PuppyLog

Several months ago one of our two dogs died suddenly of lymphoma. We were heartbroken. Our other dog Ipo was depressed and his arthritis got suddenly and dramatically worse.

We decided to wait for a time  before getting another dog as a buddy for Ipo and for ourselves as well.  We thought that after a year or so the right dog might just show up in our lives. They do seem to have a tendency to find us.

Soon however, S_ was spending her spare time looking at adoption websites and we were visiting the local pound "just to look". I knew that another dog would be here sooner than planned.

One Sunday we went to an adoption event held at PetCo by the Colorado Puppy Rescue again "just to look". We brought Ipo along as usual since he can use as much fun as he can get. There were a number of beautiful puppies including two Australian Cattle Dogs. One of them looked like a dog S_ had seen in a dream recently. This of course was the most high energy, outgoing and fearless pup there. She was badgering the other ACD pup, climbing on him, bitting and leaping around with play bows and growls. We took her and Ipo into a pen to see how they would react.  The pup pounced over to Ipo and gave a play bow. Ipo drooled with nervousness - not good, but no worse than he did with any of the other puppies.

OK, we thought, this is not the right time. Let's just walk around the store and discus it a bit then go home. We went over what we wanted in a dog again, a high energy, trainable dog with his or her own opinions, able to make decisions for herself but wanting to please. A self reliant dog but one that would still be affectionate and attentive. A dog that would be a challenge, one that would be unlikely to fare well in most inexperienced homes. A tough, smart, stubborn, sociable sort of dog that will cause all sorts of trouble and mischief and generally be a delight to be around. Oh, and she should have speckles, we like speckles.

Great, we are now clear on what we will be looking for sometime down the road. Let's go back for a last look at the puppies and then get going. We go back and look as the rescue people are starting to pack up. "I like this one", "that one is cute" , etc., etc. We kind of avoid talking about #545, the little cattle dog, but one of the rescue people comes over and tells us that she had been adopted once already and was just returned after a week.

"I like her"
S_, "So do I".
"What shall we do?"
I don't know, what do you want to do?
Should we get her?
That would be stupid, we aren't ready.
She's all the things we discussed or at least young enough to have a good chance to be if treated right.
"Should we just get her?"

They are almost packed up and the puppies are going back to the rescue.

"Let's just get her!"
"OK lets get her."

So we signed the papers, paid the fee, got some puppy food and a collar, picked up our preferred leash on the way home, and we had a new puppy!

This is not the ideal way to introduce a new pup into a household that already has a dog and a cat, but what if she kept getting bounced around to families that could not handle a dog like her? We would work it out...

It was weeks before she got a name other than #545.