set of Origin Stories.  Meet 2 very lucky (and very handsome) pups, Archie and Gidget.  These are 2 very different dogs with the same awesome humans. 
Read their stories below and show them some love in the comments section!

Archie

I never meant to keep little Archibald. I grew up with big dogs that hiked and ran and played tug with us. They pulled us on sleds in the winter and forged trails for us in the summer. We were big dog people. Little dogs were like what my uncle had. Scruffy, Buffy, and Fluffy. Some kind of shit-poo mix that yapped and bit and peed in the house, but no one really cared because they were small. Small annoyances. That's how I always thought of little dogs.

Then I met Archibald. He was part of a surrendered litter of puppies on the death list at a local shelter. They were all about four weeks old and maybe four pounds each. I saw his picture in a friend's Facebook post asking for fosters. They were supposed to be purebred Shih Tzu puppies, and given his general Shih-zy appearance, I'm inclined to believe the assessment. My apartment didn't allow dogs, but I figured I could sneak a small breed puppy in for a few days, so I inquired. A few short hours later, I was driving home with a rental crate, free food, some toys, and a teeny tiny puppy.
I told everyone on the day I picked him up that I was just his foster, and there was no way, NO WAY he’d move in full-time. I told my mom that when I was driving to pick him up. I told my coworkers he wasn’t mine when I brought him back to the office and had our photo department take some pictures of him for his adoption profile. I told my brother he definitely wasn’t staying with me when I dropped him off at his apartment so I could make a barre class that night. I told the Petsmart employee that he was “just a foster” as I bought him Sleep Lion, a toy he still has, but at the time was meant to be a souvenir of our time together.  
But, against my plans, he managed to wiggle his way into my life by being easy, sweet, cute, and little. He was small enough to fit in my purse when I went out at night. He was small enough to fit in the corner of my bedroom during the day, causing me no need to rearrange. He was small enough to live in my previously dog-free apartment because, in the words of my landlord, "he can't do much damage." He was, and still is, small enough to fly home for holidays so I almost never board him. He just fit. Despite the fact, and also because, he was small.
So now I have a small dog. A fluffy, small dog who wiggles instead of walks. When he tries to run, he ends up hop-prancing with enthusiasm but little speed. With all that work and so little output, he can't be counted on to complete a long stroll, let alone a run. He's not a yappy dog (Shih Tzus are known for their even tempers) but his bark isn't intimidating anyone. And why would it? He can't guard anything. No one is safer in his presence unless you fear loneliness. Which leads me to:


Gidget (Gigi)
My first dog happened to be a little guy. And while he’s great for lots of little reasons, he wasn’t the dog I pictured coming home to and definitely wasn’t who my partner, Colin, planned to see at the end of a long day. Colin is a handsome, athletic man who stands 6 feet tall and climbs fourteeners in his spare time. He runs and camps and climbs, and when he moved to Denver to do more of that, there is no way he pictured coming home to a girl who hates beer and dotes on a Shih Tzu.
I'm sure when he was packing his car to move from the mean streets of Boston, he pictured meeting a girl with a favorite brewery who thought camping was fun instead of needlessly filthy. The kind of girl who woke up at 7AM for a 'mid-morning' hike and then took her golden retriever to brunch at some pub in Denver.
I am not that girl, and Archie will never be that dog. He's an oft-stinky Shih Tzu with teeny paws and a small, misshapen skull. And Colin loves him. He didn't want to, and there are plenty of stories about how they came to be boy and dog, but he loves that little Shih and would do anything for him.
A few years ago we all moved to an LA apartment complex a short walk from the beach. The three of us walk along the sand, and Archie races after a little ball, terrified of the ocean but loving the freedom and the dog-like activity we're all doing. But by the walk back, his little legs are spent, his tiny flat face is overused, and he needs a lift. Not exactly what either of us, especially Colin, pictured when we imagined life with a dog.
When we moved to the first floor of our apartment building, we noticed another thing our little guy didn’t excel at. While he was a brilliant alarm system for every hallway noise, he wasn’t offering much protection. His voice doesn’t really fill anyone with fear, and god forbid they see him.
So we started looking for a bigger dog that would love long walks and keep oddballs at bay. We fostered a pair of shepherd-looking puppies, but in addition to them being ‘part husky,’ they looked pretty small, and we didn’t need another petite alarm system. We then tried a large, older pit mix who stole our hearts but couldn’t win Archie over.
Finally, after stalking the rescue intake list, I noticed a big, soulful-looking pregnant pitty. As soon as the “Space Litter” was ready for puppy fosters, I was in a car to pick up two puppies in hopes one of them could win all of us over.

“Constellation” and “Meteor” bowled their way into our home in the summer of 2020 when we had plenty of time, which was a good thing because the two of them were… a lot. They never managed to sleep at the same time and delighted in ripping up the pee pads we tried to cover our home with. But the sleepless double-puppy nights were worth it because our beloved Archie got to pick his new housemate, and he had a clear favorite. While he tolerated the little boy, Archie clearly liked the spotted little girl. He ran after her and taught her how to play tug and wrestled with her as long as we would let them. They were about the same size and she made an excellent, ever-submissive sister.

Meteor found his own forever family, and we immediately changed our new puppy’s name to Gidget, after another famous beach babe. Archie showed Gidget how to race around the beach and why it’s important not to turn your back on the waves. Colin taught her the best route to the coffee shop and who to make eyes at for free snacks. I of course, taught her the best outfit for afternoon naps and where to find a pearl collar online. She managed to get a lot bigger than Archie agreed to, but he still keeps her in line. And now when he alerts the house to danger, we’re all pretty sure she can handle it.

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