Wednesday, June 4, 2008

The Family

Meet the Family

Sophia, called Sophie by her friends, is my husband's dog. We rescued her from the Humane Society just before her date of execution. Sophie had been abandoned on the side of the road, along with her puppies, in the Silver Valley of North Idaho.

We had been calling the shelter every day for weeks waiting for a smaller dog to come in and be made available for adoption. One day I called and the young lady described in glowing details this wonderful little gold dog. I turned to Harold and said, "Quick, get your coat and lets go, it sounds like your dog."

When we arrived they brought Sophie out and she took one look at Harold and displayed the most amazing set of teeth. Folks, she wasn't smiling.

"Ummm, there were a few things we didn't mention on the phone" said the perky little girl.

No kidding.

This poor little dog had probably been abused, and as a result, was terrified of everyone. She was deemed un-adoptable by the shelter, but the girls working there fell in love with her and kept trying to pawn her off on someone.

After observing her from across the room for about 30 minutes I was getting a bit impatient with the whole thing. I told my husband to sit down, marched across the room, told Sophie we were tired of this nonsense, and took her and pounced her into Harold's lap and promptly fled. Sophie, frozen in fear, looked around, sighed deeply, and laid her head on Harold's arm. It's been there for over 15 years.

Sophie




Angela wrote the book on relaxation. She is the queen bee and everyone does her bidding. Here she is in a patch of spring sun doing what she does best. She was even relaxed and "above it all" while in her Humane Society cage waiting for a couple of suckers like us. Way to go, Angela.

Angela




Erica chose us as her special family. We are blessed and oh so grateful to have added her to our family (as though we had a choice.) You can read Erica's story and what I learned from her here.

Erica

And last, but never, ever least is my Elle, the sociopath wanna-be Yorkie. I consider her another "rescue." I was working for a vet who did the puppy checks for a pet store. Folks - DON'T buy dogs at a pet store. Can you say puppy mill? One day shortly after my Yorkie died they called from this store and said they knew I liked Yorkies. The vet had given Elle a "grade four patella"on her puppy check and now she was worthless. Did I want her? How can you turn down a 2 pound puppy?

Home she came and then she started to grow, and grow, and grow. Her fur grew too, but was so weird and fine it tangled to the point of matting. Uh, that's not Yorkie fur. We finally had to have all her fur clipped, and the result was a dog that even vets look at and say, "what is it?" Oh yes, she's cute, but clearly the cages of that puppy mill were left open one night.

Elle


Since my husband and I are getting ready to celebrate 19 years of sobriety we know what it's like to be rejects of society. We try to extend our concern and care to all rejects, even the "fur-people."

"At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by 'I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in.' Hungry not only for bread, but hungry for love. Naked not only for clothing, but naked of human dignity and respect. Homeless not only for want of a home of bricks, but homeless because of rejection." - Mother Teresa

29 comments:

Unknown said...

I am proudly owned by 5 shiba inus... a breed of dog that never came to understand they are not cats. They sleep all day, do not come when called, and almost never bark.

It is a good life.

Tom in Vegas said...

Well, you know I L-O-V-E little critters, whether they be cats or dogs. And you, Auntie A, have some of the cutest little four-legged critters I know!

I'm looking at their pictures and you swoon and just want to pet them:0)

To think how close some of them came to being put to sleep breaks the heart. I thank God you and Harold showed up:0)

ArchAngel's Advocate said...

One just has to look at your zoo to understand what Heaven will be like. I think God goes through Creation and picks souls like a little kid in a candy store..."I want 1 of those, and 1 of those, and..."

irene said...

It's nice to know we all will be adopted.

Adrienne, you are truly blessed.

Adrienne said...

simple sinner - your dogs are so beautiful but we only have a king size bed and they may not all fit. I've never seen a Shiba Inus in person. How much do your guys weigh?

Tom - I will have to take a "real" picture of Angela (the queen). She really is quite beautiful. I just couldn't resist the picture of her draped on my dining room chair. When she's there I sit elsewhere.

AA - your analogy of the candy store is just wonderful. Yes, I can see God doing just that.

Irene - yes, we are all adopted children of God. Some people focus on adopting the humans, others the animals. When I was growing up my Mom used to say, "anyone that marries her better like animals and plants."

Unknown said...

Only a King size bed eh? Well tipping the scales at 18-24 pounds, I think you would do just fine.

During my days in Shiba rescue I came to learn that a queen size bed is room enough for 8 + me + 1 Basenji.

Anonymous said...

Oh, Sophie is my favorite, they all are so beautiful--I want to pet them!

Katie Alender said...

What a beautiful little family, Adrienne! I love Erica's story, and everything about all of them!

I think Elle is part groundhog! ;-)

Adrienne said...

