Puppy Found!

This morning, Henry and Miss R had a good breakfast. They seem to be getting up on their own before 7AM. Miss R was not helpful about getting her braids done. I had let her air go natural on Monday b/c I like to give it a break. As she was having a bio visit today, I insisted that she let me braid her hair. It would take me less than 10 minutes to do it if she would sit still. But she doesn't. Then there's teeth brushing on top of that, which involves another wrestling match. Henry decided to put syrup in his hair this morning. Jeff got most of it out, but it still had that cruchy feel. Yuck! As of late, our "good teeth brusher" has decided to put up a fight during his teething brushing too. The dentist's proclamation that Henry has good teeth must have gone to his head.

The kids marched into school without much hesitation today. Miss R was irked at me b/c I wouldn't get her bring her toy dog into school. But once she was through the doors, things were fine. Henry cried when I brought him to his classroom. He wanted to go outside. Miss Lulu distracted him with some gold fish crackers.

After dropping the kids off, I headed home. Along the way, I spotted a dog in the road (a very busy road). I drove into a parking lot and turned around to look for it. Someone else was out of her car as I drove near the area. Her attempts resulted in the dog getting even further into the road. The dog eventually crossed the street and went into another parking lot. She followed it and tried to chase it around the lot with her car door open. I managed to get to that lot as she was driving out. We rolled down our windows, and I asked her if she needed help catching the dog. She said it wasn't hers but that she felt bad for it. Then she left. The dog, by this time, was on the far side of the lot heading toward the neighborhood. It is sort of a sketchy area.

I got out of the car, opened the doors, whistled to the dog so it knew I was nearby, and then I sat on the ground of the parking lot, and didn't look directly at the pup. It was about 50 feet away. I got one of the kid's bottles and poured some water so that it could see that I had goods. I got up and walked about 10 feet and sat done again. I did this a couple times, so that I was slowly getting near it w/o freaking it out. Eventually, I was about 10 feet away. I poured more water out. I then waited for it to come to me. It did. I petted it. Tried to give it some water but it didn't really understand the concept of falling water. I got ahold of its collar. It backed up. I was afraid that it was going to fight its way out of the collar. So I grabbed it around its middle and carried it to the car. No problems in the car. The dog was quiet.

When I got home, I opened the car doors but left the dog there. I went inside the house and told Jeff to take a look at the car. Apparently, he thought that I'd scratched or dented it. As I got food and water for the pup, Jeff investigated the damage he thought I'd done to our vehicle. When he couldn't find the dents, he finally looked inside and found the pup.

We kept the pup in the garage for about an hour. Let it get the lay of the land. I called the Humane Society and Animal Control so that if the owner calls and can give a description, they'll give the person our number. We aren't to release the dog to callers, however, until Animal Control gives approval.

The dog looks like she is a black lab. Very cute. She is on the small side. We think that she is a puppy still. Her teeth are very white, suggesting youth. She wasn't wearing a license. Around her collar was rope, suggesting that she'd been tethered to something. She was timid at first. Jeff put her on a leash, and we introduced her to Roger who was very interested in her. That broke the tension, and she opened up a bit more thereafter. After a couple hours, her puppy side started coming out. She wanted Roger to play with her.

About two weeks ago, Jeff came into my office and asked me if I thought Roger was lonely. I said yes. I think that he is. He loves us of course and doesn't mind the cats, but he really enjoyed Marley's companionship. They were so cute together. I told Jeff that if we got another dog, I thought that we should stick to labs. Roger has been absolutely fantastic with the kids. Labs are known for that. I said that it wouldn't have to be a pure breed or anything (of course). When there are so many dogs that need homes, it strikes me as not right to go to a breeder and never would I consider going to a pet shop that gets its dogs from puppy mills, which are vial organizations. I confess that I've always had a soft spot for floppy, unkempt dogs (usually out of the terrier breeds), but terriers are known to chase cats. I've also always wanted a Rottweiler, but I've read that they can have unstable temperaments and need lots of socialization so that they don't become overprotective of the family when friends come over. That just sounds like a lot of work. Last week, Henry's former primary nurse, Joyce, sent me an email from the Humane Society. They were having a special sale on their dogs b/c of overcrowding. Last weekend was too busy for me to take a look as I'm still working on the last book chapter. Jeff, however, stopped by Animal Control just to take a look. His sister forwarded him an email about a soldier and his dog, who happened to be a lab. At that point, we started joking about fate.

And now, we have a very cute lab in our midsts. We'll see what happens. It is quite possible that the owner will call the Humane Society or Animal Control. And if they do, we'll return her to them. Hopefully, they will take better care of her the second time around. Randi from Animal Control said that the pound gives strays 3-7 days before they put them up for adoption. If no one comes forward, then the pup will stay with us. We haven't named her. And won't do so until it is clear that she's going to stay. For now, she's just "Pup."

She's interested in the cats. When she was in the office with me this morning, Bitsy was pleading outside the door to be let inside. So I let her come in. Pup sniffed her but "recognized her as a being" as Jeff put it, which is good. I do, however, think that she wants to play with Bits, and I'm afraid that Bits could get hurt. At one point in the afternoon, Pup tried to chase Bits and Roger got in on the action. I yelled at them to knock if off and they did. The dog pack mentality can get out of control, so I nipped it in the bud.

Grammy wanted some one-on-one time with Henry, so she picked him up at school today. He'd had a good day. Miss R had her bio parent visitation. The parents had called yesterday to confirm their attendance, but then called after the visitation had started to say that they wouldn't be there. Miss R spent about an hour with her siblings. She came home with Dr. Pepper in her cup. I'm a little annoyed b/c it would have been the CPS supervisor who would have given it to her. Mind you, we did put juice (no sugar added) in her bag. And I've told the visit supervisor about needing her to stay on healthier foods (not Gatorade or anything sugary). I seriously don't get why people give children such crap. If adults want to make poor choices for themselves, fine. But why would anyone send their kids down the same path? That doesn't strike me as responsible. Childhood obesity rates for 2-5 year olds has doubled since 1980. It has tripped for kids 6-11 years old. And hasn't anyone heard of a little problem called diabetes? Per usual, I dumped out her cup as soon as she came home.

I don't know if they fed her dinner along with her Dr. Pepper. When she came home, she had some pumpkin bread and tons of grapes. I gave her four large grapes cut up into quarters. She then wanted "more." I gave her a couple more. A few minutes later, she wanted "more" again. And again, and again. Nice to see her excited about a fruit.

She was very clingy to me after dinner. Didn't want to be separated from me even if she was standing right next to me. She liked the dog but was cautious, which is good.

Henry came home around 8PM or so. Grammy and Poppy drove him home. Grammy said that he ate different things but not much of anything in particular. They didn't go swimming b/c of the weather.

Henry was more excited about the TV being on than in the puppy. I asked him if he liked the puppy and he said "no." Oh well. That wasn't exactly the reaction that we had anticipated.

Pup was good. She was interested in the kids, but I think her boisterous non-verbals made the kids wary.

The kids went to bed. Jeff sang Baby Beluga to them before heading off to bed himself.