I went shopping at Stanford Mall today because Coldwater Creek, my favorite catalogue with the most annoying ad copy in the world, opened a brick-and-mortar store there. Really, the clothes are lovely and so are the home accessories, but the prose is of the purplest hue. Witness this description of a rather plain velour dress: "The cozy feeling of contentment that descends upon you the first time it spills sumptuously to your feet is like the silent stillness before a snowfall." Gah.
Afterwards, I stopped by Pets In Need and then the Peninsula Humane Society. Neither of them had any large or medium sized dogs, and there is no way I'm living with a chihuahua or a small terrier. Way too much ear-piercing barking. Way too much aggro. We need a big, easy-going dog, the sort that wants to hang out wherever we are and enjoys having a backyard to itself while we're at work. For some reason, this type of dog has been in short supply lately at the local shelters. So I'm broadening my search.
Last week I got in touch with a woman who works with animals from Rescue Ranch, a spread up in Oregon that takes in all kinds of strays and places them throughout the western states. Her mom is bringing down a dog I saw in the listing service at Pets In Need. She looks like a whippet and has the coloring of a border collie, making her parentage obvious. She was raised with cats, and has been living outside a lot of the time, so we have two very important items on the dog wish list checked off already. The woman has observed her, and thinks she's a real sweetie. It's about 8 degrees Fahrenheit up there now, so they need to find her a place to live soon. A furry dog can take the northern winters, but she can't.
According to the AKC the whippet temperament is "amiable, friendly, gentle, but capable of great intensity during sporting pursuits." The AKC says a Border Collie is "intelligent, alert and responsive. Affectionate towards friends, he may be sensibly reserved towards strangers and therefore makes an excellent watchdog. An intensive worker while herding, he is eager to learn and to please, and thrives on human companionship." This all sounds promising. The main thing is to meet her and see if she likes us.
So that's happening on Tuesday at lunchtime. The pet supply store near where I work agreed to let the woman and her mother bring some dogs from Rescue Ranch, mostly puppies, and display them for an hour or two in hopes of placing them. The two year old whippet mix is being brought along especially to meet me and John. It would be really neat if she turned out to be our dog.
I won't stop missing Dixie, but a house without a dog seems so unnatural to me.
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