So, my dogless days are over as I adopted a pooch last Wednesday. I had asked Carlene's mom--who is a volunteer dog-walker at the shelter in her county--to keep an eye out for a beagle or beagle mix for me, except not a puppy. Due to C-19, she is not currently working at the shelter, but she asked the paid staff to let her know of any beagle activity.
Last Tuesday I was swamped at the office when I received a text from her with attractive pictures: beagle just surrendered by owner, about 40 pounds, long legs, and a year old. That was a few years younger than I was thinking, but with the dog shortage, I felt I had to consider changing that parameter for this prospect. His name is Frankie and he was so handsome in the pictures. I also received a photo of his "surrender report" that indicated the reason he was let go was due to another dog in the household that didn't like him.
Also, his former owner reported that he was housebroken which, if true, was a big plus
The shelter workers told Carlene's mom that he was very friendly. Between his looks and other desirable qualities, he would go fast! Was I interested? Call now!!
So, I called and told the director I would take him if they could hold him so that I could pick him up the next day. I realize that was probably more of a commitment than I should have made, but I had the last of my vacation days to take on Friday and today to give me a four-day stretch to hang with a new dog. The time was right.
Frankie is quite a comical dog. He has lengthy snow-white legs; they were calling him a "tall beagle" at the shelter. He likely has some beagle in him, but I think he has more foxhound in his DNA. He weighs 45 pounds, not 40, which pushed that parameter as well. I had said I would take him, so after spending some time with him at the shelter, I put a leash on it and packed him into the back seat of my car. He came with a box of worldly possessions: an expensive "Kong" harness, a mega leash, dog dishes that look like they could have come from Pottery Barn, some toys, and a bottle of Burt's Bees oatmeal dog shampoo. He was an upscale dog accustomed to designer labels.
Carlene's mom came to meet him and see him drive off with me. I walked him on the lawn of the shelter for her to take some photos, and he took a big poop for us. That was a good thing to get behind us before a 45-minute drive in rush hour traffic.
I was worried that he would try to jump into the front seat with me, but he was very good in the car. I had brought a squeaky orange Lamb Chop (yes, who remembers Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop?) for him, which he played with throughout the drive. No problem. Mr. W couldn't come with me because it was his first night of summer league golf. (YAY!) I was concerned that Mr. W would think that Frankie was a bad choice because of his size and age.
Actually, Mr. W likes him. He took the Frankster walking on a local trail one afternoon last week and he noticed that a lot more people said "hello" to him, mostly women, than normal. Frankie is a chick magnet!
Frankie truly is very housebroken. He goes to a door to let us know when he needs to go out. For a treat, he will sit, shake, and lay down. He takes the treat softly; all of which his previous owner obviously taught him. Now, we need to break him of jumping on people, counters, tables, and furniture. With his long legs, he can seriously launch his body onto numerous tall surfaces. He is so strong and enthusiastic, I think it's going to take a taser!
Also, he is still a puppy and wants to chew, chew, chew. Have to make sure that he can't get into trash cans, laundry, or shoes. Basically, keep the doors to the bedrooms closed. This will be an ongoing battle. Besides shredding poor Lamb Chop into pieces, he chewed the heel off Carlene's sandal when she and Dan came to visit Mr. W for Father's Day. When he is quiet, better look to see what he's doing!
He loves our second story deck on which he can oversee the yard. He is safe out there and can't destroy anything (unless he starts chewing the wooden rails), so he will be overseeing the yard quite a bit in the future. That's my new dog, Frankie, 45 pounds of trouble!
Monday, June 22, 2020
Sunday, June 14, 2020
Dog Shortage
I can't believe it's been more than a month since I last posted. Where have I been? Not doing anything productive, I can guarantee that.
Our master bathroom remodel is finally finished. No more giant-footed workers tramping in and out of the house during the week days, showing up at 7:30 a.m. to start ruining the carpeting on the steps. That drove me crazy! No way to put a drop cloth on the stairs, though, without creating a trip hazard.
