THE NEWEST MEMBER OF THE FAMILY

This is Lady, who came to our home as a new member just yesterday..... I fell in love with her before I even saw her in person, and knew she was supposed to come home to live with me, my son, and "all the other animals" that we have at home.

(We now have: Baby (healer, Australian Sheppard mix), Rex (mutt…poodle, schnauzer, terrier etc.), Lacy (my princess cat who runs the house) and Rosco (king of the property, also known as the Old cat, because he is 14+ years in age)

I was looking through Craig's List yesterday on my work break and while browsing through the ads, just happened upon the ad for her. As soon as I saw her picture I got that feeling inside me that I get when God wants me to do something and I need to be paying attention. It wasn't like I needed or wanted another animal in my home, I just felt called to pick up the phone right then and there and ask if she was still available.

The gentleman who answered the phone seemed a little apprehensive about who might want to take her, so I gave him information that would reassure him that I am really wanting to inquire about her, and that I would provide her a good home.

She was located in an office that just happens to be right around the corner from where I work in a business that deals with the work I do, so the man who answered was wondering why our office was calling his office. God works in mysterious ways, and this was just one of those ways in which I get to see him work. I told the man on the phone that I would stop by after work on my way to catch the bus home, and would check her out and see what I thought of her.

As soon as I entered the door I could tell this was going to be hard on the person who had her. He didn't want to let her go, and the story she comes with speaks loudly how hard this was on him...... Lady is just over a year old, and her original family was a homeless couple who had her when she was just a small puppy. I guess the recent owner had seen her with this couple and told them that if they ever wanted to get rid of her, that he was interested in her and would take her should they decide they couldn't keep her. Well months later they showed up at his office and dropped her off, telling him that they were heading elsewhere and couldn't take her with them. That was January when he acquired her, and she was living with his girlfriend who had a home, until more recently when the girlfriend moved into other living quarters and could no longer accommodate Lady. So her next move would be to stay at the business he owns, but that lasted only as long as it became harder to take care of her, because he was trying to deal with her while running the business, and she has a lot of energy and needs to be out and about moving and playing. He was unable to keep up walks etc while trying to work. This is where I come in and take over.

I knew as soon as I saw her that I would take her and so I took the bus home and drove back down town to pick her up. He quickly gathered up all her stuff while I played with her for a few minutes, just to get her more comfortable with me. Outside it was pouring down rain, so I quickly ran to my vehicle and opened the doors and jumped inside and turned around to the back seat to help get her situated. He put all her stuff in the vehicle with her, closed the door and turned around and walked away without looking back. It broke my heart to see this big man be so broken hearted by this dog, so I sat there with her for a few minutes just in case something else might come up. When I felt it was OK I drove out of there and headed north to my house.

I called my son and told him what I had just done, and his first question was "what are you going to do with your dog" as if I was trading my mutt up for another dog. He knows I'm not a big fan of dogs, so he couldn't understand why I would get another one, when I never wanted one in the house to begin with. It was something I just couldn't explain to him, that I felt God sending me over there to get the dog and so I did.

I knew it would be chaos with all the other animals, bringing in one more to add to the already large pack of them. I got home and let her out in my back yard to check things out, and the first thing I noticed was how laid back and shy she really was. Considering her breed of "beagle/Rottweiler" I thought she would come across more aggressive than she did, but she was really docile, almost to the point of being a "scaredy cat".

Once we went around the yard a little bit, I took her inside and introduced her to my other animals. They already new something strange was going on, and they were barking really loudly downstairs waiting to be turned loose to see what all the commotion was.

My "mutt" is all bark, but not too much bite, so he acted all aggressive and such and just scared her more than anything, and my healer, well....she wouldn't stop sniffing her and that didn't go over to well either. Once we got past this part though, I took them outside and let them check things out by letting the two bigger ones go run (the mutt is a runner so he only gets to see things from the end of his chain). Once again we had to go through the initial meeting process on my dogs turf and then they just took off playing. I had to do some encouraging, but once she got comfortable, it was all OK.

In the meantime, I had to find a place for this dog to sleep, and I knew it needed to be in my room so she would feel safe. Well, my room was full of stuff left over from a trip we took a month ago, and I just hadn't had time to arrange things and put them away, so now I had to take the time to do it. Once I got that squared away and had a place to put her bed, blanket and of course her favorite stuffed dog, then I brought them back in to finish out the night. I took tons of pictures so that I could go back to the business tomorrow and let them know all was well.

I got up early the next morning to make sure I could take care of any extra needs that might arise due to her being new in the house. I let them all back outside and they just had a blast running and playing all around the yard. So far so good.... We will see tonight how well they fared being left to play together in my basement all day.

I went over during my first break at work to share my pictures and was totally unprepared for what happened once I got there. The man who gave her to me was not there, but the lady who works in the office ( His mother I think???) was there and she was and older lady. As soon as I told her who I was down came the tears.... She was so overwhelmed with having to give up her beloved dog, and it was hard for me not to cry. I showed her the pictures and even took the time to download them onto her computer for her so she could see that it was going to be OK. The more we talked the more she cried, but she also let me know it was OK, because she could see that Lady was going to a good home and would be well taken care of. I found it hard to focus at work when I got back because I knew on one hand that I had done a good thing, but on the other hand, I know how hard it is to give up a pet, because those who own animals know that they are just like your kids, and having to give one away is not an easy thing to do no matter how you feel about the animal.

I know she is meant to be with us, and She is a welcome addition to our family. Now I just have to figure out where I am going to live in my house, as it's over come with animals, and we only have 850 square feet to live in. Oh well.... God is good and He knows what He is doing!!!