My TLAC dog is Sadie.
I have another dog, Nigel, from another rescue.
I'd like to tell the story of bringing Sadie home four years ago. I looked all over TLAC for a small dog. They all had wait lists. So I looked at the red stop sign dogs and there she was on the front side, between buildings A and B. Her name was Winnie, and she was sooo skinny. I got permission and opened the kennel.
She was timid and didn't walk up to the gate, but when I went into the kennel she was happy to have company and happy to walk out with me. She was very attentive, looking at me, wagging her tail and body, waiting to see where we would go. I took her to one of the front pens (#8 I think). She raced up and down the little pen. When I crouched down, she came up to me for pets and calmed down and rolled over. I stood up to through a ball she whipped herself up and ran after it.
Love at first leash walk.
She hadn't been spayed so I had to wait a couple days to pick her up. I couldn't get back to TLAC on the days in between. I wonder if she remembered me when I returned. I went to her kennel and she was happy to see me again, happy to walk on the leash. I walked through the breezeway out to the parking lot, Sadie by my side. We reached the opening and the leash was suddenly seemed attached to a rock. She had put on the breaks and could not be lured from the spot. I don't really know what was going through her head, and at the time I didn't have any idea! I cajoled for a moment and then picked her up. She was shaking like a leaf. She was even more worried about the car. I put her in the front seat where she made herself as small as possible and drooled profusely. Poor thing. I talked to her in a sweet voice all the way home.
At my home she was afraid. She glued herself to me. I went about my work. We went for a walk that night. After a couple days she was very comfortable.
Today she is overjoyed to get into the car, but still drools sometimes and doesn't like rides over two hours. She knows sit, down, stay, come, leave it, get it. She'll jump through my arms walk around and jump through my arms on the other side. She can leap a four foot chain link fence in a single bound. And she pops herself three feet in the air at the back door when guests arrive and she is not inside to greet them. When she's inside, she's all wiggles, but doesn't jump on guests - mostly. Amazingly she will not jump the baby gate, but I don't know why not.
She's a Jack Russell Terrier mix so she sheds something fierce. We call the dog hair tumble weeds our other dogs. She loves to snuggle in a pile of blankets and has been found in half-full laundry hampers. I'm so happy I found her. She ties Nigel for best dog ever.
How amazing. What a great store. It just moves me in a good way
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