Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Gone to the dogs

Bud and I are dog people.  We have had dogs since we moved into our house in 1982.  Many of our friends have said they want to be reincarnated as a dog in our home.  Most of the time we have four dogs.  In the beginning all of our dogs were close to the same age.  It didn't occur to us how bad that plan was until they all reached old age at the same time.  We went through a really rough period during which we lost three dogs, one every six months.  After that we started planning a little better and trying to get some variation in the ages.


We typically have one Siberian Husky, one Chesapeake Bay Retriever and two Heinz 57 mixed breed dogs.  I chose the Husky breed because of their resemblance to wolves, but after our first Husky, we knew we would never want to be without one.  Huskies live out there on the edge with the lunatic fringe.  That seems appropriate.  Bud chose the Chessie breed because he is from Baltimore and always wanted a Chesapeake Bay Retriever.  Both of us like big dogs.  Little dogs are cute, but they just aren't for us.  All of our Huskies have been more attached to Bud than to me.  All of our Chessies have stuck to me like barnacles on a pier.  The mixed breed dogs love both of us boundlessly since they have all been strays or pound puppies and are just thrilled to have a home.  When we were younger, we always got our Huskies and Chessies as puppies from reputable breeders, but the strays and pound puppies were usually older.  We've had a few small puppy mixed breeds, but most of them have been nine months old or older when we took them in.


Two years ago Hannah, our Chessie, died.  Unfortunately, she died only five days after we had Trixie (one of our mixed breeds) put to sleep.  We waited awhile before we started talking about getting more dogs.  We don't replace any of our dogs -- they can never be replaced.  We do, however, after a period of grieving, open our hearts to another dog.  If we could afford it and had a bigger place, I would bring home every dog and cat from the shelter.  I know that's not reasonable, but I have plenty of room in my heart for more pets.  We just don't have the room in our home or in our pocketbook.


We got Abby from the animal shelter in January of 2009.  Along about January of this year, we started talking about getting another Chessie.  We've decided we don't want to go through the puppy stuff any more, so we got in touch with the Chesapeake Bay Retriever Relief and Rescue Organization.  We have been working with them since the beginning of the year, and I think (hope, pray, keep your fingers crossed) we have finally found the dog for us.  We had our interview with the local rep for the rescue group and she came and toured our home to make sure we had a good environment for the dog.  We were put on the approved list, and started looking for a dog for us.  But, it was taking awhile.  Rescue organizations are careful about placing their dogs because the dogs have usually already suffered a great amount of trauma, and the organization wants to make sure the dog will go to loving, stable surroundings.  Also, bringing a grown dog into a home with other resident dogs is a bit tricky and you need to be aware of possible personality conflicts.  There were a number of dogs awaiting adoption, but most of them were in states far away from us and there was no way to safely get them to North Carolina.


Since it was taking so long, Bud and I decided to look into a rescue group for a different breed of large dogs.  I'm not saying which group because these people are really strange and a little bit scary.   No one from their group will probably ever see this blog, but I'm not taking any chances.  If I mentioned their name, I wouldn't put it past them to sue me for libel or defamation of character or some other goofy nonsense.  Anyway, we went through the whole adoption application and interview and home visit with this other rescue group.  I spoke with the regional director on the telephone and we had a great conversation, got along perfectly and agreed on everything concerning the care and welfare of rescued dogs.  She arranged for someone from her group to do the home visit.


