Tito the Wonder Puppy was with me for more than 11 years and Alycia for more than 17 years. Alycia adopted him from the local pound when she was in
college. She has a soft spot in her heart for the unadoptable dogs and
she rationalized that she had to adopt Tito since he'd already been
returned to the pound multiple times for being deaf. Since Tito was
"her" dog before we met, I somewhat jokingly always considered him the step-dog, a dog to whom I have no blood relationship
ties.
As
you can see, Tito at one time was actually a cute little puppy and it's
entirely possible that early on there was no indication of the complete
bastard he would turn out to become. Along with being a bastard Tito was sneaky, devious, jumpy, neurotic, and afflicted with some manner of
Doggy Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, he would constantly lick everything
from walls to furniture to the kitchen floor.
Tito also was empowered with some manner of doggy ESP and knew exactly when I had just fallen asleep, either for an afternoon nap or at night, and would let out a ear piercing bark or two. You can read about his old bedtime routine in Where the Wild Things Sleep, but suffice to say it involved him crawling under the bed directly where my head was and loudly smacking his lips and vociferously exploring his boy-dog parts. Tito has also caused bodily injury to Shadowfax the Puppy as detailed in Puppy's First Stitches.
As you can tell I had very strong feelings about Tito. He almost took off my hand when I tried to get a picture of him (see Dancing with the Devil), bit me more than once, caused me to pull a groin muscle when I
slipped on the kitchen floor that he had been compulsively licking, and perpetrated massive consecutive campaigns of voter fraud upon the
American public in winning the 2011 and 2012 Deaf Dog of the year
contests.
This was Tito in his orange frilly bed. No he didn't care what you thought.
Tito the Wonder Puppy left us in August of 2018. Saying goodby to Tito was one of the most difficult things that we've done. This page will live on in his memory and we'll continue to share old pictures or stories about Tito on our blog. He was truly a one-of-a-kind deaf dog. He was loved and he will be missed.
Tito also was empowered with some manner of doggy ESP and knew exactly when I had just fallen asleep, either for an afternoon nap or at night, and would let out a ear piercing bark or two. You can read about his old bedtime routine in Where the Wild Things Sleep, but suffice to say it involved him crawling under the bed directly where my head was and loudly smacking his lips and vociferously exploring his boy-dog parts. Tito has also caused bodily injury to Shadowfax the Puppy as detailed in Puppy's First Stitches.
Now
the truth is (and you have to promise not to tell anyone) that I
actually loved Tito. He may have been the object of my occasional verbal abuse, which he
couldn't hear anyways, and I used make fun of his proclivity for brightly
colored frilly things (his two favorite dog beds are pink and orange,
frilly, and one says "Princess" on it), but he was actually an OK dog. Sure he would piss me off when he'd bark for no reason and wake me up, but
he actually mellowed with age, and even though it only took 5 or 6
years, he eventually took a shining to me, which was nice. And as I grow older I came to respect the fact that he could still bring it with a Mean Game of Tug of War with Shadowfax the Puppy.
Tito the Wonder Puppy left us in August of 2018. Saying goodby to Tito was one of the most difficult things that we've done. This page will live on in his memory and we'll continue to share old pictures or stories about Tito on our blog. He was truly a one-of-a-kind deaf dog. He was loved and he will be missed.
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