Adoption

The last several weeks I've been feeling the pangs of wanting a dog. We miss Bosco still on a daily basis and no dog will ever replace her. Ever. She was my baby (from another mother) and nothing can replace or take that away. Any new animal brought into this family will be Bosco's (as well as Motley and Tigger's) new brother or sister. We're a family like that.

Knowing Bryan wasn't ready yet I didn't want to push him. Instead I'd drop little hints like "I WANT A DOG!" anytime we saw a dog or he mentioned interacting with one.

We spent a lot of time thinking and talking about what we wanted in a new little one. My only criteria is that it liked me and wanted to cuddle. Bryan had a few more specific criteria. Medium build, not a puppy but no older than 3 years, already neutered and up to date on all shots.

We decided to go to the Humane Society for this adoption. We both liked the idea of rescuing a dog from a shelter rather than going on Craigslist looking at dogs who already had homes. We looked at a ton of dogs they had posted on their website. I had a hard time with this because you don't really know a dog's personality until you see them. But looking at dog pictures is fun. Some of them were so adorable. There was even one who's skills listed "rocking a bowtie". I mean come on! Adorable.

We also looked at local rescue pages (Good Dog and Streetdog). I also liked the idea of going to one of these as these dogs are usually fostered and the foster parents would have a better idea of the personalities in a house situation.

So on Saturday we took a break from painting and went to Hollywood Feed as they were having adoptions. There were about 5 dogs there and only one was not a small dog. We had seen this dog online the night before. She was timid and didn't want to have anything to do with us. We both felt like she was nervous in the situation, but still. Torn, we decided to head out to the Humane Society.

I had never been to a shelter before and was extremely nervous about it. I knew I would want to take home all the dogs. I was worried I would be heart broken over the living conditions or their emotional or physical states.

It wasn't quite as bad as what I was thinking. The new building is beautiful and they do a great job of keeping it clean inside. There wasn't even any weird smells which was impressive.

We walked up and down every row, some twice and picked out our top two. We talked with one of the "counselors" (their designation, not mine) and he volunteered to bring them outside individual for us to play with.

The first one was our first favorite. She had been so sweet inside in her cage and just wanted to be petted. She had even given me a kiss. Outside she ran around for a few minutes, which we totally understood. Bryan tried to play ball and got a few throws in with her. But ultimately she didn't really want to have anything to do with us.

The second one was a hound mix. We didn't recall seeing her on the website, but inside she was laid back and came up to us from her cage and was sweet. Alright, so my basis of sweet is that it didn't bark at me. High standards, I know. She ran for a second and then went to the bathroom. Being a hound she sniffed all the poop in the gated area we were in. Then she came up to me, leaned against my legs and wanted to be petted. Bryan threw the ball for her which she chased, but didn't want to pick up because it was covered in mud. Several times she came up to me, leaned against me again and accepted love. I even got a kiss on the face! She was nice to Bryan as well, but seemed to prefer me.

Back inside we decided to pursue her adoption. We asked the counselor more information like how she came to be in the shelter, etc. He went to check her file as their computer system doesn't store all that kind of info, meanwhile we filled out the 3 page application.

Streak, as they are calling her, was found in Shelby Farms by a park ranger in September. He saw her owners dumping her from their car and then driving off. He immediately got her and brought her to the shelter. Their normal policy is to call the ranger the next day for the ranger to come get the dog (don't know why). But Streak was so sweet they decided they'd keep her and find her a good home. This is apparently an extremely rare case. Most dogs at the Humane Society were either hit by cars or have other issues.

We filled out the 3 page application, which gave me flashbacks to the House of Mews incident. They have a 24 hour waiting period policy but because we have other animals they also want to call the vet to make sure the animals are up to date on all their shots and what not.

On Tuesday we should hear if we are approved to bring home our newest member.