the doggy adoption.

So we're mostly caught back up. Good job, reader!

I think you need to know about the newest addition to our little family, which turned out differently than I had planned. Of course. Actually, I think Tommy's plan was thrown off more than mine.

See, everyone we know (except for literally one couple) would get married then BOOM get a dog. I am no dog lover. But I AM a lover of all animals (except silverfish. if you've ever had a silverfish run towards you in your bathroom when you just hopped out of the shower, you understand).

But I hate doing things just like everyone else does. I didn't want a dog because that's what everyone else does. But I had this huge -nuture something- feeling that used to be filled! I've had cats for years, and before them, I had a mouse, some hamsters, helped some strays, a few fish... not all at once. So, when I started asking Tommy about getting a pet, it usually was, "can we get a fish??" and sometimes "let's get a hamster!!" The answer usually differed in reason but had the same point: we don't want to worry about it when we go out of town, I don't want to pay for all its stuff, fish don't do anything, hamsters smell, etc. etc. - all of which equaled "No."

When we moved into the house here in Vero Beach, the animal options for me opened wide! We have space, other rooms to put nocturnal pets in, we have tile floors so accidents wouldn't always be dreadful, the carpets are already kind of stained, and ..... we have a yard!

Because of the yard thing, I started looking at the Humane Society's website here in town. It was pretty impressive. They have every animal available for adoption posted on their site- their picture, how old they are, male/female, etc. So I found this funny little black dog named Charlie. They thought he was six years old and he was short and squat-y. He has a smiley picture, and was just ugly enough so that I thought he was cute. I laughed out loud at him, which got Tommy's attention. Then he started looking at the dogs' pictures too. Then we saw one of "Lilo", a pit bull mix. He was smiling, too. He was Tommy's favorite.

After looking at the pictures a few times over several weeks, I finally wore Tommy down! He decided to email our realtor- he asked if any pets would be allowed and mentioned that a small dog from the Humane Society had caught my eye. She answered that the home owners appreciate rescuing dogs, and so it would be ok if we signed some additional paperwork and paid a refundable pet fee. (Jumping up and down excitement!!!)

We got all ready the next day- I cleaned so whatever pet wouldn't be overwhelmed with previous pet smells. We closed off all doors so the space wouldn't be too intimidating. I tried not to get too excited.

We walked up to the door.... and! It was closed.

And so we waited until Saturday morning. It opened at 11, we arrived at 11:14. We didn't want to seem too eager.

Right away we asked to see Charlie. While we waited for a volunteer to bring him to us in a little meeting room, we got to appreciate the building. It is impressively nice! I thought it would be like a pound, but it was clean and open. The dogs had big runs and were taken out in turns to walk in a large yard. They had beds off the floor and toys and some were housed with a buddy. And each one had a personality tag. At this HS, they do an extensive amount of work to determine what kind of pet each animal will be. They have an extensive tool which tests their reactions to different things children or humans may do- they squeeze their paws or make long eye contact- things dogs don't normally like. Then they give them a score on how patient they are. They also take note of their energy and playfulness and companion-ness (?). There are nine different "personalities" that cats or dogs could be, including "secret admirer" and "teacher's pet".

In came Charlie. Like his picture, he was small, and a little funny. But, we realized almost immediately that he was being blinded by cataracts. He didn't really want to be around us. And Tommy was fearful that in a few years, when we might have little kids, he would be completely blind- which usually makes dogs very easily agitated.

We saw two more dogs, both girls. One was a red bigger dog, very shy- "Marley". One was a hyper tiny "rat-dog", which Tommy calls them, and we both decided we would be a little embarrassed walking her. I went to the bathroom, and when I came back out, Tommy said "I found Lilo!" We saw a huge fat head peaking over a half door. He was sitting in a plastic chair, and a boy and his mom were in there to visit with him. The workers told us that the family was interested in him, but already had another dog. They had to bring their pet back to see if the two could get along.

By this time, we had been there for more than 2 hours. We drove to the nearest place to eat, a Subway, and talked game plan. We decided that if we got back to the HS and Lilo was gone, then we would take the Marley dog. She was sweet and we wanted to give her a good home. BUT if Lilo was NOT gone, then we would take him. We hadn't even "met" him yet.

We approached the desk and told them we were interested in Lilo, and knew another family was looking at him. For some reason, they liked us right away. We must've unconsciously been batting our eyelashes at them. They told us to take Lilo for a walk.

first kisses on first walk

Well, Tommy fell in love right away. Who could resist that big ol' head. We got to sit low with him out under the shade and were given nasty doggy kisses and felt completely comfortable with him. We didn't want them to have to come looking for us, so we walked back inside. I was holding his leash when the other family walked in with their huge dog, and they gave me a sweet stink-eye. The mom, son, and two dogs were taken into a bigger meeting room with a trainer, and we waited, and waited. The lady at the desk teased us for pacing, saying we looked like worried parents.

Then, the trainer came around the corner. The family's huge dog was dominating, which would work if Lilo had been one to back down, but he wasn't. The mix of two alpha-dogs would cause problems.

(Sidenote: I had already decided to change Lilo's name. And I asked one of the trainers if the dogs respond well to that, or if it adds stress, or if it would even work. She said it works fine, dogs usually learn their new name in a week, and it wasn't something stressful.)

And so, there was much rejoicing! The trainer CRIED, saying, "he's had such a hard life so far!" (Awkward!!) They said he had been found lost twice, and after the second time, the owners released him to the HS. He also had had heart worms and apparently the treatment for that is like enduring chemo (according to the trainer).

trying to show his big head to the camera for our families

We couldn't get him home that day, because they let the vet do a final check-up and make sure everything is up to date. That gave us time to buy supplies... AND, more importantly, to think of a new name!