Meet Mari
September 11th, 2011 at 14:53
At the end of January I was a bit down. My parents had finally convinced the bank to accept their offer on a house in Utah and I was to move in and take care of the place until they could come down. A somewhat heated argument had already taken place over whether I could have a dog while living alone in the house. The answer was emphatically NO. Added to a few other petty arguments, I wasn’t too excited about the move. In fact I was down-right depressed and only consoling myself with the idea that it would be for a few months max.
I wasn’t the only one who was depressed over the move. My roommates weren’t keen on seeing me go either. One morning found me in the kitchen with Shea once again brooding over the impending move. Shea knew well the various reasons I wasn’t keen to go, and in a tongue-in-cheek remark she said, “I’ll just get you a dog and then you won’t be able to move out.” The second the words were out of her mouth we both gave each other a hard stare. Her eyes lit up and she said, “If we get you a dog you CAN’T move out!”
I looked at her and after a pause (as my sense of responsibility and my desire warred inside) I managed to squeak out, “I’m trying to protest but I just can’t do it!”
In fairness I did try to call my parents at every number I had for them to find out just how offensive this course of action was going to be. I can’t say I’m upset that they proved impossible to get a hold of for a few hours. A few critical hours in which petfinder.com and the website for the Utah humane society were thoroughly searched, and in which we all piled into the car to see what we might find at the local shelters. Fortune appeared to favor my parents as all the shelters were closed on Saturday. On a whim we decided to swing by PetSmart which occasionally has adoptions on the weekends. And sure enough, if you haven’t guessed by now, they were indeed having adoptions that day, complete with two liters of puppies. And to make things even more perfect, one of those liters was a set of German Shepherd/Border Collie mixes. The exact mix I’d hoped for. I first picked up the biggest, most active of the group. He was certainly a sweet-heart, but a bit mouthy. Not ruling him out I picked up another pup, who was happily tackling a sibling. As soon as she was in my arms she went completely limp and rested her head against me. SOLD!
Actually we put her through a few behavioral and temperament tests, which she passed with flying colors, but I pretty much had my heart set on her from the moment I picked her up.
Mom and Dad didn’t kill me or my roommates, though they were certainly testy in the phone calls that eventually were answered. And thanks to Mari being so gosh-darn adorable and my roommates being thoroughly helpful in other areas, they seem to have completely forgiven all and warmly accepted my puppy (as long as she never touches their pretty new hardwood floors).
Mari was brought home on January 30th, 2011 and was about eight weeks old. It is now mid-September and I’m only now writing about it because I’ve taken and interest in writing about her training. I figured it was best to start that by introducing everyone to her. So without further ado, here’s Mari!