To My Dog's Previous Owners

To my dog's previous owners,

I wish I could read my dog's brain, or see a movie of what his life was like before that day we found him, so I'd know exactly what he'd been through. Because I can't do that, I can only take the pieces of what I know about him from the day we found him to form a picture of what you were like.

I know you existed because he knew how to sit on command. He was friendly around humans, but terrified of us when he had accidents in the house.

He had no collar or microchip. He wasn't neutered. He had fleas and an eye infection...and he was young, energetic, and very needy.

We never saw posters of him saying he was lost, and nobody responded to the found report we did online through the city, so we assumed you abandoned him because he was too big or difficult to handle.

Why? What would possess you to leave such a young puppy alone in the street? Did you take him to our apartment complex, or did he find his own way there? Why couldn't you just take him to a shelter where he would be safe?

I ask these questions, and then I realize, that as awful and horrible I think it is to abandon a puppy, if you wouldn't have taken that course of action, he never would have been ours. We weren't looking to get a dog. But we found him and we shaped our lives around HIM. We changed our home and our lifestyle FOR HIM. We eventually moved to a new house JUST FOR HIM. We didn't get a dog on a whim and decide to get rid of him if he didn't fit our specifications.

But then again, what we did might be considered illegal in some interpretations of the law. I didn't realize until a few months after we kept Apple that we "stole" him. And if you came back looking for him, we might be expected to just hand him back to you. But we'd never give him up without a fight. (And I think the fact that we've had him for a year now, and put in a found report would put the law on our side.)

All in all, I might feel very angry about what might have happened to our dog, but in the end I almost have to be thankful that it happened the way it did. It seems sick and twisted to want to thank you for getting rid of him, but I have to. If any one little thing would have happened differently, we never would have gotten Apple. It was fate for us to have this dog, and your treatment of him was part of that plan. I am just so thankful that he found his way to our apartment and chose my husband to wander up to. I can't imagine if it would have happened any differently.

One year later, I don't know if Apple remembers anything about his previous life. I wish I could ask him. I hope that this never happens again, and that you take better care of any other dogs you might have...but for now, for today, I have to let go of what makes me angry and just revel in the happiness that everything worked out the way it did.

Apple is much better for it. So are we.

Let's Play Catch (Up!)

Hello blog universe!

Sorry I have been away for so long. Like I told my team lead at my end-of-the-year job chat today, I've just had so many things going on in my personal life that it has been hard to keep up with everything (like this!)

However, it is a great time to get back into my blog, because tomorrow is a big day...

Tomorrow is our Apple-versary...aka the anniversary of the day we found and kept our wonderful, beautiful dog, Apple. There will be many posts to come about this :).

Since I last posted, we did manage to find a house that would take Apple and our application was accepted!

In our front yard!

The houses that we looked at the day after I posted Moving When a Family Member is Four-Legged were a bit interesting. The first one was decent enough, but it had a tiny yard, some cleanliness issues, and it just didn't seem right. 

The second one was like something out of a nightmare. There were cracks in the walls, dirt and grass all over the floor, brown smudges, holes in the ceiling, and it reeked of drugs. It was awful. I was so worried we would never find a place, and I desperately hoped the last house would be better.

The last house was much better, and although Steven had to leave to go to a temp job, I went ahead and put the money down on it. We had a few security issues when we first moved in, but since then, everything has been fine and great!

The yard is awesome.

The Google Maps satellite picture of our house

 We painted the majority of the interior of the house, and it took 3 weeks to get our stuff settled in, but now we are quite established here. :)

Me painting the kitchen

Our living room

Our bedroom

I am so glad they accepted Apple, but I had hoped to foster dogs for Austin Dog Rescue after moving, and I have been too "chicken" to try to clear this with my landlord....we'll see if anything ever comes of this.

Apple has been really enjoying the yard, but has unfortunately been digging, and misses the company of other dogs at the dog park, so we still try to take him somewhat often. 

