Some time senior year, or maybe even junior year, of college, I realized that when I graduated I would be able to get a dog. Except it was more like, HOLY CRAP I CAN GET A DOG WHEN I GRADUATE WHY CAN'T I GRADUATE NOW? I guess you could say I'm a little bit of a dog person.
After that realization, I started checking Petfinder obsessively. I spent a lot of time looking at puppies, even though I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to get one. I still haven't forgiven my mother for getting a puppy while I was away in Costa Rica for a semester in high school. I specifically told her before I left, "Don't get a puppy while I'm gone!" I knew it would be the only puppy she would get in 10 or 15 years, and maybe the last puppy she would get in her life. So what did she do? When I'd been gone 2 months she went and got a little lab mix puppy. I died of jealousy when my best friends celebrated a birthday at my parents' house and sent me pictures of each of them holding that fuzzy little black fluffball.
Anyway, college. Pefinder. A couple months before I graduated I came across one dog in particular on Petfinder. She was a pit-mix named Tula, a year or two old. She was about 50 lbs, and was playful and friendly and loved other dogs. She was everything I wanted in a dog. She was the dog I wanted. A month went by, and she was still there. I graduated, and she was still there. I couldn't get a dog right away because I was going to visit Elise in Scandanavia for three weeks, but I got back and she was still there! I submitted an application to the rescue while I was in Cleveland visiting relatives. I knew that I was moving to DC for my internship at FCNL in a month or two (I can't remember how far away it was, now) and I foolishly came clean about my planned cross-country move on my application. I had an interview, and it went well. I started making arrangements to meet her when I came back from Cleveland. Then a couple days later I got an email that the Board of Directors had decided that she needed to be adopted to a family that was staying within Minnesota, so that if anything went wrong at any point they would be able to return her to the organization.
I was heartbroken.
I still wanted a dog, though. I wanted a dog so much.
The next weekend, or maybe two weekends later, less than a month before moving to DC, I went (with Ruby and Celeste) to three adoption events in the Twin Cities area to look at dogs. The first one had a sweet little Border Collie mix that I kind of liked, but Ruby saw her bare her teeth at another dog that approached me. Nope.
The second one was an organization that had a great-looking blue heeler mix named Charlie who I liked from Petfinder, but we got there to find that he had just been adopted.
The third one was set up with the puppies in a play pen and the bigger dogs in kennels until someone wanted to look at one of them. I don't remember this, but Ruby says she urged me to look at this fluffy red lab/hound mix they were calling "Sparky." We took him outside on a leash to see what he was like. As soon as we got out to the grass he took a long pee, and then flopped over on his belly, grinning and wagging his tail at us. Right then, my heart was his. His still had his puppy fuzz, and he was such a soft happy wiggle-butt. We had brought my mom's dog, so we took her out of the car to see how he would do with other dogs, and her specifically. He wiggled all over and pulled me toward her to pant and wag and lick her face. I didn't want a dog with zero training, so we asked him to sit. He sat right away, looking for the treats. Sold. We took him back inside to ask a couple questions and fill out the application. When he realized he was about to be put back into his kennel (I swore to him it would just be for a few minutes, but I don't think he believed me) he lay down and refused to move. I laughed and let him lie next to me while I filled out the application, gave them pretty much the last of the money in my bank account, and collected his medical records.
My pup, the best pup.
I started writing this post to say that I might be getting a new pup soon. I met a pretty little hound girl named Kirby last weekend. She was the last dog I met on my way out of the last adoption event of the day. She is an absolute love. I wasn't quite ready to make the leap last weekend, but I've spoken with her foster parent and I'm going to meet her again this weekend. I am excited and nervous, both. Pictures to come, obviously, if she comes home with me.
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