Happy (Belated) Gotcha Day!

April 14th 2009 we adopted Loki. hard to believe it has already been 4 years. I remember going into the shelter to meet the little black dog named Allan I'd seen on a petfinder page. His face had swooned me and I was able to convince Mr. Badger that we should travel the 70ish miles or so to go and visit him and see if he would be a good fit. When we got to the shelter, it was loud, really loud. We went looking through all the kennels, trying to see if he was still there. It was the Saturday before Easter and there weren't too many other families there looking. Plenty of pit bulls and I remember a lab like dog, but no small dogs to speak of. We finally found Loki trembling in his kennel. He was the saddest looking thing ever.

He broke my heart. He was so skinny despite there being a full bowl of kibble next to him. He had just been neutered that morning, this was after his plane ride all the way from Puerto Rico to Massachusetts, USA. He had been flown to the shelter as part of a partner program - Save a Sato. Sato is the slang term for street dog in Puerto Rico. Loki and his buddy (a small brown dog I never met) named Paco had both been picked up in a grocery store parking lot in San Juan. From there, they both went into a foster program and after having a clean bill of health, they were declared ready for adoption.

Mr. Badger and I went into a quiet room, designed to get to know your potential new family member. There were toys and treats all over the place in the room, but the little black dog seemed completely exhausted. He was not interested in playing or eating treats. He just seemed relieved to be away from all that noise. Mr. Badger and I were swooning over him - who can resist that face?! Mr. Badger went off to speak with an adoption counselor, to see what else we could find out about him. In the meantime, I settled on the floor to see what Allan would do. He walked over to me, laid down, stretching his back legs out behind him and rested his head on my leg. He was asleep within minutes. My heart melted ... but I was worried this was all due to the heavy drugs he was on and all the stress he'd been through. Paco, the dog he was so bonded to, was adopted out before he even arrived in the US and had already gone to his new family. Despite feeling as though I should snatch him up and run home with him right then and there, I didn't want to make his transition even harder ... Mr. Badger and I talked to the adoption coordinator and said we'd think about it. They would be closed on Easter, so no one would be able to adopt him then, but adoptions happened on a first come, first serve basis. We really wanted to do the right thing, so we hoped it would all work out for the best.

After his nap on my leg, we took Allan back to his kennel. The worst thing ever. He would stop ever couple of steps and start trembling. He looked so miserable ... we eventually got him back inside his kennel, gave him a few scritches and left. I cried so much as we left, thinking of how alone and scared he must have been. Mr. Badger and I talked about him over Easter and Monday ... we decided we needed to go back and see if he was any different after adjusting. I asked for time off from work and we made the trip down to the shelter again. I had been checking his listing every few hours all day Monday ... terrified we had missed our chance. We arrived shortly after opening on the Tuesday and he was still available (despite being the only small dog there ...). We took him out again and this time he was much more chipper. He was allowed to go on a walk this time, so we took him for a stroll around the field outside. I was smitten! When we got inside, he was doing (his now customary) leaps of joy. As we were filling out his adoption paperwork, 3 different families called about him and a woman disappointingly stuck her head in the door and saw that we were already adopting Allan. She said she'd specifically come in to see him. Sorry lady, you really did miss out on a gem <3 Our Loki. I still to this day believe that the adoption coordinator somehow made it so that we would get that second chance to adopt him ... Loki has been far from the perfectly behaved dog, but he is the perfect dog for us.