And so we did... we 'got real' today... and adopted a five-month-old puppy that is already the size of the Border Collie/Black Lab that we got in 1996 and had for fifteen years. That black and white puppy of ours from so many years ago turned into the best dog... which is one of the reasons why we waited so long to get another dog after Gracie passed away.
But today was the day, and we now have a Border Collie/Great Pyrenees puppy whose paws are already twice the size of Gracie's when she was full-grown. As I type this, the puppy is sleeping in Gracie's old crate... she opened her eyes as I walked into the kitchen... she watched me walking towards the breakfast room and wagged her tail a bit... and now her breathing is slow and even again and she's sleeping.... dreaming happy puppy dreams, I hope.
My husband and I had talked about puppies and dogs every now and again since Gracie passed away about five years ago, but we never followed through on another doggie-adoption. My husband wanted a Border Collie, with the thought of having another Gracie who would adore him as his Gracie did. I wanted a ball of fluff, a tiny lap-dog that I could dress up in cute little outfits that are being sold by the millions in all the pet shops. We could never agree on a dog... and we kept telling ourselves that we were better off without one.... not having to worry about a dog's schedule, care, feeding, walking, brushing, vet visits.
After all, we do have pets.... one inside cat (Sweet Pea) and two outside cats (Gatsby and Mickey). Surely our little family was big enough without the addition of one more. But still... a dog... a good dog always becomes such an intrinsic part of your family.... and seems to not only need you but want you. Our cats are loving and attentive... they know their names and come when we call them (95% of the time). But still.... after losing Gracie, there was always something missing in this big old house.
We started looking for dogs on the Internet last week... my husband was searching for Border Collies and Great Pyrenees, and I was looking at little fluffy dollops of fur. Our town had a Christmas parade last year and one of the floats featured about 25 Great Pryenees dogs... they were all so beautiful, but most of them were huge. (As in 'Put a saddle on them and ride into the sunset.') Seeing those dogs in that parade got my husband interested in that particular breed. "Never. They're way too big." --- that's what I told him at the time. (What's that old saying: Never say never.)
As I was searching on the pet-adoption sites this week, I kept seeing Great Pyrenees popping up on the pages.... mostly white, some with brown patches here and there, and all of them so huge. Doing research on the breed, I read that they were protective and friendly, had excellent hearing, made exceptional watch dogs, and were wonderful for a family pet because they were so gentle.
My husband said he found the perfect mix..... Border Collie and Great Pyrenees.... it was a female, being sold by a woman and her daughter outside of the Houston area. The daughter was too busy with work and school to take care of the dog, and the mother was just too busy, period. They wanted to find a good home for this female puppy who was, in their opinion, "sweet and cautious, attentive and inquisitive."
The first phone call to the woman was a disappointment.... someone was coming to get the female puppy, but they had the male from the same litter. Did we want to see the male? (No, we didn't.... my belief is that females are easier to train.) So we kept looking... but then another phone call came.... the person never showed up to look at the female puppy... were we still interested? (Yes, we were.... and off we went.)
We met in the parking lot of a McDonald's restaurant which was half-way between our little town and the puppy-owner's somewhat-larger town. She told us to look for a black truck with a big dog crate in the bed of the truck. Well, that didn't exactly make us too happy.... it was 90 degrees and very sunny today.... and there was the crate in the back of that truck... no covering to protect the dog from the sun, and no blanket or flat space on the bottom of the crate. The dog was having to lay down in that sun-soaked crate on top of those plastic-coated slats during the 40-minute drive.
But on the positive side.... the woman and her daughter were both very nice.... the dog was clean and cared for and they had the papers from the vet's office, and they did put water and food inside that crate for the dog. We had Gracie's old leash with us, as well as a blanket for the car ride home (just being prepared if we happened to take her back with us). My husband put the leash on the puppy and talked to her and walked her around the grass by the parking lot.... I spoke to the woman and her daughter about the puppy's food and her habits and schedule. They really were very nice people.... and I truly hoped that honey-and-white puppy would come home with us in our air-conditioned car instead of going back towards Houston in the scalding bed of that pickup truck.
After about twenty minutes with the dog, my husband smiled at me and nodded his head. His eyes were telling me "We found a great dog here." (He gave me that very same look years ago when we found Gracie.) And that's what I was waiting for.... she was indeed a beautiful puppy who would grow into an exceptional dog... bigger than I thought I'd ever want, but I could see that she was sweet and gentle, and I knew we'd give her an extraordinary life. We paid the woman for the dog... I hugged the daughter and the mother and told them we'd take good care of the puppy.
My husband had to pick up the dog because she didn't know how to get into the back seat of the car.... my guess is that she had only been in the back of that pick-up truck for her vet visits. Puppy settled down onto the blanket and I sat in the back seat with her for the ride home... she seemed to be very comfortable, with her head in my lap and both of her paws resting on my left hand.
All the way home, my husband and I talked of names.... tossing possibilities from back seat to front, from front seat to back... and Puppy just sat there listening, following our voices with her eyes until she sighed contentedly and settled into sleep as she enjoyed the air-conditioned car and the movement along the highway. Given her coloring, we thought of Amber, Honey, Butterscotch, Buttermilk, Buttercup. "Too common," said I.
We considered Emma, Audrey, Anna, Georgia, Angelina, Scarlett, Dolly. "Too close to family names," said I. My husband laughed and said that so many names were off-limits because they already belonged to the dogs of friends, or were names of family members who were either very old or who had already passed away.
As we drove, I looked down at the sleeping puppy.... serene and quiet, peaceful and gentle, loving and hopeful, and so very friendly with just a teeny hint of reserve and caution. And I thought of one of my favorite places on the planet: Savannah. We had traveled to Savannah, Georgia two times over the years, and both times were so magical and special... Savannah is a city like no other, at least here in the States.
"Savannah," I said to the puppy, to my husband, to the car. The word, the name... it just felt right, sounded right, seemed perfect. And still, on the ride towards home, after stopping at a store for nearly eighty dollars' worth of food and treats and bowls and toys and grooming supplies, my husband and I kept tossing out names....... but nothing we could think of sounded better than Savannah.
As I type... it is after midnight... and Savannah is sleeping in her puppy crate... and all is right in this little corner of her puppy world.
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