Saturday, November 15, 2008

Sallie, Our New Baby

Sallie is a 22 month old, sweet Sheltie mix we got from the PWC Animal Shelter today.

The girls and I had seen the poor baby this past Thursday. She was huddled in a corner, shaking, all alone in a cage. I thought she had been abused and didn't think we could take her home. After all, we wanted a companion for our aging Shiba Inu, and we also have Fiona and Cosmo, the kitties.

We all went back today, and there was Sallie, timidly sticking her nose out to sniff. When the attendant brought her outside for us to pet, she came right up to us. Her tail, which I'd only seen between her legs before, actually started to wag.

We learned she had recently had puppies and that the owners had brought the puppies. All the puppies were adopted, and then they brought in Sallie this past Thursday. Poor baby had just lost her own babies and then was sitting in that horrible place! No wonder she had been shaking so much!

How happy she got when we left that building, walked her around the lot and let her poop and pee wherever she wanted. In the car, she was content to sit on the floor in the back seat with the girls.

After getting out of there and feeling like we had saved Sallie, both David and I were pretty emotional.

I was so worried Shiba would be jealous and wouldn't adjust right away. Needless worry. Shiba acted just like she does when our in-laws' dogs come to visit, only getting cranky when Sallie tried to put her face in Shiba's. Shiba gave that "back off!" growl and Sallie just moved on. She didn't chase the cats. She came when she was called. And for the past three hours she has been asleep near her new cedar dog bed. The poor thing is exhausted! I bet she didn't sleep a wink in that shelter.

David once said to me if he ever got rich, he would open his own no-kill shelter. I really hope we do get rich some day. The thought of all those poor animals who will never have homes or a life.......

Thank God we got Sallie, the newest member of our loving family!

3 comments:

Katherine said...

Some people have been asking why the owners gave Sallie up. Apparently, they had three small kids and another on the way. Sallie jumped on Mom's tummie the way dogs do when they sense a pregnancy. Shiba used to sit on my stomach when I was pregnant. Dogs seem to know these things--at least female dogs do. I don't know about males.

neetzy said...

Sallie is beautiful. How good of you to adopt her! She has a very kind face and I'm am sure she appreciates your kindness. We adopted a one-year old unwanted (golden retriever) who adapted well to our household. We had at a border collie/retriever mix (Fiona), an adopted half-feral cat (Eddie) and two daughters. Our house is quite full, but love abounds!

Katherine said...

Neezy, thanks for dropping in! Funny, we have a shelter cat named "Fiona" LOL! So good to hear other "parents" adopting these babies who need homes.

Sallie ate actual dog food last night (victory, considering she had only eaten a few scraps before, not enough nutritionally). She has been romping and playing, wagging her tail in that still-puppy way that young dogs do. It's so good to see her happy--she was so miserable when we first saw her in the pound. I don't know how this dog could possibly have been bad with kids (as her label said). She is the sweetest dang thing!