I’ve said it before. I am
so glad we live out in the country. It has its benefits. It does have some
drawbacks occasionally too though. The last ten days have been somewhat wild
for us. And the word is used literally out here in the country. We’ve been without
our Pepper for ten days now and the raccoons, possums, and skunks are becoming
braver and braver. Soon they’ll be pulling up chairs when we sit down to dinner.
When you live out in the “wild” without a dog, all kinds of critters wander
into your yard. We are almost surrounded by trees and my youngsters often call
the wooded area “the jungle.” Even with a dog, we often saw a lot of critters.
One day we saw a turkey walk through the yard, a deer on the driveway, and a
coyote in the pasture in front of the house. Sydney watched all three from the
front window and I heard her mumble, “What’s next? A dinosaur?”
So, I have been visiting
pet rescue Facebook walls and internet sites and watching Craig’s List, looking
for the perfect dog. The perfect dog: a mid to large sized dog, past the puppy
stage, well mannered, who will bark at people who drive up but not attack them.
My expectations are reasonable, right? I know it has only been a short time but
it seems like I have spent eons calling and questioning people who are trying
to find a home for their four-legged friends. And always in the background I
have Sydney bouncing around and begging me to work some magic and find her a
furry companion.
A couple of days ago I
answered an ad on Craig’s List about TWO dogs. Two for the price of one…
because free times two is still free!! They both sounded good. They are four
and five year old Australian Shepherd mixes, used to staying outside, both
female, already spayed, with no history of roaming, and they are good with
kids! The perfect dogs! And I’d found two! The owner was moving from a rural
setting to town and needed to rehome them right away. We went to meet the dogs that
same evening and really liked them. We brought them home. The dogs were model
passengers and Sydney giggled the whole way home. We were so happy! (for about an
hour.) Then the escapade began. We got out of the car and immediately the dogs
grabbed a kitten. I will just say Shawn is getting really good at digging holes.
We comforted Sydney, buried the kitten and began to doubt our decision. We
played out in the yard until it was really late. As we came in to go to bed, the
dogs began to bark. I looked outside and saw both dogs jumping against Sydney’s
rabbit hutch in a frenzied fit. I went out and calmed them, led them away from
the rabbit, and came back inside. Fast forward 15 minutes and the scene
repeated. All. Night. Long. I tried tying them up but they got right off the
cable! Around 2:00 in the morning when I went out, I was almost knocked over by
a horrible stench. Those dogs had been sprayed by a skunk! I had already been
calling them “stinkin’ dogs by that time so I was feeling a little prophetic.
This time, when I led those dogs away from the rabbit hutch and scolded them I
started looking around for the hidden camera. Surely, this was not happening to
me! When it was nearly morning, I wised up. I raised our window so I could hear
when the dogs got crazed again and I could holler the dogs’ names without going all the way outside to calm them. The raised window
had its pros and cons though. That skunk smell? You get used to it after a
while. Each time I hollered at those dogs, they obeyed and left that poor
rabbit alone…for about 15 minutes at a time. So basically, they are dogs with a
short attention span and no impulse control. No wonder I was drawn to them. I was
contemplating sharing some of Sydney’s medication with those dogs before the
sun came up.
Oh, I almost forgot one of
the “best parts” of this story. One of the dogs is named Julie. Julie is my
little sister’s name. So, every time I yelled at that dog I thought of my
little sister. Yelling at that dog was like stepping back in time about forty
years.
Sydney was up at first
light and took over where I had left off, tying to distract the dogs from
throwing themselves at the rabbit hutch. Even when they were not barking and
trying to eat that rabbit through the wire cage, they were sitting beside the
cage, staring and drooling. Finally, late in the afternoon, the two dogs went
and sprawled out under my van and took a nap. I used their nap time to call the dogs’
original owner and arrange to take them back. For some reason, that guy was a
little hard to get ahold of and pin down to a time to meet. He'd been so eager to meet up the day before. I wonder why? We got 'er done though. We unloaded those dogs
in a hurry and sped away.
When we returned home
without those stinky dogs, we were able to coax all the cats down out of the
trees and Febreeze the car. Does anyone out there know of an animal therapist
that can help our poor rabbit? She used to be black but now she’s white and she
seems to have developed a nervous tic. And now, once again, we are looking for the perfect dog. Added to our
new list of requirements is that the dog must be rabbit tolerant, cat
friendly, and not share a name with one of my sisters. We've got a lead on a Golden Retriever but that fell through. Then I was sure we were going to adopt a Doberman but that was not in the cards either. We are still looking.
If you have not yet read about our recent tragedy and the loss of Pepper, who truly was "the perfect dog," then you might want to click on the link below.
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