6 months and one week later...

After reading my last post, this story needs an ending so...everyone, meet Tuck!

First night at home

We adopted him 15 days after the previous blog entry was written and posted.  As they all say, I wasn't planning on it.  Big A actually went to the local humane society initially to look at cats because I was thinking that maybe a second cat would be an easier thing to get rather than facing another dog.  After visiting the cats, we took a walk through the dog section.  They had cute puppies there and quite a few pit bull mixes but some of them were enjoying the nice weather outside their kennels so we went out into the courtyard to see the others.  At one kennel, a little black and white dog was trying so hard to greet us while obviously still drugged up from being neutered.  I haven't seen someone trying that hard to function while under the influence since my dorm days.  It was the funniest thing to watch. 

On August 28, we went back so that I could drop off some donated items I had purchased in honor of what would have been Hooch's birthday on August 25 and decided to walk by again.  On their website, there was a lovely yellow lab/husky mix named Xander that Big A seemed interested in so we went and filled out the paperwork to get the 'dog pass' that enabled us to have some one-on-one time with a dog of our choosing.  We spent about 10 minutes with Xander in a little room before we had to return him back to his kennel.  He was cute and young and desperate in need of training that both Big A and I felt incapable of providing (update:  He went home shortly after to a guy who already had a dog which I think was a perfect situation).  Spending that time with Xander didn't seem to disrupt my emotional state any so I told Big A that I would like to see 'Winston', the drugged up dog that attempted to greet us last time.  We went to his kennel where he was enjoying some one-on-one time with a humane society volunteer who said she was surprised when he left her to come to his kennel door.  He hadn't done that with others since she started spending time with him.

They leashed him up and we went back into this same small room to spend some time with him (while 'enjoying' the barks from the other dogs since this small room was still in the dog area.  Wouldn't it have been to soundproof it?).  After petting him from the bench, I sat down on the floor to see what he would do.  He came up to me and stood with his front legs between my legs but his tail firmly tucked between his legs. He didn't mind me petting him though which he seemed to prefer over the few toys that were in the room.  I wanted to take him outside so we went out into their courtyard which has a nice little walking trail which he really enjoyed.  I've never seen a dog poo as much as he did.  It sounds weird unless you've had a dog but walking a dog and the urinating on everything like boy dogs do and pooping were all things I had missed. 

The volunteer asked if we were interested in adopting him and as she took him back inside so Big A and I could talk in their gazebo without his cute brown eyes looking at us, I cried like I hadn't cried since the night Hooch died.  I was at that crossroads where I knew I couldn't put this sweet guy back in a place that he obviously hated but yet it made me face the reason why I was there  - my Hooch was gone. 

As you can see from the beginning of this post, you know what my decision was.  The photo was taken that first night, in Hooch's old bed that I still had next to mine.

It has been quite a transition, these last 5 months which I will share with you as I blow the dust off of this blog and do what my sister-in-law says - writer's write.