November 6, 2008

Dot's adoption day from Trinity County Animal Shelter. I went in the day before to get my dog's new dog licenses in my new place. They had two litters of puppies running around the lobby. The ACO explained that seven of the pups (the black and white ones) were from a single mother who was in the back. The other two were from a pit bull mix mother. I asked what the mother of the black and white ones looked like. She explained that she looked like a small terrier mix. I asked if she was in the back. She said she was and I went back to look.

Now, I was definitely not looking for another dog, but I was curious to see the state of a dog that had given birth to seven pups and was, supposedly, not much bigger than a JRT. I was curious to see her temperament. I went back there, and she was chewing furiously on a rawhide chew. She seemed very happy and content. I liked her personality. I walked out and said thank you.

I went back the next day to take a look at her again. I braced myself that she could have been adopted and was not there. They said she was. I went back to see her, and the kennel worker said I could see her outside in a large yard that is attached to the back of the runs. It was a pretty big run with one side on the street. She was running around, checking the place out, but when I called her or made squeeky noise, she came right back to me. I did that several times, and each time she came right back to me. I was very surprised because she didn't know me at all, and here was a big yard with all these great smells. I thought she would be more interested in the yard. I thought it was good indication of a people focused dog. Sometimes she would go back to her puppies, who she could see from the yard. She did go to a couple of other dogs who in their runs and snarl at them. I figured she was being protective of her puppies. Since there was no immediate obvious threat to her puppies because they were in another run completely away from these dogs, I figured she was being overreactive. Overreaction is common in a mother with pups or a dog that is undersocialized with other dogs. I figured she was both.

I then had them take her to the front lobby where the office cat was loose. I needed to make sure she was good around cats. He brought her out on a leash and then put the office cat down in front of her and she sniffed the cat and walked away. Good sign. I then saw her jump up onto the lap of a complete stranger sitting in the lobby. That is a good sign of a confident dog. I never saw her growly or shy around anything. Not toward shadows, dark corners or people. I figured she was a very confident, happy dog, even though she had been through hell in the last month. She was still very happy and outgoing and trusting.

I still wanted to think about it. I came back later with both Scout and Dino to see her reactions on dogs that were not behind a gate.

I came back later in the afternoon, and I brought out Dino. The kennel worker had Dot on a leash in the parking lot. The cries of her pups could be heard from there. I walked Dino nonchalantly around one side of the lot. He saw her and became very excited and wanted to approach her. Dot saw him, but she didn't make any moves toward him. She was pretty comfortable around this guy, so she was staying pretty close by. I had Dino come up slowly to her. She did initiate sniffing him and seemed to like him, though she didn't make any outward desire to play with him. I put him back and then brought out Scout. I did the same thing and nonchalantly brought her around the edge of the parking lot toward the direction where she was sitting. She was lightly snarling and growling at Scout. I figured it was a female/female thing. She sniffed her a bit, but was very different compared to how she was with Dino. Of coarse, Scout didn't do anything, which I expected. Scout wouldn't be threatened by that at all. She has been around so many dogs, and displays little interest in another dog if she can't get them to play. I figured this was a good start. I figured Dot to be undersocialized in general to both people and dogs, which is totally normal. She did not display any aggressive tendancies to something unfamiliar, just a bit of posturing, like a teenager with little life experience. I felt she would be fine in that area.

I went inside to adopt her. I thought she would need to be spayed first, but they let her go without that. I did have to pay a spay deposit of $25. I brought her out to the car and called Trinity Animal Hospital to see if I could get an appointment for the free exam and get her checked out. They had an appointment in about an hour and a half.

That gave me enough time to take them to Lee Fong Park and take them for a walk. First I took out Dino and walked with him and Dot around the park and back to the car. Then I took out Scout and Dot and walked them around the park. No signs of any distress from Dot at all. She got along with them perfectly. I was surprised how quickly she adjusted.

I had a little extra time before appointment to do a couple of quick errands with her tied in the front seat.

I went to my appointment and brought her in. She was kind of barky at another dog in the lobby. They moved that dog out of the lobby and into another room. They did all kinds of different tests on her from a fecal, rabies and DHPPC vaccinations. Everything came out clean. They thought she was a really nice dog, especially since just come from the shelter and having puppies.

I had to get home because I had something to do that evening back in Junction City.