Might be getting a rescue dog to take care of. Not for sure though. Other people are deciding.
Went back to my ex's the day after Thanksgiving to do final clean up and deliver her mood stabilizer and psych meds which I picked up at the Pharmacy and paid for. It's a lot better for me to pay for it as we are no longer married and don't live together. When she goes downhill, she can nosedive fast and I may not be able to get there in time.
But back to the story. After I did the cleanup, me, her and her daughter were sitting in the Living room visiting and her daughter said there's a 12 year old beagle at the animal shelter near where she lives which was found as a stray and nobody seems to want her as it's up there in age. The daughter said I ought to take care of it (she would get it and bring it to me) as it looks so sad and lonely sitting in its cage and I could provide a good home for it.
My ex told her I don't need another dog as I already have a three legged rescue dog which we've had for a few years already. But I said I'm fine with the idea. My house is small but there's plenty of room for another small dog and it's not like I'm overly busy being on SSDI.
So, I may be getting another dog or I may not. Time will tell.
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He had never cost us a penny other than the usual shots and neutering.
The leg was broken in 5 places and had to be done by specialists. Damn expensive but how can you put a price on love?
He was with us for another 4 years after that so I think of the expense as @ $110/per year. He was soooo worth it.
You have no idea how long this beagle will be in your house. He may be there for many more years. Enjoy, love, savor the moments while you can....
I'm not a believer but blessings on your (potential) adoption.
You know you won't be able to resist those big sad eyes!
She radiates joy. Everything we do makes her happy. She looked so sad in the animal shelter. We couldn't leave her there. They said they were going to put her down if they couldn't find her owner. They found her owner, but he couldn't take her back, so we took her home.
I'm absolutely certain this dog is thankful we adopted her.
We didn't know it when we got her, but she's a pig hunter. That's why she's covered with scars. She's a well mannered dog in the house, she loves people, but we've learned we can't walk her off-leash in the wilderness because she'll run out and round up anything her previous owner liked to shoot, preferably something large and dangerous. Pigs, coyotes... probably bears and mountain lions too. That's why she's missing most of her tail, chunks of her ears, some teeth, and walks with a limp.
Her last encounter was with a bobcat. The cat ripped a huge gash in her scalp before it escaped unharmed. The dog came back and looked at me like I was a moron because I didn't shoot her prey, the same as our encounter with the pig. I looked at her bloody shredded head and face and decided I was never going to let her run free again. My wife is an expert with surgical glue so we didn't have to go to the vet but it was a nasty looking wound, peeled open so we could see the meat underneath. But it's healing nicely...
The only other dog we've had that was this awful was a catahoula, yet another shelter dog. She was the smartest dog I've ever had, with the same extreme enthusiasm for life, but she always had sense enough to keep her distance from whatever she was chasing which was a good thing because my wife's parents' neighbors had some adopted BLM horses that were intent on killing her when they first met, but eventually they became buddies.
This dog seems okay around horses, she seems disinterested when I've got her on the leash and they pass on the trail, but I'm not chancing it.
it's prey at anytime.
My great grandma and grandpa:
My grandparents first moved to the city and then my parents became artists.
It was my grandparents' generation, maybe the first, who saw dogs as fellow sentient beings. My mom's mom, who grew up on a ranch in the deepest wild western wilderness, she would tell long stories about every dog she ever met. But she was literally insane, and eventually had to be removed from her home by the police and paramedics in a rather violent encounter. (My apologies to those brave paramedics who she bit and clawed. And thank the Good Jewish and Catholic God, she was too far gone to remember where the guns were.)
My parents, and me, and my siblings, we all see dogs and other bright animals as some kind of people.
But I'm not sure that will work out well if we are ever really, truly hungry again.
Just like dogs, people are made of meat.
Which is why I must be mostly vegetarian and pacifist.
