No, this is not some crazy Lovecraftian dog breed. Cthulhu is a regular ole black Pomeranian—with an attitude. And he is the topic of Day 3 in the A to Z Blog Challenge, fulfilling letter C.
Cthulhu is the beloved furry friend of Grace Wylde, Kat’s aunt in my upcoming paranormal romance, Capturing the Wylde Wolf.
Origin story
Aunt Grace lives in Wisconsin in a suburban neighborhood. An accountant by trade, she is also an animal lover and spends one weekend a month volunteering at the local animal shelter. That is where she met her furbaby.
Two years before the events of the novel, Grace started her shift at the shelter on a foggy Saturday morning. When she arrived, she heard scratching and whining around the rear of the building. Upon investigation, she discovered a small carrier housing a very active animal. Taped to the outside was a note that read:
The little monster is your problem now
Peering inside, Grace saw a black dog in a muzzle staring at her, a growl in its throat. Fortunately, they had room inside to isolate it, so she took the animal inside and let it out of the carrier. Over the course of the next week, the dog was determined to be an aggressive, male Pomeranian mutt, who was ill-taken care of by his previous owner and sported quite the underbite. The shelter called Grace to see if she had time to volunteer again the following weekend, as she seemed to be the only one who could get on with the dog.
The Pomeranian wasn’t the nicest canine in the world, but he was charming—at least to Grace. She named him Cthulhu as a joke, but it stuck, and when she eventually decided to adopt him, she kept the name.
Cthulhu is nearly five years old at the time of the novel. Grace quickly helped him return to a healthy weight, got his teeth checked, and lavished him with a dashing new haircut—none of which he was particularly pleased with. Cthulhu was still wary of people and disapproved of most of them, but he slowly became more manageable with strangers.
When Grace’s niece, Kat, came to stay with her over the summer before going to college in the same state, Grace was concerned the two would not get along, but to her surprise, the bond was instant. They behaved as though they had been friends their whole lives. Grace was thrilled, since the only other person besides her that Cthulhu seemed to genuinely like was their next-door neighbor.
Cthulhu stated under Kat’s feet whenever she was around, and she started taking him out for his daily walks, becoming a ritual. Grace would never admit that she grew just a little envious of how close the pair was.
Between the two of them, he was spoiled rotten, a true king of the household, and he started acting the part, but Grace never minded.
That’s all for now!
To avoid spoilers, I must leave Cthulhu’s story here, but stay tuned for more character spotlights in the coming weeks. As a bonus, I’ve left some additional details below.
Cthulhu the Pomeranian
Age: 4 1/2
Height: 9 inches
Weight: 5 lbs
Fur color: Black
Eye color: Dark brown
Personality: Strong-willed, protective, usually more bark than bite, demanding
Have you ever had a strong-willed pet or known anyone who has?
He sounds like a real character.
And I love this: The little monster is your problem now.
Ha! He’s certainly a handful, but if he were real, I’d love him just as much as I do now. Thank you for visiting!
Delightful.
Thank you!