Well, a Cairn mix, perhaps, altho no indication as to size or weight.
After some toing and froing, I said I would go look at her on Tuesday,
the day she would become available. Having such a difficult time
with Rosie's Bridge crossing, I thought another
"project dog" (one that needs work to be socialized,
as Rosie did), would be good for me.
And this girl looked like she was terrified and would need some socialization.
And luckily, I had gotten my Florida driver's license on Monday,
so I was all set to go.
On Tuesday, I was at the Tampa Bay Humane Society at 11:30 for their 12:00 opening.
When the doors opened,
I was told, "find the cage of the dog you are interested in
take the paperwork out of the plastic holder and bring it back to the desk.
First come, first gets".
This place is HUGE, with several rooms of kennels.
How as I gonna find Daisy before anyone else does?
I felt like I was in the Running of the Bulls at Pamplona
(or WalMart at Thanksgiving opening hour).
In Room 1, a volunteer was doling out food to the dogs,
so I showed her Daisy's picture and asked,
"WHERE IS THIS ONE, DO YOU KNOW?!?"
"Room 2, Kennel 5" . . . and off I went down the hall,
found Kennel 5, and there, looking up at me, was the most pathetic,
shivering little dog I'd ever seen. NOT a Cairn;
at this point, that no longer mattered.
I'm a sucker for shivering little dogs looking up at me out of a huge kennel.
So I grabbed her paperwork, told her I'd be right back for her,
and literally ran back to the front desk.
Luckily, Jackie had PDF'd me a copy of their application form,
which I'd already filled out, thus speeding up the process mightily.
I still had to wait for a "counselor" to be available for a meet 'n' greet;
15 minutes later I was directed to their special outdoor cages
where potential adoptors meet their dog of choice.
I sat down to wait (again; did I mention that it is now 89 degrees?)
and the counselor brought Daisy, who completely ignored me
and greeted people outside the area, sticking fingers thru the fence.
Turns out these folks were next in line for her if I didn't take her;
they had two young boys, already bouncing off the walls,
who could easily break her pencil-thin legs in a few hours.
I looked at them, I looked at Daisy and I said, "I'LL TAKE HER!"
Back to the waiting room for another 30 minutes or more; I was lucky;
people were now being told there was a TWO-HOUR WAIT
just for a meet 'n' greet.
LOTS of paperwork to fill out; that took at least another 30 minutes.
(I wonder if this is done intentionally; if you can't or won't wait,
do you really WANT the animal? This is a test.)
I'd brought Rosie's collar, leash and harness;
TWO or THREE of Daisy could've fit in them,
so I bought a pink (of course) collar, leash & harness for her in the TBHS store.
FINALLY, I gave up my VISA card and received this little girl in exchange for $216.
Mind you, for this $216, I actually received:
1 dog
1 spay
1 dental, with
2 extractions
1 heartworm test
1 one-year rabies shot
1 parvo/corona virus shot
1 bordatella preventative
2 weeks' worth of various medications (Baytril, Rimadyl, etc)
for her operation and her dental
7 doses Trifexis (plus the one she'd already been given)
1 microchip, with
1 year of membership in the microchip company
1 month of health insurance
1 pink collar
1 pink harness
1 pink lead
2 tickets to Busch Gardens (worth $99 each), to be used in the next year.
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