[Four Steps Forward] Third Time's A Charm

[Four Steps Forward]

For my first visit after the Fall time change I tried to get out to the Center a little bit earlier than I normally do so I could catch the sun as it seems to disappear before I normally turn around to check outside at the end of work now. I made decent time and the temperature was actually alright, so things were looking up.

Vicious Tim is gone.

I wrestled with the guilty feelings again, I was sad that he was gone, but that's a very selfish way to feel at an Adoption Center and I should have been ecstatic at that moment. I suppose there is an emotional learning curve when you choose to be involved in an environment like Pets, Inc. Tim was an excellent and very good looking dog and I am sure he is lapping up the everyday attention of a new family, for which I am very happy. Nervous Ned however...still kickin' it.

I decided that it was time to make some new friends as I approached an outside pen with three medium size teenagers in it. The first girl that I notice was Kenya. Kenya is an eight month old Lab - Doberman mix (for which I have a very soft spot) and she is gorgeous! Her coat is like that of a doberman, it is very short and very deep black, while her body seems to be like a lab at first glance, however her features are more elongated and slender like a Doberman...with a huge nose. I took her out to the play area where she really showed off her teenage Doberman personality...extremely goofy with a overwhelming need for baby-like attention.

- Kenya's reaction to a little high pitch whistle with a pitch change. Buuuuuhhh?

After finishing up with Kenya I walked her back to her pen to put her back up, however about 10 feet away she just stopped dead. All four feet locked down, not moving. I tried to coax her without babying, but I ended up just having to pick her up...which I used to have to do on occasion with Jaeger when he was younger.

I had Kenya cradled in my arms while I opened the gate, all the while trying to keep the other two dogs back from the gate and in the pen, but a little guy slipped between my legs and got out! I put Kenya down, locked the gate and faced my biggest fear.

The last thing anyone wants to do is let a dog out of a pen, gate, door, and into the open. Especially when you are trying to be a positive assistant to a Adoption Center. Thankfully when I asked the little guy to come over and he saw the leash, he just flopped down and waited for me to come over and leash him up. He was another of the Sheppard - Something variety, however like all the dogs I have taken out, he was very excited to be playing and very appreciative of the time and attention that I was giving him....just make sure you have your eyes on the floor when you open the door to the pen.

It was getting dark quickly so I decided to move inside the kennel to take a look at some of the big runs in the back, where there are a handful of dogs in each space. There is a remarkable amount of space in the run, with about five or six dogs in the one I walked into, where three of the Lab - Hound mixed had 'treed' a squirrel. The three of them spent the whole time I was in there chasing a very unimpressed squirrel back and forth between trees. I spent my time laughing at a juvenile Great Dane who seem to be having enough trouble coordinating his legs rather than helping chase the squirrel.

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Posted By Four Steps Forward to Four Steps Forward at 11/13/2008 10:28:00 AM