As Diane and myself moved into our new place last August we talked about the logistics of having a dog. We both are dog lovers, but we kind of came to the conclusion that we should probably wait a year or so until we get into a house. Then for the first several months we would bring it up every once in a while, but we continued to come up with the same conclusion, but both of us were still fighting the urge to get one. Every time a commercial would come on with a cute puppy we would both look at each other, or we would see someone walking their dog and both think, man it would be nice to have a dog around.
Well then came December 21st when this post all of the sudden pops up on Diane’s faceBook page “Against all my better judgement and intuition saying nonononono, I REALLY want a puppy for Christmas!”
That was all it took. Now we were in full Puppy hunt. I responded to the post with “Is that’s what we are doing this weekend? Let’s do it” and Jasmine (Diane’s daughter) was home from Eastern Michigan and said “Me tooJ!”
When Diane got home from work that’s all that we could talk about, so we discussed it again and decided we would start looking. We had a lot of plans for the holidays so we decided that when we got back from my work trip to Milwaukee (Diane was able to come with me because she was off work for a couple weeks) I know what you are thinking (Lucky for her, and that I take her to all the exotic places hahaha) that then would be a good time.
After that trip we took a ride over to the Capital Area Human Society to see if any stuck out to us. Diane and Jasmine each had their favorites and I had mine, but we didn't agree on any of them, and none of us just fell for a dog, so we didn't try to talk each other into one. Then on the way back we stopped at Petco to see if they were having any dogs brought in anytime soon. They said they were that weekend. Diane and I both really wanted to rescue a dog rather than get one at a store, so we decided we should look around and that would be our last option. We ended up going to the Ingham County Shelter on that Saturday.
We walked in, signed in and started looking around. I had decided I didn't want a Pit Bull, I have known a lot of them and have found that they (In general) are very kind to humans but sometimes can be mean to other dogs. Like I said in general, I know there are plenty of Pit Bulls that are fantastic dogs, and it really is the way you raise them in most cases. Other than that, I didn't have any idea of what kind I wanted. As we started to look, Jasmine went straight to the Pit Bulls and I think she really wanted one of the two brother and sister’s that were in the first pen, and to be honest they were pretty damn cute. Diane was still looking at them when I can up on the last pen in the first room and saw “Molly”. She was this cute little 9 month old Beagle that was in the corner of her pen, she was shaking and had really sad eyes. I knew instantly I wanted to get her out of there. She needed a home. Diane came walking up next and saw her, and said AWWWWW, look at you shaking, she walked in and picked her up. We then walked through the rest of the place and looked at the others. I kept just thinking of “Molly”.
We came back to her and grabbed the leash and took her outside. She was very shy and got scared very easy. She wouldn’t look us straight in the eye, but then when we got over to a bench and Diane picked her up, and Jasmine sat next to her, “Molly” started to warm up just a bit. I then sat down and grabbed her and she smelled my face and ears. Then we took her back to the pen. We talked about it for a minute and decided we would like to take her home.
Of course we picked the one dog there that had not been spayed so they told us we could put a hold on her, but could not pick her up until Wednesday between Noon and 3. They did a little screening interview with us, and then we were on our way.
So we waited the long 4 days until we could get her and unfortunately Jasmine had to go back to school that Sunday, so she hasn't been able to spend any time with her. Wednesday at 12:01 I picked her up. I did some paperwork and paid for her, and then Savannah and myself were on our way. We had decided during the 4 days that we would name her Savannah. We had taken a fantastic trip down south last summer and stayed in Savannah a few days, and had a blast so it seemed fitting.
As soon as I walked outside with Savannah she took right off (I had her on a leash) but I think she knew she was free. This was the first time I saw her really happy. She did her business and then we got in the car, I took her straight to Diane’s work, so Diane and the other ladies in the office could see her. I then brought her home. She was very shy when she got home, and very nervous. Every day she has gotten better and we are seeing more and more of her personality every day. She was a cute little angel the first few days, but now she is really coming into her own. Like every new animal we have a lot of work to do with her, but she has been a fantastic joy so far. It’s nice to see her enjoying herself, and she is getting spoiled around here.