Tomorrow, I really promise that I will post blogs! I will have to show you his cake, and I plan on posting "To My Dog's Previous Owners," a blog similar in style to To My Dog's Mother, On His Birthday. It should be a great day!

Book Reviews: Dogs and the Women Who Love Them

For Christmas, my wonderful husband got me some dog-themed books for my reading pleasure, and I thought it would be a great idea to keep up the reading and write book reviews when I finish a new book.

First up, Dogs and the Women Who Love Them, by Allen and Linda Anderson.

The Andersons have written many books on both dogs and cats, most notably the Angel Animals series. This book is a compilation of stories written by various women and compiled by the Andersons, giving readers a window into the lives of 22 pairs of women and dogs, with Linda's story being the last of the book.

Because there are so many stories and they are all quite short (each is about 10 pages) this book is a very easy and quick read. It is so inspiring to read not just about one great dog, but of many dogs, each great in his/her own right. While some of the dogs are dedicated service dogs, such as Greta, the seeing-eye dog, Beau, the veteran service dog, or Major, the K-9 police dog, many of the other dogs are therapy dogs that volunteer alongside their owners, as I mentioned in a previous blog post. While all of the dogs (and the women) have led great lives, most of them are just "ordinary" dogs doing extraordinary things.

Each story has a fairly predictable cycle--they usually begin with a rescue or meeting the dog for the first time, transition into the dog's training, work, and bond with the woman, and finally, and sadly, most of the stories end with the death of the dog. One or two of the stories was written about a dog that was still living, but the vast majority of the stories are written after the dog's passing, as the owner looks back on his or her life. Some of the rescue stories in the book are amazing--these dogs grew up to do amazing things to help others, but many began life being very distrustful of humans due to neglect and abuse. 

One story that particularly stood out to me was that of K-9 Major, whose original owners feared him and kept him on a chain outside, never showing him any affection and hardly feeding him. When Marilyn, a police officer, came out to his farm seeking a replacement for her favorite K-9, she found Major not to be wildly aggressive, but just as fearful of people as they were of him. She eventually trained him to be her mostly loyal and most highly skilled K-9 of her career.

Another story that touched my heart was about a Scottish Terrier therapy dog named McDuff. McDuff had an especially unique talent for touching the souls of the outcasts of society--the severely ill, both mentally and physically, and the mentally challenged. McDuff could elicit a smile or a reaction from patients who had remained expressionless for months, or even years, and amazed all the workers at the homes and hospitals he visited.

Other dogs were especially talented with service tasks, one being featured on television, and some were even disabled themselves. There are heroic recovery stories of dogs in wheelchairs defying the odds and continuing to live a life full of fun and mobility when vets suggested they be put down.

This is a fabulously heartwarming book. While it is wonderful to be able to read so many different stories, I found that I wished they were longer. I could have read an entire book about any of these individual dogs. I also found that I did not cry in this book, whereas I cried at the death of a dog in a book that was much longer and solely dedicated to telling that dog's story.

While I may not have shed any tears, I would highly recommend Dogs and the Women Who Love Them to anyone who loves a dog, those who have worked alongside their dogs, or those who may choose to in the future!

Apple's Story (or, How I Became a Dog Mom)

On May 29, 2012, my life changed forever.

In fact, I can remember exactly what I was doing right before the change occurred. I was standing around in Target trying to decide whether or not I should purchase this book:

What do you do with a BA in Theatre?

Normally, I'm not much of an impulse buyer. But, I felt as if my fiance and I could really use this book. I was 2 weeks out of college and he had been laid off for the second time, and I couldn't see how I could possibly turn down the COMPLETE GUIDE to solving all of my problems for a mere $16.95.

The second after I pulled the book off the shelf and placed it in my basket, I received a phone call from my fiance, Steven, and I had a strong premonition that it was an important call. And for whatever reason, I didn't expect it to be a good one.

