Dogs
I've been thinking about dogs lately. Not the kind that chat you up, sleep with you and then never call or the kind that can't accelerate when you put on the gas, the real kind with 4 legs (although three legged doggies are sort of cool) and a tail. Our canine pack members. Those critters that love us when no one else does especially if we happen to have a piece of cheese (or nearly anything else) in our hand.
My Sweety and I took his dog Roxy (chocolate lab) to a "Mutt Marathon" on Sunday. This event was put on by a local animal shelter and included about 10 shelters with stuff to buy, prizes to win and animals to adopt along with an invitation to bring your own dog. They had a walk, a trails course and play areas to allow dogs to socialize. It was held outdoors under tents on the grounds of the big Kraft foods complex near my town.
What a hoot! Dogs everywhere, people everywhere with or without dogs oh and cats, ferrets and one very large iguana were also included.
I saw the biggest dog I've ever seen. He was a black and white Great Dane and his head came up to just below my breasts when he was standing on all four of his very large feet. If he'd have stood up on his hind feet (something he thankfully did not seem inclined to do) he would have towered over me and dripped drool on my head. As it was he only drooled on my foot. This dog was the most cat-like dog I've ever seen. If he liked you he would lean into you and rub his head on your midsection just like a cat will rub on your ankles. Oh and yes, drool on my midsection as well. It was worth it.
Both my Sweety and I independently fell in love with the same dog, Murray, who was up for adoption. I take this as a good sign btw for the compatibility of my Sweety and I. Anyway, Murray is a mutt but a wonderfully handsome one as some mutts can be. He had the patterning of a dobie with those wonderful light colored eyebrows and lighter undersides extending to his paws. He didn't have the angularity or slick look of a dobie though and the chocolatety colored parts of him were shot through with silver sort of making him look glazed. He had a great smile and a wiggly butt when he tried to get close enough to kiss you. From his teeth and his lanky body we could tell that he was only about a year old. What a sweet and lovely dog! The adoption fairy (the shelter aid came dressed as a dogmother fairy complete with wings, a crown, glitter and a magic wand) said that he'd been picked up in a kill shelter in Georgia with only hours to live and then brought north to a second chance at finding a new home here in NJ.
Sweety and I looked at each other and both started to run through the options for adopting him trying to justify it rationally. I commute to work and am gone 12 hours a day and live in an apartment. No dice for me. Sweety lives in Boston and works mostly from home but he already has his hands full with one large dog (Roxy). If we were together full time we could have probably swung it but what with driving back and forth weekends ect, it would be stretching things to include a second large dog in the mix.
Still we kept coming back to talk to Murray. Then the magic thing happened. I noticed a kind looking man looking over at Murray. I looked at Sweety and pointed at the kind looking man with my eyes and chin, you know the look. Sweety started talking in a semi-loud voice, "Well this is just the best dog here" "He's obviously a great Guy's dog isn't he? He just looks like the kind of dog that could go anywhere with you and be your buddy." "Wish I could take him but it just won't work out." Well the kind-looking man took another look at Murray and asked us what we knew about him. We showed him the folder with Murray's history and our talking with him brought the adoption fairy floating our way and she took over the sales pitch. She was good! She listed pros and cons and then she got the leash and let the kind-looking man take Murray out for a walk!
We watched from afar as the man continued to walk Murray and pet him and interest him in things around the dog park. By the time we left we were pretty sure that Murray had found a new forever home but we kept thinking about Murray. Finally an email to the adoption fairy got us the answer we wanted to hear.
"THANK YOU for being kind enough to follow up on our ex-foster dog, Murray. Yes he did get adopted and his new dad LOVES him. He was telling me how he loved taking a nap with him and he is planning on taking him to work with him. I think he has a wonderful new home with someone who really loves him."
Isn't that great! At least one dog seems to have found an happy ever after.
If you are in the NJ area looking for a new best friend, check out Eleventh Hour Shelter
http://members.petfinder.org/~NJ376/Home.htm
And here's a page with a couple of pics of Murray!
http://www.petfinder.com/pet.cgi?action=2&pet=4980100&adTarget=&SessionID=4332ce2b2ddb67d6-app1&display=&preview=1&row=475&tmpl=petlistx.html&stat=
My Sweety and I took his dog Roxy (chocolate lab) to a "Mutt Marathon" on Sunday. This event was put on by a local animal shelter and included about 10 shelters with stuff to buy, prizes to win and animals to adopt along with an invitation to bring your own dog. They had a walk, a trails course and play areas to allow dogs to socialize. It was held outdoors under tents on the grounds of the big Kraft foods complex near my town.
What a hoot! Dogs everywhere, people everywhere with or without dogs oh and cats, ferrets and one very large iguana were also included.
