Found a Stray

I’m sure you guys have all seen, at one point or another, a stray animal that makes your heart constrict. A cat whose fur is matted in dirt or a dog whose ribs you can see from across the street.

Well, I saw the latter today.

I was leaving work and had already started driving away when I saw this Beagle walking along the side walk. There were no people in sight who seemed to be with the dog, so I pulled over to check on her. Sure enough, she had on no collar. On top of that, she was skinny, dirty, and she was shaking – it wasn’t terribly cold, but chilly.

Thankfully, I thought I knew what I could do in such a situation. My shelter doesn’t take in strays because they get all their animals from the county animal services. So I called animal services while I sat on the sidewalk with the dog (petting her, because she started to walk away the second I stopped). But turns out animal services is closed on Mondays. Not great.

I work pretty far from school and my apartment, and I was going to be late for class if I didn’t leave right then. I was really hoping all I would have to do was call and someone would pick her up, but no such luck. But who, faced with the sight of of a bone thin stray dog, couldn’t help? So I wrapped her in a spare jacket I luckily kept in the car and drove her to the Humane Society.

Oops, they don’t take in strays either.

But they told me about a place called Affiliated Pet Emergency Services that treats strays, and that they opened at 6:00 and would take her in until Animal Services opened. So I now had two hours before I could bring her there. Clearly I was going to have to miss class, so i decided I’d just take her home with me and keep her in my bathroom until 6:00.

she’s clearly had babies

I spread out towels and blankets and fed her – the poor thing was starving. She had been a little shy with me up until then, passively allowing me to carry her and pet her, but now she was finally getting friendly. I probably fed her a bit more than I should have, but she kept sniffing around and giving me these imploring looks, I felt like such a villain for not just giving her the entire bag of food. I tried to explain to her that too much would make her sick, but she was unconvinced.

Michga, by the way, was very unamused by this whole incident. The unthinkable horror of me bringing another dog into her room! She pouted for a while, but she’s forgiven me.

unamused

During the two hour wait, I also gave the stray (who I took to calling Angie) a bath because oh man, did she smell awful. She did not want to hold still though, so it was a short bath, but it definitely improved her smell. I stayed with her in the bathroom almost the whole time so I could make sure she didn’t get into anything – plus I would have felt bad leaving her in there by herself.

But finally, 6:00 came and I drove her to emergency services, where they seemed very nice and took her in right away for an exam. I had to sign a couple forms and then I was on my way. I hope she ends up going to my shelter so I can see her again, and maybe be lucky enough to see her find a home!

Strange Dog Behaviors

Oh my goodness everyone, I must apologize for not posting in so long. I was at home for winter break, where I didn’t get many chances to blog, and classes just started again. I’m a pretty busy girl lately. But Michga’s been doing good; still enjoying her new toys and her new coat.

So, getting to the subject of the post – there’s something I wanted to share to see if any of you had a similar story.

Michga’s got a weird little behavior. When she gets excited or angry or happy, she kicks her legs back in strange way. I got a short video of it:

Do I find this hilarious? Yes. Do I understand it? Not at all.

My dad’s dog, Sophie, does something like this but not nearly as often or as intensely. Do any of your dogs do this? And do you know why?

She’s not the only dog I know with a bemusing behavior I don’t understand. This is my grandparents dog, Eddie:

Whenever he gets a bone or an especially large treat, he buries it in the yard. But this isn’t the weird part. Before he can bury it, he walks around the edge of the pool several times – three or four or ten times – before going out into the yard to bury it. And if he can’t find a good spot to bury it? He comes back to the pool and walks around it again.

It’s very amusing, but I’m at a loss to understand why. Wouldn’t it make more sense to walk around the yard to look for a spot? Perhaps he’s trying to throw enemies off his trail.

Michga’s Christmas

Hi everyone! It’s been a hectic holiday week, but it’s the day after Christmas so I can finally stand still for a minute. I just wanted to tell you all that Michga and I had a good Christmas. She didn’t get everything she wanted, but she did get several new toys and an adorable new outfit.

She also got a lot of treats and table scraps, and she got to play with my grandparent’s dog, so she had a pretty happy holiday. I hope you and your dogs had a good one too!

The Alien Kitty

Most of the animals we get at the shelter are pretty normal. We have some that come in that are sick, of course, or maybe with an infection, covered in fleas or ticks, some relatively minor issues. But the majority do not have some obvious feature that makes them so different from other pets.

There are some exceptions, of course.

This is Cosmo.

photo source: GPR

(Don’t tell Michga I’m writing about a cat.)

Cosmo has underdeveloped features that makes his face look pretty funny (alien-like even, hence the name “Cosmo”). His face is smushed, his eyes are big and bulgy but with pretty hefty sockets. His teeth aren’t fully grown in and never will be. Otherwise, though, he’s mostly a normal, friendly and cuddly kitten!

When I first met Cosmo, I figured he would get a home pretty quickly, which I suppose proves I am not very good at predicting these sorts of things. He’s been with the shelter for months, and now he’s almost seven months old.

