Adoption Day

As my only challenger for the doggie walked away from the pen, I can remember wondering if the man was our little doggie’s past owner. There seemed to be something going on between them, and it looked as if he was saying good-bye for the last time. I’ll never know if that was what was happening, and moments later the woman who had asked me to wait for the paperwork was taking out the ID card on the cage, and bringing out my new little friend. She picked him up and handed him to me to carry to the front desk.

“Ready to go to your forever home?” she said to the dog.

Once we were back at the front desk, I couldn’t believe my luck. Adopting the dog wasn’t even a financial stretch. The total cost to me was less than thirty-five dollars, which I paid in cash. He had already had his shots, dewclaws had been removed, and he was already neutered. Obviously someone had once cared for this animal. I thought I was the luckiest woman on the planet that day. I hitched him up to a new collar and leash that I had picked up before adoption day, and off we went to conquer the world.

What should we name him? I wondered as I loaded him into the car for the first time. He was extremely excited, and he jumped around the car sniffing everything. I began driving home, keeping my window rolled down while holding him in my lap, but after awhile he seemed more interested in riding in the back seat with his paws outstretched on the center arm rest. As I drove the car, I felt his muzzle rest gently on my shoulder. I felt comforted as I maneuvered the car towards home, my new sidekick tagging along with me, having no idea that this behavior would become something that would happen on a regular basis throughout our days together.

It was a sunny, fall day outside, and the kids weren’t supposed to be home for a couple of hours, so I used this time to let him become acquainted with his new boundaries. I kept him on his leash so I could lead him around. After walking him up the front path, I ushered him through the house, and directly to our rather large backyard, beginning by walking him around the entire perimeter. I praised him every time he lifted his leg. By the time I was convinced that he was done marking his new territory, we went for the indoor tour. He walked and sniffed through all the rooms, and ended up in the kitchen, where I proceeded to begin working on grooming his matted, filthy fur.

He had a brusque, unkempt coat that had grown long around his face and eyes, but the hair on his back was very short. I surmised that it had been trimmed at the shelter, but in truth, I had no idea why or how it had been done. He still had long hair around his neck, chest, and tummy. After a warm bath in the sink, his silver gray coat shone brightly in the sun outside. I decided to trim some of the long wispy hair around his eyes so he could see. Once he was bathed and trimmed, I thought he looked magnificent. I hadn’t expected to fall in love with the little guy so quickly, but by now I was smitten. He was extremely well behaved in my company, and like the magazine article I had recently glanced at about Schnauzers, he seemed to enjoy being groomed and petted.

After the bath and the groom job, I snapped a couple of pictures. I wanted to have some before and after shots. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I made the comparison. By now, I thought he was ready to go around and explore the yard off leash. I let him go and he began to sniff around as I followed him. To this day I wonder if the first thing he tried to do was locate a weakness in the fencing, because he would turn out to be quite the escape artist. He ended up in the farthest corner of our property peering out at the ducks that were swimming by in the flood canal, his stubbed tail wagging non-stop.
Finally it was time to pick the kids up from school. By this time, I had bounced several names around in my head, but nothing seemed to quite fit him. I thought it might be nice if one of the kids named the dog, so when my son suggested the name, Hardy, I was delighted. Our new doggie now had a home and a name. It was time for the fun to begin.