Monday, March 16, 2009

"Big House"

(Picture Left: Carrie with "wild dog" Adrienne. For a while, the bane of my existence.)


I love my volunteers.

Carrie, Sarah, Firouzeh. All are tireless, dedicated people who have given much of their time and money to foster and walk dogs and occasionally foster cats (Carrie).

Indeed, without them, our tiny organization would not be able to rescue and place the numbers of animals we do.

This past Saturday, Carrie's foster dog, Lexi was finally adopted.

Lexi was a fabulous and smallish, 5-year-old Shepherd mix who should have been a quick and easy adoption due to the fact, she was fully trained, loving and wonderful with kids, cats and other dogs.

We advertised Lexi as the "ultimate family dog" and I personally promoted her to many people with either cats or children. But, low and behold, we had Lexi for more than a month!

The "ultimate family dog" was eventually adopted by a single man in New York City who already has a pound-adopted Chihuahua/Corgi mix.

So much for "ultimate family dogs."

I guess they are only family dogs when people with kids and/or cats are actually receptive to them.

Normally, when one of Carrie's foster dogs is adopted, Carrie goes into "canine withdraw syndrome" and we quickly have to act to get Carrie another foster pooch.

One time Carrie didn't wait for me to meet her at the pound to pick out a dog, but rather went on her lunch hour from work to pick out one herself.

Carrie chose, at that time, to "pull" a very young and strong hound type dog, "Adrienne" from the next day's scheduled Euthanasia list.

When meeting Carrie at the shelter the following day to pick up and sign Adrienne out following the dog's spay, the overly exuberant mutt almost rammed me into a wire mesh fence when attempting to walk her.

"WHOOOOOAAAAEEEEEEEEEE!!!" I screamed barely missing the fence by a mere inch or two.

Carrie burst out laughing.

"JEEZE, Patty! What's the matter with you? You don't know how to walk a dog?"

"ITS NOT FUNNY, CARRIE! This dog almost killed me! What are you, crazy? This is like a WILD HORSE! I don't think this dog's EVER been on a leash!"

I had doubts about rescuing a dog who was a liability on the leash, but the deed had already been done. It was Carrie who would have to deal with and teach Adrienne how to walk without killing somebody.

But, the one incident of me attempting to walk Adrienne and my terrified screams when the dog almost made a pancake out of me turned out to be a source of constant amusement for Carrie. She would not let me live it down for many weeks.

"WHOOOOOAAAAEEEEEEEEEE!!!" Carrie would tease incessantly. "Woe, you should have seen the look on your face, Patty! -- Like someone about to be run down by a train! Man, I wish I had a video camera. I would put that clip on YouTube!"

"SHUT UP, CARRIE! That's ENOUGH! I will never walk a dog with you again!"

Carrie fostered Adrienne for about a month when the kid and cat-friendly pooch was finally adopted by a very active family from upstate New York who love taking camping trips and running. -- Hopefully, there are no wire fences in the area.

I thought the adoption of Adrienne might finally put an end to Carrie's relentless teasing.

But, I was wrong about that.

Figuring that Carrie might again go into "canine withdraw syndrome," I requested that she walk our dogs boarding in Manhattan yesterday. (Carrie's husband has requested a brief reprieve from actual dog fostering over the next few weeks or so. The family is planning a trip next month.)

That turned out to be a mistake.

The inevitable call came in from Carrie last night:

"WHAT THE HELL, PATTY?!" (Carrie's usual greeting to me over the phone.)

"OH MY GOD, this dog is SO FAT! What are you calling her? Lard Ass?" Jeeze, I tried to walk her to the dog park and she kept trying to turn back!"

"Well, first of all, Carrie, the dog's name is 'Coco!"' And I told you not to take her for a long walk. Are you trying to give her a HEART ATTACK!"

"COME ON, PATTY, this dog needs EXERCISE! Man, she's got to get some of that flab off somehow! I am trying to walk her up the stairs now and she looks at me like she expects me to CARRY HER!...... Come on, Lard Ass, move your butt!"

"Carrie, you are going to give this dog a COMPLEX!! Think about her self-esteem! It's cruel to call her those names!"

And then Carrie began to sing:

"BIG HOUSE......SHE'S LETTIN' IT ALL HANG OUT."

OK. At this point, all I could do was roll my eyes.

It was like being rammed into the fence all over again with the crazy hound mix.

"Carrie, you know that is very CRUEL. This poor dog has just gone through a major trauma. She's insecure. Now, you are destroying her self esteem!"

"BIG HOUSE......SHE'S LETTIN' IT ALL HANG OUT."

Well, it was obviously a mistake asking Carrie to walk the dogs.

I just have to be afraid that when trying to promote the lovely Collie mix, Coco to a potential adopter, I don't slip up and accidentally call the dog, "Lard Ass or worse, "Big House."

Yes, I love my volunteers, but sometimes.......!! -- PCA

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2 comments:

Carrie said...

She is a wonderful dog but SHE'S A BIG HOUSE LETTING IT ALL HANG OUT!!

runwithmee said...

is it Carrie or the dog that was the bane of your existence?