All About Yoto
The Original Poodle
Say "Hello" to Yoto
Born: 21/12/2015 Star Sign: Saggitarius
This is Yoto, and he is in love with me. That's okay because he's not my biological son - I only formally adopted him when he was 6 years old.
Yoto is my soul dog and we've been through a lot together. Watching him become a senior and hearing about the decline of a relative's geriatric dog made me very aware of the mortality and average lifespan and healthspan of our canine companions. Yoto will be turning 9 soon. According to a large scale US survey, the average lifespan of a dog today is 10.4 years. In the 1970s, it was 17.
I don't want Yoto or the Poodle Prince to grow frail or die sooner than is necessary and I'm not going to feign helplessness or any of that bullshit, absolving myself of responsibility with talk of the "genetic lottery" (or the fact that he could get struck by lightning tomorrow, or get hit by a bus or fall down a well! Blah blah fucking blah).
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I've instead invested countless hours researching biohacking and nutrition to buy myself every extra minute I possibly can with my dogs. In his ninth year, Yoto has more energy, strength and endurance than most 5 year old dogs. He can take a 4 hour brisk summer hike without a break and still goad his younger brother to run around and play in the garden the minute we get home. He is vital.
How I Met Yoto
Summer 2019
In summer of 2019, I was fresh out of rehab following a brief flirtation with cocaine addiction, which was fun for the shits and gigs but was necessary to put down once the synapses were burned out and the misery kicked in.
I was living in a halfway house during this period because I needed to give myself some time to figure out what the fuck I was doing and what I should do next.
Well at that time, what I thought I should be doing was dating. I think on a deep level, all of us really want to be loved and that was what I thought I should be searching for - after all, at this point in my life, I had only turned 27 four times already and I'd not had luck with romance.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I met a guy who was a bit of a shady motherfucker and I got sucked in. But he had this great dog who instantly fell in love with me. A sweet, highly emotionally intelligent creature who was so gentle and so desperate for reassurance that he was loved.
How I Came To Adopt Yoto
The relationship with my ex didn't last, but it left a lot of damage. He had chemical addiction issues that I didn't know about when we met and inevitably within the relationship, there was a lot of abuse. The experience left me with PTSD and a trauma bond that was difficult to sever. Additionally, when the relationship ended, it didn't really end you could say - because of Yoto.
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Prior to the breakup, things got bad. I only witnesséd one incidence of serious abuse against Yoto, which I naturally stopped, but about a week after I'd moved out, Yoto came to stay with me and he was a different dog. He had trust issues. He'd gone from being secure enough to be left alone or with friends to being terrified of being abandoned - the minute I closed the door, he would howl and wail like he'd been stabbed and if I tried to leave him with friends, he would do the same.
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It took two years to bring my ex finally to the conclusion that it was better to let me adopt the dog - in the end, he'd posted on a pet group on Facebook that if someone didn't come get him then he'd be going to a shelter. A friend found out and told me and I made the call.
In the two years since then, Yoto has slowly healed in an environment of unwavering love and affection, with the right amount of encouragement to allow him to express himself. I have also placed a strong focus on daily enrichment activities while nourishing his physiological health through species appropriate nutrition. Now, he is emotionally secure, he is once again very trusting and he is comfortable with being home alone.