Anyone who knows me very well at all, knows that I love dogs. My family had always had at least one dog running around since I was born. But after Goldie died about 4 years ago, we decided that we would not get another dog until we could build a bigger pen for him or her to run around in. You see, when we got Goldie when I was 7, we hadn't started all the renovations on our house and didn't have a very spacious backyard, so we had to work with what we had. Over the years, trees have been cleared, swing sets have been outgrown, and land has been leveled, resulting in a backyard that's a little bit more spacious than the one we began with. Unfortunately, my mom and I know nothing about building dog pens or clearing brush, this falls under the expertise of my grandpa, and since he's not a dog person at all, he never got into too much of a hurry. So after all these years of wishing I could get another dog, I decided to take matters into my own hands.
Mama and I are always sharing pics of cute dogs at local animal shelters with each other via Facebook message, so one night I sent her a picture of an old dog that was in a shelter in Longview. It appeared to be a classic case of, "everybody wants a puppy" and I felt really bad for this poor dog who seemed to be so sweet, but nobody wanted him. This wasn't Allie by the way, but this is how everything got started. We messaged back and forth and eventually decided that getting this particular dog would probably not be the wisest decision. The post didn't say exactly how old he was, but based on the picture, he was getting on up there, so would probably find climbing the stairs to my apartment pretty difficult, and since the post did mention he did not like being picked up, carrying him up and down the stairs was out of the question. So like many times before, I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever get to have another dog.
Then Friday morning as I was walking home from class, I got a Facebook message from Mama with this picture.
So a while later, I messaged Mama to let her know I had filled out an application and had been approved to adopt a dog from the Lufkin Animal Shelter. This isn't normally my style. I sometimes wonder why even at the ripe old age of 24, I still tend to ask for my mom's permission before doing things like this, but in this case, I figured if it was already a done deal, it'd be hard to say no. And I was right.
Mama and I drove to Lufkin Saturday afternoon to meet her and get everything taken care of. I knew within the first five minutes of playing with her in the "meet and greet room" that she was gonna be perfect. She was super calm, but still liked to play, and never barked, even when all the other dogs in the shelter were going nuts. Unfortunately I was told that since she wasn't spayed, they'd have to get that done before I could take her home, so I didn't actually get to leave the shelter with her, but were told we could pick her up from the vet Monday afternoon.
She is so sweet. Still trying to figure out if she's just really lazy or if she's just got her days and nights mixed up (she was pretty out of it and slept all day Monday because of the anesthesia). I don't know that she actually sleeps at night, but she naps off an on throughout the day. Either way, it kind of works for me, she's quiet in her crate, so doesn't keep me awake at night, and her naps allow me to actually get things done during the day. She's actually napping beside me right now as I type.
Every day it seems she does something new to make me laugh and love her even more. Like how she'll follow me everywhere in my apartment, except into the bathroom (yay for her respect for privacy), how she's always so excited to see me when I let her out of her crate, even if I've only been gone for a couple minutes, how she always crosses her front paws when she lays down, and how she works her way behind the curtains and blinds of the sliding glass doors in my bedroom to look outside. I don't know how anyone could give this girl up. She gets along with everybody (dog and human alike), doesn't try to jump up on furniture, or on people (unless you have a treat), and to this day I've only heard her bark twice. The owners claimed that she wasn't good with cats, but since I've had her she's never acted any differently when she's seen a cat than she does when she sees anything else, so I think that was just an excuse. But their loss is definitely my gain.
If you ever see us out and about, don't be afraid to come say hi, she loves everyone, especially if you'll give her a belly rub.
I've never had an indoor dog before, aside from Buttons who we had when I was really little, but she was more demon than dog, so that doesn't really count. So this should be a new and exciting adventure for all of us. I'm already learning there are things I won't ever get to do again, like sleep in. The latest I've slept since getting Allie was 11:15. I'm also starting to go through withdrawals since I haven't played Halo or Call of Duty in over a week. Not complaining though, I love this dog and really enjoy spending time playing with her.
I'm going to try to do my best to keep writing these as often as I have been, but if you don't hear from me for a while, just assume that Allie's doing something adorable to pull me away from doing anything that could possibly be classified as productive.
So in the meantime, stay awesome.
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