First, I'm going to change D's name to Dog. C is still going to be my boyfriend. He told me I can refer to him as Amadeus, but I don't like that nickname...
Alright,
So Last I wrote about getting Dog, we had just arrived at the 3rd shelter, a No-Kill shelter. The shelter I *Didn't* want to get a dog at. C and I walked around. Looking at all the dogs. Some of the dogs were super cute, but most of the ones I liked were puppies. And I didn't want a puppy.... I wanted a female, 1 year old, curly haired dog.
One of the main reasons, C and I didn't want a puppy was energy. We live in an apartment, and didn't want a dog that would require a lot of exercise, since, that really wasn't an option without a backyard.
We walked through almost all the dogs when I saw Dog. He was 6 months old, a boy, non curley hair, but I fell in love (even though he was nothing like my list of wants). He was gorgeous! He was way too young for us, but he was the most docile puppy we have ever seen.
He was kenneled with a 3 year old Jack Russel Terrier (JRT). The JRT was kinda.... well... mean! He kempt humping Dog! I was horrified, but Dog just sat there and "took it." Of course, the fact that he didn't care made me fall in love with Dog even more. C and I walked in the kennel with a volunteer, I kept pushing the JRT off of Dog. Eventually we decided to take Dog to the "play area" so we didn't have to get the JRT off Dog every 30 seconds.
We played fetch with Dog a bit, he would jog after the ball, look at it, and then come running back to C and I to get attention and scratches. We all figured Dog had a rough life, and just wanted love. C and I joked that when we took him to meet my parents Beagle, they would both just stare at eachother. (My parents beagle is VERY mellow)
So, considering the 6 month old had the best personality, looked to be a big lapdog, and was just the most lovable dog ever, we decided to adopt him. The next available adoption concelor couldn't see us for about 45 minutes, so C and I walked over to petco (conveniently located across the street) and started to buy our supplies. I bought -
1 Crate with removable divider
2 Bowls
1 Leash (Never even used it)
Dog Food
Billy Jack Liver Treats
1 Kong
and a few toys
While I was in the checkout line, I noticed I had a missed call from the shelter. I ran outside and asked C to put everything in the car without me. (Lucky him. We purposefully brought the small car because I REALLY didn't want to get a dog here. I thought if we brought the small car, I wouldn't be ABLE to get a dog because we couldn't fit all the supplies in it. That didn't deter me... at all)
I ran across the street, and started talking to the adoption counselor. C came shortly afterward and we recapped everything. The adoption counselor tried to talk us out of it (Apparently he does this will all the dogs). He told us puppies are a lot of work, but I didn't care. This puppy was going to be the most well behaved dog ever! We got the diamond in the rough, (Or so I thought) so, C and I finished the paperwork.
After the paperwork was all finished, and Dog was officially mine (unless I decided before 2 weeks that I wanted to "return" him) they handed over the leash. This was when Dog coughed.... once. C and I weren't worried; we played with Dog for about 30 minutes, and he didn't cough once. However, since the shelter gave us 1 free office visit at a nearby vet, we decided to go straight to the vet instead of going home. So we took Dog to the vet.
First of all, this was the WORST vets office I have EVER (even to this day) seen. The floors were STICKY and gross, the rooms were unwelcoming and cold. I mean seriously, I am a person, and the office scared me! The vet ended up giving us some antibiotics, saying Dog has Kennel Cough. My favorite part was the fact that she said "Oh, you know that spot on his nose... That might be an auto-immune disease." I just looked at her. I mean seriously, your telling me I just bought a dog that is going to die soon? Awesome...
We went home after that, and set up Dogs place. He was very docile, and just wanted to sleep all evening. We made sure he had water, and gave him dinner. Unfortunately, Dog wasn't hungry so he didn't eat. C and I assumed Dog was nervous, so we didn't fret.
Probably a bad decision, but we invited 2 friends over to see my new addition to my family. (Hindsight is 20/20) The meeting went just fine. Dog was alittle weary of the guy that came over, and fine with the girl that came over. Our friends left early, and we put Dog to bed. He still hadn't eaten any dinner, but we thought it was fine. We gave him a Kong filled with peanut butter when we put him to bed in hopes the treat would distract him from his loneliness. I had gone through a dog adjusted to a new house before, and new it was usually rough.
Lets just say, Dog did NOT like his crate. Dog ended up howling and crying ALL night. I half expected this, but it didn't make it any easier.
I woke up around 7:00 AM and tried to give him his dinner from the night before, he wasn't interested. I also noticed he didn't even touch his peanut butter filled Kong. Then I took him for a walk and he went potty outside. I told him "Good boy" and gave him a liver treat. He ended up turning the liver treat down. I thought I had the one dog in the world who didn't like liver treats or peanut butter.
I was starting to get stressed. I also was having a gut feeling that Dog was misdiagnosed at the first vet. Unfortunately, I would find out later that day, that I was 100% right....
To Be Continued.
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