[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C_XQyR-APg?feature=player_detailpage&w=640&h=360]
Yes, there it is folks. I have a new dog. Almost.
Sit right down and you'll hear a tale...a tale of a fateful trip.
There's a local dog rescue organization that I have donated to, CARL (Canine Adoption and Rescue League). They just built a no-kill shelter out in Santa Paula, about 15 miles from here.
On CARL's website, they showed a dog that needed a foster home. A dog named Magic. A dog that was a big blonde half-greyhound, half lab. A dog that looked like this.
Goldie's twin. I had to go take a look. Couldn't hurt, right?
So I googled the shelter and got 2 results, one for a CARL pet care center, which seemed to be a boarding and grooming place out in the countryside, and a no-kill shelter near downtown Santa Paula. It made sense that the actual adoption place would be near downtown, I thought, so I went there and looked at dogs.
Magic was not there. About 20 of the 25 dogs were massive pit bulls.
I asked "Is this the CARL shelter?" and no, it was not. It was a different no-kill shelter. But that didn't make any difference, because by then I had fallen for a sweet little wiggly pooch named Abbie Lynn.
She was found wandering the streets and taken in by a kind man. The man had medical issues that sent him to a nursing facility, so he brought her to the shelter. A family tried to foster her, but they have chickens, and apparently little Miss Abbie Lynn is a chicken-chasing dog.
So that's all we know about this girl. She's a mutt. They say Staffordshire/Cattle Dog mix, which looks about right. She weighs about 35 pounds now but isn't done growing - she still has some baggy puppy skin. She just finished her first estrus, which is why she's still at the shelter, not here in my neighborhood with roving, off-leash, intact male dogs. NO PUPPIES FOR ME.
She will get spayed today and come home Friday, full of wiggles and kisses. I have met her three times and have been charmed by her each time - she's the kind of dog who starts wagging furiously as soon as she sees you. She's completely different than Goldie, which is probably a very good thing.
She's curious and totally ADD and will flop down any second for a belly rub. She needs some training, but don't we all? I think she'll be a great little dog.
Stand by for Adventures in Dog Walking.
Smiling.
