The Dog

My wife to be comes back with a set paperwork I've seen before. Jack the howler's other kennel-mate Indy.  It turns out he has been hiding away from Jack near the flap to the outside. (If I lived with Jack I'd hide too.)  Prodded on by my girlfriend I say "Sure let's meet him." All the interview rooms are full. So Larkin (a volunteer) takes us to a fenced area between 2 kennel buildings. This bad place for him it's fenced, but open on all sides with people, and dogs constantly wandering around. Indy makes a poor showing. He is aloof, and extremely nervous.  Every sound causes him to start, and look around wildly.  (In retrospect the reasons for this are obvious.)  I try a few dog biscuits, and he wants nothing to do with me. I throw a tennis ball no dice. Larkin wisely decides to give us some time. She is gone a long time. (It's the weekend, and Christmas is a week away.)

I evaluate the dog. He is "7" which is getting close to elderly for a dog his size.  (In a shelter 8 is elderly and can be a death sentence in crowded shelters.) He is highly stressed. He isn't affectionate. He doesn't appear very trainable. Reading his file he was originally from a shelter in Merced (3 hours east), and was taken in by a rescue group before he could be put down. That was a year prior.   (A closer look later at his paper work much later indicates he has been "7" for over a year. ) What happen next is anyone's guess, but he and Lucy, who appeared to be related in some way, were turned in a couple of months ago to the SPCA. Indy was in bad shape back then. He'd been constantly gnawing and/or licking a patch of skin the size of my hand right above his tail.  This has gone on long enough that it needed antibiotics when he came to the shelter. His white fur still bore obvious redish saliva stains.   His initial eval notes indicated he was behaviorally even worse when he came into the shelter in terms of submissive behavior.  He'd been tucking his back end down so much the evaluator had thought he might have had hip issues.

On the other hand there were many thing in his favor. He had the right type of floppy ears for Brenna. (Really her only stated preference other than it being a nice dog.) He was in good shape. (Thinner than I like, but not unhealthy.) I was raised with dogs, and real or imagined I think I have a gift with them. I've read, and watched enough about behavioral problems to be cocky. After all compared to the mauler. Bringing a shy dog out of his shell shouldn't be that much harder. Besides everything I've read indicates that behavior at the shelter vs 2 months later is massive. Why not take him.  Worst case we can return him... (I know myself well enough to know I'm kidding myself about being able to return a dog.) Plus I've got a good feeling about him, and I can sense that there is a good dog waiting for the right owner.

This is the dog. It sinks in. In as little as 2 years he'll die of old age. Maybe with lot's of care he'll live another 7 years or more.  Maybe.  I take a minute to mourn my new dog's impending death. After wiping the tears away I sit down, and try to lure my dog over. It doesn't work. Some time then Larkin returns and seems resigned that Indy and I haven't bonded, and the poor dog will likely be here for months.  (Heck they have a pit that was going on 2 years at that point.)  I'm kinda teary, and sad.  Indy is avoiding me on the other side of the area.

I immediately tell her "We'll take him".  She does a bit of a double take.  We go back to a room with Indy, and we fill out the paperwork.  Indy seems much happier in the room, and allows us to freely pet him.  By pet him I mean he sits down next to us facing away from us.  There is period of confusion when they say he is bonded to Lucy.  Looking back I wonder if they were hoping we'd take both, they were just confused, or if they were bonded but figured this was Indy's best shot.

At the front desk we wait, and pay his fees including a mandatory training deposit. The ladies remark we must like project dogs.  Most likely thinking we zeroed in on the mauler, and Indy.  I suspect Indy was on the mental list of dogs they didn't think were adoptable.  I resist telling them I don't like project dogs I'm just picky, and Indy is the best dog they have for me.  If they had a better dog I'd take him, but their selection sucks right now.