Let me also state that I am a firm believer that there are two kinds of people. Dog people and kid people. I am definitely one of the kid people. Tyler is definitely one of the dog people. I am ignorant when it comes to dogs. He is ignorant when it comes to kids.
In fact, one of my all time favorite stories takes place two months after my beautiful niece Edie was born. Tyler and I were home for Christmas and I couldn't wait to hold that baby girl. (Tyler was just as anxious to pet his parent's dog, Razz.) Christmas dinner was happening at Edie's mommy's house and we were all planning and making arrangements on what kind of food we would feast on, and who would make what. I had been telling Tyler "the plan" and had mentioned something about how hard it is to host a Christmas dinner for twelve people when you are caring for an infant. It was about this time when Tyler had honestly wanted to know what the big deal was and didn't Edie need to eat Christmas dinner too? I paused for a moment and looked at him trying to figure out what he was asking. He caught on to my confusion and tried reiterating by saying, "Well. What's Edie going to eat for dinner?" I cracked up. Then replied, "Uh. Breast Milk."
It was then and there that I realized he really had NO IDEA about babies. It might have not been that same day, but definitely that same vacation when Tyler was just sure that Edie could walk. Again, I cracked up. There is something about an image of a walking 2 month old that eats Christmas dinner that really cracks me up. I try to be polite with Tyler's ignorance, but sometimes I have to give a big ol' cackle before I can reply. It's not that I am trying to be rude, but everything in me knows about children. I know how to bond with them, talk to them, read their needs, etc...I am naturally very maternal and I absolutely love children. It is a part of me.
It is with this thought that I realized, loving pups is a part of Tyler. Somewhere along with this thought, I decided that Tyler needed to have a dog. I can't really explain why I thought Tyler needed a dog so bad, but I can say, once I had this thought, my mind was made up. I knew it had to happen and I was going to make it happen.
Over a month ago I convinced Tyler to come to the Bend Humane Society with me. We took a look around the dog department, but didn't really see any thing. Over the next couple of weeks we both frequently checked the available animals online. We weren't very proactive and we began to learn how quickly the dogs are adopted from the shelter. Every day different dogs would come and go. We decided to go ahead and fill out the adoption paper work so that when we were ready and the right dog did come along we would be one step ahead.
Looking back, I am amazed at how pushy I had to be to get Tyler to cooperate. He went from making a statement way back in July about "when we do buy a house the first thing I am going to do is get a dog" to "I don't know. Once we have a dog we are going to have to think about where it's going to stay when we go somewhere, whose going to take care of it" etc. etc. But again, I had made up my mind, Tyler needed one.
I began thinking about getting a dog for Christmas. I planned on having a leash in Tyler's Christmas stocking and then having the dog out in the garage all ready to be loved on by Tyler. I thought about wrapping a present and putting a gift tag on it that said, "To Tyer, From Razz." and what would it be, but a wonderful dog! Every night I would go to bed and think about how I was going to surprise Tyler with the best dog in the world.
I got into the habit of looking online and calling the Humane Society, asking them questions about strays that came in, dogs that were surrendered. I would occasionally take the boys in to look at the dogs, all the while becoming more and more determined to adopt one of these tail-waggers. Each trip was becoming harder and harder. I started looking into the dog's eyes and feeling overwhelmed by their sadness. Then, I saw Pru.
Pru was a fun looking Corgi/Jack Russell. She was a stray and an instant eye catcher from the list of dogs online. It happened to be a day that Tyler was busy at work. I called him and called him to ask about going to meet her. The more I thought about it, the more obsessed I became that Pru was the dog for us. I could never get a hold of Tyler and I needed to know if he was interested because of how quickly adoption happens.If I didn't act fast, we wouldn't get her. I knew he liked Jack Russells, but he had some real concerns about them also. I had no idea how he felt about Corgis. But, because I had come to the conclusion that Pru was the dog, I made a call and asked about her.
It turned out she had two holds on her. Which meant, two people were already very interested in adopting Pru. The first hold had 24 hours to make their decision. If they decided no, the second hold had 24 hours. The shelter takes up to three holds. They wanted to know if I was interested in that third hold. I said yes, loaded up the boys and we went to the shelter to interact with her. Pru was smart! She sat, laid down, rolled over and had a huge smile on her face. She also loved the boys. I was somewhat relieved there were already holds on her because I would have taken her home right then and there, but still had never heard back from Tyler. In the back of my mind I kept thinking about how pissed I would be at him if he brought home a dog that I had never met. A few hours later, Pru was adopted.
The search continued. Some time later, I saw another Corgi/Jack Russell mix. Her name was Piper. Still convinced that if Hold #1 or 2 wouldn't have adopted Pru, she would have ended up with us, I decided to make a trip to see Piper. I even called a friend to meet me down there. We interacted with Piper for an hour. I took pictures, sent them to Tyler and we talked about inviting Piper into our home. We were the #1 Hold.
Piper was timid and sensitive. She slowly warmed up to us, but I could tell she was scared the entire time. In fact, she didn't ever seem too interested in me. Rather she took a lot of interest in hiding behind my friend for protection. With an indecisive attitude on what I should do, we put Piper back in her pen. She was so sweet and clearly needed a good family, but I had to have Tyler's approval.
Andrea and I walked around the dog pens to take a look at all the other dogs. There wasn't a lot that I was interested in. Mainly because the pens were full of Pit Bulls and I knew Tyler didn't want to have anything to do with that breed of dog. While Andrea and I looked we talked about Piper. She had some great qualities, but I wasn't positive she was the dog for us. Meanwhile, in the second to the last pen there was the most beautiful dog I have ever seen.
