Rachel got home from work on Saturday and we were excited to have a somewhat lazy day. We headed to the library so I could print a bunch of stuff off that I needed for a presentation and were planning on taking Domino to the park for a good long run afterwards. Then home to fulfill the laziness part of the plan. Well, the best laid plans....
On our way to the library we saw a dog on the side of the (very busy, might I add) road. So, I turn around at the next light and we pull over on a side street near him. He is super sweet and comes right up to us, which is when we notice that he has severe corneal ulcers and cataracts in one eye. This means that he is not only running along the side of a busy road, he is also half blind! We check the tags, no name and number, just a rabies and dog license (both expired by a few years). So, I call the vet. This is where the fun begins...
The guy at the clinic gives us the owner's number. No answer. So, we call the vet back and ask if we can leave him there until the owner is reached. He says no because they are about to close. We (irritatidly) ask what he thinks we should do with (his client's) dog. And his reply was "you could call the shelter, but they will probably just tell you to keep him until you can find the owner" This is a large
Bernese Mountain dog who is not neutered and looks and smells like he hasn't had a bath in his entire existence. Honestly, the stinky-ness and size would not have detered me, but the fact that he was not neutered kept me from wanting him around Domino. (
Neuter your pets people!!!!!)
So, we decided to tie him up in our yard and hope the owners called soon. Bad idea, he turned out to be a barker and whiner. Our neighbors would have been on us in an instant. In this time, the vet called back and gave us the owner's address (a little odd, yes). So, we drive by to see if maybe the people are home. Well, we try to, this home does not exist. We could find the houses that should have been on either side of the address, but not the right one. We stopped in at a few and everyone said that they had never seen the dog before.
Finally we decide to just go to the shelter. This ended up being the worst part of the whole experience. I followed the posted rules and went in without Bruno (I forgot to mention, the vet told us "her" name was Bruno...he was definitely and unaltered male!). I stood in line for over 30 minutes. During this time I got a year's worth of annoying people watching in! An incredibly annoying girl interrupted the 1 woman at the desk about 5 times, because she "just needs this little thing" or "oh can I have that form" or "I just have a simple question!" Another lady budged in line because she "just had to pick up a ferret...Im a foster volunteer" good for you, Im just trying to drop off this dog in my car!! Then the ferret lady went off on an entire story about how she saved some ferrets from a drug house...I was about to scream!! The lady in front of me in line asked about a million questions about the cat she was adopting, every response was "well we recommend (so and so) but thats a great question for your vet!" take the hint lady. Finally it was my turn, I told my story and the lady said "oh, just go get the dog and I need your drivers license" I turned around and saw the line of about 12 people and almost cried at the idea of being behind all of them when I got back. I think she saw the desperation because she said "you will just drop him off when you get back"....ahh, relief!
So long story short; we spent 3 hours of our much needed "lazy day" dealing with ineffective people
(shelter workers excluded; they are doing the best they can on a very limited budget) all so we could save Bruno. Was it worth it? Of course! He was a sweetheart and loved the extensive car ride. Plus, I would have had a far worse day if I had to see him dead on the side of the road. This is yet another reason why I like animals more than most people!
My favorite holiday movie has always been Prancer. A little girl helping out an injured reindeer so he can fly on christmas...come on thats good stuff! Makes me cry like a baby every single time. Then of course there is A Christmas Story, I love this movie! Every time I see it I think of sitting in the living room with my grandpa laughing while my mom and grandma comment on the movie's stupidity! :) Whats not to love about a pink bunny costume as pj's, a sexy leg lamp, and the line "you'll shoot your eye out, kid!"
Most of the new holiday movies fall a little short of the classics in my mind. But, to get in the spirit, we watched a few recently. My mom loaned us 4 christmases and it was really cute. That may have been more due to the adorable relationship between teeny tiny Reese Witherspoon and the giant Vince Vaughn though than the actual holiday aspect of it! Last night though I watched a Hallmark movie (don't judge!) that was adorable. It is definitely going in my group of holiday favorites! It was called A Dog Named Christmas and was about a developmentally delayed 20 year old who fostered a dog over the holidays and.....well I won't ruin it, check your local listings! It was really good and of course, I cried multiple times (those damn Hallmark movies!) The shelters here in Seattle are doing the same thing and I thought it was a good idea. Now after watching the movie, we are definitely going to look into it. We just have to be strong enough to bring the dog back after christmas, Domino is already too much! I think shelters across the US are doing the same thing, everyone should check into it and watch the movie!
