Our New Dog

I haven't taken her picture yet, but we got a new dog yesterday - a companion for Mya if you will. Her name is Anna. There was an older gentleman living up the hill from the tubing place, and he was dogsitting this dog for a guy that owned her but didn't really want her. Well, the dogsitter had to leave suddenly to go to Seattle to take care of his ill mother, and didn't have anyplace to give the dog (he didn't want to give it back to the owner, I guess that was not a good situation for a dog to be in and the dogsitter couldn't afford to take her with him). Soooooo Justin said we'd take her. I said no, he said yes, I said no, no no no no no no no. But then yesterday we picked her up, with the intention of giving her to someone else, but I agreed to give her two days here. She's really a nice dog. Her and Mya are having a lot of fun playing and wrestling. She's gotten her butt kicked a couple of times by Mya, Mya is definitely into showing that she is the boss, which is understandable, and acceptable, as long as no one gets hurt in the process.

Anyway, I've been stressing about this pretty significantly the last couple of days because my plate is so full right now that I really can't add anything else to it. This morning I had to take a relaxant and go hide upstairs in the bathtub for 2 hours, I just couldn't take the panting panting panting, pawing, panting, growling, rolling around, stepping on the feet, and the fur! the fur everywhere! and on and on. Then just now I was sitting here (I know, I know, its just a dog, what's the big deal, get a grip, I know, I know I'm over reacting). Anyway, I was sitting here reading the news stories on MSN, and there was a story about how more and more people are abandoning their animals because of the recession, and it was so sad. Animal shelters make me incredibly sad, to the point of I have to go out to the car to cry everytime I go to one, I just feel so bad for those animals. Anyway, here's a clip from that story: "The effect has been cramped quarters for dogs and cats, a faster rate of shelters euthanizing animals and some shelters turning away people looking to surrender pets, according to interviews with several shelters and animal advocates. Of the estimated 6 million to 8 million dogs and cats sent to animal shelters every year, half are euthanized and the rest adopted, according to the Humane Society of the United States. "It's definitely discouraging for us," said Adam Goldfarb, a Humane Society spokesman. "One of our major goals is to develop and celebrate the bond between people and animals. It's so tragic when families reach a point when they can't afford to care for their pets.""

And while I REALLY don't want a second dog, she's a really smart, sweet dog, and I don't want to just send her to a shelter where she could be put down, I only take dogs I hate but don't have the heart to shoot to the pound. So, now I'm trying to figure out how to re-arrange our yard, or home, to make room for this extra life. I guess I think of it as, we have room for another dog (even though it makes things really tight, especially downstairs), we have room, and means, so I feel like I should help out the poor homeless doggie. Even though its making me crazy, crazy, crazy! :)