Today had the makings of the perfect Sunday. We woke up, watched SNL and had hashbrowns for breakfast, then got addresses for 3 shelters to visit to look for our baby. We cleaned up a little around the house, so that if we came home with a puppy we would be ready.
We headed up to the Petsmart in Rowlett because the SPCA had a couple of 'shephard mix' puppies and some didn't have pictures. Specifically, there was a gray spotted one that I wanted to see in person. We got there and picked up this little white furball (also a 'shephard mix') named Mork. He was very calm for a puppy and a little shy, but snuggled into my neck when I picked him up. He was a little fuzzier than we thought we wanted, so we decided to check out the other shelters on our list before taking the leap. The gray spotted guy wasn't there but was at the shelter in downtown Dallas- not on our list.
The next stop was a shelter in Plano, which didn't have many pictures on petfinder either, which I took to mean that there were lots of great dogs there that get adopted so fast they can't keep up with the demand. What we found was a depressing space where the dogs were not taken out frequently enough and several had relieved themselves in their kennels. They all looked so sad, and there were several emaciated pit bulls. Just heartbreaking.
We left there and went to Operation Kindness in Carrollton; we've been there before and knew it would relieve the broken heart I suffered while at the other shelter. Right in the front were a few sweet puppies (these were 'sheltie mixes'). A little brown one with blue eyes was calmer than his brothers. We still walked through the regular kennels and saw a 3-year old Basset named Bogart who howled for us to take him home. So sweet. We held the little brown puppy for awhile, but decided that we had more of a connection with Mork. Bean suggested we grab some lunch and talk it over some more.
The sandwiches at Which Wich sealed the deal for me, I was ready to go and get Mork. But we played it safe and drove down to downtown Dallas, thinking that gray speckled dog might be better. When we got there, I saw him right away. Someone else was already looking at him. We made the rounds of the kennels, then decided to go and see about playing with him. Surely the people standing over there were really looking at the brown puppy in the kennel with our gray one. Of course not. As soon as we walked up, they were getting help to take the gray speckled puppy to play. We told the helper that we had seen Mork earlier in the day at their truck in Rowlett. Could they call over there and see if he was still available?
No. They had no way to get in touch with that truck. Nor could they check the adoption records because the truck in Rowlett was having to fill out paper applications. No problem, we said. We will drive the 45 minutes to get our baby. The whole way there, we tossed around names for him. I thought about him snuggled into my neck and how it stayed warm long after I put him down. I thought about the way he layed down to wait for us to come back. We sped into the parking lot, threw the car in park, and briskly walked up to the van. His kennel looked empty.
I made Bean go inside to see if he was there.
He was gone.
The lady told him he had just been adopted 10 minutes beforehand.
Now we get to pick up the pieces again. I don't know how to not get excited about a dog. I don't know how to not have hope that our dog is out there. But right now I feel pretty hopeless.
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