Meet Silvio Dante

Silvio Dante after a bath

Silvio Dante arrived at the Farnival two days ago on an unusually cool but beautiful spring afternoon after severe thunderstorms had just blown through Middle Tennessee. Now, as I’m thinking about it, it strikes me that Silvio must have lived outside in all of that thunder, wind, lightning, and rain, enough rain to flood the creeks, and the thought bothers me, even though I’m perfectly aware that thousands of dogs live in the elements everyday.

Silvio is an eight-month-old gentle giant disguised as a mutt – half red coon and half blue tick hound dog, meaning he’s the most interesting looking dog I’ve ever seen. His coat reminds me of a calico cat’s, a gray, black, white, brown mixture. He’s big too, fifty-five pounds with a wide flank, extra-long ears, and a droopy neck. I’m guessing he’ll be close to seventy pounds by the time he finishes growing, maybe eighty if his paws are any indication.

Until he arrived here, he had never been under a roof. The family that cared for him kept him in a pen where they fed, watered, and visited him for a few brief minutes daily, but otherwise he was isolated. The more dogs I foster in the rural south, the more I’ve come to realize that “keeping a dog in a pen” isn’t as unusual as it should be. In fact, it’s normal. The sad part is when these dogs get out of their pens, either because they’ve broken out or been surrendered, their survival skills, socially or in the wild, are zero.

Surprised by everything from a television set to a squeaking door, Silvio tiptoes around the house on paws the size of paddles. We’re taking him for his first walk this morning, so he should start “blossoming” within the next week, meaning he’ll start to reveal who he really is. Who are you, Silvio Dante? I can’t wait to find out.

It normally takes the skittish and confused dogs a few days to “blossom,” but once their personalities start shining through all the nervousness of adjusting to a new home (with an entire pack of dogs) it’s like watching a sunflower bloom, a beautiful and surprising thing to witness, and probably my favorite part of fostering dogs.