PEANUT RISE-BRYANT | |
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"The first dog is the dog who gives you so much that, the first dog is often the reason for the second (AND THIRD) dog." - Unknown
On 3 December 2004, Barb Rise writes:
Peanut is on her way . . . she has a five-hour journey before I pick her up. I'll be out the door soon to get our new girl!!!
Barbie (Yippee! Must-gather-all-dog-stuff-now...)
NOT until 8 December, after ADT HOME ListMembers had become quite concerned, does Barb write again:
Yes, I'm here. I'm only now catching up on the posts from the past few days. Let's just say that I'm really good at biting of a little more than I can chew . . . and am still chewing! Speaking of chewing . . . Peanut is great. She popped into our lives at a very busy time, and the two pups seem to be getting along.
What a wild and wooly little girl. I've been writing and gathering pictures this morning (when they LET me) for Peanut's pages.
We're in for an exciting adventure!
Barbie (gee...I used to have hair...?)
And so the story begins . . .
What? She's being delivered by FedEx? Oh - there they are!!!
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2004
Found a Peanut!
I glanced into my rearview mirror while driving along the freeway. Expecting to see a line of cars behind me, my gaze was met instead by two almond-shaped eyes peering back at me. Bright, bright happy eyes. And oh so intense! One would think that after spending more than a month in a shelter, these eyes would be sad & gloomy. Nope. These eyes were bright, sparkly & full of life. And they belonged to our new little Peanut.
I had just come from the parking lot where I first met Peanut. She had traveled all day just to get to that very spot. "Meet at the Dairy Queen. Look for a white truck pulling a horse trailer" were my instructions. I had received an email the day before with these instructions and a list of all the passengers on board - as I scanned through the names looking for our Peanut, I was surprised to find that not only were there several breeds of dogs on board, but quite a few c*ts as well.
Hmmmmm, I thought. I remembered that Tina, from A Pets F.A.T.E. Humane Society in Pomeroy, Washington, where Peanut was staying, had mentioned that Peanut got pretty excited about c*ts . . . .er . . . um . . . perhaps a little too excited. So, all I could picture was this truck driving along, pulling an old horse trailer that was bouncing & shaking about wildly as Peanut & the c*ts did laps around the interior. I envisioned a sort of hostile takeover by all the animals . . . I hoped driver Dave would be alright!
Dave Hardy of Eastern Washington Airedale Terrier Rescue and Adoption was driving the entire herd of animals over that afternoon. We were to meet them at 2:30 p.m. I was early as usual. I was so excited about our new girl I wanted to make sure I was there on time; I was about 40 minutes early. On the way to meet Peanut I dropped our boy Rusty off at my husband Craig's workshop. Everyone there was excited about getting to meet our new boy - they had all heard so much about him (of course). And, Craig was only too happy to spend the afternoon with him, even if it was while at work.
It's interesting to think, it was one week ago today when we were both meeting Rusty for the first time. Now, here we are, getting a sister for him. It's all just too exciting for words! Only today was a bit different, I was to meet her on my own. I thought things with the two dogs may go a little more "smoothly" this way.
I stood in the parking lot with one of the other parties who was waiting to pick up several of the c*ts on board. I couldn't help but notice - -it was c-c-c-coooold! The weather forecast on the mountain pass they would be crossing had called for several inches of snow, and we hoped that the five hour trip wouldn't turn into a much longer adventure for them.
I phoned Dave on his cell to check on their progress. While talking to him, I could see them approaching, just a street away! There they were . . . and right on time! The white truck drove up - pulling a gleaming silver horse trailer. Not at all what I'd expected. I swear he must've pulled over and washed everything . . . the whole set up was rather impressive, I must say! Then there was driver Dave, who was equally tidy. How can this be? This guy just drove all day with a zoo-sized load of animals and everything was soooooo clean! Jeez. I spend half my time wiping muddy paw prints off of everything I own - I just don't understand. I can tell these people know what they're doing. Anyway . . .
