Chica Takes a Holiday

Most puppies who arrive at the shelter get adopted pretty quickly. But every now and then, there are some pups that, for whatever reason, end up growing from a babe to an adolescent right here in the shelter. Chica has been one of these pups. She’s gorgeous, with a joie de vivre that’s unbeatable. But perhaps her occasionally excessive exuberance has frightened potential adopters away?

Given the recent long weekend, I wanted to bring a long-timer home to give her a break from the shelter. Chica seemed like a good choice. I have to admit I was a bit nervous that her energy would wear me out and that she would sweep through my home like a hurricane. I couldn’t have been more wrong!! She was an absolute delight: turns out her “excessive exuberance” isn’t that excessive when she finally had an outlet to release it.

We went to the beach where she got to run around, play in the sand, and play with other pooches. We played lots of games and went on long walks and hikes. After each of these activities, she has been perfectly content to snuggle up for a snooze.

So, after spending the weekend with Chica, I’ve compiled 10 reasons (in no particular order) why someone should consider adopting this fabulous dog . . .

1) She’s very smart – she might try to push boundaries, but she only needed to be told once when the boundary was non-negotiable (ie: no pups on counters, kitty has one room that’s hers and hers alone – no pups allowed).

2) In three days, she didn’t have a single potty accident in the house (remember, she’s only nine months old and has been living at the shelter for a while) and even started asking to go out.

3) She gets along really well with my cat.

4) She travels wonderfully in the car.

5) She’ll give this adorable look when she wants to get on the bed, even though you might have decided earlier that she’d be sleeping in the dog bed on the floor. Okay, so this turned out to be a negotiable boundary . . . but who wouldn’t want to be pinned like a mummy by a cat on one side and a cute pup on the other?

6) When all else fails, she sits and looks up at you with this sweet, yet slightly defeated face, as if to say “you win, we’ll do this the well-mannered way, can I have some attention now, please?”

7) She’ll remind you to take a look at things that you don’t pay much attention to anymore because it’s all so new and exciting to her-- cows for example-- have you ever really taken a good look at a cow before? . . . they’re kind of funny looking.

8) She has this lovely way of grabbing a toy and getting you to chase her . . . grab toy, run, if person doesn’t follow, return with toy, look, turn around and run again, person usually obeys by the second time.

9) So, her “sit”and “down” are pretty good, but her “down – stay” needs some work . . . she has this clever way of inching forward one step at a time, ever so slowly so no one will notice . . . or so she thinks, but how can you resist that?

10) She was on good behavior with every dog she met (no kidding)!

Most importantly, she’ll make you laugh – gotta love her!

(text and pictures provided by Anthea, devoted shelter volunteer)

Doggie Duos

Steve and I took several pooch pairs out on Saturday for a bit of socializing.


Athena and Sarge shared kisses on a walk
Coco & Jelly had non-stop wrestling fun
Sitting calmly for a brief moment

Sweetly sharing the water bucket

Post-holiday walks -- no shopping required!

A small group of red-dot dog walkers convened at the shelter on Friday to get the doggies out for a walk. The Thanksgiving holiday is the one time during the year where the shelter is closed two days in a row. On Thanksgiving day, the pooches were given special doggie treats (thanks Marcie!) and on Friday they were treated to walks. Every dog got out! It was a festive occasion. A good time was had by all -- dogs and walkers!

Harold and new dog Gable exchange playful doggie kisses
Elliott looking pleased to be out with regular walker Summer
Pretty Lia
Silly Jelly boy

Sarge looking playful and relaxed away from his kennel!

Daphne & Jelly traverse the bridge

Ken and I took the well-matched duo of shelter pooches Daphne & Jelly out for a jaunt across the pedestrian bridge in nearby Aquatic Park. Here's what we saw:

Heading up
Pretty Daphne

Two red heads

Visiting with an off-leash pug

Jelly poses

Heading down

Note: Yes, shelter dog Jelly was named after by own Jelly. I couldn't resist once I saw those cute ears

Why did I adopt a shelter dog?

