4 posts tagged “pets”
All those years of toting around a bajillion-pound bookbag seem to have come in handy, as apparently I managed to pick up a 37-pound squirming dog and place her in my car.
See here, and scroll down (not very far) to "Carole." (Worst name for a dog ever, btw. ...No offense if you named your dog Carole.)
On April 16th, the day before my recital, I left the parking lot of my apartment with ten minutes to get to class, and went through the intersection of my apartment's street and a bigger highway--on which stood a frightened looking young dog. Seriously, in the middle of the frakking road. With an oncoming 18-wheeler who fortunately, thanks to a red light, was slowing already. In case you don't already know, I am an animal person like whoa. There's a dramatic story involving I-65 and a dog I could tell, but I won't go there right now. Needless to say, I could not handle seeing this and go on to class.
I pulled over, watched the dog wander aimlessly (and senselessly) down the side of the highway, and after startling it, relied on the good old-fashioned squat down, pat your legs, and make high-pitched baby talk at the animal technique--which worked like a charm, and I was quickly bowled over by the very sweet lost dog. After checking with a neighbor, who confirmed the dog didn't belong to anyone nearby and had been wandering around there as of late, I decided it was in the dog's best interest to take her to the local humane shelter. Which, apparently, is freaking 30 minutes away.
After several attempts at convincing the dog it would be awesome to jump through the door of my car, I gave up and picked her up myself. I placed a towel on the back seats (leather interior, people!), so Doggie decided it would be better to climb into the front seat. I placed the towel in the front seat; suddenly the back seat seemed more appealing. I began to drive; now my lap, the tiniest of spaces between steering wheel and gearshift, seemed the most comfortable spot to the moderately-sized dog. After I assured her that no, I would no be able to shift with her sitting there, she settled for the traditional doggie-wanders-all-over-the-car drive.
It broke my heart to drop her off at the shelter, but I asked about their...erm...policies, and was assured that as long as she could get along with the other dogs fairly well (and it was clear she would be), she'd be placed on the adoption floor, where some dogs had been for 5 months or more. (None of this three-day-disposal business you hear rumors of, although who knows at other shelters?) I tried to call and check on her a week later, only to encounter an impossible automated system that prevented any actual human contact. Lovely.
But I checked the website this morning when I couldn't sleep, and BAM! There she was! Definitely not a Carole--I like to think of her as a Bazooka or at the very least, a Blue--but that'll do for now. I hope someone snatches up this sweetie.
Well, temporarily at least.
As my parents spend 1-2 months living in a hotel, I get to keep Chloe, the cat formerly known as Tashi. Of course, this means I feel compelled to spoil her and have all sorts of fun I don't normally get to have in my no-pets apartment. Yesterday my mom and I made a trip to PetSmart, and in addition to getting her some toys we found this crazy cat mat thingie, recommended to us by a lady buying toys for her cat. It contains what is appropriately called "zoom-around-the-room catnip," and has made Chloe a complete drug addict. The cat. Is. Insane.
Now, don't get me wrong. She's pretty crazy a lot of the time. (As a matter of fact, her favorite thing to do in my apartment is hide, wait till I walk past, then zoom past me in the direction I'm going, effectively scaring the shit out of me.) But this has taken her madness to the power of 10. It's craziness!
Enjoy this craptastical quality, soundless video:
Which breed of dog is your favorite? Post a picture of it.
Submitted by Melissa.
Aside from the ever-faithful and lovable mutt (I mean really--why pay hundreds to thousands of dollars for a designer breed guaranteed to get a home if there are tons of free or almost free mutts out there that desperately need good homes... /endvisityourlocalanimalshelterrant), I love love love Afghan Hounds:
...or whatever her name may end up being.
Last weekend I persuaded my mom to take me to the new Petsmart in my hometown. We looked at two adult kitties in particular: a very pretty little calico named Tashi, and a tabby named Nicole (not an excellent cat name imho, but whatever). My mom was particularly taken with Tashi, and even made my dad take her to go visit again the following Monday.
This weekend I of course wanted to go see what new kitties we might find... imagine our surprise to find Tashi and Nicole still there! Okay, truth be told I'm not surprised about Nicole. She was a little older than most people tend to find adorable (2 years), had no crazy markings, and wasn't especially active from what I could tell. (I, of course, loved her for these very reasons.) But Tashi was cute, gorgeously marked, and seemed friendly--especially when they let you into the back to interact with her. I was surprised no one had snatched her up.
Unfortunately, Nicole = not a cat cat. Furthermore, after the month-and-a-half of life-in-a-box that she and Tashi had each spent in Petsmart, she apparently had started to crack; the workers said she had been very sweet until this last week, when she started getting angry and a little claw/bite-happy. She was very affectionate with me, but got agitated and unhappy when other cats were brought out.
After returning home, convincing an oh-so-unwilling father to go see the kitties, and deciding that Tashi was just too lovable to pass up... my mommy got herself her very own kitty. =)
Pardon the craptastical formatting, but I'm too tired to make this post look pretty. Also, all the pictures were taken on my cell phone (geez, if I'd've known my parents were getting a kitty I would've brought my camera home...), so the color looks a bit weird. But she's so pretty!
There's more to this story, specifically involving Nicole... but it could get a little sad, and I'll know more Monday, so perhaps a post then. Until then, there's Tashi! =D