Maybe other people don’t think like I do, but when I see an animal that’s so different from others, with a birth defect or sick or hurt in some way, my sympathy levels go through the roof and I just want to adopt them all. My mind immediately goes “MUST SAVE THIS ANIMAL!” Do you guys think the same way? I assumed most people would, but since Cosmo still hasn’t been adopted yet maybe I’m wrong.

Cosmo is the most “different-looking” animal with the shelter at the moment, but just yesterday I met this guy:

photo source GPR

Hamilton has a cleft lip, but is otherwise normal and very affectionate.

And this little guy, Rudolph, has an infection at his surgery site he would not stop licking.

this was, sadly, the best picture I could get

I think (hope) these sweethearts, along with all the others, will get homes soon. But it seems that different-looking animals may take longer to get adopted, especially as they get older, like Cosmo at almost seven months, and Rudolph at a year. Even if it’s not in time for the holidays, though, I’m confident they will find their forever homes someday!

P.S. Michga and I wish you all a Merry Christmas if we don’t post again before the holiday!

michga loves selfies, you can tell

Wordless Wednesday – Peek-A-Boo

Michga’s Letter To Santa

Dear Santa,

(Or should I call you Mr. Claus? I’m uncertain what the proper degree of formality is for this.)

My name is Michga, but you probably already know that. My mommy said you will already know who I am. She also said if I write to you and tell you what I want for Christmas, you’ll bring it to me, as long as I’ve been a good girl.

I attempted to point out the fallacy of logic – how could you even determine whether I have been a good girl? Have you been watching me all year? Do you rely on witness testimony?  Is there an exam I have to take? – But my arguments fell on deaf ears. Mommy just told me to please stop barking at nothing, pretending she could not understand me.  I do not know how I put up with her sometimes.

Despite my skepticism, I decided to give this a shot. I haven’t written to you any other year, and maybe this is why I only received two new toys last year.

Two.

This is an unacceptable tragedy, the likes of which are unparalleled in canine history. I am a princess; I should be swimming in toys. Perhaps if I write to you, I will not be so egregiously neglected this year. I have been a good girl, I assure you. I only bit a person that one time (he should not have gotten so close to my mommy while she was holding me). Otherwise, I am the best dog in the whole wide world.

According to my mommy, anyway.

you can see my Christmas spirit abounds

Below, please find a list of my desired presents. I have written them in a numerical list, because I am told humans are fond of this kind of organization.

1. A real squirrel. For some reason, all the ones outside do not seem to understand that I can’t climb trees, which makes them very difficult to play with. Kindly bring me one that I can keep inside, or at least one that does not run so fast.

I would accept the ability to climb trees as a substitute.

2. This works too.

3. Ban bath time.

4. Could you get my mommy a smaller trash can? At present I cannot reach it, and it smells so good. It is like a putrid sky scraper, too tall to climb and too heavy to knock over. It taunts me.

5. This.

At present I do not have enough places in which to lounge. An entire human bed is insufficient to capture the pampered aura that this hammock puts off. I hope your elves can make something like this.

6. Ten squeaker toys.

Ten. Not two. Ten. 1-0.

7. This contraption called iCPooch.

It’s a device that allows humans to communicate with their dogs from their phones, and dispense treats. It would help solve the two biggest problems in my life: I do not get enough treats, and I do not get enough attention. Mommy clearly does not love me enough to get me one, but perhaps you do, Santa.

Well, that’s all. Very modest requests, as I told you. You may leave my gifts below the strange object that looks like a tree, and yet cannot be a tree. It smells like plastic and cardboard.

Thank you in advance,

Michga

Wordless Wednesday – Pillow Snuggles

Home For The Holidays Update

Hey guys! It’s been a few days since I posted, final exams are destroying me. But on a very positive note, my shelter had that Home for the Holidays event I told you about in a previous post! Look how crowded it got:

photo source: GPR

And the best news of all? All of the dogs got adopted!! Every. Single. One. Including my favorite little hound dog, Snoopy.

I was so afraid he wouldn’t find his home this weekend, because he was adopted early on in the event and then brought back AGAIN (if you read my post about it, you know he has been adopted and brought back before). But then later in the day, he was adopted again!

I’m so happy he’s found a home. The only sad part, for me, was that I didn’t get to meet his new family. I left before his second adoption.

Something else pretty cool happened at the event too – I learned how to be an adoption counselor! The event was so busy that they needed someone else to help with adoptions, so I got rush training.

I’m so pleased that all of our dogs got adopted, including some that have been with the shelter for over a year!

Look at all these names:

photo source: GPR

Wordless Wednesday – I’m All Ears

Michga’s Blanket Fort

I have nothing of substance to say for this post. I just wanted to show you guys this picture of Michga in her blanket fort. She likes to get as many blankets (or blanket like objects) as she can and roll up in them. This picture is when I pulled the blankets apart to disturb her slumber.

You can only see three blankets in this one, but she’s also on top of one of my jackets. The pink one by her paws is actually my robe.