Saturday, February 27, 2010

Lexy's Story: Part 3

This is part 3 of the Lexy saga. See Part 1 and Part 2 if you haven't yet!

The next morning after finding the owner of the stray dog, we decided to go pick her up from animal control. We needed to stop by her owner's house again to ask him the name of the vet that he used and the dog's name so we could call and get her records. We stopped by the owners house around 10:00 that morning. JJ stayed in the car and I went to the door. I rang the doorbell and could hear the man's son running around upstairs. I waited and waited. I was not about to leave when I knew they were home, so I rang the doorbell again. I waited a couple of minutes and finally someone approached the door. The man whipped open the door and yelled, "WHAT?"

I was a little shocked but I managed to ask him who his vet was. He said he used Dr. Berry. I thanked him and went back to the car. I told JJ the doctor's name and he asked what the dog's name was. CRAP! I had been so taken aback by the man's rude behavior that I had forgotten to ask for the dog's name. I told JJ I would go back and this time he came with me. I rang the doorbell again and braced myself. The man once again whipped open the door and yelled at us. He said it "was not a good morning for this." I could not believe it. All we were trying to do was help him out by taking his dog and finding it a home and he was still being a total ass. JJ spoke with him very calmly which was good because I was shaking I was so furious. The man said that he thought the dog's name was Sally. He thinks? He wasn't sure? Don't most people know their own dog's name?

I stomped back to the car and JJ finished talking to him. He got back in the car and we headed back to animal control. When we got there we headed to the office area and spoke with the only woman working. She was (of course) completely rude to us. We explained what had happened and she told us that the dog would have to stay at animal control for five days or until the current owner signed her to the shelter. I was really upset. Five days would be Thanksgiving Day so she would have to wait until after the holiday weekend. That would mean she would be stuck there for 10 days.

Another thing that bothered me was the woman kept saying that the dog we turned in was a male. I was really confused. I was almost positive the dog had been a female but the lady said that the dog was definitely a male. Also, they had originally told us that the dog did not have a microchip but they said that was a mistake and it did have one. I was confused and upset but there was nothing I could do. I would have to wait.

I called my grandmother who lives about 30 minutes from us. She has rescued many, many dogs in her lifetime. She lives in the country and people will drive out there and dump their dogs. The dogs somehow seem to know that my grandparents are dog people because they always make their way to their house. They have rescued countless dogs and nursed them back to health. They kept some and found homes for the rest. They have a dog that was dumped by a church and they found it when it was close to dying. They saved her and kept her. They found a dog that someone dumped because they wanted more money for BEER. They kept her too and she is a wonderful dog.

My grandmother advised me to go back to the shelter on Monday (it was Saturday at that point) and make sure that they had the right dog. We were both worried that they put my information with the wrong dog due to the confusion of the sex of the dog and the suddenly appearing microchip. I agreed and we made plans to meet there during my lunch break on Monday.

Part 4 coming up soon!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Logos!!!

I'm interrupting the Lexy series to ask you guys for your opinions again. I hired I Do Originals to come up with a logo for my new wedding planning business. They sent me three logos that I can use. I also can modify them if I wish to do so. I need your help! Is there one you like better? Is there one you absolutely hate? Are there modifications we should make? I know you guys are honest with me and I really value your opinions. Also, since some of you are recently married or engaged, you are my perfect target audience! So here they are!


Thursday, February 11, 2010

Lexy's Story: Part 2

The last we left off, JJ and I were on our way home from animal control and I was torturing myself. Did I just make the right decision?

When we pulled into our neighborhood, there was a house a few down from us that had its lights on. Now, earlier when we had been going door to door no one had answered at that house. We decided to stop by and ask them if they had lost a dog.

We rang the doorbell and waited a few seconds. An overweight man opened the door and he was not wearing a shirt (GROSS!). He didn't look very friendly but I put a smile on my face and asked him if he had a dog that was missing. We told him we found a small, tan dog running around the neighborhood. He answered, "We have a dog but I don't know if he got out. Let me see if he is in our yard." I was confused because the dog we had found was a female. I was also irritated that this family got home and didn't even check on their pets. I know I may be a bit odd but I really look forward to seeing my Piper when I get home. The first thing I do is let her out and play with her. She makes my evening so much better!

So the man opens his back door and whistles. He waits a minute, closes the door and says, "Well he's not out there so maybe it was mine." I told him that the dog we had found was a female and he thought that maybe it wasn't his dog after all. I described the dog again including details about the color of her collar. After we talked for a bit we were pretty sure it was his dog. I told him that we had brought her to animal control and that he could pick her up there.

His answer? Was it "Oh thank you so much! We can't wait to go get her?" Hell no. His reply was, "Well we are just going to leave her there. We have been trying to get rid of her for a while and no one will take her." I was stunned. I stood there for a moment completely speechless. I explained to him that there was a chance that they would put her to sleep. He said, "Oh really? Well she just won't stay in our yard and she tried to bite my son once so we just really don't want her." (Side note: after spending a couple of days with her, there is NO WAY she would try to bite someone unless she was playing or extremely scared. In fact, there were times when she was with me that she was extremely scared and NEVER tried to bite me. He was lying.)