Katie - Groundhog??? LOL Never thought of that (she does sorta look like a groundhog - a very, very, cute groundhog.

SS -- I can not picture 8 + 1 dogs sleeping with you in a queen size bed. Are your Shibas girls or boys? Their weight indicates you may have a bunch of boy doggies.

Tara - Sophie is a girl magnet. All the girls just love her.

Elle is too shy and that makes people feel bad. She was kicked by a boy that was here while his father was doing some work for us. He hurt her quite badly and she has been shy ever since. I still see the creepy boy at church and want to kick him up side the head.

Terry Nelson said...

I love all of them - be sure and tell them that!

Adrienne said...

Oh Terry - they love you, too. Every morning they go to Abbey Road first to see what crazy uncle Terry is up to. Seldom are they disappointed.

Unknown said...

Always more bitches in my life! 6 girls, 3 boys (at the time)... Most of them were foster dogs that came out of an Amish pup-mill bust.

The males are not necessarily heavier - it is more a function of height, and most rescues were coming out of puppy mills and varied in how well they conformed to breed standard. The fella in my avatar - Mister Dog - has short little legs and is 16/17 pounds...

Adoro said...

I really wish you could meet my German Shepherd. I'm her 4th home, she's a huge comfort to me, a pain in the arse, and a HUGE gift from God!

And I wish you could have met my Greyhound. You would have fallen in love with him...everyone did. He had that effect on people.

Adrienne said...

Adoro - I grew very attached to Fire. The vet I worked for treated the rescue greyhounds. We had a greyhound race track here for a few years until the "powers that be" figured out what was going on. Ugly, ugly, ugly!!

I really enjoyed the greyhounds. Such neat dogs. I had a German once. Such a smart dog. Saved a two year old kid before he could throw himself in the fireplace (the kid - not the dog)

SS - Oprah (once in a while she does something sensible) did a expose on puppy mills. I was shocked to find out the Amish were so involved. Why not post pictures of all your guys? I would love to see them.

The pet store in our area gets theirs from, I think, Indiana. It's a terrible business.

16 - 17 pounds is not much bigger then Sophie.

You're a special person to take in so many critters. God bless you!

Adrienne said...

SS - Then again Per Christum might not be the type of blog for your pictures. If you want you can post them here. Sort of a guest post.

gemoftheocean said...

Beautiful post. Makes my day.

MHL said...

Great post! I'm going to show this to my animal loving wife as soon as I get home. Thanks so much.

Adrienne said...

Hey Gemmie - how nice to say that when you really think cats are being "harbored". That was a very funny post of yours:)

mhl - "animal loving wife - I could say sooooo much right now - but I won't.... You need to post more. I miss you when you're not around!

Anonymous said...

What a refreshing post to read and enjoy. I share your love of animals....for most of my life (and possibly still now)I have loved animals more than humans.

I loved being introduced to your very special family and i thought it was great what you wrote about dumping Sophie on your hubbies knee and leaving the two of them to work out their relationship :-)

Kit said...

What a great post - and what a lovely family! We call our house "the island of misfit toys" with all the critter-characters we've managed to collect over the years. I can't imagine how we'd get through a day without a single one of 'em, either.

X said...

Adrienne wrote, "I will have to take a "real" picture of Angela (the queen). She really is quite beautiful. I just couldn't resist the picture of her draped on my dining room chair. When she's there I sit elsewhere."

How sweet of you! Next time I visit we will do that. Oh wait...you mean the dog, don't you?! Dang!

Melody K said...

Adrienne, I love the pictures, they are all so cute. I think it's neat that they are all "rescues" in one way or another. Sophie looks so adorable, I just can't picture her in "mean" mode!
Our cats, Savannah and Beau, are from the local shelter. I'm so glad I said yes when my husband twisted my arm into getting them!

Adrienne said...

Melody - she was waaaay beyond "mean mode". We thought she was rabid.

Ukok -- I'm afraid most of the time I like animals more than peeps.

irene said...

Adrienne --

animals cannot sin.

EC Gefroh said...

Oh I loved reading about your 4-legged family. They are so precious.

Tracy said...

awwww, you have such fine little critter friends.
we are very proud owners of a sweet little shipoo named Lucky and we named him that because we thought he was Lucky we adopted him but we now know that its the other way around.. we are so very lucky to have him in our lives:)

Tc said...

This is the best thing that I've read in a long, long time. And they're adorable.

(I have 3 puppy mill rescued Italian Greyhounds, and 1 retired racing Greyhound: Hayden, Rissa, Dante, and Marley). They send their love.

Motherhen said...

I'm late to comment, but your animals are just sooo sweet!

PS, I love your floors in your house too.

Kasia said...

Ohh, I wish I could come visit your menagerie!!! :-)