I am a very computer maladept person and have embarassed myself by posting pieces of unfinished diaries and multiple copies of drafts, so it wouldn't surprise me if people see my moniker on a diary and respond with, "Oh god, not that idiot again!" But I will try my best not to screw this up.
I looking for a home for a dog. I want her to go to someone who is a real dog person, someone with empathy for animals, who will see her as a personality, not a status symbol, lawn ornament, or animated teddy bear. I hope to find someone who will love her.
Her name is Lassie but she is not a collie. I don't know what all went into her makeup but some of it is pit bull: she has a pit bull head. Her plume tail curls over her back when she is happy: husky? Her fur is thick, especially around her neck: collie? She weighs about sixty pounds and has long legs: retreiver? Let's just say she is a pure authentic mixed breed stray dog.
More below the jump.
I visit a elderly friend three times a week and do some housework for him which includes taking out his trash. I started this last year and right away I notived that the trash never stayed in the trash can: whatever I put in one day would be all over the yard the next. My friend (I'll call him Mr. Brown) explained that hungry dogs raided the garbage at night.
So I started putting food straps mixed with dog food out in the yard. After that the trash stayed in the can and I became the hero to a small pack of stray and semi-stray dogs. We named the regulars: Scooby, her babies Pogo and Chocolot, Lassie.
I found a home for Pogo but Scooby and Chocolot just disappeared. Stopped coming arond and never saw them again. Lassie I saw a couple times a week.
Winter came. Mr Brown had an old shed in the back yard that was full of funky old furniture. On cold nights or during the long rainy days Lassie often took refuge on the couch out there. One day when I came to visti Mr Brwon told me that Lassie was injured and couldn't walk. He had been throwing hotdogs out his back door to feed her.
I went out and had a look. She was hurt. Her face was crisscrossed with lacerations and her front paws were swollen to twice their natural size. I brought her some food, water and wrapped her in a comforter. I sat out on the couch with her and she lay her big ol' pitbull head on my lap. That's when we really bonded.
She got well. After that when she saw my car coming up the road she'd come running. Mr Brwon heard a rumor that Lassie had an owner but the owner had a drinking problem and had been in jail for most of the winter. That corresponded to the time she spent living in the shed. Now the owner was rumored to be back and it did seem that Lassie had someone else looking after her to some extent: she wasn't always hungry when she came to visit and once she had a collar on. No name tag though.
Well the inevitable happened: Lassie got herself knocked up. Meanwhile the person rumored to be her owner moved next door. I went over to intorduce myself and ask if I could buy Lassie. The lady who ansewered the door wasn't Lassie's owner. She told me that Lassie's owner was planning to move away and probably couldn't take Lassie with her. She suggested that I check back in a couple days.
So I did. I week later I knocked on the door again. This time a young man ansewred and he didn't know what the hell I was asking about. He didn't know anything about a pregnant female pitbull mix.
So I told Lassie that she was my dog now. But the thing is, she ins't and she can't be. I live in a small condo in a gated community. I have no garage, no shed, no yard. Inside my house I have an elderly corgie mix, a rescue dog who is very possesive and insecure and afraid of big dogs (he is missing one of his ears, I presume from a fight.) Also I work and on my days off I go to my dad's house to care for him. The burden of housebreaking Lassie and reconciling Blackie to her presence would fall on my husband. He'd do it if I asked him to but I know he doesn't want to so I'm not going to ask.
Lassie was accepted by a local no-kill rescue shelter. She is going to be spayed and the babies aborted if it is early enough in the pregnancy; if the the pregnancy is advanced, the shelter will find homes for the pups.
So in all this blather I haven't described her personality: she's a reticent, dignified dog, polite to people she doesn't know. She is very affectionate to me: a tailwagging facelicker who loves to have her belly tickled. She's very smart and independent, and she is playful and socialable with other dogs. I don't know how she is with kids or cats. She loves to go for walks. She wants to have a person of her own.
I breaks my heart that I let her down by not adopting her myself.
She's a good, good dog. If you can give her a permenent home email me at LKoerber889@aol.com. I live in the Puget Sound area and I am willing to drive as far as Portland or Spokane to get her into a good home.
Thank you