animal shelter

Can't sleep; tossing and turning, I have to tell their stories.

Two months of mourning the passing of Sweet Louise, and many night of visits online to view available pets at every humane society in the state, and I decided that we would start today in Waterville.

I had three dogs in mind for viewing. When I finally got unlost in Waterville ( I am great at getting lost in Waterville) , found the shelter, and parked the car, a dog walker was walking a large brown dog with a big fluffy curled tail. We got out of the car and learned the dogs name was Cody, one of the dogs whose photos were not online, so I had not considered him as an option.

The saplings loved him, so we went in and introduced ourselves as seeking a dog, and requested to see Cody. We were directed to a large community room, and brought in three metal folding chairs, as the shelter employee requested that we be seated when she brought the dog in.

Cody was brought in, and greeted us nicely on his leash, and the employees proudly showed us how he could "sit" and "down" (baited with a treat, but done nonetheless). Then they released him, and he charged around the room, approached the AC station that was covered with a large drape, and promptly lifted his leg and urinated all over it. Uh-OH.

We were told Cody had been turned in up in Millinocket as a stray. No shelter there-the local vet holds them for a week, and then they get euthanized. An employee there arranged for him to go to the Waterville shelter instead. Cody was ok for cats-he rode down with one in the car and cared less.

He was fine on the leash-I was stunned when I took him, as our Gandalf had been a very large dog-this guy must have been 30inches at the topline. And if he was ever going to grow into his enormous head, he was going to gain another inch or two.

He did earn a couple other bad marks against him in our visit-he bumped both myself and the Firebird on the back of the hand with his teeth, and once turned abruptly to the shelter employee when she reached for his collar-no snarl or growl, but iffy given our family environment.

We also learned that he had been adopted out and come right back. The first night he had been allowed to sleep on the bed, and in the night "someone living in the house" had entered the bedroom, and he had growled, so they brought him back.

I had that happen to me with my first bullmastiff , and had thought about returning her, but reasoned out the circumstances and made sure she knew who lived in the house and was not to be growling at them. She was fine. So, Cody's return for those reasons did not particularly alarm me, but the almost neurotic marking of territory both inside and out led me to hesitiate and talk the saplings into looking at another dog.

I had already determined that I was not interested in a hound or a beagle, of which there were many. Both are working hunting dogs-they are bred to run with their noses down and their singing barks carry for miles. Not fair to expect a dog like that to be a stay-at-home pet.

However, under the pressure of the saplings urging me to take Cody home, I announced we would next see "Dacey" who had not been in her Kennel when we made our initial walk through. I recalled her photo but forgot she was a hound.

The shelter employee warned me that she was dirty and very needy. I said, send her in. The first thing she did when released was launch herself at me, seated, with paws on my shoulders, face inches from mine,cross-eyed, whining pathetically. I gave her bigs hugs and we all patted her, and she dropped down and ran off exploring in true hound fashion, nose to the floor. She was also unspayed and in heat, so she loved sniffing that wet AV curtain.

I approached her and reached down and she flinched visibly, and I said outloud, 'This dog has been abused"

I knew right away she wasn't a good fit for us, but the shelter employee escaped and left us alone with the dog for at least twenty minutes. She was a bad dog! Not bad like rotten, but bad dog as in what you say when they are misbehaving.

She knocked over the trash barrel, and stood on her hind feet with paws on the counter, and did not ever have an inkling of the word no. I didn't try and teach her either-the poor things have so little people contact I didn't want to start reprimanding her. She wasn't interested in the ball, but the Willow got her interested in the knotted rope.

Once Lacey ran over to the door and jumped up and nearly turned the large handle to open the door! I really thought she might have been quite clever once I saw that, but we sent her back and I requested one I had come to see, "Hunter."

Hunter was quite scary in his cage-jumping and barking agressively, but I wanted to see him.
He was not quite as large as Cody, but still a big dog. He was called an Akita mix, but he was tall and lanky. A very pretty light fawn brindle, with a white strip on his nose, and one blue eye. It was funny looking on the web site-he had one red glaring eye and one green glaring eye, from the reflection of the flash. The employee confided that she blacked out the red on the photo for the next webpage.

He was very energized, and the shelter employee held his wriggling self a few minutes before letting him greet us. Although he could easily have reached my face standing, he opted to launch himself up against the leash with feet up..something that scared the saplings. I could see he had some good potential-he was very focused on us, very good natured but unruly to put it mildly.

Willow stepped right up and started chucking a squeaky ball for him. He was one that liked to run with the ball and not give it back. (that game is called "chase me" not "fetch")

I let the saplings warm up to him and read his paperwork He was 9 months old and had been adopted as a puppy from the same shelter. "Not enough time" was the reason for give up. I read on. He had been outside on a run 8-10 hours a day, dug holes (not suprising tied all day), and got into the trash at night if not picked up. (what self respecting puppy doesn't?) He was ok with cats, had been with kids.

I asked if we could take him outside, and the Firebird immediately wanted the leash, so I turned it over, and they headed into the small field, picked up speed, and the dog got away from him. Hunter took off in big bounding leaps, first one way, then the other, us not chasing, just calling, and after three fast circles came right back. Then he laid very quietly under the bench while I tried to convince the Firebird he was really a good dog. Nope, the Firebird didn't like him, and I had announced that we all three had to agree on a dog, so Hunter went back while we talked privately to no avail.

Afterwards I realized that the jumping lunging behavior had obviously been caused by the poor dog being tied on a run while the kids in his former family played. Hence the jumping and lunging and overexcitement at actually being able to get near a kid now. Add in the fact that the dogs at the shelter spend every minute of every day alone in their tiny cages, unless a volunteer comes to walk them. And they are indoor pens. That poor dog was sooooo happy to launch himself around in that fresh grass and sunshine with kids....sigh...but I don't fault the Firebird-he felt uncomfortable and perhaps sensed danger to himself or his sister, so Hunter was out.

We went back in again, and I requested Mac. The shelter employee seemed hesistant to get the dog-I had to finally go with her as she seemed to not understand which one I wanted, or else didn't want to deal with the dog, or knew something she wasn't sharing...however, we did get Mac out.

Mac was labelled a hound/collie mix, young, a medium sized dog. The first thing he did when given enough leash was launch his paws onto my seated shoulders and give me great smiling dog licks, and also got the saplings in turn. Being smaller and better natured, this did not bother the kids. We thought he was cute. Although not trained, he did NOT add his urine to the now almost dry curtain. He did give the vent a good sniff, and I jumped up and asked to take him out.

I kept ahold of the leash this time, and yes, he did go about hound fashion, nose down, but just for the glory of a good sniff and was quite happy to wet the telephone pole (instead of every lilac bush, as the first dog) and relieved himself in the tall grass with a happy doggy grin. We liked him. Was he cat friendly?

Nope, he did not pass the cat test. For the cat test, they have a certain cat that just lies limply on the floor. Mac sniff and snffed and nudged and kept picking up the urgency of "please run so I can chase you". The cat was finally rescued, and then he followed the cat with his eyes until out of sight. Hmmm. The employees both shook their heads. He had the makings of a serious cat chaser. That eliminated Mac.

So we left empty handed. I was sad. I had known going in that there were only two dogs that were strong possibilities, but sensed both would have drawbacks. I did like both the dogs I had pre-selected very much, but they weren't quite right.

I have picked out four strong possibles and another two maybes at the Augusta shelter, but they are closed tomorrow, so we will go Thursday or Friday.

Stay tuned for more insomnia.