Meet Colton. He is a poodle with a past. The story of this fluffy little white dog is not clearly visible in black and white terms. It instead has shades of gray.

Here’s what can be seen or told regarding Colton. Something (much more likely multiple things) happened in his life which made him the way he is today. He is scared. Colton seems torn between wanting to be loved, and being truly afraid of getting hurt. You don’t have to be a poodle to understand.

Just think of yourself at a time in your life when you had your heart broken. You lived with the pain and relived the memories, good, bad, and indifferent. You carried emotional baggage. Eventually, there came (or hopefully will come) a time when you return to feeling ready for someone new to love you. But it’s easy to still feel afraid of getting hurt again. Isn’t it boys and girls?

This seems to be where Colton is in his life.

I’m nowhere near being in the same league with the experienced angels at Barb’s Dog Rescue. But I’m good around dogs. (My best personal magic touch is with infants). Long ago, women used to like me, too. : ) Anyway, I digress.

In shooting video and photos of Colton, I noticed this cute little guy will seriously size up people if they enter his area on the east side of Barb’s Dog Rescue in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico. I watched him watch me and others.

Once Colton saw a group of his friends interact with me and like it, he would join in with the other dogs. Then, he would even come back to me by himself.

Yet, it was all on his terms.

Colton would sniff me if I didn’t give him any attention. I would stand still and pretend he wasn’t close to me. But if I gently and slowly tried to pet him or even crouch down to connect with him, Colton would back off. Literally. He would back off. He wouldn’t turn around and run away. He would back away step by step, and not take his eyes off me. Even when he walked clear across the yard, he would still watch me at a distance where I could never reach him.

If I focused on other dogs, or chatted with Barbara Mumaugh or other people at the rescue, Colton would make his way back.

It makes you wonder, “What the heck happened to Colton?”

It makes you think, “If the right person could be patient with him, Colton might one day soon be ready to let down his guard. Then, he could back away from feeling the fear which was surely warranted, and get busy on catching up on the love he really wants and deserves.”

Please click here if you would like to donate to support Colton at Barb’s Dog Rescue in Rocky Point.