Here We Go Again...

I really expected Shawn to act like my dad. Suddenly I was 7 years old bringing home another stray cat or picking up some poor bird who'd lost its mother.

As he came in the front door I smiled at him like a kid who'd been caught with a hand in the cookie jar 10 minuets before supper.

"I found something..." I said sheepishly as I closed the door to the laundry room.


When I came home from work yesterday there was a half starved, half bald Chihuahua in our yard. It took me an hour to get her but I couldn't let her contiue to starve. She'd gone in the back yard of the vacant house next door and crawled underneath the rotten dog house set up on bricks.

Since the back yard is the Amazon, I had all sorts of things crawling on me, biting me, stinging me, but I put that out my head as I attempted to coax the little dog out. It was the amazon after all.

Finally I mustered up all the strength I had and lifted the dog house. "C'mon! C'mon! I can't hold it all day!" I said. The dog slithered out just as my arms began to shake. I cornered her in our neighbor's porch.

I think this dog's been mistreated. I sat with her that evening, all the while Prissy was whining at me through the baby gate. I raised my hand to scratch my ear and the little dog flinched and jumped back as though I might strike her.

"Awww," I soothed. "You're safe here!"

I put an ad in the paper just in case. I know how I might feel if I lost my dog. "You'll have it named by the end of the weekend!" Shawn laughed. I had no intention of keeping this thing. We simply cannot afford it. I could barely afford to get Prissy's shots and medicine today.

So I talked to the vet. He said he could the dog an exam and vaccinations for $50.
"Maybe even less," he said. I've good business for him. See my early post entitled Excuse Me Ma'am, But There's a Hair in Your Dog.

I almost hope no one calls on the ad. I'm falling in love and my heart is breaking!

Her little teeny personality is starting to come out. Any time Shawn or I went into the kitchen she'd whine and whine. I let her out and she and Prissy get along just fine sniffing each other's butts and such things.

Last night I laid out a blanket and some newspaper in the corner. I saw that she'd actually peed on the paper.

"This doesn't help me one bit..." I mused.

See, on the one hand, she'll be easy to train. On the other, someone may have already begun to train her. I like to think she peed on the paper because it was the spot furthest from her bed.

This morning I saw her tail for the first time. It had been wedged between her legs all evening. She puts her front paws on my legs and stares up at me with huge, bulging ET eyes.

Phone home! Phone home! OUCH....

She is an ugly little dog! But her personality more than makes up for it.

Can I afford another pet?
No. I'm willing to skip lunch if I have to. I simply cannot cut back anywhere and Shawn already thinks I just have the biggest cravings for baked potatoes and salads.

Well, on the plus side, I have noticed my pants getting looser. Can't afford new pants either and my belt recently broke!

Why did this dog have to in my yard at that exact moment? Maybe it was meant to be.

I's posted signs 2 blocks away and asked around the neighborhood. My signs were gone this morning and no one knew anything about a missing dog. Maybe it's a sign. Maybe it's fate. Maybe God led this little starving dog to me and He will provide me with the overtime I need to pay for her.

I sure hope so. Tommorow's Sunday and I haven't named her yet.