I saw the biggest dog I've ever seen. He was a black and white Great Dane and his head came up to just below my breasts when he was standing on all four of his very large feet. If he'd have stood up on his hind feet (something he thankfully did not seem inclined to do) he would have towered over me and dripped drool on my head. As it was he only drooled on my foot. This dog was the most cat-like dog I've ever seen. If he liked you he would lean into you and rub his head on your midsection just like a cat will rub on your ankles. Oh and yes, drool on my midsection as well. It was worth it.
Both my Sweety and I independently fell in love with the same dog, Murray, who was up for adoption. I take this as a good sign btw for the compatibility of my Sweety and I. Anyway, Murray is a mutt but a wonderfully handsome one as some mutts can be. He had the patterning of a dobie with those wonderful light colored eyebrows and lighter undersides extending to his paws. He didn't have the angularity or slick look of a dobie though and the chocolatety colored parts of him were shot through with silver sort of making him look glazed. He had a great smile and a wiggly butt when he tried to get close enough to kiss you. From his teeth and his lanky body we could tell that he was only about a year old. What a sweet and lovely dog! The adoption fairy (the shelter aid came dressed as a dogmother fairy complete with wings, a crown, glitter and a magic wand) said that he'd been picked up in a kill shelter in Georgia with only hours to live and then brought north to a second chance at finding a new home here in NJ.
Sweety and I looked at each other and both started to run through the options for adopting him trying to justify it rationally. I commute to work and am gone 12 hours a day and live in an apartment. No dice for me. Sweety lives in Boston and works mostly from home but he already has his hands full with one large dog (Roxy). If we were together full time we could have probably swung it but what with driving back and forth weekends ect, it would be stretching things to include a second large dog in the mix.
Still we kept coming back to talk to Murray. Then the magic thing happened. I noticed a kind looking man looking over at Murray. I looked at Sweety and pointed at the kind looking man with my eyes and chin, you know the look. Sweety started talking in a semi-loud voice, "Well this is just the best dog here" "He's obviously a great Guy's dog isn't he? He just looks like the kind of dog that could go anywhere with you and be your buddy." "Wish I could take him but it just won't work out." Well the kind-looking man took another look at Murray and asked us what we knew about him. We showed him the folder with Murray's history and our talking with him brought the adoption fairy floating our way and she took over the sales pitch. She was good! She listed pros and cons and then she got the leash and let the kind-looking man take Murray out for a walk!
We watched from afar as the man continued to walk Murray and pet him and interest him in things around the dog park. By the time we left we were pretty sure that Murray had found a new forever home but we kept thinking about Murray. Finally an email to the adoption fairy got us the answer we wanted to hear.
"THANK YOU for being kind enough to follow up on our ex-foster dog, Murray. Yes he did get adopted and his new dad LOVES him. He was telling me how he loved taking a nap with him and he is planning on taking him to work with him. I think he has a wonderful new home with someone who really loves him."
Isn't that great! At least one dog seems to have found an happy ever after.
If you are in the NJ area looking for a new best friend, check out Eleventh Hour Shelter
http://members.petfinder.org/~NJ376/Home.htm
And here's a page with a couple of pics of Murray!
http://www.petfinder.com/pet.cgi?action=2&pet=4980100&adTarget=&SessionID=4332ce2b2ddb67d6-app1&display=&preview=1&row=475&tmpl=petlistx.html&stat=
6 Comments:
Prom:
Hurray for Murray. All good dogs should be so lucky. Our own search has hit the same bog as usual - who will walk, feed, clean up after, sleep with, etc. the dog if we get one. After an unfortunate encounter on the sidewalk with the remains of a dog and his negligent human yesterday afternoon I am also wondering whether dogdom is in my future.
Prom: What a lovely story. I'm glad Murray got a good home with a dog-owner who will properly coddle him.
Champ: Being dogged isn't for the fainthearted. Not in modern times with the pooper-scooper rules. But if you get a running dog, the (greyhound, Azawakh, Afghan, Ibizan hound, Pharoah hound, etc.) the dog will be able to run with you (and will be a very good and fierce looking companion to a fourth or fifth grader -- G. a few years from know -- when she absolutely insists you can't accompany her when she runs down to the corner store). However, I have to admit, with two small children and no actual dogwalking partner, being dogged was too much for me. I'm so glad the FoilDog got to go home to his birth home rather than go to a shelter.
Champ, if you haven't browsed this yet you should. Lots of great looking dogs to fall in love with.
http://www.petfinder.com/index.html
Yes, its a reality. One must have a life worthy of a owning a dog. We love Dogs but neither of us live that life yet.
We've tried dog sitting, renting to tenants who have dogs and of course walking with our friends who have dogs. I think I'd be best suited as a substitute dog walker when the dogged are away.
That was a nice story for my Friday afternoon. Thanks. I still miss my dog and wonder all the time if I will ever get another one. How can I not? But how could I ever replace Mandy? It's a hard one, that's for sure.
That was a good read. That was so wonderful that you were able to follow Murray's trail and find that he is in a good home. I wanted to see what he looked like but the link said it had expired.
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