Malcolm's Story
Not going to lie, I fell in love with Malcolm through a picture online. I hate insta-love stories but that's pretty much how it went.
We had lost our Aussie mix to cancer about 4 months prior and our Schnauzer, Riker, was starting to show signs of being bored and lonely. It was time to fill that void for all of us. After about a month of searching I came across Mal's (Duke's) spotty terrier face on your website. Due to my partiality to merle dogs and our love of Schnauzers, I was hooked instantly. I drove over to the Benbrook shelter the next morning and snagged him the second the doors opened. We spent a good hour in the "getting to know you" room and Riker didn't hate him. Kennels make him extremely nervous, so that was about as good as I was going to get with him that day. I absolutely adored Mal and he seemed to feel the same so I said yes and we went home.
He fell right into step in the household. He and Riker played nonstop, the cat didn't hate him and he LOVED the kids. He did chew up the carpet and a couple of baseboards but he was only 4 months old so the fact that that was the worst of our issues was actually pretty great. He is a smart little guy so a couple of chew toys and some extra training cured him pretty fast. He quickly became my shadow. If I'm not on the move he is usually found at my feet, on my lap or perched on the back of the couch behind my head.
About a year after we adopted him, my husband had a Great Pyrenees show up in the parking lot at work so I went and got her. The plan was to either find her owners or get her fixed up and adopt her out. She was skinny, cold and terrified and Mal welcomed her into the house with open "arms" and immediately fell in love with her. I think he was a driving force in her learning to trust humans again and we didn't have the heart to separate them after an unsuccessful two-month search for her owners.
This year he got to take his first camping trip. He was pretty confused by the whole situation but did great. He was quiet, polite to the neighbor dogs and figured out that kids drop a lot more food while camping! He also learned how to sit quietly in a kayak and how to stay within proper range while hiking off leash. His second camping adventure taught to carry his own backpack which he loved, that you can play in the water instead of just running through it and that dad picks sand burs out faster than mom does. We've hiked a few more times and he's really grown to love everything but the long car ride to the trails.
We will celebrate our three year anniversary with Mal in a couple of months and I can't imagine life without him. He is a pretty spectacular little mutt and I can't wait to see what other adventures we have together.
Thank you HSNT!!
