JUNE 29, 2022
The soul of Motoworks shines like the vintage motorcycles being revived there, and was founded by my extraordinary friend Brooke on principles of learning, teaching, growing, and sharing. Its membership, ripe with knowledge and capability, respects the humanity of all learners — women and kids especially— and advocates for rider safety, proper bike maintenance, and nurtures a culture of teamwork. They promote learning to work on your own bike under the tutelage of seasoned mechanics who are as passionate about their sport as they are about sharing their collective and vast knowledge with anyone who wants to learn.
It is no surprise I’ve met only kind, dog-loving men and women there. I often bring rehab dogs to build new associations and do training activities. The membership has always supported and welcomed every canine on my leash. They eagerly learned to feed bottle babies and have socialized lots of weaned puppies to boot. Canines are as safe at Motoworks as women who want to weld. They’ve supported me in my mission to help forgotten dogs and even taught me how to throw darts. I owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude.
And I got to give back when Brooke, who delights in all his dog sitting gigs, agreed to babysit someone’s medical foster for the weekend, and was, let us just say, misled about the care routine ….
Gruffy has been hanging at the shop intermittently for some time, and I had already fallen in love with him by the time he came to stay for the weekend. He was found in the middle of the road with his two-year-old human, protecting the toddler with his life. The police had to taze Gruffy in order to get the baby from him. Both went to foster care.
Gruffy is my hero. He knew the tiny child wasn’t safe without him. He’s also the sweetest, wiggly butt, happy dog. He follows commands, he walks well on a leash, he is polite and is a delightful companion in the car. But he also has a really infected scrotum. We knew he was taking meds for diarrhea, but his overnight bag also contained medicated wipes, 3 tubes of ointment, gloves, and Brooke realized….it was his job to care for Gruffy’s scruffy balls.
The text to his buddy who lined up the gig read, “Twice-daily, topical ball-sack ointment!?!?!?!!!! I smell intentional lack of disclosure!!”
But lucky for Brooke AND Gruffy, this mom popped in the building at just the right time and knew there was no one better suited for canine scrotal maintenance than myself, so I volunteered. For the duration of his stay, I went to see Gruffy twice a day. I gave him and his balls the VIP treatment while Brooke fed him chicken and thanked me profusely.
I brought a proper dog bed to the shop, so my hero’s tattered testicles would have a soft place to rest. I cleaned the nards and slathered the nards, and I fashioned a swaddle out of the stockinette from a finger dressing. Gruffy was the sweetest patient.
Gruffy will be looking for a home after he’s healed and snipped. If anyone feels a connection to this exceptional, middle age boy, please get in touch and I can facilitate a meet and greet with his foster.