It was a redbone coonhound dog with soft brown eyes. I knelt down and said, "Oh. You are gorgeous. Do you think you could be my Maybelle." Next to the hound dog pen, there was no intake information so we walked on. Andrea informed me on her knowledge of hound dogs and why they might not be a good fit for our family. I listened, happy she knew this kind of information, and that I had a second opinion on this whole adoption thing. After all, I am no dog person. I know nothing and am happy to take all the advice I can get.
That same evening, Tyler met me at the shelter so he could meet Piper. When we walked in, Piper was meeting with another family and was so scared. She was shaking. The young boy petting her, tried to comfort her and she peed everywhere. That turned Tyler off right away. He looked at me and said, "she is a pee-er, lets look at the other dogs." Nothing caught Tyler's eye, except that beautiful red hound. By this time the intake information was right outside the pen. My potential Maybelle was a male and his name was Bones. (In my mind I created a perfect hound named Maybelle to be friends with the only dog I have ever really loved, Myrtle. My dog niece.) The only other thing I noticed on the intake information was a highlighted portion that read, "research on this breed is highly recommend." I remember Tyler telling the hound, "You're a cute dog aren't you, but we don't do hounds. They're too noisy for me."
We walked on.
I started to feel like maybe bringing home a dog wasn't such a good idea. I also continued to question Piper. We still hadn't made our decision. A decision we had to make in the next 24 hours because of our hold on her. She was such a sweet dog and needed someone to love her so badly. I wanted to be her family and let her know she was safe. I desperately wanted to rescue her, but something wasn't right.
Tyler and I had made plans to go interact with her during his lunch break the following day. I kept encouraging him that "she really was sweet and she didn't pee once when Andrea and I played with her. She is just stressed because of the environment of the shelter. It can be really scary for dogs." (Additionally, I did a little google research on redbone coonhounds.)
I got to the Humane Society early to get Piper all ready to meet Tyler. As soon as she saw me, she peed. I went to pet her and she peed again. Then, she was one of the volunteers and really peed. I knew at that moment, she wasn't the dog for us. I cried. I felt so so sad for Piper. I wanted to be right for her because she needed out of that shelter more than any other dog I had seen, but I couldn't deal with a pee-er. I don't want my house to stink and up until recently I didn't like any kind of dog at all. (A few exceptions.)
We went ahead and played with Piper for awhile, but then asked if we could possibly interact with that ever so beautiful hound dog, Bones. "Bones? Oh, you are going to love him. He is a great dog" the gal said to us as we took his leash to take him outside in the play area. Bones was wagging his tail so frantically and had a huge smile. He was so funny and instantly made Tyler and I laugh. Being the hound that he is, he spent the first 20 minutes sniffing the whole fenced in area before he could really pay attention to us. After that, he was right by our side. He was happy to play and quite the opposite of poor Piper. We played with Bones and talked about what we thought of him, what we would name him if we did adopt him, and yadda yadda.
Once it was time to take Bones back inside, Tyler said, (using the name we talked about giving him) "Oh. George. You and Em are going to have fun together." My whole self felt pleased. Tyler and I were liking the same dog, and we were both liking him a lot!
We stood at the counter and asked our questions. "How long does it take to adopt an animal? What if it doesn't work out? Is there a trail period? What do you know about Bones? What do you know about his breed?" Tyler and I shared two concerns about George. 1.) Because he is a hound dog, his nose can get the best of him when out and about. He needs to be on a leash when walked because he will pick up a scent and go. It's likely that he would just keep going and we could easily loose him. 2.) Hounds can be vocal. If left at home by himself he may start baying and telling all of our neighbors how lonely he is while we are at work.
Tyler's lunch break was taking longer than we thought and he needed to get going. He left me with one last statement, "Well, Em. It's up to you. If he is at home when I get there, I won't be mad."
I couldn't decide. Here was a dog that was gorgeous. He was exactly what I thought I wanted, but often times I think I want something, I make my mind up on something, something that nobody can change, and then later I realize how much I should have listened. I didn't want to adopt George and then regret it. I've learned my lesson (too many times) about doing things I shouldn't.
All through my contemplating, George sat there. He kept smiling. Kept wagging his tail. Kept being so darn beautiful. After another two hours at the shelter, never letting George out of my sight, I made my decision. He was ours, and there was no turning back.
George has been with us for three days. On our first night together I couldn't stop telling him how much I loved him.Tyler pointed out that I fall in love with things too quickly. According to him, George needed to prove himself, but I think otherwise. I could see Tyler loving George too, even if he wouldn't say it. Perhaps, that's why I had to tell himI loved him so many times. I knew he needed to hear it and because Tyler wouldn't say it, I had to tell him twice as much. As many times as I told George, "I love you" Tyler was all the while showing George his love.
George was pet nonstop for the first 5 hours he was with us. Tyler laid the dog bed, right next to our bed and that's where we all spent the night. I worried that George wasn't going to be able to sleep because he was in a new place, but I was wrong. He knew he was home. I should have known better too because as soon as I brought George in the front door he made our house feel like a home. And as soon as Tyler was home from work, George made us both more complete.
George is a year and a half old with a lot of pup in him. He has a lot of personality and has become my absolute pride and joy. He is perfect.
*On a side note, while I was adopting George, Piper was adopted from a family that had the second hold on her. (Such a huge relief!)
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