Michael is a troll, there is no nice way to put it. He is mean and nasty with the other dogs and is utterly harmless. Michael is a cardiac and arthritic cripple. His mind and his body were twisted from sixteen years on a chain. The most common sounds around here are Michael's growling, snarling. snapping and complaining as the other dogs move around in his vicinity, and the volunteers telling him to be nice. Michael is not senile however, he knows he can terrorize the little guys and he knows he stands a 50% chance of winning an airsnapping contest with Ozzie, but does he make a sound of protest when Tyra or Jazz or Lexie walk thru the room? Not a peep. He quietly watches their passage thru his domain. Should Ozzie suddenly get the upper hand in their encounters, he instantly switches from the big bad wolf to crying, distraught victim (his feelings get easily hurt). Jean put it best, he is like Uriah Heep in David Copperfield or Gollum in the Lord of the Rings. He is just a sad, twisted creature and we love him to bits. The sight of Micheal toddering in twisted high speed to get out the door and pee real quick, makes us smile. And the sight of his caving, wrecked body, wobbling at the door while he frantically tries to lick it open when he is finished, breaks our hearts. Michael panics in an old crippled sort of way if he thinks he can't get back in. He is so happy when we get there to open it so he can rush back in. I know Michael hated being ouside all alone for sixteen long years, there are only two things he is afraid of in this big scarey world, being hurt by anyone or anything or being alone with his grumpy old self. We probably won't find Michael a home of his very own before his journey is done but if we could, I think he would enjoy laying down his armor of grumpiness, he is so old and it's burden is so heavy for him now.
Butch who had spent less than 2 years of his life outside was like Micheal. It took him a long time to get use to the backyard. He would dart outside take his pee break and then run back in. He finally started to enjoy the back yard and then Leila left him there for an hour one day while she was in the front yard. He never forgave her and he went back to running out peeing and running back inside.
Bonnie,on the otherhand, (who spent five whole years of her life in a blocked off pen) when stressed, only wanted to be outside. She could spend hours out there and in the evening we would have to beg, cajole, bribe, or trick her to come in. She was one stubborn chow mix.