Books, Bedlam, and A Lively Hope

Meet the dogs: Part 2

12:07, Monday, December 31, 2007 .. Posted in We love animals .. 2 comments .. Link

We had been home from our trip about a month. Having Buddy, full of lively puppy energy, was a bit of an adjustment for me. I wasn't used to having a 20 pound dog bounding at me on a whim, chewing on inappropriate objects. And truthfully, I had always been partial to cats, with their calm, independent demeanor, quietly tip-toeing along. But my husband had wanted a dog badly, and loved to take Buddy to a nearby park for early morning walks which helped burn off that puppy energy.

One morning, he and the dog returned from one such walk, and my husband looked concerned. He told me there was a dog at the park with no collar, a friendly female dog that from the looks of it had recently had puppies. This strange dog had played with Buddy for a bit before following another dog walker off down a path. Other people at the park had told my husband that the dog had been there for at least an hour, and this was very early in the morning.
"So, are you going back for the dog?" I asked, noticing our extra collar in his hand, the one too large for Buddy.
And when I turned around, my husband was gone, so I knew there would be an extra dog when I came home from work later.

Dutifully, my husband both went back for the stray dog, and made flyers advertising her "found" status which he posted all over town. He spoke with the park rangers, who had been made aware of the dog and were glad to know my husband had taken her. The rangers said they got strays all the time, and as the phone never rang in response to the flyers, it was painfully obvious this dog was another unwanted drop-off.

"Scrappy", as she came to be called, loved my husband. This hefty forty-pound Boxer-mix just seemed to know that my husband saved her, and followed him from room to room, crying at the door when he would leave for work. I tried to console the very smelly Scrappy, who had clearly been an outside dog, and smelled like a thousand rotting mounds of earth. Her first night with us was hard, as she was visibly confused about being in a new place with strange people, strange food, and with another strange dog in residence. I felt bad for her. We gave her a bath. We gave her treats, and toys. And in a few weeks, we gave up on the idea of providing "foster care" for her until a local humane group could find her a permanent home. Because she had found one.

Welcome home, Scrappy!

Meet the dogs: Part 1

02:28, Sunday, December 30, 2007 .. Posted in We love animals .. 4 comments .. Link

"Buddy! Put that down! I told you that doesn't belong to you!"

"Scrappy! That is not your bone. You have your own bone. You chew on that."

"Okay, if I have to come out here one more time, there will be no snacks after your next walk!"

Ah, the sounds of a home lively with animal companionship. Our dogs Buddy and Scrappy were two unexpected blessings that occurred just a few months after we were married. Buddy was first. We were on our wedding trip, and it was a substantial one. We drove clear across the country to see the Redwood trees in northern California, making stops along the way and on the return trip home. One afternoon, while in California, we were driving back to our hotel and looking forward to a supper of Mexican food, when we saw Buddy. He was this little white puppy chasing trucks along the highway, barking, and trying to cross over. We unhesitatingly pulled over to lure him to safety at the side of the road. He was so friendly, so sweet! And we thought he must have gotten away from someone as the stretch of road we were on fronted a beach, where many people were walking their dogs. Though he had no collar, we thought he must have gotten off of his leash. We combed the beach looking for his owner, drove through nearby neighborhoods, and called the animal shelter to see if he was reported missing.

Meanwhile, it was getting late.

Thankfully, our hotel was "pet friendly", so just a quick stop at the store was needed in order to bring him back to our room. He was hungry, and tired. And my husband was getting very attached. We would be leaving California in just a couple days, the last two of which we were booked at a fancy historic inn that was not pet-friendly. What would we do?

Well, I'll tell you. First, we ordered some Mexican take-out, and those fish tacos were delicious! When it became absolutely clear that Buddy was without a home, we took him to the vet and got him started on his shots. The vet said he was around 3-4 months old. Then, we made arrangements to board him for our last two days in California. It was torture- we already missed our little doggy. Finally, we gave him a ride back east, where he was also given a loving home here with us.

Before leaving California, a local man we had become friendly with informed us that the Redwood area has a tremendous stray animal problem. He himself had five dogs- all left near the road in front of his business. There was little doubt Buddy had been dropped off at that beach. We are grateful that we found him.

A grateful pup, heading home.

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