Sit down. I have a story for you.
So we have a neurotic six-year-old German Shepherd. I generally refer to her as The Creature With Fangs. tho’ truth be told, she rarely uses them.
Isn’t she lovely?
We’ve known for a while now that she’s be a lot happier (and possibly less neurotic) if she had a buddy. (The chickens don’t count. She views them as snack food.)
We decided we needed a short-haired dog, maybe one of the breeds that provokes fewer allergic responses. Most importantly, the new dog would have to get along with The Creature With Fangs. But we are responsible adults here, very serious people. We knew that we should wait until after my book tour before we started looking for the Companion Dog.
Seriously. We meant it. For real.
Driving back from Ft. Ticonderoga on Sunday, we stopped at a super-great grocery store in Saratoga Springs, Putnam Market. As I was getting back into the car, I noticed a brand new Kong ball laying next to the front tire. I looked around. There were no dogs in sight. The only people I could see looked like cat people.
I tossed the Kong ball in the car, figuring it would be a souvenir of our trip for The Creature With Fangs.
Tuesday morning, as I was getting ready for the arrival of my writer’s group, a dog showed up at our house. A funny-looking dog. Looked like he had been built from the spare parts of several different breeds. Made me think of a chimera or a hippogriff. He was scared and hungry so we fed him and gave him some water. He had a collar, but no ID. Looked to be about six months old.
When I crouched down to pet him, he leaned against my leg.
I fell in love.
“His name is Thor,” I told my husband. Why? Because that was the name that popped in my head.
“Don’t fall in love,” BH warned. (I did not tell him it was too late.)
BH made a lot of phone calls. Turns out that this dog’s owner had ‘sort of’ left him at a neighbor’s house and forgotten to pick him up. For a month. The owner was more than happy to have us take the dog off his hands; he wasn’t in a position to care for the dog properly, but really didn’t want to take the little guy to the pound. Props to him for that.
But before we could agree to take him, he had to pass a test. We introduced the ChimeraDog to our Creature With Fangs.
We held our breath.
Or rather, we inhaled, but didn’t have time to hold our breath because they both started wagging their tails and playing as if they’d been born in the same litter.
So we have a new resident in the Forest. After much speculation, we think he is cross between an Australian cattle dog and possibly a Rottweiler. I imagine the vet will be able to figure it out.
The Creature With Fangs is a very happy Creature indeed.
Our family is a little bigger and life is even more topsy-turvy than usual around here. In the best possible way.
One more thing!
We found out what the dog’s original name was. Can you guess it?
Right. His original name was Thor. And he loves that stray Kong ball that I picked up in Saratoga.
::cues Twilight Show theme::
