Islandscapes: Adopt A Dog, Save A Life

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Adopt A Dog, Save A Life

Gradually I am catching up on my blog and now I am less than a year behind, I am working so hard(not). Over five years ago the love of my life passed away and I could not imagine finding someone to love but I found two someones. Grover, my 14 year old mostly, New Found land, long-haired, 160 pound, jet black dog lived a good life and when I held him in my arms for the last deep sleep I cried, deep sobbing tears that I never wanted to experience again. But I have always had pets; dogs, cats, rabbits, snakes, turtles and birds often sharing my house with several species at a time. Oh the stories I could tell, the snake that was loose and found in my sister's water bed, my girlfriend who thought if we fed the rabbit pot it would shit hash, the night the bird got out was chased by the cat, who was chased by the dog who knocked over the fish tank and dumped the turtle dish, which ended when I turned on the light and found the bird in the cat's mouth and everyone out of breath, (especially the fish), I love animals!

Despite vows to the contrary I felt the need to experience puppy love, two of my three cats had passed last year and I only had one cat, life was so easy, if I had any sense it would have stayed that way. But nooooooooooo. I went to the pound just to look for a small, curly haired, non shedding, sweet lap dog. In the back of my mind I thought I might get a bigger dog later on, when you live on twenty five acres a big dog roaming soothes the mind. Looking was hard especially since I went five times, never finding a small, healthy, young pup, I wanted a dog under ten pounds and they are just hard to find at the local shelter.

However from the first time I went there were two pups estimated at six to eight months old, brothers they thought, not much information was known since the two were found tied to shelter fence one morning. Dogs that are left without information are not allowed to be adopted for four weeks, so I saw these boys on each trip. One white, one black, a lab/retriever mix, big, smelly, no manners but always happy to see me. My husband and I took the white one out for a test drive in the fenced greeting area, the black one went berserk when his brother left, jumping, howling and crying, he sure missed his brother. Next the black dog went for a cruise with us and the white one left behind howled with distress. You know the rest of the story, right?

I named them Finn and Munch, if you are a Law and Order fan you'll know they are named for the detectives on that show, one who is black and the other who is white. I posted these pictures taken last March (puppy shots) because Finn and Munch are now part of the crew and obviously a part of my daily life. The shelter was reluctant to release two big dogs to the same people but with much persuasion we convinced them. The dogs had a nasty yellow discharge around their noses which was being treated, diagnosed as kennel cough. We got them cleaned up, micro-chipped, collared, grabbed the medicine and once again had a house with dogs.

The kennel cough escalated and we spent the first two months back and forth to the vet, they ended up with pneumonia and our vet worked hard to save them, Finn was especially ill. There were times that first month he could hardly keep his head up, we fed him with a turkey baster, it was touch and go for awhile. It took nearly six months for Finn to lose the kennel cough but he is healthy and happy now. They still howl like crazy when separated, they are hugely spoiled, too much trouble, I vacuum constantly,

the house is full of toys (I never had a dog that liked toys), the cost of vacation went up $25.00 a day for boarding them but they are the best relationship I have had in years.

So here are their baby photo's, I am sure I will post more and I hope to get some video, they are full of energy. Notice the snotty noses in some of the photo's, God I am glad to be rid of that part.