Wednesday, September 8, 2010

If I had a house right now...

If that house were in Texas, and not for sale, it would have a 100-pound husky in it tonight.

And if that house were in Little Rock, it would've had a strange little puppy in it after lunch today.

Every week I get the email updates from the Suburbia city shelter. It's how Crystal and Poohbert came to be our foster dogs. They've had some pretty good weeks recently, with all animals getting adopted or rescued instead of euthanized. One week they didn't even have to put any at all on the urgent list. But it looks like this week the streak may end. The last email I got still included quite a few dogs and cats looking for homes. Among them: Diamond, a large Husky about 7 years old who was owner surrendered, adopted, and then returned because he didn't get along with the family's cat.

Like I said, if my Texas house weren't on the market, it would have a Husky in it by now. Instead, he will probably die tomorrow morning (they gave the animals an extra day because of the holiday weekend, but with the tropical storm, folks haven't been getting out in the rain to adopt).

And at lunch today, two of my co-workers introduced me to a place to procure a yummy milkshake. It's out of our way, and not in the best area. As we were getting out of the car to place our order at the walk-up window, one of my co-workers said, "That's a cute puppy."

"Where?" I asked, and he pointed behind the dumpster. Then the little black-and-tan somethingorother (part cocker spaniel, we think) came over to visit with all three of us. I wore sandals today, which meant I got a complimentary toe-licking with my puppy visit.

Puppy was a boy. No collar, and obviously no fence keeping him safe. I told my co-workers that if I had a house, I'd inquire with the lady at the window, and if she didn't know who Puppy belonged to (or if who he belonged to didn't plan on providing any better care than letting him wander) we'd be picking up the pup along with our milkshakes and dropping him off at my house before we went back to the office.

As it stands, though, I couldn't help. I hate not being able to help. At the same time, given the long-term fostering I did this spring, I realize I could easily get stuck with another dog or two for an indefinite amount of time.

But I still want to help.

---

UPDATE: Just got the final email for today. All dogs but one have been rescued, and we believe that one has a rescue group interested. Several cats still left, though... which is sad, but makes me powerless to help because of my allergy.

3 comments:

Princess of Everything (and then some) said...

I am so glad about the update!

zorra said...

Me too. It is so hard to read about dogs that I can't go and get, and look at their pictures, and yet I keep doing it.

Michelle said...

So glad that all the doggies found homes. Sad for the cats. Sad about the puppy too.

Now that you're back in the home state, I need to hook you up with Jeff's dad. He takes dogs from the local shelter to the news on Thursday mornings for the early show. He does a lot of dogwashes too. I think you might like their group. :)