The Servant's Quarters

An alternate title for this entry could be, "My Girl - The Final Chapter".

Saturday afternoon, we loaded up the van with Butlers and headed over to the Westland Humane Society to visit "Popcorn," as she had been named by the Humane Society Staff. We were not planning on adopting her, although we weren't closed off to the idea. The main reason we were going was to reconnect, look in on her, and see how she was doing.

When we arrived, we told the front desk that we wanted to visit with "Popcorn." We got an immediate reaction. She was the shelter favorite. All the staff loved her because she was so sweet and affectionate. One of them had even briefly considered adopting her but decided not to. We were also told that another family was considering adopting her, and we couldn't be sure if she was available to visit us. But, we were told to go back amongst the dogs and find her. If her pink card was on the door, she was still available. We should bring the card back up to the front desk.

We walked back. One thing that surprised me (pleasantly) was the very nice cubicle each dog had. I expected a small cage with no room and a grated floor so that the waste could fall through into a pan. These dogs were living in pretty comfortable surroundings. Big glassed in rooms. Very nice.

We found "Popcorn." She was laying there looking out of the window at us. She didn't look happy or excited. Just content and at peace. She had been cleaned up and her nails were clipped. She was still pretty fat, though.

Her pink card was there. We snatched it up and continued looking at the other dogs. There was another one at the shelter named Emily that we were potentially interested in as well, but we didn't see her. So, we headed up to the front desk with "Popcorn's" card.

When I turned it in and said that we wanted to visit with Our Girl, I ended up having to fill out an adoption form to be able to do it. That surprised me, but it wasn't a contract. I wasn't agreeing to the adoption. Just filling out the paperwork.

A young lady took us back and showed us to a "Get Acquainted" room. We sat in there and waited for "Popcorn" to arrive. The excitement was building.

Suddenly, we saw her familiar form waddling up the hallway towards us. She came in and suddenly found herself the absolute center of attention for a whole crowd of affectionate Butlers. Even Rita, who I wouldn't describe as a dog person, joined in. When it was my turn to pet her, I didn't get the idea that she recognized me. But she was sure happy to see all of us, and she appreciated the petting that I gave her. She had been cleaned up, and she smelled a lot better than she had the last time I saw her.

While we played with her, the young lady who escorted her to us went over her medical report. Of course, the biggest concern was her weight. Other than that, she was in surprisingly good health. She was eating and drinking fine. The vet had not found anything else to be concerned about except an ear infection, which she was receiving medication for. As she was 8 years old, "Popcorn" could be expected to live another 2 to 4 years if her health continued to be good.

Then, she left us alone to discuss whether or not to take the next step.

We talked about it. I was very unsure. My heart definitely wanted to go forward with an adoption, but my head was putting forth some pretty good arguments against. Money was tight already. Could we afford another dog? And there was already another family interested. Surely, she would be adopted out. But one thing that had been weighing heavily on me was the adoption FEE. I expected it to be around $300. But "Popcorn" had already been spayed, and it was much, much lower than I expected.

On of my main concerns just evaporated before my eyes.

I finally just put Rita on the spot. "Honey," I said with all of the husbandly leadership I could muster. "You decide. I'll go along with anything you say."

Rita looked around to see eight sets of young, pleading eyes focused on her. "Oh thanks a lot! My hero!"

We waited for the staffer to return as Rita had some additional questions. She finally came back, and Rita fired away. Were her hips ok? Yup, the vet couldn't find anything wrong with her hips. But the weight was a real problem. We'd have to get her to lighten up. Did the vet take any x-rays? Nope, we had no idea what's under all that fat. She could have tumors and all kind of health problems. But she was acting healthy, eating her food and water and taking her walks.

Ok. We decided. "Popcorn" belonged to us now.

I took a couple of the kids and went up front to go through the adoption process. Rita stayed behind with OUR DOG.

Gentle reader, I'll spare you the boring details of the adoption process. It was a total bore.

But here's where the story does get a bit sad.

As we walked out with our new dog (who by this time had been renamed "Jenny"), an older couple was standing by the door. The gentleman held the door for me, smiled and said, "Good luck," as I walked out.

I thanked him and headed for the van, wondering if he volunteered at the Humane Society.

We pulled away from the parking lot, and Rita said, "That makes me feel sad."

"What does?"

"That couple you passed by the door? They were the other family that wanted to adopt her."

Rita went on to tell me that while I was up at the front desk taking care of the adoption, this other couple came looking for Jenny. She found them looking at our dog a bit forlornly through the window. Stepping out of the room to have a chat with them, she discovered that they knew all about us finding Jenny and that we had decided to go ahead and take her home. They were so disappointed. They had seen her on the web site and really had their hearts set on getting her.

If I had known, I probably would have opted to just them have her. She would have made a great dog for them. Laid back. Relaxed. Calm.

We just have to have faith that they'll find the pet that's right for them.

As I'm typing this, Jenny has just gone out to potty for the last time tonight. She's perfectly house trained and is so easy to care for. Her ear seems to be clearing up. It appears that she'll be easy to train. She and Walker are getting along fine. She's very affectionate and is just so happy to be with us.

We're also starting to learn more about her. Her weight problem appears to be the result of being fed table food exclusively. She has refused all dog food and treats. We finally decided to buy a can of meat flavored, wet dog food and mix it in with her regular food. That did the trick, and she devoured it. So, we'll have to wean her off of the additive until she's on pure, dry dog food.

There are also some pretty nasty markings around her neck. Obviously, she's spent quite a bit of time tied up somewhere. That would probably account for her stinky condition when we found her since she was probably tied up where she went to the bathroom.

Most heart breaking for me tonight is that Rita has discovered that she's developing cataracts. Sad. Hopefully, they'll be very slow in taking her sight from her. But even if she goes blind, she'll still be well cared for.

Jenny's got a busy week ahead. She needs one last shot and a visit to our vet for a complete exam. Then we'll get her license from the city. I've already bought her training collar and leash, so school is about to begin. (As she seems quite eager to please, basic training should be pretty easy.)

Below is the first official picture of Jenny as a member of the family!!!