We got the puppy. Well, he�s not really a puppy. He�s a year old. He�s youthful like a puppy.
Toby is the cat�s pajamas. He is the bomb.
Friday I left work early to go pick him up at the Vet clinic on Jefferson. We took Rene�s car because I was low on gas.
The clinic was in the ghetto, I mean, almost the projects.
I stood in the room waiting for the vet to come talk to me about the dog. I was so nervous. You would�ve thought I was there to get shots.
And then, there he was, in the vet�s arms, all sweet and quiet. The vet was a really nice man. I know this because he does neutering for cheap, $25.00 is all. I figured he�s not in it for the money if he does this.
He explained about the two incisions they had to make, since Toby had an undescended testicle. He told me that Toby would probably clean his wounds frequently. He told me that we should keep the area clean and to make sure he doesn�t get any of that salty snow slush on his incisions.
I held Toby in my arms in Rene�s car on the way back to work. He licked my face a few times, but for the most part he was out of it from the anesthesia from his surgery. He had a hard time holding his head up.
I had parked off base. Rene� helped me get Toby to my car. I wound his chain a little around the seat and put him on a towel I had put there especially for him. I thanked Rene� profusely for helping me, gave him a hug, and got into my car.
I drove home slowly because I thought the bumps might hurt Toby�s butt. I talked to him about us, how glad we were to have him, talked to him about Jackie. I believe pets do listen to what you say and even if they don�t understand the words, they might understand the emotions.
Every once in a while he�d labor to raise his head up and look at me. I found myself touched at how close this cute little guy was to being put to sleep before we decided to adopt him. I felt a few tears spring up. I blinked them back quickly lest Toby think I�m a sap. I care what my dog thinks of me.
When we got home I decided to take him for a walk. He peed for like, 5 minutes. Thank God. I was so happy he didn�t go in my car. Then I walked him down the fence for a little bit to see if he�d go poo. He didn�t. I guess his butt hurt too much.
After our walk I took Toby inside to introduce him to the house. He did a lot of poking around and sniffing everything. Oh, but then he spotted the gerbils, and he was fascinated. Everything was cool when he was just watching them, but then he started clawing on their cage and barking. Lord.
It was almost time for Jackie to come home, so we went back out to the car and I picked him up and put him in the seat again. I wanted him to get used to the car so he wouldn�t freak out when we went places in the future.
Jackie�s bus came and I made sure my excitement didn�t register on my face. She took her time getting off the bus, but then she saw me and said, �Mom, did we get our dog?� I couldn�t contain myself and nodded yes. With a squeal Jackie ran over to the passenger side and yanked the door open. She hugged Toby and planted a big fat kiss on his head.
All the kids ran over to say hi and pet our doggy.
The weekend was pretty eventful. Toby is a bit shy with strangers and will bark ferociously at anyone who knocks on the door. He went after my friend�s grandson Darryl. I decided that I�d give the �friendly-okay� people a treat to give Toby and that way he�d know who was safe to come into our house from then on.
Toby took to his bones right away. I�d placed them and a �baby� next to his food bowl. He loves that baby. Already, the tail has come off of it. We learned he loves to play fetch, and it was relatively easy to teach him to �sit�.
My Mexican blanket became Toby�s. It was accidentally left on the floor and now it�s his favorite thing to sit on while he chews his bone. So, the blanket has a use now.
The first night Toby was at our house, Friday night, he slept at the foot of our bed. I placed him there so he wouldn�t get scared. Saturday morning I woke up and he was still there, and he greeted me with kisses and licks. I was pretty impressed.
We spent the day playing with him and introducing him to friends and family. My adopted mom and sis Maggie came down to meet Toby and see my apartment. Maggie had never been down to my place so this was a perfect excuse.
It was a little awkward, but that was on my part. I didn�t have a lot to say.
They left after about an hour.
Toby stayed focused on the gerbils, so I placed the vacuum cleaner in front of the gerbil cage. I let Toby know it was okay to look, but when he started clawing on their cage I turned the vacuum cleaner on, so he�d associate clawing with a loud awful noise. After a weekend of doing that, he hardly clawed the cage at all Sunday.
Sunday, I woke up with him at the foot of the bed again. But when I walked into the living room, there was 3 turdlets on the floor. I told Jackie to take him outside immediately. While she was walking him I cracked up thinking about him sleeping on the bed, getting down to take a poo, then getting back up on the bed so that I would think he hadn�t moved.
The sneak. He will fit in perfectly.
I tried to remember all that I had read about adopting pound animals. They say pounds are filled with misunderstood animals. I tried to remember also that unless I show myself to be the �pack leader� that he will learn to walk all over me and may eventually bite.
You know, I don�t even mind picking up poo when I take him for a walk. I thought I would. I mean, it is pretty gross. But I think about how much love I�ve gotten from him in the past few days. He just jumps up into my lap whenever he wants some affection and I�m pretty happy to oblige. I think about how Jackie doesn�t mind playing alone in her room anymore because he�s in there with him. I think about feeling safer now that I know when someone�s coming to do the door. My sleep doctor was right. I did need a dog so that I could sleep better.
I think, this was perfect timing.
Oh, and thank God Lisa is home from Florida! Granted, she had the beginning of her trip seem like something out of �The Twilight Zone� or in her own words, �Joe�s Apartment�. Poor thing. I�m just so glad she�s home. I get so depressed when my best buddy goes on vacation.
I miss her so much. She called me last night to tell me what happened on her vacay. I think she had some very reasonable expectations and things just fell apart.
09:32 - Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2004
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