My rescue group doesn't have a shelter; our animals stay in foster homes until they are adopted. We do have a storefront in a mini-mall where we have office space, storage space, and a few kennels. We used to have regular hours and do adoptions there, but traffic was too slow so it wasn't worth the volunteer hours. Now the kennels are used to house animals for short periods of time until they can go to their foster homes. Yesterday, I got a call about one of our cats that had been turned in to the Humane Society. The owners didn't mention that it was one of ours, but the staff there scanned for a microchip, and it came back registered to our rescue. I picked her up from the Humane Society and took her to our storefront, and after I set her up in a kennel, I returned to my van, only to be flagged down in the parking lot by a gentleman in a car... with a puppy. It was just chance that I happened to be there when he was, and we don't usually take animals from the public, but once I heard his story (and held the puppy) I couldn't turn him away. He said that two weeks ago, some people in a pick-up truck were giving away 6 week old puppies in his church parking lot. He took one home and named her Amber; he bought her toys and a blanket, took her to the vet and had her vaccinated, and tried to integrate her into his home, but one of his older dogs was not adjusting well. She reacted to little Amber with increasing aggression as the days passed, and he began to fear for her safety. He didn't want to take her to a shelter, where he knew she'd be exposed to disease and at risk of being euthanized. He knew we were a no-kill organization, and thought he'd take a chance. He had brought along her puppy chow, her blankie, her stuffed toys, and her vet records; he even gave us a generous cash donation. I didn't know where I was going to put her, but I figured one small, adorable puppy would find a place without too much trouble.
Amber spent the night in a crate at our storefront. I found her a foster home, but the foster "mom" couldn't pick her up until this afternoon, and I didn't want her staying at the storefront all alone for such a long time, so this morning I picked her up and brought her to my house for a play-date with my dog Darby. Darby was a foster dog that never left. She loves to play with other dogs, and she's very gentle even with the little ones. Amber proved to be a very good house-guest and did all her piddles outside; her worst habit was getting right between our feet whenever we tried to walk around the house. She and Darby enjoyed each other as much as I thought they would. I took the pictures while sitting in the armchair in the living room; Darby (a 45 lb. pit bull mix) was perched on the arm of the chair, and the puppy was next to me on the seat. I call the way they're playing "bitey face" or "face wrestling", for obvious reasons. When they were done playing, the puppy fell asleep on the back of the chair, like a cat; eventually she slid down on to the seat and snuggled up next to me for the rest of her nap. It was a fun 4 hours, but she wore us all out. I was happy to send her home with her foster.
