Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Annie's Gottcha Day

     I shared the story of Paul's Gottcha Day for Corbin's Birthday, so it's only fair if I share Annie's as well.
     We got Annie around the end of our 1st year of marriage, and she was my birthday present, but before we got her on June 17th, she had a bit of a rocky start to life.
     She came from a county humane society when she was a pup and went to her first family when she was only 4 months old with the breed "Beagle Mix" attached to her.  For whatever reason, from what I'm told, she was on a running leash in the back yard and brought into the house only in bad weather.  When the spring came, the family was looking at moving and decided they really didn't have time for a dog.  The mother in this house was a teacher at a friend's school and mentioned to that friend (N.P.) that she had a beagle she was looking to re-home.
     My friend, NP, already had 1 beagle at home, but jumped at rescuing Annie and getting her out.  The night before she went to pick up Annie, NP had a dream that she wasn't a beagle at all.  When N showed up at the house to pick up Annie, she discovered a "large beagle!"  Annie got a trip to PetSmart for a bath (she was really stinky) where they discovered she hadn't had her spay stitches removed (they had been in for 4-6 months).   Then she went home that night with NP to chill with her new friend Percy and hang out with NP's parents, who were up visiting.
  NP belonged to a group called the Beagles of Richmond and had posted info about Annie on the message board.  She knew she couldn't foster Annie, but another member, DC stepped up.  DC had fostered before (cats and dogs) and had a home with 2 dogs and 2 cats in it already.  Annie went to DC's house to be fostered and learn what the word house and home meant.  (Annie still knows DC's house and whines like crazy when we pull up outside of it to visit.)
     About this time, we started looking for a dog.  My husband had talked to colleagues at work about wanting a dog, so friends were on the look out for us.  One of his coworkers said he knew of a dog who looked like a beagle on steroids that was looking for a home, he got the address from his girlfriend (years later wife and Aunt and Uncle to Annie and Paul) and we drove up to meet her.
     One of Annie's foster sisters, Belle, made herself quite comfortable in our laps and Annie realey only wanted to see us to see Belle.  But even at that, we decided we wanted Annie as our own.  We needed DC to hold onto her though for a week because our house wasn't ready for a dog.
     We went home to settle things at our house in place and purchase things such as food, water dishes, and try to figure out what to do for dog toys and places for her to sleep.  (Neither of us grew up with indoor dogs)
     A week later on June 17th, we headed up to Washington, DC and on the way home, we stopped at DC's home and picked up Annie.  It broke our hearts when we picked her up though because she knew DC's house as home in every sense of the word to her.  I picked her up, put her in the car, and we drove home with a very winy pup.

Sitting on Mom and Dad's bed looking bored!

2 comments:

  1. There's more to the story of the first 2 months with Annie, but i'll save that for another post or 2.

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  2. From the mom - I get that same look from Shiloh and Shasta sometimes, Like they are telling me - C'mon mom, let's go for a walk or go to the park or... SOMETHING! I wish I didn't have to work so I could spend more time with them. That look on Annie reminds me so much of Shiloh. Annie is a real pretty girl. I like that description - a Beagle on steroids - definitely sounds like Shiloh because he is so broad and taller than he should be - I've had a few people tell me he is a BIG Beagle - like I don't already know that, I've had him for 9 years.
    Kim

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