The bathroom looks good. The decoratively tiled and expanded shower with partial glass enclosure, a bench, a rain head, and a hand-held shower wand is a huge aesthetic upgrade over the previous utilitarian shower stall with the plastic sliding door that refused to stay on the track. The snow-white soaker tub with its gleaming decorative tile surround looks a lot more inviting than the faded fiberglass built-in jetted tub that it replaced. The sleeker, taller new toilet, is also good. And the new tile floor, as well. All good.
No baths have been taken in the new tub so far. I am a shower person. I took my first shower in the new, improved shower with five different types of coordinating tile and the modern fixtures. I knew that having a rain head would mean less water pressure compared to the skinny old basic shower head. Well, so much for the good old shower days when I could easily get my thick mop of hair completely wet, then completely rinse out the shampoo and conditioner. Gentle rain does not do that. I am not coordinated enough to work the wand and wash my hair at the same time, I kept the wand in the holder at approximate chest level and did my best to bend over to lather, rinse, condition, rinse.
The larger area also took longer to warm up. That will not be a problem during the summer months, but I think it's going to be noticeable during the fall and winter.
Finally, to keep the shower mold-free and prevent soap scum from accumulating, we are supposed to squeegee the glass and tile to remove the water film at the end of a shower. That takes longer than you think when you are contorting your wet, chilly, naked and vulnerable body to work the squeegee.
My conclusion is that this new bathroom is perfect.... for the next owners of this house. After we upgrade the vanity lights, get a new vanity top, and install new fixtures to match those in the shower and tub, it should have enough "wow" factor to attract them.
As far as I'm concerned, I will probably continue to shower in the hall bathroom. It has the basic compact shower head that provides the water pressure I need and prefer. Until we started using it while the master bath was out of commission, it had probably been used less than 100 times in 30 years. Dan took tub baths when he was little, but when he started showering, he preferred the one in the master bathroom. So, it is like a new shower to me and no squeegeeing!
Now that the bathroom is done, I can get a new dog. With previously mentioned workers in and out of the house, plus the wrinkle that Mr. W lacks the skill to close doors, I didn't want to go off to the office and worry that my new dog was escaping through the open doors.
Although Mr.W will be working at home for at least the rest of the summer and his presence will remain a hazard, I am ready for my new shelter dog. Except...... good luck finding one. The shelters are full of cats and pit bull mixes, but few family dogs are available. The main shelter system has been doing curbside adoptions and it has been very popular in these days of the pandemic. When folks have to stay at home, it is a good time to have a dog for companionship and entertainment. The demand for dogs has cleaned out the shelters and made the available stock of those being owner surrendered or imported from other areas very low.
When a dog becomes available, it is posted on their website (at random times throughout the day) and if you are interested and are the first caller, you can make an appointment to meet the dog. A $50 deposit is required to secure the appointment. If the dog has other appointments already, you are put on a waiting list in case the appointments ahead of you do not adopt the dog.
I am looking for a 4-5 year-old dog, no more than 40 lbs. (preferably about 30 lbs.), that is a beagle mix. Of the five dogs I've had, the two that were mixes were the healthiest (least expensive) and the three pure-bred beagles (from shelters) had more issues and medical expenses. I just love the breed; they are so good-natured, loveable, and cute!
I would consider another type of small to medium-size breed or mix, as long as it wasn't one that was very athletic and absolutely required a fenced yard for exercise, because we don't have a fenced yard. The new dog, like its predecessors, will be walked and will go out in the yard (supervised) on a tether. It will spend most of its time indoors being treated like a king or queen, when I am home.
Anyway, I have been looking for over a week and still no new dog or prospects. I did have an appointment with a shelter dog last week that was described as a "pointer mix" but she definitely had some pit bull in her and I had to pass. She is off the website now; I hope she attracted a good owner.
So, who would have predicted a dog shortage? I'm happy that deserving dogs are getting homes (and I'm not going to think of how many of them will be dumped when families can resume their pre-pandemic busy lives), but I miss the old days when I could go to the shelter, find a good one, clip it to my leash, and walk out with it. Such a crazy year.
I long for the good ole pre-pandemic dog days of summer.... WOOF!
Our master bathroom remodel is finally finished. No more giant-footed workers tramping in and out of the house during the week days, showing up at 7:30 a.m. to start ruining the carpeting on the steps. That drove me crazy! No way to put a drop cloth on the stairs, though, without creating a trip hazard.
