We're Adopting!

No, not a child, you dolt. I think we've sufficiently proven that we can scarcely handle the one we've got.

After a bit of negotiating with my reluctant husband, we are officially adopting our foster dog. I am renaming her - she is now Gretchen. Gretchen and Gideon - tres cute, ne c'est pas?

If you're wondering how I pulled off this little feat, here's a little primer for the ladies:

• Wait until your husband is operating on only three hours sleep. P has a second job and works late two nights a week. Yes, we have 2 1/2 jobs between us and are still broke. Riddle me that, Batman.
  
• Tell him that he doesn't have to get you anything at all for your upcoming birthday. He had no earthly idea what to get you, even though he has known you for nearly 17 years, so this will come as a relief to him.
  
• Imply, however vaguely, that you might consider fulfilling your marital obligation this Saturday.

I also had to wait until Gretchen was at least partly housebroken before I entered negotiations (P has a low tolerance for freely flowing urine, for whatever reason). For the first two weeks after she arrived in our home, Gretchen made it a point to show our carpet who's boss. When I dropped her off at the veterinary clinic for her spay surgery last week, I asked Dr. Barr if he could go ahead and remove her bladder while he was removing her lady parts. I figured that never giving her fluids again would work okay. A "lesser of two evils" sort of thing, you know.

Finally, after letting her outside 813 times a day, she started to get the hang of it. I knew she didn't have a urinary tract infection, because she can hold it in her crate while we are at work. She just found that peeing inside the house was awfully . . . convenient.

Next up, I need to get my new girl into some training classes. Right now she has a raging case of kennel cough (and a belly full of stitches from her spay), so I'll need to wait until she is feeling better before tackling the training. (She was vaccinated for bordetella, but it is only marginally effective - there are many strains of it out there and the vaccine cannot ward off all of them.) I am hoping she will be a good candidate for Agility in the future, as I have been wanting to get back into competing. Gretchen is a purebred Boxer but her conformation is not the greatest, so my first task is to see if the AKC will issue an ILP number to her. An ILP number allows you to compete in events with a purebred dog, even though you do not have the dog's original AKC registration papers in your possession. You have to submit an application and two photos of the dog (from two different angles).

She has a wonderful temperament so I think she would be an excellent candidate for therapy dog certification (and subsequent employment) if my other goals do not pan out.

I'm excited to have a new little companion, though I do miss my Karl Lee terribly. He was such a sweet, quiet presence in our home. I think he probably would have found Gretchen irritating, as he was generally crabby towards crazy young upstarts (and, after a lifetime of tolerating an unending procession of foster dogs in our home, I couldn't fault him for that). Nonetheless, Gretchen is pure of heart and goofy of brain, and I know that somehow . . . she was meant to be our girl.