Archive for April, 2009
April 24 2009
Ellie in the car on our way home
The day has finally come! So I shall start from the beginning.
It was Wednesday morning and I was doing my daily Petfinder search that I do every morning when I get to my computer. As I was scrolling through the dogs I skipped over the 20 or so dogs still on the site that I had already checked out. Then something cute caught my eye so I clicked on her page. I was also particularly intrigued by the little link next to her name that said “VIDEO”. As I read the description, I felt this strange feeling growing inside of me. This was the one, I just knew it. She was perfect. A medium sized german shepherd mix that gets along well with other dogs, is good on the leash, and overall just a fantastic dog. The video was of someone rubbing her belly and then her getting up and walking around and she was such a doll.
My pulse quickened as I showed her to my mom and sister and tried to figure out if I had time to go visit her that day. Fortunately my boss allowed me to leave work early and my boyfriend got his boss to let him out too so he could meet me there just in case. I had to wait a couple of hours because the shelter didn’t open until 2pm so I anxiously tried to focus on my work as I waited out the day. My anxiety caused me to pee at least six times in that short workday and I was too excited to eat!
Finally the hours passed and I was able to take off. I nervously drove what seemed like forever until I finally got to the shelter. As I walked through all their twisting hallways to get to the dog area, I could feel my pulse quickening and my hands starting to shake. I noticed her right away, jumping up on the cage and barking to try to get my attention. When I bent down to pet her, she licked my hand like crazy. After telling the employees that I was interested, they made me fill out an adoption application before I could take her out of the cage and meet. My hands were shaking so badly I could hardly write my own name.
Then they put us in this little room with a couch and brought “Keiki” in. She climbed up and down off the couch and over our laps because she was just so happy to get out of her cage. After we gave her many tummy rubs and played with her for a bit, they let us take her outside. She was an A+ student on the leash. So pleasant and friendly. What a dream come true! After the adoption process was finished, I learned that they had to send her to the vet to make sure she is spayed so I couldn’t take her home until Friday. I had to wait two whole days to see her again!
It was an anxious 48 hours as I hardly got any sleep or food because I was too excited to allow my brain to rest or allow my stomach to feel empty. But the time finally came and I headed toward the shelter. They brought her out and I was so so happy. I walked her around the park after leaving the shelter, and put on her new collar and leash. I changed the name to Ellie. And let me tell you, Ellie is a gem!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )Adopt me!
A lot has transpired over the past week. I came to the realization that I am absolutely ready to adopt a dog. I have the time, money saved up, and an open heart just waiting for a furry friend to supplement my happiness. My sister and I had some arguments regarding adding a new member to our family. She came up with all kinds of issues like money, and my future dog getting along with her current pet. But I think the underlying issue here was that she didn’t want me to get a dog/doesn’t want another dog in the home. Anyway I think we finally settled it because I’m getting a dog either way. There’s no way I could wait a whole year until our lease is up so that I could get my own place and dog.
Anyway I have been looking all over the internet (read: Petfinder.com) for dogs that fit my criteria. I had especially been looking at the website for the shelter at which I volunteer because I know they would feel more comfortable adopting a dog to me than other shelters who don’t know me. I spotted a few I liked on their website, and I had my volunteer shift yesterday so I was extremely antsy, anxious, and excited that I was about to begin my new dog-filled life.
One dog I was particularly attracted to was a basenji mix and this was very appealing to me because I would love to have a dog that doesn’t bark. She was a very pretty dog and the perfect size. A little shy like me. But as soon as I took her out on our walk, she barked at every car that drove by and tried to lunge at them! Deal breaker. I know it’s possible to train a dog out of these kind of habits, but I’d rather not have a big issue like that to deal with.
The next dog I thought I might like turned out to have been adopted the previous day. So oh well. Some of the other dogs that I walked had great personalities or were the perfect size but not both. I just can’t allow myself to adopt a large dog and keep it couped up in my little apartment. It’s not fair for the pup. :-\
Soooo my quest goes on…
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Dachshund memories
Since I didn’t volunteer this week because of the holiday, I’ll share an old but fond dog-related memory instead.
This had to be about seven or eight years ago, when I lived with my parents and we had a mini dachshund. By this time she was super old, like 14 or 15 and kind of a grouch from her years of being prodded and tormented by the neighborhood kids. She had given up eating her regular dry food so my mom had bought this sort of soft-dry food, kind of the same texture as a bakery cookie where it’s not completely crunchy.