The bathroom looks good. The decoratively tiled and expanded shower with partial glass enclosure, a bench, a rain head, and a hand-held shower wand is a huge aesthetic upgrade over the previous utilitarian shower stall with the plastic sliding door that refused to stay on the track. The snow-white soaker tub with its gleaming decorative tile surround looks a lot more inviting than the faded fiberglass built-in jetted tub that it replaced. The sleeker, taller new toilet, is also good. And the new tile floor, as well. All good.
No baths have been taken in the new tub so far. I am a shower person. I took my first shower in the new, improved shower with five different types of coordinating tile and the modern fixtures. I knew that having a rain head would mean less water pressure compared to the skinny old basic shower head. Well, so much for the good old shower days when I could easily get my thick mop of hair completely wet, then completely rinse out the shampoo and conditioner. Gentle rain does not do that. I am not coordinated enough to work the wand and wash my hair at the same time, I kept the wand in the holder at approximate chest level and did my best to bend over to lather, rinse, condition, rinse.
The larger area also took longer to warm up. That will not be a problem during the summer months, but I think it's going to be noticeable during the fall and winter.
Finally, to keep the shower mold-free and prevent soap scum from accumulating, we are supposed to squeegee the glass and tile to remove the water film at the end of a shower. That takes longer than you think when you are contorting your wet, chilly, naked and vulnerable body to work the squeegee.
My conclusion is that this new bathroom is perfect.... for the next owners of this house. After we upgrade the vanity lights, get a new vanity top, and install new fixtures to match those in the shower and tub, it should have enough "wow" factor to attract them.
As far as I'm concerned, I will probably continue to shower in the hall bathroom. It has the basic compact shower head that provides the water pressure I need and prefer. Until we started using it while the master bath was out of commission, it had probably been used less than 100 times in 30 years. Dan took tub baths when he was little, but when he started showering, he preferred the one in the master bathroom. So, it is like a new shower to me and no squeegeeing!
Now that the bathroom is done, I can get a new dog. With previously mentioned workers in and out of the house, plus the wrinkle that Mr. W lacks the skill to close doors, I didn't want to go off to the office and worry that my new dog was escaping through the open doors.
Although Mr.W will be working at home for at least the rest of the summer and his presence will remain a hazard, I am ready for my new shelter dog. Except...... good luck finding one. The shelters are full of cats and pit bull mixes, but few family dogs are available. The main shelter system has been doing curbside adoptions and it has been very popular in these days of the pandemic. When folks have to stay at home, it is a good time to have a dog for companionship and entertainment. The demand for dogs has cleaned out the shelters and made the available stock of those being owner surrendered or imported from other areas very low.
When a dog becomes available, it is posted on their website (at random times throughout the day) and if you are interested and are the first caller, you can make an appointment to meet the dog. A $50 deposit is required to secure the appointment. If the dog has other appointments already, you are put on a waiting list in case the appointments ahead of you do not adopt the dog.
I am looking for a 4-5 year-old dog, no more than 40 lbs. (preferably about 30 lbs.), that is a beagle mix. Of the five dogs I've had, the two that were mixes were the healthiest (least expensive) and the three pure-bred beagles (from shelters) had more issues and medical expenses. I just love the breed; they are so good-natured, loveable, and cute!
I would consider another type of small to medium-size breed or mix, as long as it wasn't one that was very athletic and absolutely required a fenced yard for exercise, because we don't have a fenced yard. The new dog, like its predecessors, will be walked and will go out in the yard (supervised) on a tether. It will spend most of its time indoors being treated like a king or queen, when I am home.
Anyway, I have been looking for over a week and still no new dog or prospects. I did have an appointment with a shelter dog last week that was described as a "pointer mix" but she definitely had some pit bull in her and I had to pass. She is off the website now; I hope she attracted a good owner.
So, who would have predicted a dog shortage? I'm happy that deserving dogs are getting homes (and I'm not going to think of how many of them will be dumped when families can resume their pre-pandemic busy lives), but I miss the old days when I could go to the shelter, find a good one, clip it to my leash, and walk out with it. Such a crazy year.
I long for the good ole pre-pandemic dog days of summer.... WOOF!
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