We did come home with a dog.
Today we decided to go to a pet adoption event at a local car dealership. I thought it odd to have a pet adoption event at a car dealership, but, this is a Subaru dealership and they make it a business plan to host this once a month with a DC based adoption agency. I even got to meet the guy who owns the dealership chain - he's always on TV. I said hello and shook his hand. "You're here for a dog, right?" I told him if the dog comes with a free Subaru that'd be sweet, and I got a laugh. I shook his hand and he asked what for.
"You are a legend, sir. An absolute legend." He shrugged his shoulders and said "I guess?"
He is.
Doug had been looking at a lot of dogs over the past few months, and had been eyeing this one particular dog. He'd chatted with the foster mom, and she sent him videos and photos that were not on the adoption page. He wanted to meet this dog. And lo and behold, she said they'd be at this event.
There were a lot of dogs there. And some of them were puppies, and the puppies broke my heart. There were old dogs, little cotton ball fluffy things. One was 11 and had no teeth, and had a cute sweater on. And I found myself looking around and crying.
I was literally standing there crying in the dog adoption event.
I was crying about 11 year old toothless cotton ball dogs in sweaters, and cute ass little puppies.
Doug asked me if I was crying because I wanted all the dogs to have wonderful homes and I said yes. But, truth be told, I was crying for a lot of reasons. I was really missing Phineas, I didn't know if I wanted to get another dog right now. I'm tired and sad and overwhelmed in general overall in all of life. So. Dogs. Dogs make everything better, and are wonderful, but I don't know. They also make me cry.
They had a dozen or so Subaru Outbacks up in the service area, tinsel draped over the open hatchbacks. The idea was you come meet your future dog in the back of maybe your future car. Trust me, I'd love another Subaru Outback as much as a new dog.
They had fleece blankets in the hatch, and each dog had an adopt me vest or kerchief on. Lots of the dogs were barking at each other, but the Doug Dog was kind of quiet, and soaking things in. It wasn't the pastoral, simple "oh hello, say hi to dogs" kind of thing, dogs wanted to play with each other, were barking and barking. And the people fostering or handling the dogs were instructed to keep them all the way apart. I kind of wanted to see how the dogs interacted to get an idea of how they'd mix with other dogs and all, but that was not really allowed.
There was a beautiful hound-mix, super tall, long legs, floppy ears, she was terrified of all the other dogs and her person kept her out in the parking lot. One pitbull was not having it in there, so he was out in the parking lot. I felt like the hound mix would have been a lovely pet. She had such a pretty gait when walking on the leash. Doug said that when we got home, and I said "well, you had eyes and heart pointed to this one, but I agree. She was lovely. She would have been nice."
There was this one puppy that I fell in love with. She is under 3 months old, and Doug said he's not interested in training a puppy, starting a whole Dog Life from scratch. But. This puppy, you guys. So cute. So sweet. So tiny but probably would be a giant as a grown dog. And I understand that.
I also started thinking out the longevity we've had with dogs, where a dog I get today could live to 13 like so many of the others, and I'll be 70 when that dog's time comes. Damn. 70? REALLY?
As we were leaving, her foster dad was sitting in the pen with her, and I asked if anyone had adopted her yet and he just shook his head no, and he looked incredibly sad. Which almost made me burst into tears again. She was so sweet and cute, and quiet, and her ears. I mean. Holy shit.
Someone adopt that little wee baby.
A lot of the dogs were pitbulls or pit mixes. I am pretty sure the one we got is a pit mix but the paperwork says "undetermined."
Her name is Aubree, and Doug isn't feeling that name. She's about 18 months old, and she was a stray on the streets of DC. Probably dumped with other dogs in the Anacostia area. She has a pretty brown coat, she's soft, she is BIG and strong. Doug said he thinks she weighs about 55 pounds. She is fast. We brought her home and she ran around the house so fast. I almost thought she'd leap over the fence she was going so hard and fast, but she put on the brakes and pooped. Good job, buddy!
She jumps on the couches and both beds with amazing ease. I tried to take a nap and she stepped all over me and tried to pull my hair scrunchie out of my hair. That did not help me nap. Not sure we'll be sleeping in the same bed together or what, but she's made herself at home. No concept of personal space. We fed her dinner when we ate, and she didn't eat but also didn't try to beg off of us. She sat in the living room very politely.
When we were serving up dinner, she just took a spot on the floor right in the middle of things, rugging puppy style. She wasn't actively trying to knock me over like Phineas used to. She also did not clean up any of the food that was dropped on the floor until much later.
She demolished Mr. Bill, a stuffie that came with Phineas. In a matter of minutes, he was absolutely torn asunder. I had to take it away since she pulled out the voice box and battery unit. Mr. Bill sat in our closet of dog things for YEARS because Phineas didn't like toys and stuffies. So when she expressed interest in the items they sent us home with from the adoption event, I pulled his stuff out.
Poor Mr. Bill.
She can't catch for shit. I threw a piece of cheese for her, and it landed on top of her head and she just sat there, looking around for it until it fell. Kind of funny to have had two great snack catchin' dogs (Brodie and Phineas) over the years and this one just does not. We will have to teach her.
More to come. Here are some preliminary pictures of our new bean.
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps. No dedicated 10 but a lot of walking from noon to 2 in the dog adoption area. Approx 6k steps by bedtime.
blood glucose:
9am: 187
5pm: 185
8:45pm: 225 (earlier than I usually take it but I'm super tired, and off to bed)
food:
coffee, water
11:30am: metformin; some fritos, scoop of peanut butter
5:30: chinese food: combo fried rice, lemon chicken (blah) general gao's chicken, peking ravioli, egg roll
6pm: metformin+jardiance
3 beers with dinner/football
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