Stitch

All of a sudden, after more than a month, I can get on Livejournal at home again. Silly porn blocker.

Almost 2 years ago we went to the McCracken County Animal Shelter to look at dogs. We knew we did not want a puppy. Puppies like to chew and pee and poop everywhere. We took the kids because you have to know how a dog is going to react to kids if you're going to have both.

There was the usual variety of giant dogs, tiny puppies, sickly looking mutts, constant barkers. Then there was a smallish sheltie looking dog. We got him out of his pin and took him out to the front yard of the shelter on a leash. Abby tried to tackle him. He didn't bark, nip, or growl. He won us over immediately. We took him home and Abby named him Stitch.

Stitch is about 2 feet tall (front feet to tip of ears) and weighs maybe 30 lbs. Jacob was scared to death of him. The only deviant behavior we ever saw in Stitch was when he tried to hump Jacob the first day we had him. He was already housebroken (Stitch, not Jacob), he was great with the kids (aside from the one humping incident), and he knew to stay off of our furniture.

The Monday after we got Stitch from the pound we took him to the vet to have him checked out. He had heart worms. The infestation was full blown. The parasites were throughout his heart. The shelter said they would take him back. Yeah right! The vet assured us the condition was treatable. The success rate was fairly high. We left Stitch at the vet for a three day stay.

I learned a lot from Stitch. Three days is more than enough time to grow really close to a dog. It's plenty of time to integrate a pet into a family. It's long enough to make some one or something irreplaceable.

Luckily we got more than those three days. Our $25 mutt may have turned into a $500 "mixed-breed," but he's been worth every cent and more. Stitch is the best dog I have EVER known! I don't know what we would do without him.

Isabella (the cat) on the other hand....

(I'm kidding of course.)