The Unexpected Happens…How a cup of coffee and a restaurant fire equal a dachshund.

One morning, a few weeks after Cecil died, we were drinking coffee and watching the morning news, when a story came on about a fire at a local restaurant.  They interviewed one of the owners and I thought she looked like a local woman who runs a pet rescue.  It was confusing as this person was a restaurant owner and not identified as the “dog rescuer” we knew.  Being the information junkies we are (and unable to tolerate confusion), we both quickly went online to figure out if the person on television was, indeed, the pet rescuer. 

No big deal, just interesting and an “it’s a small world” moment.  One of our friends had gotten her dog from this woman’s rescue and the woman also works with our vet.  Who knew she also had a restaurant?  We didn't...so it's an interesting small world and the story should end here.  Right? 

Well… not so much.

The news played on and while we were continuing to drink our respective coffee's, Laurel was on the woman’s dog rescue site - looking at Dachshunds.  Again, this could have been the end of the story because there really weren't any young dogs and her rescue is expensive – our friend’s dog cost $500.00.  So, just looking –aren’t they cute – no big deal.

Well…not really.

The unique thing about this woman’s rescue website is that her site functions as a kind of regional clearing house for pet adoption.  It’s not just dogs from around here – it’s dogs from everywhere in the northwest and Canada, literally hundreds of dogs of all breeds.  As the morning wore on, we were on all kinds of sites looking at pictures of little Doxies in need of rescue.  Again, just looking, really  - just playing (like a pyromaniac plays with fire).  We were firmly resolved not to get another dog for a while – for any reason.  We had made this decision for a number of good reasons.

Well…so much for reason…Suddenly there was Rocco.  He had just been put up on the Spokane Dachshund Rescue site.  

 This was the description we read:  This tiny cutie is Rocco and he is in rescue because the kids were too much at his last home. He is doing great here and likes us and company so we know he will make someone a nice boy in his new home. I will be confirming his age (2 years) and posting here. But I had to share his cute photos. Rocco is about 9 or 10 pounds at most so a true mini. Minis do not stay long so if you have a play buddy and a fenced yard then we want to hear from you.

To make a long story - even longer - we talked about it and both said no (we were firm, you know), and went about our day.  I cleaned the house and Laurel went out with a friend.   When they came back, we were all sitting around and looking at his picture, again.  Well, I don’t care how firmly resolved a person is – one can only resist absolute beauty so long – so Laurel said (wait for it…)  "well, go ahead and email them". 

So I sent an email, describing our experience with Cecil and Lily and our dachshund friendly home. I imagined that there would be many many people in front of us waiting to adopt such a beautiful little dog and didn’t think we really had a chance.  They emailed us back within an hour, however, and described more about the dog's past and his issues.  It was not a simple situation, because Rocco had been mistreated in his former home and had come to the rescue nipping and snapping when frightened.  The woman who runs the rescue assumed that this would cancel our interest in Rocco and she offered to show us some other dogs she had ready for adoption who had “no issues”. 

Well…she didn’t know us, yet.

We emailed her back and ask some more questions.   She emailed us back and ask us questions, about our home, our yard, and about lily.  It is quite a process to adopt a dog - I had no idea.

At this point, we were tired (this has taken all day) so, not knowing what else to do, we decided to pray.  I prayed for the decision to become clear to us - Laurel, (being spiritually superior) prayed for “whatever was best for the doggie” to happen.  We said Amen and agreed that we would simply wait.  I expected that we would not hear back from the woman until morning at the earliest.  

Well…I didn't know her, yet.

Maybe 90 seconds after amen, the woman emailed us back and said she thought we would be the family for Rocco.

But wait, there’s more!

There was one additional problem to solve.  We were headed to San Mateo to see Jesse and Julia, the next week.  It would be nearly two weeks until we would be able to pick up the doggie, far longer than the rescue was used to waiting.  I really thought timing might be the deal breaker on the situation, but the woman was very gracious.  She agreed to keep him until we could drive to Spokane and would continue her “boot camp” working to help him learn to trust again.  We agreed to pay up front (non-refundable) – not yet having met him. 

Game on!