Zelda joins us

Thanks again for saving me. Someday, I’ll save you too.

~ Zelda Fitzgerald, 

in a letter to her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald

First selfie - she's not sure about this camera thing.

Every time I left the house I glanced to the back yard. No dog. We have lived with dogs (with short breaks) some 30 years. We knew a dog would come live with us before long, but were allowing ourselves the time to grieve the losses of Paddy and Scruffy. They were good dogs.

I had started looking at the websites for the local animal shelters, but I hesitated visiting. I kept watch on the Internet. I talked myself out of "stopping by" again and again.

This week I wouldn't listen and visited the shelter. I found her - Zelda.

And then I left. I am sure the shelter staff wondered why I was being so aloof - why I didn't gather her up and take her home.

DH and I had talked about timing. We thought we might be ready in a month or so. We wanted to get a few things behind us (like getting ready for another dog - figuring out where she would sleep and eat and, you know, stuff).

I thought about her for the day and took DH over to meet her. Pound was closed.

We went again the next day and she was gone.  My heart sank. Then the staffer explained Zelda had been taken over to the vet for surgery. Instead of frustration that DH couldn't meet her, there was relief that she had not been adopted and knowledge that she was already ours.*

DH said nothing until the next day, "Go get her."

I talked to the staff and heard her "story." She had wandered up to someone's home and delivered a litter of pups. While they were able to place the puppies, there was no new home for her and she was taken to the shelter.

Shelter employees recognized a good dog when they saw one. Alert to her surroundings, she could sit on command and come when called. She is relaxed and easy going. The vet says she is a mutt - likely schnauzer and poodle and a mixture of other breeds so we are calling her a schnoodle. He pulled gently on her coat and said she was unlikely to shed.

He went on to say that she was between 2 and 3 years of age. "Pick a date," he said. "You can pick her birthday." "April 1st," I said. It was a good as any and one I would remember. Then he looked at his records and saw she had already been given a birth date, October 31, Halloween. It was the first day I saw her. Good enough.

So, here she is, Zelda. We may call her Zee. We will see.

OC suggested that she had probably been named after the video game. Clueless, I replied that I preferred to think she was named for Zelda Fitzgerald.** Thus we now have the two grumpy guys and two crazy b--ches at our house.

We are all getting used to our new family dynamics.

We have started walking again. So far she is a great walker.

Watch this space.


NOTES:

*A friend asked if I had really chosen a dog without DH. Hey, I have bought a house without him. We have a good idea of when there needs to be consultation and when we can trust the other to make an autonomous decision. It works for us.

** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelda_Fitzgerald (in the event you thought, who?)

Final Note:

Zelda has my last name. In the past the animals have had DH's last name, but we went to a different vet (who saw Scruffy once with me) and so in their records she is mine. It's about time.