Blaze and Gigi

oday I finally made it back to see my four-legged friends at the Roice-Hurst Humane Society. It's been way too long since I've been out to see them.

The first dog I walked is Blaze. He's a 3-year-old American cattledog mix. He spent most of our time together rolling on his back in the grass, wiggling in the snow to make snow angels, and using his snout as a snow plow. Every time we passed by one of the benches on the dog walking course, he'd jump up on it, sit down, and then try every trick in the book to get another cookie. He always got one, and then he'd get an extra one for good measure.

After Blaze, I asked to walk Gigi. You may remember her from my walk back in November. By asking to walk her, I broke the first rule I made with myself: Never ask to walk a specific dog. Part of the agreement I made with the husband when I started volunteering as a dog walker was that I would NOT bring one home. The best way to avoid bringing one home is to avoid getting attached to one.

But since our first walk, I've thought about her a lot. She has a sad story, though I suppose you can say that about any dog that finds himself in a shelter (especially the shelter's three featured dogs, which have each been there since July '09. Ugh.).

Today I asked the kennel tech if he knew her story. He said she was picked up as a stray in a town about an hour from us and she stayed at their shelter until her time ran out. Then arrangements were made for her to come to Roice-Hurst. He couldn't remember how long she's been there, but it's been at least since November. The one disappointing thing to hear is that she doesn't always get along with other dogs, especially some females. Drats. But he also said they just got a lesson today from a dog trainer in how to properly introduce dogs, so maybe with a proper and controlled introduction, she'd be fine.

She has the sweetest face and a loving disposition, but you can tell she's been on her own for a long time. I think she'd be a great dog once she has a good home, but for now she seems to sort of zone out when it comes to people, and it's hard to tell what kind of personality is lurking in there. But at one point during our walk I knelt down and she came over and started giving me kisses all over my neck and chin. She sure knows how to pull my strings!

I've been trying to get the husband out to the shelter to meet her for weeks now. He refuses. Probably because he's a bigger softie than I am and is afraid we'll come home with more than one dog! I will continue to work on him and maybe get him out there this weekend to meet her...