Boone took the death of Kersey really hard, which I expected. We all took it hard. Boone and Kersey were like 2 peas in a pod. They were so mutual in their existence. I didn't even really know who held the alpha dog title. They had such a peaceful coexistence. They did everything together (except car rides, which Kersey didn't like). They did their outties to the yard together, walks together. If I couldn't take both dogs somewhere, I chose not to take either dog, to avoid splitting them up and hurting feelings.
Boone's days, since losing his canine sister, consisted of laying his head on the window sill and staring out at nothing. He wouldn't even go outside to potty without someone going with him. He was in bad shape, and his hurting just made our hurting all the worse. On top of not getting enough time to grieve the loss of my best girlfriend in the world (she was diagnosed on Sunday night at 11:30ish at the emergency vet, and didn't respond to the pain killers and steroids as hoped, and I made the final decision on Tuesday morning to say goodbye), my sweet Boone was merely a shell of who he was before Kersey died.
Boone needed a friend far more than I needed more time to grieve.
With that being said; I went to the shelter with an open mind, but leaning towards a small, female, light-colored dog. It's funny how you can go into an adoption with certain expectations, and end up with the complete opposite. I had imagined something Caviler King Charles'ish. Something small, but not tiny. I looked at every dog. I looked at the small dogs. I looked at the light colored dogs. I looked at the female dogs. Heck, I even found a few small, female, light colored dogs. I even made sure I met all the bigger dogs. I saw them all. We even went to the homes of a couple dogs that were out of the Humane Society and in a foster home. Nothing clicked. Nothing fit perfect. I was headed to a shelter in a different county hoping to find my next dog, and I got a text from my husband saying that his (idiot)co-worker dumped her two labradoodles at the Animal Control Reclaim Center the night before, and claimed they were strays. I like labradoodles, I thought, what the heck. Turned the car around and headed to AC. Now I'm not sure how AC is in other cities, but in this city, it's bad, bad, bad. Dogs are given 3 days and if the HS does not pick them out to take to the shelter, they are killed. 3 days is all they get. The HS is totally full, and every foster home is full, so they're not even able to pull any from AC. Sooooo, I went to AC, and saw them. It was a father and his son. The father was a yellow labradoodle and his son a 5 month black labradoodle. The lady who dumped them only had them 2 days, and my hubby overheard her saying, "they were too big, and they made big messes". She had them two days, duh, they were that big when you GOT THEM!
Anyway, the labradoodles were the first cage, and they were beautiful and friendly. I made sure to look at all the dogs at AC, and it broke my heart. Most were so scared they wouldn't come up to the glass greeting window, some tried to kill me through the glass window. Some were so terrified, looking at them made them piddle....the labradoodles were lovely. Came right up to the glass and wagged and wagged. I could tell that they were loved at one point in their lives.
I knew I didn't want an adult dog (even though he was light colored), and I certainly didn't want an adult in-tact male. That's just not a good mix for Boone. So on Thursday when the labradoodles had spent the required 3 days at AC, I met the little black 5 month old. It was truly love at first sight for everyone. I brought Boone to the meeting, and they hit it off immediately. It seemed too good to be true, but it's not. My heart aches for Kersey. I loved her like no other. She was the best, most amazing dog I've ever met. I am absolutely certain Kersey had a paw in this meeting. In the conversation my hubby overheard from his idiot coworker. The timing. Everything.
Without further ado, here's Ollie Fuzzypants Baxter, our new baby. He's totally house trained, crate trained, great with my kids, and when I first took Ollie and Boone to the back yard, Boone immediately play bowed with Ollie, then proceeded to chase him and be chased by him. They played some tug-of-war with the rope toy. Why that woman adopted two big dogs at once when she didn't plan on keeping them is beyond me. The father, I'm happy to announce, also got addopted. It was meant to be with Ollie
Here he was at AC before I bathed/nail trimmed/brushed him. Our first face-to-face meeting.
After some much needed grooming. He's smiling!
He's so cute and fuzzy, with his gangely legs.
Vincent approves of his new fuzzy pup. Ollie approves of his new tiny human playmates.
Cute close up
Reply With Quote
He's adorable and looks like he's been with you for a long time. I hope he'll have many more happy and healthy years with you.
Bookmarks