I shared with you in the post, You Never Know, about our plans to adopt two Dachshund - Mexican Hairless puppies from the Humane Society in Long Beach. As it turns out, things did not go as planned. The adoption was made yesterday, but those two doggies didn't come home with us; only one of them did.
If you will recall from the cited post, both dogs were to be neutered on Wednesday and then we would pick them up on Saturday. Thursday morning -- being the overly concerned new doggy daddy -- I called the shelter to check how both puppies how made it through the surgery. The volunteer who answered the phone wanted to know who I was and I explained that Della & I were the ones adopting the dogs.
There was a pregnant pause and the woman asked for my phone number. She said someone else would call me back. Needless to say, this made me anxious. Had something gone terribly wrong?
About 10 minutes later, the shelter director called. She informed me that the two had been separated and Buddy, the male, had already been adopted out to a different family!! I was a bit peeved at this news because they had stressed to us the importance of keeping the two dogs together. Heck, that's why the approached us about the dual adoption in the first place.
The director explained that staff had decided that the two dogs didn't get along and that it would be better for each to be adopted separately. I'm sorry, but that doesn't make a lick of sense. The two dogs had been at the shelter for nearly 3 weeks and had been housed together during all that time. During that 3 week period, no one had raised this issue and, in fact, we were told they got along great. When we visited them for 30 minutes on Tuesday, they got along.
It's obvious to Della and I that the explanation was a manufactured reason. We have no idea WHY Buddy was adopted out from under our noses and after we had been approved to adopt BOTH dogs. But it was done and there was nothing we could do about it.
We also learned that these puppies were not, in fact, puppies. We had been told originally that both were 5 months old. As it turns out, they are each about 1 1/2 years old. No big deal, really, but it does make a difference in terms of training.
So yesterday, we ended up adopting the female only. (We decided to name her Lily instead of Holly because the Buddy - Holly connection no longer existed.)
Here's the other part of the equation that irked me a bit. Originally, as part of the plan to honor the previous owner's wishes of adopting the two dogs together, we had been informed that another person had agreed to pay the full adoption price. Since this plan had been scuttled, the director told Della that this person had paid only $30 toward the adoption fee for "Lily" and that we would need to pay the other $45.
Mind you, this amount was not an issue for us because, had we adopted any other dog at this shelter or the one in Warrenton, we were prepared to shell out anywhere from $45 - $120. No, the issue for me is that this story is bunch of malarkey!
You see, the everyday adoption fee for dogs in Long Beach is $45, the amount we paid. So, while the director wanted us to believe she was cutting us a special deal, there was no deal involved. We paid the normal fee to adopt one dog. I don't know why she felt the need to be dishonest about this.
Regardless of the particulars about the adoption process itself, we are VERY pleased with our new little doggy. She and Jaz hit it off well and she doesn't seem all that interested in the cats. Lily cannot erase the pain of losing Princess to cancer, but her presence does soften the blow a bit.
She slept with me last night by burrowing deep within my blankets. I had read that the Mexican Hairless dog was used as a canine hot water bottle by the Aztecs (these dogs naturally have a higher body temperature than most dogs) and it certainly turned out that way last night. She kept my legs warm.
Like any Dachshund, she gives the sweetest little doggy kisses. That's a big plus too!
If you will recall from the cited post, both dogs were to be neutered on Wednesday and then we would pick them up on Saturday. Thursday morning -- being the overly concerned new doggy daddy -- I called the shelter to check how both puppies how made it through the surgery. The volunteer who answered the phone wanted to know who I was and I explained that Della & I were the ones adopting the dogs.
There was a pregnant pause and the woman asked for my phone number. She said someone else would call me back. Needless to say, this made me anxious. Had something gone terribly wrong?
About 10 minutes later, the shelter director called. She informed me that the two had been separated and Buddy, the male, had already been adopted out to a different family!! I was a bit peeved at this news because they had stressed to us the importance of keeping the two dogs together. Heck, that's why the approached us about the dual adoption in the first place.
The director explained that staff had decided that the two dogs didn't get along and that it would be better for each to be adopted separately. I'm sorry, but that doesn't make a lick of sense. The two dogs had been at the shelter for nearly 3 weeks and had been housed together during all that time. During that 3 week period, no one had raised this issue and, in fact, we were told they got along great. When we visited them for 30 minutes on Tuesday, they got along.
It's obvious to Della and I that the explanation was a manufactured reason. We have no idea WHY Buddy was adopted out from under our noses and after we had been approved to adopt BOTH dogs. But it was done and there was nothing we could do about it.
We also learned that these puppies were not, in fact, puppies. We had been told originally that both were 5 months old. As it turns out, they are each about 1 1/2 years old. No big deal, really, but it does make a difference in terms of training.
So yesterday, we ended up adopting the female only. (We decided to name her Lily instead of Holly because the Buddy - Holly connection no longer existed.)
Here's the other part of the equation that irked me a bit. Originally, as part of the plan to honor the previous owner's wishes of adopting the two dogs together, we had been informed that another person had agreed to pay the full adoption price. Since this plan had been scuttled, the director told Della that this person had paid only $30 toward the adoption fee for "Lily" and that we would need to pay the other $45.
Mind you, this amount was not an issue for us because, had we adopted any other dog at this shelter or the one in Warrenton, we were prepared to shell out anywhere from $45 - $120. No, the issue for me is that this story is bunch of malarkey!
You see, the everyday adoption fee for dogs in Long Beach is $45, the amount we paid. So, while the director wanted us to believe she was cutting us a special deal, there was no deal involved. We paid the normal fee to adopt one dog. I don't know why she felt the need to be dishonest about this.
Regardless of the particulars about the adoption process itself, we are VERY pleased with our new little doggy. She and Jaz hit it off well and she doesn't seem all that interested in the cats. Lily cannot erase the pain of losing Princess to cancer, but her presence does soften the blow a bit.
She slept with me last night by burrowing deep within my blankets. I had read that the Mexican Hairless dog was used as a canine hot water bottle by the Aztecs (these dogs naturally have a higher body temperature than most dogs) and it certainly turned out that way last night. She kept my legs warm.
Like any Dachshund, she gives the sweetest little doggy kisses. That's a big plus too!
That story really does sound fishy. I wonder if one of the employees either took the other dog home or gave it to a friend?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that Lily is settling in well, though!
Or maybe he was given to a major donor!
ReplyDelete