So I went to kitty prison after gardening, and brought them all some fresh catnip, and then spent the next two hours with the dog I think I am going to adopt next week. It isn’t for sure, and I’ll explain why in a bit, but here is a picture of her:
Currently her name is Missy, but she doesn’t answer to it, so that will likely change (in fact, if you have any better ideas throw them in the comments. I really can’t think of any names I like other than Viola and Fiona, and I’m not sure either fits her). At any rate, here is her story.
According to Dana (the pound lady who I trust on anything pet related and who got me hooked on Tunch years ago- she still remembers him because he has such strange markings), she was rescued from some crazy cat lady who had four other dogs and some ungodly number of cats (in the 20’s) who all had to be put down. I wasn’t even there to look for a dog yesterday, and was actually there to get another sense of Shayla (the cat we talked about last week). As I was leaving, though, I saw Missy through the glass door looking at me, and she just looked so lost and terrified that I did an immediate u-turn and went back in to check her out.
She is terribly timid, and was in a bay with two howling hounds (one is part bloodhound part beagle, the other beagle and something else), and was just shaking horribly. I got them to take her out, and she has a nasty rash on her back (you can’t see it in the pictures) that we think is from fleas, and obviously has just a lot of anxiety from being in the pound. I don’t know if it is separation anxiety from her old home, or just the chaos of the pound, but she is just miserable. You can see it in her eyes.
I spent some time with her yesterday and after about 45 minutes in a quiet room, got her to stop shaking and actually look somewhat relaxed. I decided then and there I would come back and check on her today.
Today, I got her out and spent another couple hours with her. I took her outside, and it is immediately clear that she has never been leash trained. She simply has no idea what to do with it on. She sort of walks around in circles, and then when you start to follow her, she hears you, looks back, and starts to move in another direction. She really is going to need a lot of work with that, but that is what obedience school is for, I suppose.
After I got her outside and away from everyone else, she was a lot better. It only took several minutes for her to stop shaking, and she looked much happier. According to Dana, she is 4 1/2 or thereabouts, and she really, really needs a bath (the dog, not Dana). They can’t bathe her though, because of the rash, so she still smells like cat urine and the other nastiness from her original home. The other thing that is really weird is she simply does not bark. I have spent several hours with her now and not heard a peep out of her.
So, to recap, she smells like cat urine, is not leash trained, has an open rash on her back, probably is not house trained, is suffering from horrible anxiety, I’m not really fond of the name Missy, and I think she is perfect. I scheduled an appointment with the vet on Tuesday to take her in to make sure she does not have any diseases that will harm Tunch and to see if we can get the rash fixed, and I will probably take her home next week.
So that was my afternoon. They have no idea what she is, other than having some terrier in her. Her markings look almost yellow lab-like to me (although surprisingly, because of lighting, she looks more reddish in the pictures than she does in person). Should we keep the name Missy or do you have any other suggestions?
More pictures after the fold.