Dave Hardy - Getting ready to unleash the Peanut!
A quick hello to Dave, then he stepped to the back of the trailer. "Suppose you'll be wanting to see Peanut!" One would expect all the dogs to be barking & howling. Nope. Only one was singing out . . . three guesses who! Peanut was telling us in her own special way, she was ready to go to her forever home! Boy, these Airedales certainly voice their opinion at times, don't they?
Okay . . . You can all stop looking at me. I'm cute, I know. I'm ready to get out now.
She was in a nice clean crate, looking up at me through the wire mesh in the door. "Let me out, please", she yowled. I was busy with the camera. Dave opened the door to the crate and clipped her leash onto her collar. Out she jumped! Wow! What a furry, furry, furry girl! She also appeared to be storing quite a lot of energy too (ahem). But - such enthusiasm! And so much love! She danced around happily and dragged me to the nearest row of bushes. What a good girl for waiting!
We'll be going THIS way! Follow me.
We spent some time running around, and I gave her some water. She drank at least half a gallon or so! Then she continued to drag me around the parking lot to visit more trees & plants. With the strength she had, I was thankful the area where we parked was in front of an abandoned supermarket - at least there weren't many cars. Dave chuckled at this whole scenario . . . with the way she was pulling, he thought she looked pretty strong and was certainly free from any hip disorders!
We all thought it best to get her loaded up and away from the snacks . . . I mean c*ts. I helped her into the back seat of our truck where I attached her travel harness to the seatbelt. This alone proved to be quite the task, what with all the wiggling. Right in the middle she would sneak-attack my face with a big slurpy kiss. Gaack! I've been slimed.
"Wow" . . . that's the only word I could come up with to describe the energy pouring out of this girl. WOW. A touch wound up, I'd say! I later heard from Gina Hardy (Dave's wife) who had seen Peanut when they were loading her into the truck that morning . . . she said when she heard that Peanut was riding in our truck strapped to the back seat, she half expected Peanut to end up in the front seat with the back seat still attached to her! Quite an apt description, I thought. She was not far wrong - it looked as if this dog's energy level had not dissipated one bit over the journey.
Where to next?
Finally, an hour or so later, we were on the road together. I smiled. "So, this is it little girl . . . this is YOUR truck. We're driving on YOUR road, in YOUR town. This is me - YOUR mom - speaking. You're going to YOUR forever home for the first time!" Her head cocked to the side with that "I'm listening to every word" look that Airedales do so very well. I didn't think it possible, but she looked even more bright & excited than before.
The traffic at that hour was unbearable. Friday, nearly 4:00 p.m. on Interstate 5. It's always that way on a Friday, but now it's December, and people are out shopping & driving & more driving . . . it seems that everyone wants to be somewhere other than where they are at that moment. So we sit. Instead of 60mph, we're cruising at zero. Oh well. It's a good opportunity to talk to Peanut. You know, catch up on that last three years and three months since she landed on this earth.
I thought I'd start the conversation. You know, throw in an icebreaker . . . "So, you're new around here, aren't you?" Things warmed up right away. We talked & talked. I told her about her dad, Craig. Then about her new brother Rusty. And about how we were on our way to meet them. I told her about my family. And Craig's family. And about our girl Murf, who would've so loved to meet her. As we spoke, she seemed to calm down a little. She looked me right in the eye through the mirror and appeared to be taking in every word.
Finally, she just sat & watched everything around her. Her body was much more calm now, but her eyes still had that "crazed" look. I tried to find a radio station with some type of soothing music . . . the holiday-rap that was blaring just wasn't cutting it (or, should that be holiday-wrap?) . A few minutes later I glanced up to find she had her head propped up and resting on top of the back seat. She was looking out the back window now. I'm sure she was probably wondering WHAT was happening to her. She actually rode very well. Always sitting. She even fell asleep sitting up. Looks like the music did the trick.
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