You may remember the sad tale of Mr. Rogers:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=18006215#post18006215
Since then, we tried again. An hour’s drive away, we met a dog named James, a young 80-pound mixof pit bull and Plott hound. Since he sseemed interested, we brought him home for a trial. That did not go as we’d hoped. James was anxious and ceaselessly active. He barely paid any attention to our resident dog, Simone, even trampling her as he paced. Every time he was taken outside, he tried to get into every car he got near. We concluded he wanted to go back to his foster family. There are things we could have done to help him settle in, but we think Simone really needs a canine companion, and it didn’t look like James would be good with her. So we took him back and gave the rescue a donation for all thetime they’d put into helping us.
My wife continued to look online. The problem is not finding an available dog…one rescue nearby currently has ninety souls up for adoption. The issue is finding the right dog. But we have a soft spot for the underdogs of the world, so my wife focused on those less likely to get homes.
And soon she was going back again and again to the grainy photo of Diamond, a little brindled pit bull huddled in a concrete pen in another state about 12 hours away. In a public pound. Diamond’s kill date was last Friday – they only get 7 days to find a home in that jurisdiction…then it’s the needle.
My wife made calls and worked Facebook and e-mail for days, trying to get a rescuer to pull Diamond in time. This, despite our trepidation that Diamond was as much an unknown as James had been, and might not work out. Finally, a very gentle dog rescue volunteer had a long conversation with my wife and reiterated that it makes little sense to struggle to save Diamond when there are dogs in need everywhere whom we could evaluate without the time pressure of an approaching kill date.
And so, hearts heavy, we decided to let little Diamond go to whatever fate lay in store for her. Because we had contacted the shelter and shown interest, however, we were told her time was extended…until today.
All weekend we tried not to think about the little dog on a deadline.
But yesterday we got an e-mail from one of the volunteers. Between all the contacts and urgent messages, there had been a mix up. Somehow our intent had not been properly communicated. Against our stated desire, a deed had been done.
One of our contacts pulled Diamond out of the shelter for us, one day before the needle.
And so I must end my tale for now. To sleep. Because I’m about to ditch work and spend at least 24 hours on the road. Our anniversary is coming up, and I have to get my wife a Diamond.
