A New Friendship Forged

It took all day, but we did it. And we are happy as can be. After two unsolicited calls from friends both suggesting taking in a dog without a home (either seen or unseen), it started to feel like the good Lord above was telling us not to wait. We were planning on waiting until the spring for a Golden Retriever puppy, but honestly, I was finding it hard to squelch the desire for a canine pal. I knew I couldn't do a puppy and a baby at once. And the more I thought about it, the better buying an adult dog sounded. If things quieted down in the late fall or spring, we could still purchase a Golden.

Today, we ended up at the Animal Control Center in our county, as just about every humane or adoption center demands a fence. Since our Maggie never needed a fence and we don't have one, the Animal Control Center was the only place that didn't require fencing. I'm so glad we went. We ended up saving and scoring an AMAZING dog. I have a feeling someone really shed tears over this missing pooch --- he is just as well mannered and gentle as our Maggie. (Psst...He's an even better sport about bathing and brushing.)


Hatch, after his 6 hour extreme makeover.
We named him "Hatch" (after our Knucker Hatch alias). And he probably feels like he has hatched a brand new life with us. It has taken all afternoon and evening just to work out the gads and gads of hair that was falling out in huge tufts and mats. Our best guess is Hatch appears to be a 40lb. Finnish Spitz mix who might be 4-6 years old. He has the looks and stature of a fox, but with floppy tipped ears. Sometimes he just looks like a mini Golden Retriever. We love his sweet disposition already. His idea of "Sit" is collapsing on the floor and widening the surface area of his belly for maximum scratching potential. Hatch is a total sucker for lovin' on. Honestly, we don't even know if he has a voice... he hasn't even barked once through the hours and hours of brushing and tick pulling.

Hatch is a lucky boy who managed to squeeze past the 6 day average stay before his kill date. In fact, he was held for over three weeks at the control center...an unusal length of time. His heart clearly bought him a stay. Hatch's kennel card was the only one that had the extra note: "So Sweet!". They weren't kidding. A lady who saw us interacting together in the kennel, let out a small gasp of delight when she saw us. Turns out she worked there, but was there on her off day, and thanked us for rescuing Hatch, saying he was a special sweetheart. He's a snuggler, that I am actually trying to teach TO jump up and share the couch with me. He's also turned into quite the handsome and soft man, after a treatment of L'oreal shampoo and conditioner (which has done wonders for his highlights by the way).

We are equally as fortunate to have found such a stellar dog today. Hatch is incredibly forgiving...he hasn't said a peep about the 50 billion times we've referred to him as "she" or "girl". Ask me how it feels to hear that familiar tic-tic of dog nails on our hardwoods again.

It feels like home.