I have to find some fresh adjectives. I keep using the same ones over and over again in my blogs…. After a particularly frustrating day where nothing was going right, I read Yvette’s post about getting gifts and $ donations from Lisa, Sara and Mary, and honestly, the problems of that day were gone, just melted away. There is nothing better than getting a fix of ‘warm and fuzzy’ after reading a TG blog– thank you Yvette! And I must’nt forget Karen, her amazing donation will pay for the transportation and fuel so Turtle Gardens finally can acquire some much needed fencing, I can’t wait to see the photos once everything is assembled (don’t forget some pics of Trip!)
So… I need some new ground-breaking adjectives to describe these wonderful/awesome/ marvelous/fantastic and virtuous people. Since I got involved with TG, I have come across more generous and kind-hearted people during these few months than I have in the years and years of volunteer work with other organizations. There’s really something to be said about Turtle Gardens.
Last week, there was a comment in the blog from a gentleman who was upset that his girlfriend wasn’t able to adopt the little TG dog that she had her heart so set on. Understandably, she was disappointed and frustrated. Their experience reminded me of something that happened to me about seven years ago. The circumstances were different but the outcome was the same.
We were looking for another dog, and we thought we found the ‘perfect’ little dog at one of the local shelters. His name was Frost, a cute little mini-American Eskie. He basically leapt into my arms and wouldn’t let go. We walked him, we cuddled him, I turned him onto his back and stuck my fingers into his mouth and looked at his teeth – I knew his temperament was good. Our kids fell in love with him and little Frost adored them. For whatever reason, the sourpuss clerk behind the desk did not like us, she made up her mind as soon as we walked through the door. Even though I explained that we already had a sweet but passive female Eskie at home, plus an over the top extrovert female Keeshond, (plus this one would our THIRD Eskie) she muttered something about our 6 foot fence wasn’t high enough, needed to be 7 feet. The more I questioned her, the more irritable and snappy she became. I spent the next 30 minutes trying to convince this miserable woman that I would be able to handle this little guy. She labeled him ‘aggressive’ and unpredictable’.
“How is he aggressive?” I asked her. Frost was cuddling with the kids, lapping up the attention.
“Well, that’s what they say about this breed”
“Has he displayed any aggression?“
“Not to visitors but he did bare his teeth at me the first few days.”
Well no WONDER you old crochety cantankerous b****.
“Eskies don’t respond to harsh treatment.” I said to my husband but loud enough so this
woman could hear.
The fence issue I told her was quite unreasonable especially when this little dog was only about a foot high and weighed about 12 pounds. How many people have 7 foot fences?? She also said I didn’t have enough Eskie experience and said it was policy not to adopt little dogs into a family with young children. My kids were aged 10 and 13 at that time and very dog savvy. Meanwhile she declared that she would not process my application form “so don’t bother to fill one out.” I was so flabbergasted by then, I almost yelled at her but managed to tell her, “Why don’t you call the other branch? We were there yesterday and put in an application for a jack rusell–border collie X with very long legs. The NICE lady at this office told us that there was an adoption pending but she wished I had come in a day earlier. In fact, she said if the home check didn’t work out, she would put my application ahead of the others.”
Finally we left without Frost. With heavy hearts, we reluctantly put him back into the kennel. He hollered and yelped and threw his little body against the gate. The kids were in tears. I was in tears by the time we reached the car. I was so troubled by this woman, I couldn’t believe why or how she was hired, so incredibly heartless, so uncaring, didn’t give a s*** about her job or the dogs. She was just a miserable old hag who hated people, and hated her job.
Undeterred, the next day I asked my nephew to drop by this shelter, tell this troll you have a 7 foot fence and tell her your girlfriend works from home, no kids. Please adopt him for me. Well this woman must’ve been smoking something because on this particular day, she told my nephew Frost was good with kids and a 5 foot fence was sufficient, but please come back with your girlfriend because the dog needs to meet her as well. Needless to say when my nephew and his wife returned, Frost was gone. My heart was broken, this was not meant to be.
We didn’t actively look for another dog after this, life continued on with our 2 kids and 2 dogs. In September 2001 my mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer She battled on for as long as she could, but the cancer quickly spread everywhere, and took its toll. About a week before she passed away, Mom told me, “Don’t worry about me, I’ll send you an angel”.
“Mom, how will I know?”
“I’ll send you an angel in white.”
She died on Feb.8th, 2002.
On the day after her funeral, I was on the computer enjoying some of the happy ending stories submitted by Keeshond Rescue. I love the friendly outgoing nature of these lovable dogs, our Keesha was a true Kees, too happy, too friendly if there is such a thing. Then I clicked onto Petfinder to find out more information about a certain keeshond. Then about half way down the page, there was a picture of “Jack”, a beautiful senior American Eskimo who had a horrible neglectful past. (To this day I don’t know how Jack ended up on a ‘keeshond’ page) Right away without a doubt, I knew Jack was “ours”.
It was such a pleasant experience, so ridiculously ‘easy’ to adopt him. Jack lived for only 4 years after we got him, he had a host of health problems, he was spoiled rotten, his 2 canine sisters loved him to pieces, and sadly, he died at home on November 8, 2006. I truly believe my mother ‘sent’ me Jack. She knew he was not a healthy dog, and ultimately, she knew I would provide the best possible care for him. I guess there was a reason why we didn’t get Frost, and I should really thank the ill-tempered miserable old hag..
©Turtle Gardens Animal Rescue Society. Have your pet spayed or neutered today.
