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Blogs by Lisa Adams
Dog rescue 101 6/21/2008 8:45:27 AM
Ok, so you know how there are some people to whom certain beings gravitate? Well for Mel and I, dogs, cats, and...coyotes, no joke. Last night, Mel hit his brakes well before the turnoff for the house. I was goofy, and so became vaguely annoyed...until I saw the little white fluff ball with one brown patch over her eye emerge from directly in front of the truck. Here we go again.
I cannot begin to tell you the number of animals that have crossed our paths on whom we could not, would not, ever turn our backs. We scoured the campgrounds across the highway in the state park/national forest, but to no avail - although everyone wanted her because she really is that cute.
Almost 3 hours later, we decided to give up the hunt. It was growing dark. Fortunately, this little baby had tags (yay - at first) and so we called the vet's number in Belle Fourche, SD after our foray into campland that included a query regarding why a certain group of well-muscled young men were practicing (what?) with a bullwhip. I am certain one of them wound up getting hurt...then again perhaps that was the idea. I suspect one too many viewing of the Indiana Jones series, eh? They were sporting felt hats also...hmmm.
ANYWAY, the vet said he would look the tags up. On a hunch, I called the Belle Fourche PD because one of the tags was a city tag - meaning if a dog acts up, they can id the owner and address etc.
Well, the number was bad - disconnected - after all, her tags dated back to 2005. BUT she was obviously well cared for - her white fur was only somewhat greyed from dust or dirt. Her teeth indicated she had a soft food diet so she'll need a dental. And she had been spayed. What we discovered, though, was her name: "Snowball." Ah what is in a name? Everything.
Once her name was known, she could know us because now we could communicate a word she understood. Yes, dogs can understand a plethora of words - no joke - look it up. If memory serves, a lab is the smartest and can understand 250 words. "Plethora" is probably not one - but "bad dog" and "no" definitely ARE. :) Oh yes, and "Who wants treats?" brings them running.I am convinced they hear "Blah blah wah wah TREATS" but who cares.
Oh this baby is so sweet. And Gina2 - the black dog in one of my stories who had the surgery - and Snowball get along famously. They have "conversations" during which Snowball growls a little; then Gina2 makes a noise not unlike holding the end of a helium balloon slightly open so a little air escapes and makes a weird squeaking noise. It's freakin hilarious:
"Grrrrr"
"Squeeeeeeeeeee"
"Gr"
"Squee"
play play play
Gotta love 'em all. Sigh - the pack grows. I need to hang out with Cesar Milan, I swear. My mom says she will take Snowball. But I will continue looking for her owner and hope she only ran because of the storm and not because they dumped her. No dog deserves that. And if that is what happened - good riddance...of the owner that is - we'll place snowball somewhere she will be truly loved.
Funny thing, in Indian country, dogs are always welcome. They bring a gift. To turn them away, well, you have basically turned away a gift. I wish other people viewed it that way. Apparently they do in Iraq - they love dogs. Perhaps the distances between us as people is not as great as some hyped up media shrillies would have us believe, eh? But THAT is a story for another day.