A man came out to our house to check us out.  Our dog Abby is not crazy about males.  It took her quite awhile to warm up to Bud.  We got her at the animal shelter, and we are assuming she had been mistreated by a man somewhere along the way.   She just barks a lot, but she's usually backing away from the guy as she's barking.  Well, obviously Abby has better instincts about people than we do, because she actually bit this guy.  Not seriously.  She didn't break the skin or draw blood or anything.  She just nipped at his ankle.  We put her in the house, away from where we were all gathered on the deck, and he said he was okay and not to worry about it.  He finished his "evaluation" and left.  The next day, Bud and I drove for an hour and a half to go to an event the rescue group was having, where they would have some of the rescue dogs available for you to meet.  No adoptions would be done at the event, but you could see the dogs and choose ones you might be interested in adopting.  We located the regional director and attempted to speak with her, but I definitely got the impression she was a "very important person" and didn't have time to waste talking to the peasants (though I never saw her do anything other than sit on her butt in a lawn chair and cram hot dogs down her throat).  I could not believe this was the same woman I had spoken with on the telephone.  I immediately chastised myself for that attitude, and we just went on about looking at dogs to see if there was one for us.  I did manage to ask her about the man who came by for the home visit, but she said she wouldn't hear from him until the next day and she would let us know.


The next day I received an email from the woman.  We had been rejected.  Our home was not suitable for one of their rescue dogs.  According to the "nice" man who had come to our home, our yard is unkempt, our fence is in disrepair, one of our dogs is on a dog run that is too short, and his lead was caught around part of the deck making an extremely dangerous situation.  I was furious, but realized immediately it would do absolutely no good to attempt to straighten out these idiots.  They had their heads so far up their asses they couldn't see or hear a thing.  Their minds were made up, and nothing we could say or do would change a thing.  So we just let it drop.  Thankfully, we are still working with the Chesapeake rescue people and it looks like we will finally have our new baby.


For the record, the grass had not been mowed that week.  I am the most useless thing you can imagine when it comes to getting anything done.  Since I acquired my personal permanent merry-go-round, Bud has had to take over almost every job around our home.  There is no more sharing -- he's stuck with it all.  Mowing the lawn was not at the top of Bud's To Do List.  And, I don't believe I heard a single one of our dogs complaining about the grass either.  As a matter of fact, they think it's downright nifty to roll around in all that stuff.  Our fence is not in disrepair, but part of the gate is.  It's part of the gate we never use, and it probably should be repaired, but again it's not high on the priority list.  It is totally unimportant in the lives of our dogs.  We do have a dog on a dog run.  Logan is a Husky.  Huskies like to run.  When Logan is allowed to run free, he digs out under the fence and takes off.  He usually doesn't go far -- to the pond next door or down the street to herd some cows -- but I don't want him out running around loose.  So, we put him on a dog run.  It is about 25' long, plus the lead that is hooked to it and to his collar is 8' long.  He has access to water, a doggie swimming pool, dog houses, our deck, grass, trees, and the other dogs.  If that run is too short, I'd hate to see how long they think it should be.  Oh, and yes, he was wrapped around one of the deck supports.  But he wasn't in any danger and neither were any of the other dogs.  For one thing, he gets himself wrapped up and unwrapped about ten times a day.  All you have to do is say, "Logan get unwrapped" and he will go back in the opposite direction of the way he came until he is free.  But, even if he were caught and unable to free himself, the other dogs aren't gonna gang up on him.  He's the only male.  He's the alpha (really Bud is, but you know what I'm saying).  Those girls aren't even gonna think about trying to mess with him.  If I tied up all four of his legs and put a muzzle on him, they still wouldn't mess with him.


So, as you can see we are totally unacceptable parents for some poor dog who has no home and no one to love.  What a bunch of twits.  I sure am glad the Chesapeake people actually care about rescuing their dogs.

3 comments:

  1. The rescue group that rejected you sounds very pretentious I would be glad I didnt have to deal with them. We almost always get our dogs from a stray adoption or adopt a stray found on the street no one wants. They are so much more affectionate. I hope the other rescue group works out for you.

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  2. I went to a local shelter here but they mostly had pit bulls or older dogs. I went to a store and looked at puppies and fell in love with them all- how do you choose? Wendy

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  3. Don't buy a dog from a pet store. It just encourages puppy mills to create more puppies to sell. There are already waaaaaay too many dogs to go around. Just keep checking with the shelter. How do I choose? I just know. When I look them in the eye something passes between us and I know this is my new baby.

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