I haven’t talked about this publicly yet, but a few weeks ago Reese was diagnosed with cancer. Cancer sucks. We started treatment the next day and for about a week and a half he seemed to be getting better, but after that he started going back to where he was. He’s still with us now, but I don’t know how much longer he will be.
Reese has been through a lot with his knee and back issues that are common in his breed and he’s recovered each time. The first occurrence was before we moved to Portland almost 10 years ago now. Four years ago this month, he was told he would probably never walk again and 2 weeks later he was running to greet me at the door like he always did. Even now with everything going on, he’s still running around the living room and barking at people at the door as usual. I’ve done what I could to prevent him from aggravating his back and knees, but I don’t think there’s anything I could’ve done to prevent this.
Everything right now is making sure he’s comfortable and happy and his quality of life up for whatever time he has left. At 13 and half I knew he had more years behind him than ahead of him, but it’s still too soon.
Two weeks ago today, I brought home a new dog that I named Max. I’m so grateful to have him, but there’s a small part of me that can’t believe I have 2 dogs to take care of now.
I’ve had the thought several times over the years of adopting a second dog, a playmate for Reese. Sometimes I even searched online for local dogs that were available. Each time I convinced myself it would be a bad idea, mostly because of the time commitment. And I got lucky with Reese. He’s well behaved and was easy to teach. A new dog might not be the same way.
This time I convinced myself that it would be okay. I’m home usually when I’m not at work. Reese could be his company when I’m not here. My hours are pretty flexible, so I can work from home some if I need to.
I found a local rescue, Street Savvy Dog Rescue, and filled out an application for one of their dogs. I was disappointed to find out that the dog I applied for wasn’t available at Street Savvy. They use an external website to list their dogs and somehow I must have ended seeing dogs in a different location. The manager of the rescue, Barbette, told me about a dog they had coming in from Mission, Texas that she thought I might be interested in. I believe they rescue all of their dogs from Texas. They called him Milo. She told me where to find a video of him and once I saw it, I immediately fell in love. I found out he would available at an adoption event at PetSmart a couple of days after he arrived in Portland.
I believe it was a little under 2 weeks from the time I saw the video to the time he was in Portland. In the meantime, I cleaned up my place and purchased some new stuff for him. The day before the adoption event I contacted the Barbette to make sure he had arrived and would still be at the adoption event. Everything looked good. I filled out another application and sent pics of my home. I kept a lot of this close to the vest because I wasn’t sure if things would work out.
The day of the event I was pretty nervous. I wasn’t sure what the process would be like. I didn’t know if it was a sure thing that I would be able to take him home or if I would be competing against others who were interested. It turned out that I worried for nothing. I met him, filled out the papers, paid the adoption fee, and took him home. Most of his vaccinations had already been taken care of. They even gave me a collar, some food, a leash, and a blanket.
Max has been great to have here. He’s very agreeable and sweet. He’s slightly bigger than Reese, but he loves to follow Reese around. Reese doesn’t like being licked in the face all the time, but hopefully Max will learn. They think he’s a basset hound mix and about a year old. He can be stubborn at times. He likes to pull on a leash. We’ll be working on that. I’ve already signed him up for classes. He’s not as hyper as Reese, but he’s pretty similar in temperament.
Speaking of things that aren’t in Starkville. Last week my friend John texted me that a PetSmart was opening in Columbus (about 25 miles away) last Saturday, which was a week ago today. He said that he would be there with his dog, Bailey, and suggested that I bring Reese. I had no idea this store was opening. I hadn’t been to Columbus in several months. I’ve wanted to take Reese to a PetSmart and spoil him for a while now.
I got there with Reese a little after they opened at 9am. John was already there with his cousin, her partner, and all of their dogs. There were so many people and so many dogs there. Like John said, it was like Comic-Con for dogs. The place was packed and it was cool being around so many pet lovers. A lot of them wanted to pet Reese and Bailey. My biggest concern was that sometimes Reese doesn’t listen to me when he sees someone he wants to play with, but he was on his best behavior. He was trying to run off every 5 seconds, but at least he listened when I told him come back or keep going. Eventually I got a cart and we put Reese and Bailey in there. It was much easier to get around the store that way.
The store gave away some free toys and treats. I got a few items for Reese that I had planned to order from Amazon. We stayed away from the adoption area, which is good because I didn’t need to come home with another dog. PetSmart had a picture area in one part of the store and they stopped and asked us if we wanted to get out picture taken for free.
I can see myself using this store a lot for as long as I’m in the area. It’s nice to have a good pet store nearby.
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