She saunters over, sits at my feet and rests her wet soft jowls on my lap. She lifts her brows and her gentle gaze meets mine.
I know I have already forgiven the drooly wet spot that now marks my jeans.
She is not the dog I expected I would have… but she is the dog that now owns a special place in my heart.
I find it hard to believe that two years have already passed since I first entertained the idea of getting a second dog. Already having the perfect dog in my little Coco, I think my main goal at the time was to find ‘the little guy’ a companion. Being a stanch believer in adoption and the rescue of unwanted dogs, I visited the local shelters and sent out emails to our local rescue organizations.
Big dogs needing homes are plentifully. Little dogs, not so much so. They tend to find new homes much more quickly. After a couple of weeks and still no dog, I received an email from a person who knew a person who had a dog that needed a forever home.
This particular dog was an English Springer Spaniel, approximately 5 years old. Her owner had been an elderly gentleman who had had a stroke and could no longer care for her. The dog was currently being cared for by this man’s 80-something year old sister.
Would I be interested?
To tell the truth.. I wasn’t sure.
I wasn’t familiar with the Springer Spaniel breed. Weren’t they fairly large? And didn’t they required a fair bit of exercise? This didn’t sound like a Coco-type dog to me.
None-the-less, I found myself going back and rereading the email…. many times. Finally, with some dubiety, I mentioned it to Roland. I kind of knew what his reaction would be . I kind of knew of his secret longing for a bigger dog. But at the same time, I also new the reality of who would be handling most of the feeding, walking and clean-up detail.
“Why not go look,” was his response, “she sounds nice”. I could read his mind, “Finally.. a real dog”. (no offense Coco)
A phone call was made and off we went. The entire ride over there I kept wishing I had done a bit more research. I knew nothing about the breed. My reservations grew.
As we parked the car and headed towards the small older, but well-kept house, I could hear a loud kind of sing-song bark announcing our arrival.
“ar-owl-wowl-WOWL”
“Oh boy,” I muttered under my breath.
An elderly gentleman, who I later found out was 92, greeted us at the door, a small dog with butterfly-like ears cradled in his arms. His wife, standing immediately behind him, cheerfully beckoned us in and invited us to have a seat in their tiny living room. A second Papillon danced about her feet.
“I’ll get Sadie”, said the elderly woman, as she turned towards the sing-song howl, coming from the kitchen.
Before we had time to take in anything else, a large (at least by my standards) , very hairy, very long eared, red-eyed, brown and white dog charged into the room and immediately slammed on the brakes at spotting us. And started to bark.
“Don’t worry”, said the woman.. “just give her a couple of secs, she’ll settle”. And it was true… within a few minutes this boisterous girl quietened, saddled up to me, leaned in and rested her head on my lap. I stroked the soft head, liking what I saw, but still feeling unsure.
After that she took turns visiting between Roland and I, as Jean and Arthur told us her story. She seemed a nice girl, but was much larger than the dog I had envisioned. She was certainly way more active and vocal. I had my doubts about whether this was to be a good fit.
Madly debating the pros and cons in my head, I looked over at Roland. I saw him reach down to pat Sadie’s chest. I saw her lift her head and give him a tentative lick on the cheek. I saw the smile break across his face and the ever so slight nod that he gave me as our eyes met.
And that is when I knew… we had ourselves another dog.
Shortly after that, with smiles all the way around, we agreed to give Sadie a try and said our good byes to this good couple.
It was on the way to the car with Sadie in tow that I remember thinking, “I don’t even know how she will be in the car. What are we doing!!”
We opened the back door. She calmly jumped in and promptly lay down. First hurdle passed. Whew!
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Oh I remember very well debating taking Sweet Sadie. It doesn’t seem real that it could be two years already. Please please don’t tell me this beautiful angel is sick. I hope this is going to be a happy post.
It is such a joy to read your posts about Sadie. She has just been the perfect fit for your family, hasn’t she. Lucky, lucky girl.
Two years already, eh? My goodness.
Whew, I’m with Deana in thinking this was going to be a memorial post. Now I can relax and enjoy the story.
Thanks for the visit today and comment about my beautiful boy. I got Buddy (a black and white Springer) 2 1/2 years ago when he was six months old. He’s my ADD boy – most times he’s nice and laid back, but he’s easily excitable. And he likes to talk! My neighbor’s have a liver Springer. They are the best dogs!
Your Sadie knew you were the one.
She looks like such a wonderful dog and your story put a smile on my face. Sounds like this was a match made in heaven.
Thanks for the comment on my blog Colleen. Came over here to see what you’re up to and notice you have a cute pooch called Coco. Is she a Shih Tzu. I have a seven month old Shih Tzu called Sadie. She has her own blog: http://sadieshihtzu.blogspot.com/