Dogs Part Two

Today Larry and I continued our search for a Forever Friend. We went to Corgi Fun Day, an event at an RV park in Corona. I'd been to this park in junior high with my girl scout troop. I spent the whole weekend trying to avoid getting bullied by the school bully. Which is like trying to avoid dogs in a dog park. But we were there to meet dogs. And just inside the entrance we saw them: dozens and dozens of corgis. The funnest, happiest dogs you could ever imagine.

Crazy Corgi Lady would be there with two of the dogs she had available for adoption. Crazy Corgi Lady turned out to be Very Nice Corgi Lady who just happens to love corgis. Face to face she was less stringent about children. She explained it was best to introduce children slowly, and don't let them around dogs' food or toys, because corgis can be territorial. We felt much better about her, and she about us. The dog we went to meet was a sweet, sable (red) corgi. Larry had his heart set on the tricolor (black white and red), but that one had been adopted already. Ah, that sucks! When your first-choice dog is sitting right there. Aggghhhh.

Well, we played with Second Choice a while. He was good on a leash, house broken, sweet, and distracted. His original name was "Karuko," which means "roll over" in Japanese. The Japanese family who'd owned him named him after a command, then abandoned him in teh back yard. The neighbors called to report a dead dog in the back, because it smelled so bad. "Roll Over" was alive barely, but he'd been eating rocks he was so hungry. Anyway, Crazy Like A Fox Corgi lady rescued him. Larry thought he bonded with me better than him. But he'd been rescued by a lady, and abandoned by Japanesese. Larry's got those almond eyes and everything.

On the way home we drove right past the Pomona shelter we had visited yesterday -- the one we'd gone looking for the Craigs List Corgi, but who wasn't there. I wanted to stop back in to see the two muts we'd visited yesterday. They were still there. But we knew that. They will come available Tuesday morning, when we are driving home from Las Vegas. Someone's goign ot get them, we are sure of it. How could they not? A young sweet Asian couple were eyeing another dog in the same pen, but they also notice our little Redhead Mutt. They loooked apologetic to even notice her. I thought to myself, they seem nice. If they get her on Tuesday, I know she'll have a good home.

Larry came around the corner, smiling: look here! There in a new pen was the Craigslist Corgi! He was here after all! He was cute, alert, friendly. He got very excited when another dog got put in the pen with him. But then an Asian couple came up. A Dragon Lady in high heels, squawking to her man about it being a purebred and how they were coming back on Friday to GET HIM." I growled to myself, over my dead body, you will probalby feed it rocks.

"They're going to come Friday and get him," Larry said.
"Not if we get him first."
But what about Karuko?
What about Redhead Mutt?
What about Black and White Mutt?
We can't get all four, Larry. What does your heart say.

Larry sighed. He thought about Crazy Corgi Lady's red sable, the one who'd been eating rocks. The one who bonded more to me. "He's definitely ours if we want him."
"But which one does your heart want?" I asked.
"I don't want to lose them all."

I lifted my hands in abdication. "It's your dog, Larry. You make the decision."

Of course it's going to be both of our dog, the same way Honey is both of our cat. But Honey was mine first. Larry needs his best buddy to make it even. Oh well. This is what you get when you get married late. You don't get kids. You get dogs.

Our friends Ted and Lori adopted a son from Etheopia. They are part of an amazing network and community of adoptive parents, many who blog. I am beginning to understand on a pathetically small scale, what they have all gone through. Only, they will have picnics and parties and reunions and schools to share. They'll ahve conversatiosn with their children, they'll have huge families that will keep growing. We'll just have the annual Corgi Fun Day.