Trudy

We bought a house when we moved to BC because we thought my husband was deploying and I wasn't going to live in a cramped, junky apartment all by myself for a year.  I wanted a dog! 

The deployment got postponed, but my want for a pet didn't, and I found myself looking around on Petfinder for a dog in local shelters.  I still remember looking at the listings at the Humane Society and seeing this beautiful dog that looked like a Rottweiler in the small picture they had.  She looked gorgeous and I dragged my husband out there the very day I found her to make sure that she wouldn't get adopted before I had a chance to meet her.  

When we inquired about "Trudy" that we saw on the website the girl at the desk smiled a knowing smile and showed us out to the outdoor kennels.  There she was, sitting in a fenced kennel that was smaller than the others, all by herself. The volunteer explained that Trudy had a habit of climbing the fences in the other kennels, so she had to be in the one with a top on it in order to ensure that she didn't escape.  Trudy looked so sad to be trapped in there with no way out!  She climbed part of the way up one wall of the fence and flipped over just to prove her climbing ability to us - I was shocked!

We took Trudy out on a leash to get to know her a little and walked her around the area.  She seemed to be a sweet dog, but not very affectionate.  At the time I figured she just needed some time to get to know us before she'd warm up to us.  So we went back in and said we were still interested, and they asked some questions about our yard (we have a six foot wooden privacy fence).  They also told us that she had been adopted and returned to the shelter several times due to escaping from people's yards. "Oh, I don't think that will a problem for you, she can only get out of the chain link fences because she climbs them.  A six foot wooden fence will be perfect." 

We had been out to the Humane Society in GR several times when we lived there and they always talked about filling out an application and then they would call our references and maybe even come look at the house there to make sure that the animal would have a nice place to live.  So needless to say I was a little surprised when they told us to fill out the one page of paperwork and then take her home!  We didn't have anything at home for her - no dog food, feeding dishes, treats, toys - nothing!  We convinced them to let us pick her up the next day.

We found very quickly that she loved riding in the car on the way home and seemed to settle in fairly easily to her now home.  Ah, the journey begins...