Before I start I just have to say please forgive me for the lack of posts – as many of you probably know, I am a teacher and it is always hectic at the end of the school year! On top of that, I was finishing up three graduate courses and focusing all of my free time on my photography.
Recently, I assisted pet photographer Joseph Frazz, on a shoot that he donated his time and services to at Eleventh Hour Rescue (EHR) in Randolph, NJ. Joe was photographing the beautiful Mocha-Chino. While getting tips from Joe and helping him to get Mocha’s attention, I also took some of my own photos, which I will show throughout this post.
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| happy to be out of the kennel |
Mocha is a beautiful pittie mix who has been with Eleventh Hour for 2 years and 3 months. She was about 1 year old when she came to the shelter, and is about 3 now. While we’re not sure where Mocha was before coming to EHR, the story is that someone witnessed her being thrown from a moving vehicle (cue my intense rant about how much I f$&#ing hate people).
Hearing that, you may not be surprised to learn that Mocha is weary of “strangers” (new people) at first. While she is nervous around both men and women, it is more so men. Generally, Mocha needs to meet someone 2-3 times before she lets her guard down and feels comfortable letting you touch her. Yet with just a little bit of time, she will love you more than you could imagine.
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| Mocha loves her some Aunt Michelle! |
Mocha is what many shelters call ‘dog selective’, meaning that while she isn’t ‘dog aggressive’ (aggressive with all dogs she meets), she needs to be introduced to other dogs properly and safely to see if they get along.
Michelle - who I may have mentioned in my first post as she helped me to adopt Madison – has a soft spot in her heart for Mocha and works closely with her to help to train Mocha and let her see just how great people can be – how loving, and trusting, and wonderful we really are. Mocha has made drastic changes in the years she has been at the kennel, and has become so much more trusting of people.
At the photo shoot, I quickly learned that Mocha is nothing like Madison, in that Madison would give up anything to be able to chase a tennis ball, and she’d go all day, while Mocha couldn’t be less interested in chasing a ball. I was also amazed to see how well Mocha took to Joe and I (more so me, not to brag or anything ;-) hehe). Leaving Mocha alone, just letting her do her thing while we were present, Mocha would come up to Joe and I, sometimes jumping up to sniff our arm or lick us, or she would come right over and sit on my legs, allowing me to pet her. It was so nice to see how happy Michelle was to see Mocha’s progress, and I was so honored to have it happen with me!
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| my face... haha |
A few days after the shoot, I returned to the kennel with Michelle to take Mocha out, so that she could get used to me and I could be another person to take her out of the kennel. (Michelle often takes Mocha out during the week, but can’t get there on the weekends. I’m super close to the kennel and usually have my weekends free, so it works out perfectly!) Walking up to her kennel, I noticed a couple things: Mocha loves her “stuffys” and likes to show them to whoever comes up to her, and she smiled when she saw Michelle – something Michelle says she does every time she is able to go get her out of the kennel.
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| Mocha liked the "stuffy" that Joe brought so much that he let her keep it :) |
Mocha immediately did well with me, she must have remembered me. Michelle and I decided to take her over to my house to run around in my huge fenced-in backyard, as opposed to taking her to the park where she’d have to be leashed. Mocha was loving the freedom – there was a lot of sniffing and running around going on. Interestingly, Mocha also went right up to the slider doors to the basement, where my dogs were on the other side of, as well as the slider doors to the deck, where Jordan’s parents’ dogs were on the other end of. I think she wanted to play!
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| running free in the "run" at the kennel |
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| enjoying the fresh grass at my house - "you're not a cow, Mocha! Stop eating the grass!" |
Aside from sniffing around, Mocha would often “check back” with Michelle (or sometimes me!) to be pet or to snuggle up to us. I could tell that Mocha loves to snuggle up next to her people, which Michelle confirmed – she just wants to be near you. When I drove Mocha to my house from the kennel, she was leaning next to me the entire ride, while I pet her, trying to sneak in some kisses.
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| Mocha and I relaxing on my swing |
I can’t understand why Mocha is still at the kennel after all this time – no dog should live their life in a cage, let alone one as sweet as Mocha. It seems that the biggest issue has been that she is ‘dog selective’. A lot of the people who are looking to adopt Mocha already have dogs. Mocha is working to get over her fear of other dogs, just as she has worked on her fear of new people. Mocha has fans everywhere -- a trainer in Sparta has kindly offered to dog test anyone who has a dog that may be interested in adopting Mocha to see how they get along. Also, once adopted, she has offered 3 free training sessions – awesome!
However, if you would love for Mocha to be the “top dog” of your house, and are interested in her, please, check this sweetie out by contacting myself, Michelle (I can pass any inquiries along to her), or Eleventh Hour Rescue. You won’t be sorry – Mocha is loving, snuggly, and just adorably playful and is just patiently waiting for her fur-ever family.
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| silly little girl was rolling around in the grass like a crazed animal |
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| will you be my fur-ever human? |