Poor Little Yoshi

Yoshi is my dog. Well, technically, he is Ben’s dog, but seeing how the little guy follows me everywhere, I claim him as my own. He’s an adorable little fella – half Shih Tzu and half Havanese – and just a little ball of sweetness. He has a bark that’s bigger than he is (all 10 pounds of him) and he loves to eat paper, fetch tennis balls, and groom our cat, George. He’s an awesome dog.

Isn’t he ADORABLE?

So, why is this post titled “Poor Little Yoshi” you might ask? Well, because the adorable little pup is getting neutered today. Go ahead, men. You can cringe.

I woke up before the crack of dawn to get him to the site of the mobile neutering clinic. I’m not kidding. The Denver Dumb Friends League has a mobile unit that travels around the metro Denver area holding these spay/neuter clinics for pets that have owners with no money. We certainly fall into that category.

See exhibit A for proof of the mobile unit:

There’s always a GIGANTIC line at these “get-togethers”. I know this because I was turned away from one of these mobile sites a couple of weeks ago. Getting up at a ridiculous hour to beat the crowd was mandatory if I wanted to have access to the low cost neutering clinic.

As I mentioned earlier, the mobile unit travels around the metro area giving people in a variety of locations the opportunity to take advantage of the clinic. They have several a week, but it’s not always in a convenient location. The clinic I was turned away from a couple of weeks ago was at a strip mall in Aurora (the city I live in), so it was disappointing to miss that one. Of course, there were a couple of Aurora clinics while Ben and I were in New York. Seeing how the next Aurora clinic is weeks away, I had to travel a bit this morning to Denver Proper, about 30 minutes from the house. The locale was NOT a strip mall this time. It was… wait for it…

I’m not kidding. We all had to line up outside of a McDonald’s in a not-so-nice area of Denver. I wasn’t very excited. It was cold. Yoshi was shaking. I was tired. The parking lot was filled with what had to be at least 50 dogs. And, of course, I stepped right in a colossal pile of dog poop.

After two hours of waiting and scraping my right foot against every curb available, Yoshi finally boarded the mobile unit. I felt a little bit bad about what was going to happen to my fine young pup, but it needs to happen. He seems to think he’s a big dog and had the attitude to go with it. I left a trembling Yoshi in a cage on the big bus. He whimpered as I exited, which was a very tough moment for me.

But even tougher was getting back into my van after two hours out in the cold. I turned my heater on high and started to relax. At least until the smell of heated dog poop wafted up from the bottom of my shoe. I tried with all my might to air it out on the way home, but I couldn’t get past the smell. I also couldn’t get past that it was still only eight o’clock in the morning. This was shaping up to be a painfully long day.

I’m currently waiting to hear from the mobile unit as to when I can pick up my emasculated puppy.

So that’s the exciting adventure of Yoshi going to get neutered at McDonald’s. I highly advise you to avoid the Chicken McNuggets.