Food, shelter and love

It’s been almost three weeks now since we adopted our new dog from Animal Rescue Foundation. I know that she is still settling in and getting used to us after living most of her previous life at ARF, but I think we have come a long way in such a short time. I don’t mean to suggest that we are finished with the learning curve, but I would like to highlight a few things that we’ve already learned. I should mention that when I say learning, I mean both the dog and the family.

My wife and I have never been without a dog in our 25 years of living together. The six months we spent after our last dog died was a record for us. We wanted another immediately, but told ourselves we would just kind of circle in a holding pattern until something dropped in our lap. For me it seemed like something I was doing out of respect for my deceased friend; the quicker I replaced him, the more replaceable it would make him appear. This highlights my first lesson: Every dog is different; the new one will not step in and “be” the old one and you should not expect him to be. I think in the long run you will love him more for his differences anyway.

The second lesson we learned is one that I know tests the limits of most everyone’s patience, using the bathroom in the house. The first few days were flawless; no accidents at all! But after a week or so we noticed that her stomach was rumbling and she had no predictable pattern of using the bathroom. I realize now that she was holding everything in and only going when she couldn’t hold it any longer. She was both nervous and trying to please us at the same time. Nobody that expects a second date excuses themselves to go take a crap in the middle of the first date! By giving her a too much freedom and responsibility we were setting her up to fail! Sit and stay are common commands, mind reading is not. When they begin to feel comfortable and secure you can branch out from there; consistency is the true spice of life.

As she has become more comfortable with us we have allowed her more freedom. We kept her on a leash constantly for the first couple of weeks, but have now started to let her play fetch and run around the yard freely when we are all outside. We live on a dead end street where the traffic is light and she has done a good job of not straying too far. But this week when I let her explore the woods behind the house she gave me a big surprise. She located a large pile of deer droppings and in less than two seconds coated her neck and back with the most disgusting smell one can imagine. Of course I patted myself on the shoulder for getting a white dog (shows dirt easily) while I was hosing her down in the backyard, but this brings up another point: expect them to be 100% dog! My old dog would never have done this, but he also had 11+ years of practice knowing what I expected of him.

I’m sure the lesson pile will continue to grow and I plan to remember as many as I can. Sharing my home with a creature that reasons in such a basic fashion is a lesson in itself; A lesson that I often forget.  We all want good jobs, nice cars and the trappings of a good life, but without the basic wants of a dog, food, shelter and love, none of this other stuff would do us a bit of good!

Sunshine

I’ve had more than a few pets in my long life and sometimes I have to dig deep to remember each of them. It’s not that I loved any of them any less than others; it’s more that when I get a new one he seems like the greatest one ever. I’ve had ponies, cats and even an alligator as a pet; I loved them all (with the exception of the alligator), but I have to declare that I’m a dog man. I would say that dogs seem to have fewer ulterior motives, but that is probably not true. It’s probably more that the head games they play are easier for me to understand; I never said I was real smart.

Some of the animals I’ve loved the most have come to me in the strangest of ways. We once drove to Warner Robins to get a bulldog puppy that was either $35 or free, it depended on which newspaper add you were answering (we chose the free one). We adopted several animals that were put out by the dirt road that fronted our old home and we’ve chosen a puppy (or two) from a litter produced by one of our  own (we don't do this anymore) dogs. But last weekend was the first time we have gotten one from Animal Rescue.

I have volunteered there in the past for fund raising events, but this was the first time I’ve ever just went inside and “viewed the inventory”. I don’t mean this to sound callous, but it is an overwhelming feeling to walk by each cage and look in the eyes of living creatures that really only want one thing…you to pick them. It’s a lot like watching kids trying to be picked by the teacher for a special privilege. Even the playground bully straightens his collar and plasters the same smile on his face that will melt his mother’s heart when he needs to. How do you choose?  You can’t choose them all.

We made several rounds through the kennel area and scratched every nose that poked through the wire. Every size, color and hair length a dog can possess was represented, and honestly it was getting hard not to get choked up; I was overwhelmed. To pick one meant that I would have to exclude the others; part of me wanted to make my typical daddy excuses and just go home. But before I could leave I realized that I had been standing in the same spot for quite some time scratching the same dog. I looked at this little white creature, and without opening my mouth, asked her if she wanted to go home with me. She said that she did and I told her we would be back for her later. After we went to Lowes... purchased a kennel and dog-proofed our home…in the next few days…let me check with my family. No, we’ll be back.

Luckily she was my daughter’s first choice as well, and after promising the attendant we would be back Monday or Tuesday, we excitedly headed home to eat lunch. Our old dog was pretty low maintenance so we needed quite a few things for the new one; we wanted to start everything off just right. But in the middle of the planning I thought of the little white dog and the promise we shared. Did she really believe that we would come back for her? She was the longest resident of ARF in attendance that day (we found this out later) and I’m sure she’d had her hopes dashed before. “Go get her now” I told my wife and daughter “I’ll go to Lowes”. Welcome to your new home Sunshine!