I've never been an animal person. Growing up in Hawaii we always lived in apartments as land is scarce and we were not fortunate enough to be able to afford a condo or house of our own. While we did have some chicks for a while, we never had pets and neither did any of my close friends so I never thought of getting one...until I met my husband...who always wanted a dog ever since he can remember.
So for the past five years or so since our first date I've braced myself for the inevitable - being a dog owner. I started out with baby steps - I agreed to getting a dog, but only when we got a house and it would be an outside dog. Last year in September we bought a condo and I thought whew, I'm safe, we didn't get a house and that was my condition that he agreed to. Things were going great, we were settling into our place and he didn't talk about getting a dog. Then in June his buddy that he plays Rock Band with (who conveniently lives in a condo the exact same size as ours) said that he was going to get a Shar Pei and suddenly getting a dog became the only topic of conversation in our house (ok, I'm exaggerating, but not by much).
My husband immediately went to work researching all things dog; he looked at the various breeds of indoor dogs, he looked at doggie beds, leashes and collars, read up on potty training, anything and everything there was to learn he was learning. By July, we were visiting local shelters on a weekly basis and had narrowed down our search of to three breeds: Beagle, Whippet, and our favorite the Pembroke Welsh Corgi. I even started getting excited about having a dog and was doing research every day looking for the perfect doggie.
Then one weekend we went to Oakland Animal Shelter and met a dog named Bali that was a a mix of various small breeds. She was cute and affectionate jumping all over us immediately. She didn't seem to bark very much and was fairly well behaved and we thought hmmm...should we adopt her? We had 30 minutes to make up our mind as the shelter was about to close and if we wanted her there was paperwork to be filled out and processed, payments to be made, proof of home ownership to be provided, papers to be transferred, etc.
My husband immediately went to work researching all things dog; he looked at the various breeds of indoor dogs, he looked at doggie beds, leashes and collars, read up on potty training, anything and everything there was to learn he was learning. By July, we were visiting local shelters on a weekly basis and had narrowed down our search of to three breeds: Beagle, Whippet, and our favorite the Pembroke Welsh Corgi. I even started getting excited about having a dog and was doing research every day looking for the perfect doggie.
Then one weekend we went to Oakland Animal Shelter and met a dog named Bali that was a a mix of various small breeds. She was cute and affectionate jumping all over us immediately. She didn't seem to bark very much and was fairly well behaved and we thought hmmm...should we adopt her? We had 30 minutes to make up our mind as the shelter was about to close and if we wanted her there was paperwork to be filled out and processed, payments to be made, proof of home ownership to be provided, papers to be transferred, etc.
My husband was ready to take Bali (and all the other dogs that we had seen over the past three weeks) home right then and there, but I wasn't quite sold yet. I kept asking questions about Bali - what is she like, what can we expect, will she be a good fit for our place and our schedule, what would happen if we adopted her and it didn't work out? Thankfully after my endless questions, the volunteer that was helping us went and got the person that was actually assigned to the small dog area and knew about Bali. After asking us a couple of background questions like our work schedule and what type of home we lived in, the new person quickly told us that we should not adopt Bali - she was too high strung a dog, needed lots of exercise or would destroy our home while we were gone all day, should be in a ground level unit as she was a jumper and could easily clear four feet if she wanted to (we're on the 3rd floor and have a balcony), and needed constant bathroom breaks throughout the day as is standard with most small dogs. She also told us that Beagles, one of our top three, would not be a good fit as they tended to bay a lot - not good for a two bedroom condo with one shared wall.
[Side note - it amazed my husband and I that almost everywhere we went, the shelters asked if we both work or if one of us stayed at home all day and were actually surprised when we said that we both work! We thought it odd, especially considering we're in our late twenties and early thirties. Why wouldn't we both work? Did it mean that dog ownership would require one stay-at-home parent? Yikes!]