Anyway, Gretel the dog had devoured her meal of this new food. She absolutely loved the break from years of dried out food. Later that evening, I was walking around the hard wood floor in the kitchen, with my slippers on, minding my own business. Suddenly I completely lost my balance and almost fell flat on the floor. Luckily, I caught myself on the counter. I looked down to see what it was that made the floor so slippery, and it was this giant pile of mushy dog poop that was completely odorless. I’d had no idea whatsoever. Until it was smeared all over the floor and the bottom of my slipper of course.
As everyone in the family laughed at me, I hobbled on one slipper over to the laundry room to wash off the bottom of my other slipper. I cleaned it all off easily and left the one there next to the sink to dry. I made my way back to the living room because I had planned on sitting down to watch some tv when suddenly my sock foot soaked up some wetness. Apparently I had also found the pee puddle with that same foot. How unfortunate!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Animal shelters
On a whim yesterday, my friend Matthew and I decided to venture over to the local animal shelter in our town. I had never been there before, in fact there are a lot of local shelters that I have never seen. It seems as though I get caught up in my own little shelter community in which I have built a little cozy nest for myself for the last 5 months. I had sort of forgotten that there were other shelters out there…
Anyway despite my bias toward “my” shelter, I decided to check out what animals reside at these other shelters seeing as I am in the market for a dog. When we got there, we were a bit unsure about how their facility was run until I spotted the bright green signs that said “Dogs This Way” with a giant arrow. I guess it is just a “help yourself” kind of deal. So we went through a couple of doors into the dog room. There were probably about 20 or so dogs in there… a couple of them barking and excited, others lying down at the back of their kennels.
I noticed that about 80% of the breeds there were either part or whole Pittbull which was interesting… how did the pitt population get so out of control lately? Well we wandered through and said hello. Noticed a few that we could have definitely taken home with us. But it has to be perfect. And considering my bias, I still believe that I’ll end up adopting from my shelter just because I would have a better chance to get to know my future dog mate. That, and I’d get a discount. 😉
Leaving this shelter was a little depressing as I really just wanted to take all of the pups home with me. They all seemed to be saying, “well, what are you waiting for? Come play with me!”
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Hello Spring!
After weeks and weeks of rain and clouds, a sunny day broke through yesterday! It was supposed to reach around 65 degrees but I think the high was 73! And of course I was volunteering during that time, so all of those lucky dogs got to experience the hottest of the hot for that day. There were only very few pups when I got there because as it turned out, there was an off-site adoption event. I took two black dogs on long, slow walks (the poor guys) because I didn’t have much to do, but I’m sure they were thankful to get out and about.
For the last bit of my time, I played with the three little puppies. They all had some sort of skin condition that made the skin on their head a little rough and sparse with hair. They looked like little old balding men 🙂 Not quite sure on their story, but they must have had a hard knock life becasue all of them were slightly awkward when I picked them up to take them outside. Each was full of her own kind of love, but it seemed as though they didn’t understand anything beyond the tip of their wet little nose.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Operant conditioning… hey, I actually learned something in college
I’m a psychology major about to graduate in about 3 months and people always ask me if I’m trying to be a psychologist. The answer is no. And while I don’t know any statistical data, I am pretty sure only a very small percentage of psych majors end up as registered psychologists. Anyway, while I still am not particularly clear on my precise direction in life, I will be exiting the education stage of my life with a bit of new information. This was realized on my first real shift volunteering at the shelter.
Cooper was a hyper, young (around a year old) black lab who had been at the shelter for perhaps a couple months. I had gotten the impression that most volunteers were reluctant to take him on a walk because of his perceived high energy– and no one likes to walk the high energy dogs because they pull and pull on their leash and make the walk much more difficult. So me being naïve as I am, decided to take this pup for my next walk.
After picking out a leash and stuffing a couple of poo bags in my pocket, I headed toward his cage. Like many dogs, Cooper was the type to get super-excited when he saw a leash coming toward him because it means he gets to escape the noisy shelter and confinement of metal bars and break free to the great outdoors. This is where I got the idea to test out some of my knowledge on him.
Operant conditioning. It’s where a behavior changes by consequence reinforcement. Do something bad, negative consequence lessens the behavior. Do something good, positive consequenses reinforce the behavior. So every time Cooper put his paws up on the cage door, I took a step back. When he had his feet on the floor, I stepped forward. It was a silly little game between us that ended up working like a charm! I had Cooper quiet and standing “4 on the floor” by the time I was inside his cage and leashing him up. And it turned out that he was a fantastic walker. He didn’t pull or go crazy outside, all he really wanted was to get out of that cage and spread his wings a little (so to speak).
Suffice to say, I only visited the shelter three times a week for two hours at a time, so all the rest of the time the other volunteers let him jump on the door and go crazy so it kinda killed any effort I had made at working on his behavior. I’m excited to work on my own dog one day… she’s going to be my A+ student.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )
Dogs.. it's a hard knock life 