Because her name is Jelly and she is a dog and she is loved. Because she was a scared, submissive stray at a high-kill shelter and was rescued by the local Humane Society. Because she needed a foster home away in a quieter environment and she came into my house where she slipped on the hardwood floors and feared the stairs. Because she would turn over on her back, legs in the air like an over turned bug desperate to flip over every time someone knocked on the door. Because she won over her foster dad who was wary of dog hair by not shedding AT ALL for the first two weeks of her stay. Because she was not my first foster dog but she was the one I couldn’t give back. Because the day we signed the adoption papers she let it all go and shed buckets of hair which covered the floor and furniture. I’m not kidding.

Because she is short-haired, squat and has a small head and I’ve had a life long affinity for long-haired, lean shepherds but I adopted her anyway. Because she would only pee in the backyard for her first six months in our home -- never on her many outings. Because she refused to go in the lake or any body of water for over a year before her little feet left the ground, finally, in pursuit of a stick on a hot day. Because she inspired her dad, a man in his forties, who grew up an only child with distant older parents to feel love and care for another being. Because despite his inability to express the affection I sought in our relationship, he used the word “adorable”, for the first time, to describe Jelly when her lip got caught on her teeth as she looked up at him. Because she has weathered the joint custody after the breakup, in two nearby cities, back and forth every Thursday for over four years now. Because we call each other daily to discuss Jelly’s antics and ask endlessly, “What’s she doing now?”

Because she licks my legs every morning after I get out of the shower, licks the salt off my face after a run in the hills, licks the ropey scars on our next door neighbor’s forearm each time she greets him and she simply “cannot hold her licker.” Because she rides in my truck with her chin resting on the open window and turns her head to watch the dog on the sidewalk like a man’s gaze follows a woman walking by. Because she ever so politely takes the hamburger (without bun) proffered by my mother, her grandmother, who picks her up during the day for company while I’m at work and takes her to the drive through for a snack. Because she’s afraid of loud noises and the two big scary cats next door.

Because I tell her the story of how she came to live with me softly at night as she’s nudging off to sleep and she seems to be listening. Because she snores, farts and yelps in her sleep at the foot of my bed. Because she has many names: Gelatin (formally), Jel, Baby and most recently Jel-Ling as she’s part Shar Pei and thus needed to have a Chinese name as well. Because she’s the only “child” I’ll ever have.

Because she’s there, in the family photograph, taken three months before my father’s death from a brain tumor, smiling up at the camera with us all, captured forever in that impossible moment. Because I was only one of my three siblings without a partner to provide solace during my father’s illness and Jelly gave me great comfort.

Because she pokes her head out of the dog door, sleepily, happily celebrating my return after a long day at work. Because her enthusiasm and joy is undiminished and it buoys me every day. Because she is loved and she is a dog.

Please, excuse this indulgence... Tis the season to be thankful and as you can tell I'm so grateful my little Jelly is part of my life. I wrote this piece a couple of years ago but wanted to share it as an expression of the joys that come with adopting a shelter dog.

Malcolm is on the Mend

Border collie mix Malcolm arrived at the shelter with a HUGE growth on his right back leg. Animals with odd and unexpected maladies pass through the shelter doors and this was surely one of the more obvious. Poor pooch didn't seem to be phased by the growth, he was happy to go running in the park with a volunteer or rolling in the ice plant (a favorite activity) but we assumed it didn't bode well for his general well-being.

Well, surprise. The biopsy report came back and it was declared to be a benign growth. Good news indeed. However, this introduced a few challenges. The shelter was willing to pay for the surgery but a foster home had to be secured before the surgery could take place. Foster homes have been hard to come by lately due to all the financial upheaval. Volunteers were not deterred. We put out the word that a deserving dog was in need. It was heartening to receive responses from several people offering to assist. In the end, a very kind woman came up to meet Macolm. She has several rescue dogs of her own and a large plot of land which would ideal for exercising a border collie who loves to run (don't they all). She agreed to foster Malcolm after the surgery. Yippeee. We're very pleased to report that the surgery was performed and that Malcolm has settled into his foster home. He has been described as "a treasure" by his foster mom, Jill.

Thanks to Kate, shelter staff, Pam, Anthea, Cindi, Suzanne and Jill for their efforts on behalf of Malcolm. He is now available for adoption through Home at Last Rescue.