2001-10-02
A new dog!, posted at 8:00 a.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com I picked out a dog.He's a year-old collie/sheperd mix that doesn't look like either one of those dogs. He's got a broad snout and looks more like a golden retriever mix. The first time I visited the SPCA, I glanced at him, and assumed from his calm disposition that he was an old dog, which I enjoy but wasn't really all that interested in acquiring. I walked right past him, barely taking a second look. I rushed over there again after school yesterday, and noticed him again, still sitting calmly on the floor behind the wire mesh and wagging his tail as I approached. I crouched down, and he stood up and rubbed his body against the fence, eager for contact. I petted him, and he put his paw up like he was trying to shake hands with me and licked my fingers. I glanced at the sheet, and instead of being seven or eight, as I assumed, he was just a year old. I took him out for a walk, and talked to the volunteer, who said he was the nicest dog at the place, a dog that loves to cuddle, is well-trained, and is a favorite amongst the staff. I talked with the woman inside, who told me how much they love him and use him as the office/greeter dog quite often.
The only drawback is that the dog is a year old, but he's already been adopted twice and brought back twice. But the reasons seemed like things I could handle. The first woman took him back after six weeks because he wouldn't stop chasing her four cats. Imagine that. A dog that chases cats. Since I don't have any cats, I don't think this will be a problem. The other guy who adopted it took him back after two days, because the dog got in a fight with another dog in the park on the second night he had gotten him. The people at the SPCA told him not to bring him to the park for at least a couple of weeks, until he had gotten used to the guy. He didn't listen. The dog was on a leash and another dog came up to sniff it, the other dog jerked his head, and my new dog growled and the two got in a fight - neither dog was hurt, though. I will admit that this concerned me, but the woman assured me that they use the dog all the time as the office dog here, and it gets along fine with other dogs when it's in a familiar environment with trusted people around. I'll just have to make sure to ease my way into my relationship with the dog - go at the dog's pace.
When I was petting him outside, Ashton (his name, which I think I'll keep, especially if he can recognize it, which I'm not sure he can yet) was one of the most friendly dogs I've ever seen. Rubbing up against me, putting his paws up against my chest, licking me, tail constantly wagging - he was great. I also enjoyed the fact that he seems very well-trained. He's absolutely housebroken, according to the volunteer, and he's not the type of dog that's crazy and overly active - he's calm, doesn't jump up on people, and I think he'll be fine alone all day but still be ready for a walk/run after school.
Anyhow, I'm excited. I'm finally going to have a dog of my own! I've never had a male dog before, but he's neutered so I don't think that will affect things too much, even if Jason does end up getting another dog sometime in the next year.
I bought a book on how to pick out an adult dog (he passed all the "friendliness" tests), and how to introduce it to the house for the first time. We'll see how well it worked.