Most of my peeps know that I love animals. Not only am I a card carrying vegetarian (I don't really have a card, it's just a saying...geesh), I watch Animal Cops religiously, and I donate to the Humane Society when my bookkeeper (husband holds the purse strings) tells me it's okay. Saturday September 18th, I batted my eyelashes at DyLon and begged to go to the Noah Animal Center in Stanwood to donate a few bags of food and blankets. I swear I had no intention of bringing a dog home. Want to know what convinced us to adopt? May I present Exhibit A:
'Nuf said. End of story. Look at that face! SOLD! Well, okay, not really "sold." More like ADOPTED!
The story continues like this: After dropping off the donated items, we wandered into the dog pod area where they house all of the adoptable dogs. There were some charmers! A coon hound that needed a good nose scratch. A large terrier mix with the biggest head I've ever seen (yes, larger than mine, if you can believe it.) A few yippy yappers. A black lab or two. And then, our baby. She was tucked in the corner of a pod with two pomeranians. They must have been yacking her ear off because she was pretty buried in her bed. It reminded me of when my Mom would yell at me as a youngster (and not so youngster) and I'd plug my ears and hum REAAALLLLYYY loudly.
As soon as our dog saw me, she ran to the glass and looked me square in the eye. I turned to DyLon and said "oh. my. god." To which he replied "let's go look at the cats." Harumph. I knew I'd have to work on him.
So we went and looked at the cats. DyLon fell in love with, oh, about 20 of them and started stuffing them into his pockets while singing "I'm going to love you and squeeze you and hug you forever!" I may be embellishing a little, but you get the point.
As a multitude of kittens were checking out the lint in DyLon's pockets, I went back to the dog pod. I couldn't get that sweet little face out of my head. I talked with her through the glass and she seemed to pay attention to me - more than any creature ever has before. An explanation? I'm certain I was using my super high pitched eagle squealing baby voice that only a dog could hear. But that doesn't matter, we were connected.
DyLon came back to the dog pod, sans kittens. I'm sure the Volunteers had to search him for stowaways before letting him enter the pod. Anyway, he saw me talking to the dog and said "you should take it for a walk." Surprisingly enough, I said no. I didn't want to get attached and then have to say good bye. But he insisted. So we took the dog for a walk and the rest, as they say, is history. DyLon found his new best friend on that walk. See Exhibit B:
Here's the stats: She's a she (duh, that's why I said "she"), spayed (the day before we adopted her), Shih Tzu and Poodle mix. Yes, that's right. We've got a Shitty Poo. She's a year and a half and we've named her Yuki. Why Yuki? 'Cause we're weird. That's why. Also because her name for the past year and a half was Snowflake. GAG! BARF! HURL! Yuki is snow in Japanese. DyLon spent many of his formative years in Japan - so it all ties together. We were going to name her Lucy because she TOTALLY looks like a Lucy, but it wasn't original enough for us.
Yuki has the best personality. She loves to be pet, loves to head butt ankles, loves to throw the ball to herself, and can "sit pretty" on command - as long as there are treats involved. What does she hate? Car rides. Crates. Car rides. Strangers. And more card rides. Hopefully we can teach her that riding in the car isn't so bad. It'll take some time though.
So that's it, in a nutshell. We couldn't be happier. She adds such positive energy to our household. I hope she likes living with us, because we wouldn't give her up for anything in the world!
I must donate a paragraph of my blog to tell you about the Noah Center. What an awesome place it is. They have a "no pressure" atmosphere and assign "matchmakers" to people looking for animals. They save the animals from local shelters that are about to be euthanized. Poor Yuki was at the Everett Animal Shelter about to be nixed all because her previous owners didn't want her anymore. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?? Freaks. Thank goodness Noah stepped in and saved her. We are forever grateful. You should check them out, they seriously rule. http://www.thenoahcenter.org/
I will now leave you with some eye candy. I know, I know, you are all jealous. :) Well come for a visit and meet her! She'll get to know you as soon as she head butts your ankles. I'm not kidding. It's kinda her thing.
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