UrbanAnimal
- by Jacque Newman
Dear Readers
There is a dog snoozing on my couch right now. Her name is Bonnie-Hanna and she’s absolutely not the dog I thought I wanted.
If you’re a regular UrbanAnimal reader you’ll remember that, after my family’s beautiful golden retriever, Ella, passed away in August, I decided to avoid getting another dog for awhile. It was something about, “It hurts too much when they leave.” That was a true statement but, in my heart, I knew I’d be sharing the couch with another dog before the year was out. In fact, I’d chosen the first week in December as the date to start searching.
In mid-November, I began an idle search through the hundreds of dogs posted on PetFinder, a website featuring pets for adoption at shelters and through rescue groups across North America (www.petfinder.com). I wasn’t shopping, you understand. I was just looking.
In late November, I started searching in earnest with the intention of finding a retriever or setter which are my favourite breeds and the ones with which I’ve had the most experience. At the back of my mind, however, I kept thinking about the advice I always share with other people in this situation: “Stop shopping for the perfect dog. Think about your lifestyle and how a dog will fit into it. Consider a different breed. Go to the shelter or contact a dog rescue group. Just get on with it.” Good advice, except I wanted a retriever or setter.
My quest for the perfect dog caused me to forward several photographs and bios to my husband. How about this one? How about that one? His responses were tepid at best.
One night, while searching on-line for adoptable retrievers and setters and mixes thereof, I found an adoptable collie described as a “collie/retriever-mix.” Her temporary name was Daisy and she was available at a shelter in Ohio, a five-hour drive from our home.
Her sweet collie-face, the only photo available on the shelter’s site, looked at the camera with the same “Help me!” expression that can be seen on so many homeless dogs and cats. Her size was listed as medium and because her mix included retriever, I decided that a medium retriever rear end was probably hidden behind that adorable medium Lassie face. Knowing that hubby is partial to collies and how he relished the idea of a five hour drive to Ohio after having just returned from a two-week road trip through the U.S., I forwarded her photo and bio to him and he responded quickly with, “That’s the one.”
The heart moves in mysterious ways.
Within the hour, I was on the phone to the shelter asking if Daisy was still available. Yes, she was. The more I looked at her photograph, the more I knew she would be coming home with us. I was almost looking forward to another early-bird breakfast at Denny’s when we crossed the border at Buffalo.
The shelter, Animal Welfare League of Trumbull County, is located in Warren, Ohio in a non-descript bungalow on a rural road. Like many animal shelters, its forlorn appearance hid a hub of devoted of people trying their best to make the world a better place for the animals in their care.
We walked through the front door and were immediately embraced as “The Canadians who have come to adopt Daisy.” A volunteer led the little collie to us and… it was love at first sight.
There was no designated meet-and-greet room. There was barely enough space for Daisy’s caregiver, hubby and me, and Daisy, to stand together between rows of cages containing dozens of paw-waving cats and a pair of guinea pigs. We took the leash and, as we sidled along the wall to a door leading to the front yard, the president of the shelter, Barbara, arrived to greet us. “You’re the people from Canada!” she said, as if we’d arrived to save the day. Hugs all around. We weren’t in Toronto, Toto. This was the kind of greeting that make us city people feel as if we’re missing something really important in our lives.
In hindsight, considering the current economic situation in the U.S. the arrival of outsiders must warrant celebration, especially when their arrival signals the adoption of one of the hundreds of animals that pass annually through their doorway. The number of American animals being relinquished due to job loss and other financial issues is absolutely astounding and on a level not seen here in Canada.
If it hadn’t been for PetFinder, I’m sure we would have never discovered this wonderful group of people and, most of all, we wouldn’t have found this beautiful dog who, by the way, proved to be a mix of rough collie and Shetland sheepdog (Sheltie). Not exactly the breed I’d been searching for but exactly the dog I wanted.
We took Daisy outside and as we walked her around the front yard, I looked back at the shelter. Suddenly, it didn’t look so forlorn. I saw volunteers exercising and playing with dogs in lush, green grass. I noticed beautiful shade trees. I noticed how the sun shone on Barbara’s hair as she smiled at us in the hope that Daisy would find love with a pair of Canucks crazy enough to drive five hours to her wonderful shelter that bursts at the seams with needy animals and their compassionate caretakers.
There was no question that this lovely little collie would come home with us. Her name, Daisy, was given to her at the shelter, but we were assured that changing it wouldn’t be a problem. After considering at least 60 names and inviting friends to vote, we settled on a double-barrel moniker to satisfy both hubby and me… Bonnie-Hanna. Bonnie is in tribute to my husband’s first dog when he was a kid, and Hanna as a namesake for Johanna, a close friend and staunch supporter of adopting homeless animals of all kinds and loving them forever.
Welcome, Bonnie-Hanna! You’ve found your forever home.
Jacque Newman is a consultant for Dogs Dogs Dogs and a five-time Maxwell award winner from Dog Writers Association of America. Her writing has appeared in Readers Digest, Dogs Dogs Dogs, For Love of Cats and on several pet-related websites. She can be reached at jacque-newman@rogers.com
