Flashback - September 29 2007

I walked into work on September 29th, and immediately the staff sent me to go see the new dogs that had just arrived that morning from up north. Everyone knew I had been looking for a dog, but was not having any luck. I am a big dog person (love pit bulls!!) and my condo has a 20lb weight limit on dogs. I just don't relate to little dogs. I wanted something I could take out for walks and not be embarrassed!

We had a number of small dogs into the shelter over the past few months, but they were either not housebroken, or couldn't be left alone all day, or tiny chihuahuas, or tiny chihuahuas that weren't housebroken and couldn't be left alone all day.... you get the picture. I even had some of the other rescues in the area looking for a pittie cross under 20lbs.

So I go into the kennels and start looking at the dogs. Big dog, big dog, holy crap really big dog, big dog, wait.... back up. Hmmm, medium sized dog with tiny short little legs...... quick assessment tells me he is over 20lbs (turns out that guy was around 30lbs). Next kennel has this little white and black thing, bouncing around on her back legs, trying to look all cute. See? Little dog, jumping around, flailing about...just don't see the appeal.

So, I grab a leash and take this little thing out for a quick walk around the shelter. We went down to the Goose and hung out on a bench for a bit and watched the people go by. I touched each of her feet, looked at her teeth, rubbed my hands all over her - looking for any injuries or signs of aggression. None, she was pretty okay with the whole thing.

I took her back to the shelter, and brought her up front where the rest of the staff were. We closed the gate beside the reception desk so she could be off leash. We took turns playing with her, and talking about me maybe fostering her to see how it works out. In the space of an hour I went from "if I take her" to "when I take her" to "my dog" without even realizing it.

First thing on the agenda was a name change - we didn't have her name, and the other shelter named her "Panda". Ok, that's so not going to work for me. Megan suggested the name "Roxanne" as we all felt this little girl needed a tough chick name. Roxie...I like the sound of that. And the thing that sealed the deal - she was over playing with Megan, and I called her (by the new name she was just given) and she came right over to me, sat at my feet, cocked her head to the side, and looked me right in the eyes. I think my heart melted just a little bit :-)

I put her back in her kennel when the volunteers came to walk the dogs, and once I was done all the janitorial stuff I had to do, I went and got her out, and she spent the rest of the shift with me. I brought her home that night - I opened the side door of the work van, and she jumped in and went right into an open kennel. At home I put that kennel in my room and she slept in there. I closed the door as I wasn't sure if she was house trained. She whimpered for about 30 minutes, then settled in and went to sleep.

I woke up the next morning with a migraine. So I took Roxie back to the shelter with me and left her there. Didn't think it was fair to keep her with me, as I wouldn't be able to look after her. Hell, I can barely look after myself when I have a migraine.

Monday Oct 1 - after work I went straight to the shelter and got my dog!!! And she has been with me since.

Here is her SPCA mug shot :