Wow, we were both shocked and disappointed. We were ready to adopt a beautiful dog and now we were back to square one with one less option. At that point we had a talk about breeds and what was realistic for our situation and decided that we would only look for a Corgi. We then set forth looking on multiple sites and quickly realized that Corgis, especially the Pembroke, were hard to find in the Bay Area. While we really wanted to rescue a dog, within a week, we started contacting breeders looking for an adult Corgi for sale. No one had one. We searched for two weeks day and night on Craigslist, Petfinder, Kijiji, and other sites but found nothing - either the dog was already adopted or it didn't seem like a good fit. Then my husband stumbled upon a posting on Petfinder for a purebred Pembroke Welsh Corgi at a local rescue in Oroville named ... wait for it.... Rootin Tootin!
His story touched us - he was dropped off at this small rescue that a woman ran by herself. He was likely abused at some point and would take some time to get used to you, but once he did, he would make the perfect companion as he was a loving dog looking for a good home. We immediately emailed and asked about him. After two days when we didn't hear back, we called - Dawn, the woman that ran the shelter, Companion Pet Rescue, was swamped (she works the night shift and does the rescue by day - just your typical super hero stuff) and hadn't had a chance to call us back. She interviewed my husband over the phone and said that we seemed like the perfect fit for Rootin. The call was made on Wednesday the 5th of August.
On the morning of the 6th, we drove up to Oroville (3 hours north) and after making a stop for what turned out to be the best hot pastrami sandwich we've ever had at Ron's Drive In, we went to a local grooming salon to meet the Corgi. When we walked into the grooming salon, we saw a Corgi in one of the kennels and I thought oh, he's cute, he's bigger than he looked on the posting, but cute. Then they went to another kennel and out came the most adorable doggie ever!
Even though we were told that he would take time to get used to us, Rootin came up to us immediately. He wasn't scared at all but lovingly hopped into my husband's lap. When I left to get the collar and toys that we bought him from the car he followed me with his eyes and ran over to me when I came back through the door. We spent 45 minutes with him before packing him up into our car and taking him home. After sitting in the back seat (see picture on left) for about 20 minutes, he catapulted to the font seat into my lap as soon as we got onto the freeway and sat with me for the remainder of the 3 hour drive home.
And thus the beginning of our love affair and how I became a dog lover...more to come on the journey home, our first week with him, and the past two and a half months.
His story touched us - he was dropped off at this small rescue that a woman ran by herself. He was likely abused at some point and would take some time to get used to you, but once he did, he would make the perfect companion as he was a loving dog looking for a good home. We immediately emailed and asked about him. After two days when we didn't hear back, we called - Dawn, the woman that ran the shelter, Companion Pet Rescue, was swamped (she works the night shift and does the rescue by day - just your typical super hero stuff) and hadn't had a chance to call us back. She interviewed my husband over the phone and said that we seemed like the perfect fit for Rootin. The call was made on Wednesday the 5th of August.
On the morning of the 6th, we drove up to Oroville (3 hours north) and after making a stop for what turned out to be the best hot pastrami sandwich we've ever had at Ron's Drive In, we went to a local grooming salon to meet the Corgi. When we walked into the grooming salon, we saw a Corgi in one of the kennels and I thought oh, he's cute, he's bigger than he looked on the posting, but cute. Then they went to another kennel and out came the most adorable doggie ever!
Even though we were told that he would take time to get used to us, Rootin came up to us immediately. He wasn't scared at all but lovingly hopped into my husband's lap. When I left to get the collar and toys that we bought him from the car he followed me with his eyes and ran over to me when I came back through the door. We spent 45 minutes with him before packing him up into our car and taking him home. After sitting in the back seat (see picture on left) for about 20 minutes, he catapulted to the font seat into my lap as soon as we got onto the freeway and sat with me for the remainder of the 3 hour drive home. And thus the beginning of our love affair and how I became a dog lover...more to come on the journey home, our first week with him, and the past two and a half months.
