So...It Was Our Puppy's Turn To Go Under The Knife

We adopted a puppy in the summer. One of the conditions of adopting this particular puppy was we would get him fixed when he was old enough. A week ago today was the day, and he's worn that big, obnoxious cone ever since.

Oh, what a pain!

Now, I've never worn such a device. Then again, I've never had that particular procedure performed, and I'm not a dog, so I don't know exactly what our dog's going through. But I can imagine. Years ago, we took our other dog to the vet, except for her she was spayed and our puppy was neutered. I don't remember getting a small cone for our little shih tzu.

I thought we would be ready for our dog to have one of those cones around his neck. I mean, how hard could it be?

Turns out, there's a lot more to consider than just having a piece of plastic attached to a dog. You see, the dog is getting big--about fifty pounds--and our house is pretty small. And when a big dog runs through a small-ish house with a dog collar on, things smaller than the dog can get pushed around.

Since he's worn the collar, we've been woken up by the sound of plastic scraping on the walls, we've been physically moved around like a bulldozer by the cone, we've had furniture moved and knocked over. I never anticipated those kinds of things. I really should have. Another thing I didn't realize was how long the cone had to be worn. Ten days. I thought it would have been max five.

The good news is we're past the halfway point in the process. By this time next week, the plastic will be gone, just a memory, and we'll get back to being woken up and pushed around by just the dog and not the annoying piece of plastic he has now.

Sorry Mr. "He's Got Some Airedale In Him" Guy...You Were Wrong

My son picked up his new puppy at the end of June of this year. Since then, we've wondered just what kind of dog he was. The paperwork said Standard Poodle, but he was also a rescued dog and he could be something else mixed in. Since any dog with "doodle" in its name is all the rage right now, people came up to us when we were taking the puppy on a walk telling us our dog looked exactly like their Labradoodle, or other type of doodle.

A couple of people even said they thought our dog had a little Airedale Terrier in him. That actually made sense. We saw some whiskers on his face, and his snout seemed fatter, not as narrow. The past couple of months, the hair on the puppy grew and filled out. We thought he was just getting bigger, bigger legs, bigger face, bigger everything.

Turns out, we were wrong.

This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago. His hair had grown since I snapped the photo. My son and wife took the dog to the groomers this morning and if they weren't there to see the transformation, I'd swear they brought home a different animal. He answers to his name, but he doesn't look like the same dog.

He's a poodle--I don't think there's any way of getting around it.

We didn't care if he was a pure breed poodle. We've all grown to love him and he us. Next time we go walking and someone says, "hey, that looks like a--fill in the blank with a doodle--dog." We'll just say, nope--he's a poodle. And we love him.

Lucy...I Hope She Gets Adopted

On the weekends, I drive down to the local grocery store. One of the places I pass on my way to the grocery store is a pet store. On the weekends there are signs outside letting the world know that inside the pet store there are animals that need homes.

I've made it part of my Saturday routine to stop by the store and go inside.

Last weekend, I met Lucy, a ten year old poodle.

I shouldn't go inside, really. We already have a dog. Sure, our dog is getting older, blinder, and deafer, She can no longer go downstairs and she never comes when you call her. But there is something about looking at the dogs, cats, even bunnies and gerbils at the pet store that makes me think, "what if...?"

When I'm there, I'm also wishing I could take every animal home with me. That can't happen, obviously. We've all seen stories about people who try and adopt as many pets as possible. It never ends well, for the adopter and the adoptees.

After I check out the animals and pet the dogs and look into their eyes and then leave, I wonder what happens to the dogs. I've asked the handlers who bring the animals to the store. They've said that almost every animal they've brought in gets adopted. That makes me feel good knowing that our community is providing homes for these animals.

Lucy, a sweet older poodle, has a lot of strikes against her. She's older. She's not spunky--at least, she didn't jump up and down at the visitors who walked by, myself included. She looked a little poofie because she hasn't had her hair cut in a while. She just looked tired. I wonder if she got adopted, or will get adopted. I hope so--I'm sure there's someone out there who would be a better match for this little dog. Maybe, when I resume my regular weekend routine, I'll see Lucy. Hopefully, I won't because she'll be spending the lazy Saturday morning in her new home.

Pet Adoption Day...Or A Better Title: Rip You Heart Out Day

"Lets go check out the animals," I said to my wife after I parked the car. We had to drive past the pet store on our way to the grocery store. Outside under a beautiful summer sky stood several cages and around them were gathered several people.

We knew what it was.

We'd seen it before.

Pet Adoptions...

Oh, the horror!

Still, what can it hurt to just go look? I thought.

I should not say those words--I should not even think those words. What can it hurt? Are you kidding me?

The answer is--lots, lots of hurt.

I believe the feeling one gets when looking into the eyes of an animal in search of a home is one of the shared experiences of every human on this planet. You remember doing it. You see the animal--be it dog, cat, bunny, even a reptile--and your mind races. Can I do it? Do we have the space? Are we allergic? You think of the trade-offs. There's a million things in the "No" column. Those things seem to dissolve right in front of you eyes when you look at the animal, leaving a big "Yes" as not only a reasonable choice, but one you desperately want it to be.

We have several pets, a dog and two cats--one of which we rescued and gave a home during the middle of a Utah January. And even though those eyes that stared back at me and communicated to my soul, I knew it was not to be. These beautiful, vulnerable creatures would call others their saviors.

We walked away, and to make matters worse, we had to drive by the same caged animals on our way home. A new group of potential adoptive parents now clustered around metal enclosures. I hope someone in the new group looked into those eyes and to them, the "Yes" overcame the "No." I sure hope so.