A Visit to the SPCA

Saturday morning we visited the local SPCA. I was impressed with the large facility, the way it was set up and how well the staff worked together. I have never seen a gift shop in an SPCA before. This particular gift shop was very similar to the style you would see in a major airport. There were rows of glass front cages to my left each containing one cat. To my right were rooms with pretty little cat beds, benches, scratching posts and a few kitty condos. Each room had a front door like most houses and a large picture window with a wide sill. Towards the end of the hall there were a few viewing rooms with two benches in each.

At the end of the hall was a large steel door leading out to the dog area. We made our way around the vast circle of big dogs in there cages. We came out at another steel door which lead to the other side of the cat area. We strolled about looking at all the cats and that is when we noticed a small dog. There was a shitzu in one of the glass front cat cages. We circled around until we saw the back of her cage from the other hallway. I saw a sign on her cage that read "Beware this dog will bite."

I convinced Snow White to take another look in the dog area just incase we missed the small dogs. No luck on our second try. As we left the dog area we passed by the Shitzu again and right next to her was a cute red Pomeranian! We rushed up to the front desk to wait our turn in line which came very quickly. The lady said I had to fill out an application before viewing a any of the animals. I handed in my application and that is when she told me this dog was just brought in as a stray. She checked to make sure it was ok with the shelter policy for us to view a stray dog. I told her if nothing else we could pet the dog and make him feel comfortable. This pup was so frightened he was shaking. She came back with an ok to view and some other news. If we like this dog and no one claims him by Wednesday morning at 9:45 AM we can have him. The shelter would only hold on to him past noon. The way she said it almost broke my heart! I quickly asked her to define what she meant. They would hold on to the dog for me. I thought she meant they would put him to sleep after noon on Wednesday if no one wanted him. YIKES was I relieved.

She lead us to one of the viewing rooms to wait while she leashed up the cute little guy. Snow White didn't sound too sure about this dog. She was concerned about being bitten and lots of little things making me think she did not want to see this dog up close. From where we were sitting we could see the lady taking the dog out of his cage. To my surprise, a moment later we saw her put him back in his cage. She came to the room without the dog and explained why. As soon as she lead him out to the hallway some one yelled out "That's our dog!" Sure enough the owners came to find their dog. I was happy to hear a lost pet had found his owners. With this news my almost 8 year old Snow White reached her arms around my neck and buried her face for a moment. When she resurfaced silent tears raced down her cheeks. Her crying started a chain reaction, first me and then the lady helping us. I thanked the lady and asked that she keep us in mind if a Yorkie or Pomeranian came their way. She kept saying how sorry she was and wished Snow White the best of luck in finding the dog that was just right for her. "This dog already has a family and your dog is just waiting for you to find it."

I tried to cheer Snow White up by taking her to McDonnalds. My children all know how much I cannot stand that place. I will from time to time make a trip through the drive thru for them but I wont go inside. This time I said lets go in! She declined saying she didn't want to go in but drive through might be ok. While we waited in the drive thru lane I started calling around to find a pet shop we hadn't visited yet. While I was getting directions I saw the tears were drying up a bit.

I wrote down the directions to the new pet store and we were on our way across town. My cell phone rang and much to my surprise it was the SPCA. The lady asked if we were still interested in adopting a pet and I assured her we were. With that she said a Yorkie had just arrived at the shelter! She also said if we could get back to the shelter in thirty minutes the dog was ours! I told her we were turning the car around as we spoke.

We made it back in 20 minutes. Snow White was extremely giddy! I kept explaining to her their process takes any where from 5 to 10 days. She of course wanted to take the dog home today or Monday at the latest. I told her it would be great if the dog liked us and we liked the dog. We would then know we will have a dog of our own coming to our house very soon. All of the ladies seemed to know we were there for the Yorkie. We were escorted into the pet entrance room where the little guy was sitting in a cage. He jumped out of his cage, ran around the room then right in to my arms! I held him and he licked all over my face. Snow White came to get a closer look and he licked her nose! She sat in a chair so she could hold him. He licked her face and cuddled up to her. After a few minutes he jumped to the floor and excitedly ran around. The lady asked us if this is what we were looking for and would he do?" We both said a great big enthusiastic YES!

With this we made our way out to the front desk in order fill out all the required paper work. I paid for the adoption, license and neutering. This pup came with a full set of shots noted in the shot record the previous owners dropped off with him. One requirement is the SPCA do the neutering to insure all owners actually follow through with the procedure. The neutering appointment was set up for March 5th. I knew it would be hard for Snow White to wait all that time for "her puppy" but it would give us time to make sure we have the house puppy-proofed.

After all the paper work was filled out the lady who initially helped us came out with a lead (long leash) saying he came with this and gave the pup over to the lady at the front desk. The lady at the front desk put the dog tags on him and gave him to me while saying "We expect you back here on March 5th at 8am. You can pick him up at 3 pm." I was flabbergasted! I was holding our very own little pup and I sounded like a small child who just received the best news ever! "Really?! I can take him home right now?! I saw Snow White jumping up and down with excitement! I didn't realize it immediately but I was also jumping up and down with glee! Ok, I wasn't jumping as much as she was but I was surprised at my jumping at all.

Needless to say Snow White was walking on air all the way to the car while holding on to the leash of "her very own puppy."