I was beyond furious. What kind of person gets a dog, throws it in the back yard, doesn't check on it when he comes home, and doesn't even know the sex of the dog? I snapped at him and told him that I would take care of her. There was no way I would let her be put to sleep. Thank goodness JJ was there or else I would have taken a swing at the guy and he was way to big for me to attempt that! I stomped out of his house and we went home. I took a shower and cried. I cried for the poor little girl that was stuck in animal control. I cried for the life she must have had. Now, I realize that there are situations that would be much worse. I don't think the man ever hit her. But her collar was too tight and she was very skinny. She was not socialized and was not used to other dogs or people. That, in my opinion, is not how a dog should live. Also, I want to say that I don't have a problem with people who keep dogs outside. There are some dogs that really enjoy that. I prefer for my dogs to be living inside by my side. I think that is best for me and my dogs.

After taking a shower (and crying some more) JJ and I decided we would go back to animal control the next day to see if we could pick her up. I would start calling around to try to find her a home. I figured we would make a few phone calls and this whole thing would be over. I am an idiot...

Monday, February 8, 2010

Lexy's Story: Part 1

I have been meaning to share this story with you guys for so long! The weekend before Thanksgiving, JJ and I took our dog, Piper, for a walk. It was a chilly evening so we were wrapped up in sweatshirts and coats. We started walking down our street and got about 5 houses away when this little brown dog came running out from the side of a house. She was really excited and wanted to come up to us but was too scared to get really close. I knelt down and talked to her. She built up enough courage to come see me and I checked to see if she had any tags. She had a collar on (that was waaaay too tight) but had no tags. Immediately I was irritated. I cannot stand dog owners who are irresponsible. It is not that difficult to make sure your dog has tags!

Anyway, so we stood there for a while not sure what to do. She was running around like crazy and I was terrified she was going to get hit by a car. JJ and I decided to walk up and down the street and ask some of the neighbors if they knew who she belonged to. Most of them had no idea. One of them said they had seen her running around all day but didn't know who she belonged to. (OK am I the only one who worries about a dog running around? I don't think I could see a little dog running around and just not do anything about it!) We talked to this really sweet, retired couple that lives right by us and they said they had seen her another time too and knew that she lived near by. We kept ringing door bells and no one knew who the owner was! I was so frustrated.

We decided to take her back to our house and put her in the garage. I didn't want to bring her in our house because she was covered in poop (she had apparently found some poop and decided it would be fun to roll in it) and I didn't know if she had anything that Piper could catch and get sick. I didn't want to leave her in the garage though because it was so cold and I didn't want the owners to come home and not know where she was. We decided to call animal control.

JJ called around 6:15 and told them what was going on. They were really rude to JJ and told him that since they were closing at 7:00 they would not come pick her up even though we only lived about 20 minutes from them (REALLY? Isn't that your JOB?). If we wanted to bring her over to them we could do that. We talked about it and kept going back and forth. What should we do??? We decided to go ahead and take her. By this time it was about 6:40 so we had to haul some major butt to get there on time. We arrived at 7:05 and ran up to the door. Locked. We drove to the side and rang a bell. A man answered and JJ explained what had happened. The man refused to take her because they closed at 7:00. (I was about to lose it at that point. Why are some people so against helping someone out? Yes, I understand you don't get paid overtime but does that mean you turn us away when we are just trying to do the right thing?) The man told us that two of the animal control trucks went out to pick up an aggressive dog and should be back any minute. We could wait for them if we wanted to.

So we sat and waited. And waited. And waited. We gave up. Who knew how long they would be? We decided to head home. We got about a mile away from animal control when we passed the animal control trucks. We flipped a u-turn and sped back! We once again explained the situation and these guys were MUCH nicer. They said they would hold on to her for 5 days and if no one claimed her they would either put her up for adoption or put her to sleep. I begged them to please call us (even though I knew I would be calling them every single day) before they did anything! They scanned her for a chip and said she did not have one. Then they took her back.

The entire way home I was second guessing our decision. Did we do the right thing? She seemed so scared! What do we do next?

Little did we know, this story was no where near being over. At the end of the story, we would come to realize how incredibly cruel and horrible some people can be and how our lives would never be the same...

Monday, February 1, 2010

Top Secret

I don't know if I have mentioned this before but me and my husband work at the same company. I absolutely LOVE this because I get to see and talk to him much more than most working couples get to see their partner, but it is not so much that I get sick of him. I work in HR and he is an engineer that works a couple of floors above me so I don't run into him around the building.

Our company has a instant messenger so we can send each other quick messages if we need something or we can chat if we are both low on work to do. If there are company events, we can go and everyone knows both of us!

We can also car pool most days which I adore. I love riding into work with him listening to the radio and talking. Or driving home for lunch with him while we listen to Rush Limbaugh (whom I love so no negative comments please!). At the end of the day we workout together because our company has a free gym for employees. All in all, it is a wonderful situation.

JJ works on a lot of projects that are "top secret" so he can't share anything about them with me. He has told me how past girlfriends would get upset because they felt he was keeping things from them. I however, think it is so sexy! My husband works on top secret projects! Hell yeah! The only time that it sucks is when he is really excited about some project and he can't tell me about it. I am so proud of my hubby!

Yeah, sorry for this totally mushy and braggy post. :)