A Guy and His Dogs: Rick, Oscar & Tiki.

Instead of the usual "A Girl and her Dog" monthly feature, I wanted to switch it up a bit and showcase this trio from New York City for the month of August.

This is Rick, Oscar and Tiki, and together they sort of take the Lower East Side by storm. Rick has such a beautiful way of telling his story of his rescue dogs, one with special needs, and I wanted to invite him to share on the blog. I'm very  thankful and touched that he agreed to so. 

Before we get more into their story, I wanted to give a quick mention of some hopeful news on Oscar's front that Rick talks a bit more about below. I have definitely donated and hope you'll take a moment to learn about his story, share with your family and friends and donate if you feel compelled to. 

Here is all about Rick, Oscar and Tiki: 

The guy: Rick Van Benschoten
The dogs: Both were full-grown adoptions so we're not really sure, but Oscar seems to have a good amount of dachshund and a healthy dose of chihuahua, with maybe some corgi or jack russell terrier thrown in. Tiki's even more mysterious, but her rescuers guessed chihuahua (which I see in her face) and beagle.

Rick's favorite snack: A good expresso. Mmmmm, expresso. 

Oscar and Tiki's favorite snack: Grammy's Pot Pie Biscuits

From: Lower East Side, New York, NY

Find them on Instagram: @oxdad 

My girlfriend, Christian, and I have always had rescue pets, but we never went looking for them, they always somehow came to us. We were bringing our elderly cat, Cassady, to the vet when we met Oscar. Our vet's rescue group, NY Pet-I-Care, had saved him from the NYACC euthanasia list after ACC picked him up off the street where he was abandoned, paralyzed. 

When we met him he was playing with 7 or so other animals (I think it was recess for the boarders) and he was incredibly happy and high-spirited with that huge smile, totally unbothered by his limp little legs dragging behind him. We fell in love but weren't sure we were ready for a special-needs pet. Then a few days later we both realized we'd been Googling things like "dog wheelchair" behind each other's backs. Thank goodness we adopted him, because he turned out to be the most amazing, inspirational guy we've ever known. He's always happy and passionate to play, run, explore and socialize. His physical needs took a little time to adjust to, but it all quickly became second nature, and the truth is, we've had emotionally damaged animals with issues that were more challenging than Oscar's. Every day he's a joy to us and so many people that we meet. He's a heart-stealer. In September he travels with his mom to the Clinical Trial for Paralyzed Dogs. They'll be taking four weeklong trips to Ames, Iowa over 6 months and our great hope is that Oscar will be able to walk again.

We were wondering about adopting a second dog to join Oscar on walks and trips to the park, but before we could go looking I met Tiki, a rescue from a high-kill shelter in Kentucky. She was at an adoption event by In Our Hands Rescue, alone in a kennel next to a pen of puppies. Despite her overwhelming adorableness the puppies had a large crowd and she was being totally ignored. I looked at her and she flashed me the most powerful smile - I was dog-zapped. Her smile reminded me of Oscar's, only she was in a cage. After getting her name I kind of staggered away, trying hard to maintain my composure in public. I was a little unsure of committing to the additional responsibility since her needs and Oscar's would be different in a number of ways, but a friend asked me "What will you regret more, getting her or not getting her?" and it was all over. We've had many, many wonderful babies over the years, but more than any of them I feel Tiki thanking me every day for rescuing her. I've never regretted it for a second.

Thank you so much Rick, Oscar & Tiki. 

You can see more of the life they share on Instagram at @oxdad. 

*First five pictures were taken by Milla Chappell. All others by Rick. 


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