16/12/2020
The day I got rescued by Forgotten Dogs Rescue:
https://www.facebook.com/forgottendogsrescue/photos/a.369820316370105/1077899688895494/
The One Where Lisa Ends Up with Eleven Dogs in Her Car...
So I thought I would share our adventure at the shelter today because we were greatly amused by it, so I thought you guys might be too! Plus, I don't normally leave the shelter with 11 dogs and NEVER intended to drive away with that many today, but I am an inevitable sucker and those dogs sure played me today...
Katharine and I went today with the intention of grabbing two blue adult siblings (a male and female) that we knew had been there awhile and needed out. We also had plans to grab two 2-month old puppies and a 6-month old as we knew we had open foster homes for them. Other than that everything was up in the air and who we took was pretty much just dependent on who we saw and who I fell in love with enough to add to my very full household.
The first blow came when we walked through the door and immediately were told that there was a very pregnant girl that needed out ASAP. Uh oh. After seeing he and seeing that she was due to give birth within the next week most likely we knew we couldn't leave her there to have her pups in a stressful shelter environment. In the van she went!
Returning to our original mission we grabbed the two blue siblings and one went in my van and one went to Katharine. We went to bring out the 6 month old and found he was kenneled next door to an adorable little blue female with a cute smooshed face so we figured we'd bring her out to dog-test her. We got outside and it was pretty evident that she was very friendly and outgoing and wanted to play with the 6-month old boy and didn't even mind when he pounced on her head 5 seconds after meeting. I walked to my van with her to grab out a notebook where we were keeping track of testing and she immediately jumped inside, introduced herself to my two dogs that were inside and laid down on the carpet and refused to budge. She had decided she was coming and was not taking no for an answer. Sigh... Then followed a fun adventure where I needed to take her out of the van so I could put her in one of the back crates. She was convinced that I wasn't taking her and fought like crazy to stay inside. I was wrestling with her while the entire time shouting "I'm taking you! It's ok! Stop! I'm only taking you out to put you back in! Please believe me!!!".
And then there was four in the van...
Next out came a beautiful big guy that I had been admiring for weeks on the shelter's online page. He turned out to be a giant baby and very stupid and playful. My kinda guy. In he went, shortly followed by a cute, young brown girl that I had also admired online. A little stiff meeting the other dogs but just so obviously a people-loving dog that we had to grab her too. Now I'm up to six, not including the two puppies that I knew I was grabbing. All my crates were full and I was done. We still needed to test the rest of the pit bulls at the shelter though to see who we would be trying to return for in the next few weeks. Out comes Katharine with an incredibly sweet little black pit mix with very injured back legs. In spite of what has to be a lot of pain, this girl was just a little pile of wiggles and so friendly and sweet. Katharine walks up to me - "I really like this one..."
Shaking my head: "Oh no, I am full. I had no intention of filling all these crates today, I only brought this many because I thought it would be nice to have size options. Now they are all full and I am done."
To which she replied: "She's really sweet though! Here, I'm going to grab the notebook. You hold her for me and you guys can bond."
At this point I walked the little injured girl around the side of my van to look inside and check on everyone else. She immediately sat outside my side door and waited for me to let her in, to which I replied "Oh no you don't, there's no room in there for you." and tried to pull her away. The second I started pulling her away from the van she hit the ground and splayed out on the gravel next to the van and refused to budge, to the point where I would have had to drag her away. Uh oh, not again. I wanted to see what my dogs thought of her so I opened the door to let one out to meet her, before my dog could get out she immediately jumped in, climbed into the front seat, introduced herself to my two girls and promptly sat down between them. Once again she refused to budge and held her ground when I tried to pull her out. "Fine, have it your way, stay there while I check on the other dogs. But don't you think you're staying, there's no room for you!"
I'm an idiot. And a sucker to boot.
When I returned for her she pulled the sad and pathetic act on me and curled up in a little ball and wagged pathetically at me everyone time I told her that she needed to come out. I didn't have the heart to do it. She rode the whole way home sitting next to my driver seat, leaned against me with her head in my lap.
I am a crazy dog rescue lady. If the fact that I drove home with 11 dogs wasn't enough to affirm that to me then my doggy potty break stop on the way home was all the proof I needed that I am officially insane. Stopping in Ellensburg on the way home to let the dogs potty, I got out of the van to realize that the 15 feet of pavement that separated the van from the grass was too hot and was going to burn their feet. So I carried 9 pit bulls, one-by-one, from my van to the grass so that they could go to the bathroom. Even the 80-pounder. In a very busy Taco Bell parking lot. Only after I finished pottying the last dog did I look up and realize that I had an audience of shocked, alarmed and awe-struck Taco Bell visitors. Looking in their eyes I realized how crazy that must have looked, me with my clown car of pit bulls and suddenly I realized that I really am insane.
So I grabbed a couple chalupas and hit the road towards Doggy Disneyland and decided not to over think it, because really I wouldn't have it any other way.
- Lisa