If you know me then you probably know that I not only love dogs but I have a special affinity for them. I'll not claim to be as tuned in as Caesar Millan but since our first challenge we named Sparky I learned that I have a natural flare with dogs and since watching The Dog Whisperer I now have a language to use to describe the things I do. So, putting our money where my mouth is, we decided a couple weeks ago to not wait until our oldest dog dies before getting our next and instead, get a new puppy now so that Oakley has a companion and Willow will be left alone. We are convinced that in this case, three dogs is better than two but we wanted to make sure we got a puppy so we can start out right instead of having to fix bad behaviour.

And so it was that we found ourselves in the Humane Society here in Kitchener for the second time in 6 years adopting a puppy. If you can see the pictures you can tell our little Lucy is a beautiful Rottweiler / Shepard cross but what you can't tell is just how intelligent she is. Less than 24 hours later and she is already "running" on the treadmill, has all but stopped biting people, stays out of the dining room while we eat and is almost house trained. She is, we think, about 17 weeks old so it is possible to really accelerate her training.

But this posting isn't about Lucky Lucy, nor about our own ego-driven story of whispering to animals; rather it is a story about the ritual that that bloody Humane Society puts us through. One cannot simply go down to the pound and rescue a dog anymore, hell no, one must apply for the right to adopt a pet, show up with the entire family including other dogs for a "meet" and then, to top it all off, get a lecture from self-described expert on dogs. We had to stand there, biting our tongues as this woman talked to us about whether or not it is appropriate for us to put the dog outside and for how long each day and how were we going to discipline Lucy and on and on it went.

Now, she already knew from the stupid application process that we've owned dogs for longer than she has been alive and that all of our dogs but one came from Humane Societies across the country and that our last dog, who she was staring at as she was saying all this, had come from that very place. Yet still she felt it appropriate to lecture us for at least 15 minutes with a very condescending attitude that simply didn't abate the entire time we were there. And we had to take it because the power she has is arbitrary ... or so it seemed to us ... if she had decided we weren't "fit" to be dog owners then we weren't going home with Lucy (nee Echo). She even had the audacity to suggest that we purchase premium dog food, "Lamb and Rice" in fact, because the dog had had diarrhea "from stress". 

Now as I said earlier, Sue and I have made dogs a part of our family for a long time, nearly 20 years. Our dogs will not leave the front porch, even when people come up to the front door, even if we are not actually there ... in fact we can and do feel comfortable leaving our front door open giving the dogs free reign to come and go from the front porch as they see fit. Our dogs share a consistently full, large bowl of dog food without any form of possessiveness nor greed...they eat when they are hungry and never pig out. Our dogs do not require leashes to be controlled on walks, we have them because it is the law but the truth is they are better behaved off the leash. Our dogs eat kibble (actually, "kibble" is a brand-name I think, we buy "No Name"), the cheapest dog food we can find that "provides a complete diet" according to the Canadian Veterinarian Association (or something like that); they are never given people-food nor do we buy in to so-called premium brands. We've never had a dog sick enough to even consider taking to a Vet, not in 20 years and we absolutely do NOT get our dogs their "yearly shots" ... that is a racket! They are given their rabies shots, it is the law, but nothing else.

I can tell you that both Sue and I were smart enough NOT to share any of the above information (except the porch thing) with the Humane Society folks, we believe they would have rejected us because we don't "use positive reinforcement" (dog treats), spend a fortune on that scam called "shots" at the Vet, buy into "premium dog food", or even otherwise believe that the Humane Society is an expert source in dog ownership. We just smiled and said "yes of course" because their power runs out as soon as they take the money but OMG it is a wonder than anybody bothers to adopt a pet at all! It isn't even particularly inexpensive, we walked out of there paying just shy of $400 all-in though we'll get back about $225 once we get and prove that Lucy was spayed (which we WILL do as always); still, $175 for the privilege to save a dog from euthanasia and get lectured at by somebody who is young enough to be my daughter isn't exactly a bargain.