Monday, November 10, 2008

Here comes a dogfish chased by a catfish.

So not only am I engaged but...I have a dog??? Who would have thunk it? I have never been much of a dog person in general. I connect with weird dogs randomly. Always quirky dogs with issues and odd personalities. Which is similar to how I connect with my friends and people I've dated. I've been thinking about getting a dog for about a month or so and now...I'm a dog owner.

Actually...TODD is a dog owner.

Friday was Todd's 29th birthday and I wanted to make it memorable since he said he had never really celebrated a birthday. All around...I know I did a bad-ass job from start to finish and I heard him yacking on the phone to friends about how great the birthday had been and that was early on! Outside of what we did and what I planned (some of which got cancelled because my poor fella is sick sicky sick)...this is about the dog.

Todd has always had a dog around. And now that we're living together...there's no dog at the Ol' Kentucky Shark Corral. Everywhere we went where there was a dog, he make pals with it and talked about how if WE had a dog, he'd take care of it. Of course, in the back of my mind, I heard a little kid that claims they'll take care of their pet until it goes belly up. But I figured...if I picked out a dog that I liked...maybe it wouldn't be so bad having a mutt around.

And it's not bad at all!

I went to the APL and played with some of the dogs I had researched and they were all swell...until I met Holly. She was skiddish and nervous and jumpy and quirky and I was in love. She had an owner that got her as a pup and spent zero time with her. He was moving and so he surrendered her at 6 months old. I knew she was the one. I put a hold on her and ran out buying bones and treats and collars and leashes and bowls. I wrapped them all up with 2 pictures of Holly and he was SH-H-H-H-HOCKED! But a little uneasy.

Todd likes purebred dogs. And he wanted to know what other dogs were chillin' at the APL. I explained my logic on picking Holly and I think he agreed that my picking the dog would help me bond with it more. But we sort of dropped the dog subject for the rest of the night. The next thing I know, it's Saturday afternoon...I'm leaving David's Bridal with Phoebe (see wedding blog for an explaination on how I do NOT carry the bride gene) and Todd's leaving the APL with HOLLY!!! Yep. He fell in love with her just like I did.

And she's not that nervous and skiddish! She's just an awkward 6 month old pup that looks JUST like a coyote! She already has a favorite shark blanket, loves when we walk her, rocked her bone to bits, and has adjusted to sleeping in her kennel when we leave for brief periods of time. She has a dog bed in there and she's all about it! She likes sitting by the couch where mom is and she waits by the window when dad leaves. She's a good dog...with a new name.

They say when you rename a dog, you should give it a name that sounds like it's previous name. After Todd reading through every possible list of dog names or ethnic names or what have you...we decided to call her Shelby Nova (my pets have always had middle names). And Shelby seems to like her name just fine! I really can not believe I just spent all this time talking about our dog. Never in one million years!!!

We have a dog. Guess we're an American family now.

Come meet her. Little crazy coyote.

No comments: