Wednesday, August 3, 2016

ADVENTURE AT THE SPCA


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“We’re not buying a dog,” my husband insisted. “We’re just looking.”

“Of course not,” I agreed. "Just looking."

The SPCA website showed a multitude of animals to rescue on my home computer and I wrote down the names of the ones I thought I’d like to see. Tom and I drove out to the Dewey Animal Shelter in Las Vegas to LOOK.

Unlike the old days when you could peruse all of the animals, the shelter now provided a video display of the dogs, cats, rabbits, and gerbils available for adoption.

From my original list, number one was gone. We were told numbers two and three had been abused and snapped at strangers. Number four had health problems. I took another look at the video and saw a dog they tagged as El Paso. (The shelter gives the dogs strange names.) El Paso was put on display that very day, so I asked to see him.

“Abused,” the attendant warned. “I’m not sure how he will react.” He brought the dog, attached to a lasso-type leash, and told me to sit on the bench and let him get used to me. Imagine my surprise when the six pound, long-haired Chihuahua leaped up onto my lap. He then hopped over to Tom and licked his cheek. We were smitten.

Tom took the leash and led the four-year old puppy out to their patio to see how he would behave. El Paso obeyed the Sit, Stay, Come commands. After filling in the paperwork, paying the adoption fee, and listened as the shelter attendant gave us instructions, we were the proud owners of the dog we renamed Pepe. I chose the name Pepe because Tom insisted on calling him Puppy.  Now (Pepe/Puppy) comes by either name.

Once home, we set up boundaries in order to begin the house-training process. After taking him for the initial walk, we watched and waited. Four hours later, the dog leaned against the door, and jumped up and down when we attached the leash.

“He’s housebroken!”

We are so fortunate that this little doggie found us. I highly recommend the SPCA if you’re looking to adopt a pet. There are so many abandoned animals out there, and we got the prize.  




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