I was never really a dog lover ... until my Toby came into my life. He was definitely a mutt that I bonded with. He always had my back, went on my super-long walks with me, snuggled with me when I was sad, and pretty much never left my side. Unfortunately, during my divorce, I had to find Toby a new home, as downsizing into an apartment was not going to be fair to him. Toby ended up in a very loving home, with children, and a huge area of land he could run around on, play to his heart's content, hunt, and just be a very happy dog. Giving him up broke my heart, but I knew it was better for him.
With that said, Chris, my current husband, always seems to be on a mission to make sure I am happy. It broke his heart to know I have sadness in mine over losing Toby. Chris has been talking about getting a dog for quite some time, but I have just never been ready. I felt bad, because I could tell he wanted a dog, too, but at the same time, he has always patiently waited for me to come around, hoping that I would.
Well, Chris and I had talked about what kind of dog we EVENTUALLY may want to bring into our family, whether or not we wanted to use an animal shelter or a private breeder, what would we do if we wanted to leave for a weekend, and all that jazz. Chris mentioned, first, that he would like to use a shelter, and of course, I fell in love with him even more when he said that. We both agreed that a dog from a shelter would probably be a little more work, but they are the ones most in need of a good and loving home.
Chris mentioned he likes Labs ... Chocolate Labs in particular. I told him that Labs are a lot of work as puppies, and even well into adult hood, but we both seemed to feel it would be worth it, as Labs are also the best companions from our experience.
Well, I have recently decided that it is time. Why? Chris's birthday passed while he was on deployment, August 21st, and I thought a dog would be a really meaningful gift considering how long it's taken me to come around. Though, I am not 100% ready to bond with another dog after Toby, I need to have time to train a new puppy into our home, and have him/her ready for Chris's arrival home.
I visited, with our son, Shaun, the Oahu SPCA animal shelter, and just figured I would go in and get a feel of the place and the people. It was right at closing time when we walked in, but the receptionist at the front desk still greeted us and let us in to see the dogs.
The dogs were all in kennels in the back. As soon as we walked into the kennel area, we were greeted by a large dog that was very timid/afraid and barking loudly as we walked past. I kept going. Around and around we went. I saw one that had potential, but he had a lot of bite marks on him and apparently really loved to fight. Well, we live in a community of dogs, and walking one around would mean they have to get along well with others. I kept walking around and around and around until there were almost no kennels left to visit.
I was thankful to be nearing the end of the journey, and even more thankful I hadn't found any pets to bring home that day. I just figured that it wasn't meant to be, yet, and I was OK with that. However ... just as I was nearing the last kennel, here was a very large chocolate and brindle color, what looked like, a Lab. He was the ONLY dog not barking. He was laying there, on the concrete, all quiet and sad. I stopped and looked at his name. "Shamrock." I thought, hmmm ... doesn't really look like that names fits him at all. He's probably sad, because someone gave him a crappy name! (Sorry, Oahu SPCA ... no offense! We still love you!) I turned to look at him, and then I said, "Well, you certainly are a handsome fella." He got up, slowly, and came to me, and licked my hand through the fence. He sat down and was very well behaved. My son came over, and instantly took a liking to Shamrock.
After a few minutes, as it was closing time, and I wanted to respect that, we walked up to the front and asked if we could come by the next day to meet Shamrock. No problem. The next day arrives, and first thing in the morning, we headed over to the shelter. We have a "meet and greet" with Shamrock, for which we found out his original name was Dozer by the tag around his neck. He was a HANDFUL. Hard to walk, pulling me everywhere. WOW. Powerful to say the least! He is close to 70 pounds and not quite a year old. I did figure he doesn't get out much, if at all, so he probably was just all kinds of excited, still having plenty of puppy left in him. He was, however, very gentle, loving, and super sweet. It didn't take us long to talk to the lady up front.
I decided it would be best to foster to adopt Dozer/Shamrock just to be sure this was going to be a good fit for not only our family, but for him, too. It took us two days of fostering to decide he was going to be a part of our family.
What happened in those two days? We found out he was super destructive and had to puppy proof our home immediately. We found that he was very protective of us, but not aggressive. He will stand at the door and not bark or attack, but he will not let anyone through without me saying it's OK. He is very intimidating in appearance, and he looks like he will eat you in one gulp if provoked. I think he knows this, and that he doesn't have to make a ruckus to let people know he means business.
We also found out he probably didn't have the best home prior to him finding his way to the shelter. At one time, I scolded him and told him, "NO!" as I caught him eating the blinds that hang in front of our sliding glass doors. He immediately stopped what he was doing and started to come to me. I went to pet him and tell him, "Good boy," for stopping the behavior and coming to be, but as I went to pet him, he thought I was going to hit him. He not only ducked out of the way, but he flew half way across the house. At that point, I knew that he needed some serious love, attention, and training, and that our family would be the perfect home for him.
After two days of working with him for countless hours, training him, letting him know he was loved and wouldn't be harmed in our home, giving him a new name, Jack, and falling completely in love, we went back to the shelter and finalized his adoption. He came home with us forever.
He took to his new name right away, and already comes when he is called. He will sit, give kisses, and fetch, though he thinks it is far more fun to have his humans chase him around to retrieve from him the object we just sent him to retrieve for us. He isn't that fond of water, but he is getting used to it. He loves treats, rawhide bones, and slippers. :/ He loves his long walks with me in the morning, however, he can't make the full trek. He will have to work into it. About 2 miles is enough for him, and he is ready to call it a day. He did great at his first vet visit, and we go back again in one month for his second set of shots. He loves the car, other dogs, and all the neighbors. Jack is amazing.
I have said this before, many times, actually, that I wish I would have listened to my husband and found room in my heart for a dog a lot sooner. I think deployment would have been a little easier having this sweetheart to look after me while I look after him. You were right, again, Chris. :)
I do hope that Chris falls in love with Jack just as much, if not more, than we have. My husband waited patiently for me to come around, and I waited patiently to find just the right addition to our family. Everything has a reason and a purpose. Timing, apparently, was everything.
