Happy Something Something Birthday to Walt! What he did get were sweaters. And shirts. And whatever else he buys himself and calls a birthday present. Though it looked for about 24 hours that it might be a possibility, what he did not get was this.
He came home from work on New Year’s Eve eve to find her in our front yard, wet and muddy and wearing a collar but no tags. He came in, checked about forty-five minutes later, and she was still there, camped on the front porch. It was dark and cold and she was wet, so we brought her into the garage and gave her water while making signs to hang around the neighborhood. Our own two dogs were curious, but she was too muddy to let inside. When No. 1 Daughter and her boyfriend arrived, she and @cuppacafe spent a good thirty minutes luring the dog, a Great Pyrenees, into the bathroom and eventually the tub. While bathing her, they discovered the double dewclaws on her back legs, which was the key in identifying her breed.
We brought Takumi’s massive dog cage (He used to open the door himself when told, “Go to your room.”) into our office and put her in there for the night. (While we can put both Takumi and Snickers inside, no problem, she took up the whole thing.) She cried, and was incredibly pitiful, so @cuppacafe made a pallet on the floor and slept beside her with Takumi in the big cushy chair where he usually sleeps. She reminded @cuppacafe of the Irish Setter, Rufus, he’d had as a kid, and she had him under her spell. He said his heart broke at the thought of her owners missing her, and her missing them, or even worse, at the possibility of someone having dumped her. She was housebroken and had only a couple of strands of matted fur in her tail, so we knew she hadn’t been on her own long, and were hoping our signs would pay off – even while hoping just a wee little bit we might get to add her to our family.
New Year’s Eve morning, #2 daughter brought over her two dogs as we were sitting for them while she moved. It was quite the zoo most of the day. @cuppacafe took the pyr (who we’d named Bella) to the vet to see if she was chipped, then to the groomers at PetSmart after learning they care for ELEVEN female great pyrs. No luck at either place, so he brought her home and we fell a little bit more in love throughout the day. What a sweetheart she was. Docile, lazy *g*, ignoring all of Takumi’s growls, romping with Snickers (who could walk right under her when she was standing) and eating us out of house and home – a burden I wouldn’t have minded bearing. *g*
Mid-afternoon, @cuppacafe’s phone rang. The signs he’d put out simply said DEC 30TH PM, FOUND, LARGE DOG. When he answered the call, the woman asked if he was the one who’d put out the signs. Yes, he was. Was the dog a white Great Pyr? Yes, she was. Did she have a blue collar? Yes, she did. The story goes that the woman and her husband had brought GRACIE home only three days before, after visiting their son over the holidays. He had three of the dogs, and that was at least one too many. Since the couple’s elderly lab is in her last days, they brought GRACIE to live with them.
Apparently some early firecrackers had scared her and she’d broken through their fence, and this probably less than an hour before she camped out on our porch. While @cuppacafe was putting out signs, the owners were arriving home from work to find her missing. They searched on their side of the neighborhood that evening, then the next day saw one of our signs on the main exit from the subdivision. Since they live at the far end of our street, the owner walked down with his leash to claim her and arrived just as @cuppacafe was walking her outside. She was SO glad to see him, jumped up and kissed him, and he was equally thrilled to find her alive and well.
I miss her, but am excited to have been a part of another Happily Ever After! Not to mention they brought us a batch of freshly homemade fudge in thanks!
*****
Writing Tip O’ The Day
Writers often try to soften hard-edged characters by giving them a quirk, such as an unexplained love of pets or peonies or Earl Grey tea. As with all things in writing, this works best when there’s a reason for such a quirk beyond the author needing it. A character abandoned as a child and loved only by a dog would be more believable as one who can’t turn away a stray than a character who never had a connection to an animal before the author gave him one. Character traits with depth are always more compelling than those tossed in for no reason but to elicit reader sympathy. True sympathy and identification lies in traits that spring from the character, not the author.
*****
Post O’ The Day
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I’m so glad that turned out well for her. Poor terrified Gracie!
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I’m not so sure she had it in her to be terrified. She was more like along for the ride, LOL!
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I do love a happy ending. I’m trying to imagine the size of Gracie. Must google!!
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She was only a year old, so still not her full size at least in bulk. Her head came to my hip, but then I’m only 5′4″, LOL!
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What a beautiful dog. She picked the right house to go for help.
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When her owner came by yesterday with the fudge, he said she got out again WHILE he was fixing the fence, but he was right there and she only went next door, LOL. I figure she’ll learn where she lives eventually, and now that the fireworks have settled down, she won’t be so skittish.
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Good for you and your guy — Gracie couldn’t ask for better guardian angels. My guy’s boss just adopted a Great Pyr, and he’s very mellow and laid-back — and as big as a house. :)
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I told Walt he might end up getting one anyway – for Father’s Day, because she was the greatest dog ever. Not hyper, just mellow, like you say, and so loving. Of course, there’s also the horse / house factor.
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Ahh Happy Endings… glad she had such wonderful company…
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I can’t believe how much I miss her when she was only here 20 hours!
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What a beautiful dog! I’m also glad to hear that she is back with her family! She was lucky to have landed at your front door, you took such good care of her!!
Happy Birthday to @cuppacafe!!
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One of our neighbors walked down today with his kids to see if we knew anything about a dog HE had found. We thought at first it was the same one, LOL, but was not. They found a Husky. Firecrackers really make the neighborhood dogs crazy. Ours huddled under our desks and blankets and then demanded to go out for potty breaks at 4 a.m. when the madness was over, LOL!
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I’m really very surprised. All these years I thought that Walt was headed for the dogs. Little did I know that, in reality, they were headed for him.
happy Birthday Walt.
The Perfessor
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He does attract a lot of mutts . . .
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I love a good dog story that ends happily ever after. We had a dog show up at our house right after we moved in. That’s been 14 years ago and he’s still around.
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Awww. Love that story. Both of ours are rescue dogs, one a stray, one a Katrina survivor.
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Hey!
Dogs like me.
Babies like me.
It’s just something about me. My bacon flavored aftershave perhaps.
Edit: this post was originally attributed to Alison. Confusion over computers…
Trust me, dogs and babies like Walt much more than they like Alison.
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He’s right. They do.
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I have a real soft spot for animal lovers…especially those that will go the extra mile to help a lost pet. Gracie and her owners were most fortunate.
Since February 1 is my birthday, I really should receive one of the five copies of Deep Trouble;) but if not, I plan to bake myself some Love Cookies…they look and sound great!
Hope 2010 is everything you hope it will be for you and yours.
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If we had the space, I have a feeling we’d be overrun with dogs. Big dogs, LOL! I love them, but we really don’t have the space for more than our two.
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Aww… well, hooray for happy endings! And a very happy belated birthday to cuppacafe!
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We keep expecting to see her again, LOL, but hopefully she’s settling into her new home.