Sugar & Spice...and Puppy Dog Tails

Well, we did it. Despite knowing full well that I am overextended in every facet of my life... Despite knowing that we live in a too small apartment that is ALWAYS a disaster... Despite knowing that the last thing I needed was to pick up more shit...

We've made an addition to the family...and somehow, I couldn't be happier about it. In fact the whole family is thrilled. Even the Bull who can be pretty stoic and uninvolved was pretty excited.

So please meet our newest family member -

Oberon

We adopted him Saturday from Animal Control. I've been searching their website regularly and saw on Friday that they had a 2-year-old Shih Tzu mix who might be coming up for adoption. I called and was told that the dog had an owner and was not available for adoption.

Then Saturday morning I checked the website again and saw that the dog had been put on the available for adotption list. I grabbed up the girls and ran straight over there. But we were too early. They weren't open yet. So we went home and I called. And I was told, again, that the dog was not available for adoption. But I figured maybe the computer files hadn't been updated - so we went back. He wasn't there. We saw a cute Lhasa Apso mix and considered getting it. But somehow, I just knew I needed to keep asking about the other dog.

We waited went downstairs, waited for a few minutes and finally got to speak to someone. I asked was told the dog was available for adoption and had been taken to an adoption fair downtown! The Bull, Spice and I raced over to where Sugar was getting out of a class grabbed her up, told her she was skipping her next class (Saturdays are ridiculously filled with classes) and raced downtown. There was traffic and of course nowhere to park. So Sugar and I got out of the car and walked to the last two blocks. The whole time I kept trying to prepare Sugar for the possibility that the dog would not be there.

We got to the doggy van and were almost immediately side-tracked by an adorable Cavalier King Charles - which you almost never see in a shelter situation. But the little cutey growled at me, so we moved on. And there, in the next room, in the second to last cage on the bottom, was the dog we came to find.

As we filled out the paperwork we were told that our female dog had to be spayed and that we could pick her up the next evening. We said fine and put her name down on the registration as Sascha (a name Sugar insisted on).

Sunday afternoon we got a call telling us that they'd made a mistake and our dog was actually a male - so the surgery was shorter and we could pick him up sooner. Hmm. OK.

His paperwork says that he's a 2-year-old Shih Tzu mix. We aren't so sure now of his age - we figure, if they didn't know his gender, maybe they weren't so sure about age. And they didn't say what he was mixed with, but I suspect, from his curly hair, that it might be Poodle or Bichon Frise. So, I think I'm just going to say he's a Shih Poo.

So far, he's a sweet, gentle dog who has clearly spent time with people before. He's easy to walk and patient. And he likes to stay CLOSE. Last night after putting Spice to bed I came into the living room and the Bull was on the sofa, with Oberon, lying right next to him on the floor. I sat down at my desk and a few minutes later I looked around for the dog and couldn't find him. Then I looked straight down. He was sitting under my legs.

We crated him last night - more for his protection than anything. I was afraid of Spice waking up in the night and harassing him as she made her way to our bed. He whined and fussed until I came and slept on the sofa, where he could see me, for a while.

And now, he's lying at my feet. It feels good to have him here. But I can't wait until he can go to the groomer!!! He's dirty, matted and funky from being on the street and at animal control. But we can't get him groomed for 10 days because of his surgery - blech! I think I'm going to try to at least wipe him down with a damp towel - and brush him. Clean him up a little. He's already adorable. So I know he's going to be gorgeous once he's all clean!