After Tyler died, I became a workaholic. It wasn't hard to do--I was an RHD, the Assistant Director of Res Life, and was teaching five credit hours. I also was helping with the Animal Shelter, so I got an occasional doggy fix that way. Poor Midnight, he was so bored and lonely! And my resolve to not get another dog was slowly fading...
Well, in November, we had our monthly preview event with Friends of the Animal Shelter. We had a lot of terrific dogs, I wanted to rescue them all! I still wasn't ready, but a couple of dogs, a red corgi mix and a black and tan beagle/dachsund mix, really caught my eye. I began thinking about getting another dog. And the week after the event, the Shelter took in a brown cocker spaniel. I couldn't stand it and went down to visit the cocker. He was pretty energetic, and was also really smelly, but I didn't hold that against him. I loved on him a little, talked to the staff a little, and decided to think about it further. While I was there, I stopped by to see the beagle doxie. She was barking up a storm! Living in a residence hall, barking is not a good thing, so I told her goodbye and didn't think about her again.
I forgot about the corgi mix, and the more I thought about the cocker, the more I wanted to see him again to be sure, one way or the other. So the day we closed for Thanksgiving I took another RHD, Marqita, down to the Shelter to look at the dogs. I thought having a second set of eyes would be good. I went straight for the corgi so I wouldn't forget about him again. I walked him around and loved on him a little, but the connection wasn't there. I put him away, and right across from him was the beagle/doxie (her Shelter name was "Birdie"). She was barking up a storm again, but there was a sense of urgency about her that told me she needed to go outside. Because I was a volunteer, the staff had given me a key so I could take the dogs out myself. I bent down and told her "Now, I can't have you because I can't have a barker, but I'll take you outside right now." We went out, she did her business, and we went back inside where I sat on some chairs to give her some love before putting her back. She promptly hopped up on my lap and would not move. Right after she did that, one of the staff walked by and said "She's such a sweet dog, the clock is ticking on her." OMG, heart melted! I new she had been there a while, because I tracked them for our Facebook page, so I was pretty sure that wasn't a story being told to make me take pity on the dog and take her home. Marqita agreed with me that maybe this was the dog I was supposed to take home. She had stopped barking as soon as I took her out of the cage. A few more minutes and I was mostly sold. I did take the cocker out again, but I knew right away he wasn't mine. Birdie was mine. She chose me.
We took her through the cat room, and she didn't even pay any attention to them, which meant good things for Midnight. As I was waiting to fill out paperwork, I talked to the staff about her. The woman who had told me her clock was ticking had developed a really strong relationship with Birdie. Birdie came in on October 25. Usually dogs stay for around 2-3 weeks. If they don't get adopted by then, they are destroyed. But Birdie was such a great dog, they couldn't bare to do it. She had been scheduled to be killed that weekend before I came in, but a last minute adoption allowed for her life to be spared. However, if she hadn't been adopted by Thanksgiving (two days away), they wouldn't be able to keep her any longer. They kept telling me that I was a hero, and thanking me over and over for taking her. That erased all the doubts that were creeping into my head about the adoption. Tyler dying allowed me to save this dog's life.
I went back to V-Hall to prep for closing, and I promptly announced to everyone that I had adopted a dog. They were ecstatic! I showed them pictures that had been posted on the website, and they fell in love right there. We discussed names for her, and someone mentioned the name Shiloh, after the books about a beagle named Shiloh. Well, I've never heard of those books, but I am very familiar with the song "Shiloh" by Neil Diamond. The name was perfect. I put it out there on Facebook for suggestions, but in the end, I decided to stick with Shiloh.
The vet's office was thrilled that I had adopted a new dog, and they thought she was a sweetheart too. They gave her a bath and took care of some nasty teeth while they were spaying her. The couldn't pinpoint her age, but they guessed the age range of 5-8 was right. A year later, I think she's 8. I also think she's a hound/terrier mix, although, people guess all kinds of breeds when they look at her. I know nothing about her history--she came into the Shelter as a stray. However, she has had surgery on her ear, the vet's office found a surgical scar when they were examining her. She came potty trained, as I suspected when I first took her out of her cage. She also knows a few commands. She was someone's pet once, and she was loved. She had had a few litters, and since she's definitely not a purebred, I really think she was an indoor/outdoor dog. She loves being outside, she could lay out in the yard all day long. My theory is that she got lost one day, and her people never found her. It breaks my heart to think about it, but I hope she is happy here. She is extremely loyal to me, and she has no shortage of people giving her attention--one of the perks of being a dorm pet! She does have her quirks and annoyances, and she is not my Tyler, but she's my Shiloh and I love her to pieces!
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