He sounded really nervous when he spoke to me. I braced myself to find out what was wrong, and then he told me that a lost dog had been following him around our apartment complex. He was concerned that he couldn't go inside the apartment because this dog refused to leave him alone. He wanted to ask me if it was okay to let the dog inside so that he could put his stuff down. Then, he told me the dog was black. I told him it was fine to let the dog inside...what I didn't mention right away was that I wanted to keep him.

It was impossible for him to tell me that dog was black and expect me not to keep him. I have always been obsessed with black dogs. The only dog I had ever owned was a black Cocker Spaniel named Macintosh, and I became very partial to the color, especially after learning about Black Dog Syndrome, a human fear which prevents many black dogs from finding homes. I had always planned on getting a black dog and naming it Apple, after the computer, just like Mac.

I did, ever so gently, make a suggestion that we could keep him (but, in an alternate universe where we were emotionally and financially prepared for such an undertaking.) I asked him to please keep the dog until I got home (I was two hours away in my hometown, and was headed back to Austin as soon as I left Target) and said I would pick up some dog food to give him, and that we could take him to a shelter together.

Buying that food gave me such an adrenaline rush. I started fantasizing about our new life with a dog, and started blathering on about how excited I was to the checkout clerk. Two hours away, Steven was becoming very attached to the dog as well, and entertained the idea that we might keep him. We started texting about how much we wanted him, and I called him back to talk about it. The second we spoke on the phone we began convincing ourselves out of the undertaking, but when we hung up the phones (and our rational minds) we couldn't imagine ourselves giving him up.

When I finally arrived at our apartment complex and saw the dog, he bounded up to me with such excitement, as if he knew exactly who I was. We always talk about how he picked Steven, as there were other people around the complex as well, and I like to think that he realized in that instant that he was getting a great 2-for-1 special. It seemed as if he knew who I was--that I belonged with Steven, and consequently, belonged with him.

At this point, we were so conflicted on what to do. We wanted to keep him, but we didn't know what it would take to fix him up. He was dirty, he had fleas, and he wasn't neutered. What if he was sick? I decided that we had to take him to the shelter--not necessarily to leave him, but to ask them what we could do if we chose to keep him. I surmised that with all of the overcrowding in shelters and free adoption days, they had to offer a sweet deal to a couple who wanted to skip the middleman and rescue a dog right off the streets.

Before taking him to the shelter(s)

 The first place we took him was Austin Pets Alive, and when we walked in, the employees looked worried and explained that they weren't doing intakes. I explained that we were just there to talk--we wanted to know what our options were. They were extremely nice and helpful and told us about Emancipet, a clinic that offers low-cost medications and shots, and even free microchipping and sterilization to residents of certain zip codes. Then, they took a look at Apple's teeth, and told us that he was only four months old; he still had all his baby teeth.

At that moment, any rational human being might have said, "A PUPPY?!! Are you KIDDING ME?? That thing is going to be HUGE!!!" However, my first thought was, "A BABY?!! HE NEEDS ME!!!" The rest is pretty much history.

We did take him to Austin Animal Center and put in a found report in case his owners were looking for him. He knew some basic commands, so it was pretty obvious he had been previously owned. Then we took him to Emancipet and had him "fixed up" for $35 (including a free microchip) and later, had him neutered for free.

He did get big, but we hardly notice. The day we brought him in he was 28 pounds. Today, he is nearly a year old and weighs almost 60 pounds. He is a "knock-off Labradoodle," meaning that his parents were a Labradoodle and a Lab mix, but he is the textbook definition of a 'doodle. We lost a lot of shoes and headphones along the way, but we have not looked back.

Yes, I did take my dog to see Santa.

Now, I am a very passionate (obsessed? psycho?) Dog Mom and I can't imagine my life any other way. I especially love going to parks and participating in Austin's "dog culture," which I will be sure to document in this blog!