Suddenly, I realized how crappy my stomach was feeling. OH. NO. Gas station bathroom? Umm...No. I sat there debating for a few minutes. I needed to go home. Badly. Yes, I'm telling you this. And this was a really good decision on my part, seriously. So of course, it got way too late (Casper is 6 hours away) and I decided I would push the trip back a day. The dog had been there for over a week. He'd probably still be there, right? The next morning I called just after they opened and he had been adopted just a few minutes before. I guess it wasn't meant to be...
And for some reason, I got very disappointed about this. Somehow, I had managed to fall in love with the idea of this dog from a single crappy picture and talking to a few people. I spent a lot of time thinking about this dog and thought of everything I might have to deal with, with him. If he had problems, I was willing to work with it and started preparing for the [potential] challenges. ...And then it just didn't happen.
After that, I guess you could say I lost all hope in finding a doberman. Our fence wasn't fixed yet and I didn't know when B would have time again to work on it. I didn't expect a home check to go smoothly without it. Not to mention, did I really want to drive all the way to Las Vegas to adopt a dog I had never met and pay at least a $500 adoption fee? And did I really want a doberman??? Yes, I'm really kinda fickle.
My indecision (and growing impatience) was killing me and my research mode went into overdrive.
One thing about me is that when I get interested in something, I go into hyperfocus and start researching the crap out of it. I can't think about anything else except that, quite literally (damn you, ADHD). I started reading up even more on German shepherds, night and day (I didn't tell B that). I decided, well, maybe, just maybe. A GSD puppy would be our dog. I didn't want those ill-bred, slope-backed American GSDs. No, I wanted an East German Shepherd working line dog. I wanted to do Schutzhund, Agility, Search and Rescue, Freestyle, skijoring, weightpulling, you name it. On the one hand, I wanted an older dog so we could do those things right away. On the other hand, a puppy with a clean slate was a nice idea.
I know they always say getting a puppy for a "clean slate" is just bull but I feel like that just depends on what you want out of your dog. First of all, I'd only buy from a reputable breeder who does all the proper health tests and does not contribute to animals being put in shelters. Second of all, I would want a puppy picked out by the breeder to appropriately match what I was looking for. A confident dog that bounces back quickly, moderate drive and willing to work. Getting a well-bred puppy was sounding better and better. I even found a breeder I liked - she did all the health tests, her own dogs are titled in S&R, her dogs go to Schutzhund, search & rescue, police and pet homes. Yeah! I emailed her late one night, asking about her upcoming litters and wanting to chat more. She got back to me the next morning and I was literally this||close to putting a deposit down. So I asked B that morning how he felt about committing to it (I had already shown him pictures and info of all her dogs and the ones with upcoming litters). He said he really liked her dogs but he wanted to think about it and talk about it that evening after work. Okay...
Three hours later, the shelter called me and told me Diezel had been returned and do I still want to adopt him?
The next day I went to the shelter to visit him with Zoe again. He had gotten returned because he got into a fight with one of the resident dogs at his new home. The other dog had to get stitches on his face and I think the owner had gotten bit as well. That was worrisome. The dog guy at the shelter didn't feel he was necessarily dog aggressive though. Okay, okay. I asked if I could do a foster-to-adopt type of thing, to figure out if he's going to work out at our house. They were okay with that, especially because we've already been fostering for them.
I was a little hesitant then. After all, I didn't want to worry he would hurt my dog or my cats. Or anyone else. Not to mention I had absolutely convinced myself that we should get a GSD puppy. I said we'd just see how it all worked out. ...In less than a week, we decided he was going to stay with us.
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| Clyde, the first car ride home |
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