Our trip to the Humane Society

So, a few weeks ago Sam's dog Baxter ran away for the second time. The first time was 2 days before we left for Europe. We got him back that time. This time, however, we didn't intercept the people who found him before they took him to animal control. I had to go to animal control to get him back. However, they wanted $130! $45 to get him back and then EIGHTY FIVE DOLLARS for a "late licensing fee". I had NO idea we had to license our dogs. I looked for info when we moved here and couldn't find anything. Since in Wisconsin it's all dictated by municipalities, I checked with the township that we live in. There was absolutely nothing, so I assumed that we didn't have to. Well, apparently the county dictates it here. And if you don't license them before March, there is a $75 late fee.

Now, if it had been Casey, I would have shelled out the money without blinking an eye. But Baxter...couldn't do it. He had been getting progressively worse. He's deaf and has cataracts. He loved the kids, at least the 2 older ones. Whenever Cadence got anywhere near him, he got very aggressive. I tried to work with him, but he wasn't budging on the matter. Fine one second then enter Cadence and he was baring teeth and nipping. We obviously watch her closely when she's around any of the animals, but we can not have a dog that hates her, doesn't respect us on the matter, and is pretty untrainable.

So, we surrendered him. I cried for a full half hour before making the final decision. I was so upset. Not because I would miss him (I'm so embarrassed to admit that I was happy to have him gone. I hope he found a good family) but because he was Samantha's dog. She was SOOOO upset. I called Matt, and my brother, and my mom...I just needed validation that I was doing the right thing, I guess. In the end I haven't regretted it. In the phone call to my mom, though, she told Sam that we'd get her a kitten.

We were getting ready to go to Wisconsin for 3 weeks, so we told her we'd look when we got back. While in Wisconsin, I was still doing research, though. I found some cute kittens at the Harbor Humane Society about a half hour south of here. I put in an application on Thursday and then called to see if they'd gotten it and if we could come see kittens this weekend. I was told that they were denying our application because we had surrendered an animal in the last year. I was really upset. Did they not care WHY we surrendered him? He was threatening our baby. We tried to work though it. It didn't work. They put me through to someone that I could appeal the decision with. Her voicemail said "...I'll call you back when I have the time." Um, yeah. I didn't see that call coming back soon but left the message anyway.

Yesterday we came back to Michigan. This morning I woke up and decided that I would take a trip to our local Humane Society. We had visited them just before going to Wisconsin and they had some really cute kittens that weren't quite ready. I found out that those kittens hadn't made it. :( There was another adorable little fluffy orange guy that I really liked, though. Not love, but enough to call Matt and tell him to bring the kids. They came over and nobody seemed really enthused about him. He was very loud and frisky and not Siamese, which apparently is a deal-breaker for Matt. Sicne I don't particularly want a Siamese, I was worried we'd never get through that problem. We decided to just keep looking. There are a lot of places to adopt kittens. I actually had e-mailed someone from Craigslist Thursday about her kittens and hadn't heard back.

So we were leaving. To get to and from the cat room, you have to walk through the very stinky, sad, LOUD room of barking dogs. I hadn't even looked at the dogs on my way through and really wasn't this time. Then I glanced over and saw HIM.

HE is a St. Bernard puppy. OMG! He is about 11 weeks old and aDORABLE! I expected Matt to say "yeah, good for you. He's going to be huge." But, after 10 years he still has some surprises in him. He was as impressed as me. He bent over to say hi. This is the sweetest puppy in the world. Really. He's so calm and the only time he barked was when Matt stopped petting him and he wanted him to continue. lol His intake form said he's good with kids. What the HELL was this little (um, yeah, not so little I guess) guy doing at the Humane Society? We asked the lady about him and he said his owners gave him up because they just didn't want him. Say what? Okay, so he needs to be housebroken. He was 7 weeks when he came in. What 7 week old *is* housebroken? Really. It took us probably 2-3 weeks to fully potty train Casey. And that was working with him all the time.

They were closing down for the day, but we asked when they open on Monday. 11am. Okay, we'll be there. She said we could come in Monday and play with him in the yard and then if we wanted we could fill out an application. We'd know by the end of Monday if it was approved.

Matt and I obsessed over this dog all. day. long. Every time one of us was quiet, the other knew what we were thinking about. At one point I said "so what would you name him?" Matt laughed and said I was going to think it was sick. I told him to just say it. "Bernie." I burst out laughing. That is exactly what my mind had been calling him. Bernie the kitty. haha

Matt is currently cleaning like mad to make room for him. We still have the crate set up from when Chico the Chihuahua came to visit us awhile back. We were talking about whether St. Bernards do "fetch" earlier and magically Cadence found a tennis ball and started throwing it. Fate? hmmm

All things happen for a reason, yes? We went looking for a kitten and found a SAINT BERNARD. This is the one dog I always said I *will* own. A puppy. At the Humane Society. That we wouldn't have even been visiting had it not been for the mean Humane Society lady rejecting our application and not calling back. And an extra bit of irony? The lady with the kittens on Craigslist e-mailed me back this afternoon. Had she e-mailed yesterday or this morning, I probably wouldn't have even gone to the Humane Society.

So, yeah. On our trip to the humane society we found the dog of my dreams. Bernie the Kitty. Now I just hope they approve us and we get him. I'm in love already. :)