Thursday
Jan222009
A New Tail
Thursday, January 22, 2009 at 11:21AM
We did it. There's a new dog in our house!
We visited the South L.A. animal shelter on a tip from a friend that a beautiful lab's number was about to be up. Debbie turned out to be a BIG dog that, in the span of about five minutes, knocked over two big potted plants, an ashtray filled with water and butts and one little boy, who subsequently became soaked by ashtray water.
I hated to leave her behind, but another little black lab caught my eye. No bark, jump or other typical theatrics – just a calm stare that said, "Hey, would you pet me?"
I know that any minute now she might come alive and chew the sofa, dig up the sprinkler system and poop on the one square of carpet in my house, but for now, she's been nothing but ladylike. She plunks down next to you when sit down and curls up like a peanut at the foot of Jack's bed when it's lights out. All we need now is a good name for this girl.
And the shelter experience was a positive one for our otherwise sheltered children. The site of all those shaky chihuahuas, forlorn poodles and alert shepherds was almost more than I could bear – and Kate seemed to grasp the desperation of it all. But we saw and met several great volunteers, who take it upon themselves to find homes for these critters. One volunteer we met maintains a blog on the rescued pooches and kitties she transports to new homes throughout the city, and captured Kate and Jack as we were about to jump in the car with our new family member. This is her photo.
(And one final note: Debbie the rambunctious lab got rescued from the shelter!)
We visited the South L.A. animal shelter on a tip from a friend that a beautiful lab's number was about to be up. Debbie turned out to be a BIG dog that, in the span of about five minutes, knocked over two big potted plants, an ashtray filled with water and butts and one little boy, who subsequently became soaked by ashtray water.
I hated to leave her behind, but another little black lab caught my eye. No bark, jump or other typical theatrics – just a calm stare that said, "Hey, would you pet me?"
I know that any minute now she might come alive and chew the sofa, dig up the sprinkler system and poop on the one square of carpet in my house, but for now, she's been nothing but ladylike. She plunks down next to you when sit down and curls up like a peanut at the foot of Jack's bed when it's lights out. All we need now is a good name for this girl.
And the shelter experience was a positive one for our otherwise sheltered children. The site of all those shaky chihuahuas, forlorn poodles and alert shepherds was almost more than I could bear – and Kate seemed to grasp the desperation of it all. But we saw and met several great volunteers, who take it upon themselves to find homes for these critters. One volunteer we met maintains a blog on the rescued pooches and kitties she transports to new homes throughout the city, and captured Kate and Jack as we were about to jump in the car with our new family member. This is her photo.
(And one final note: Debbie the rambunctious lab got rescued from the shelter!)