Ron and I have been looking for a dog for quite some time now. We agreed that we wanted a medium size dog that has some body to its hair. Some might call that a fluffy dog, but for Ron's sake, we'll just say that we want a dog with full bodied hair. We were open to getting a dog from the pound or the humane society. We poured over websites, made dozens of phone calls, even filled out an application complete with references (seriously!?). But we have had no luck.
An unexpected turn of events this week may have led us to our newest family member.
I'm training for a triathlon. I just heard your gasp of surprise. Yes, it's crazy, but that's another blog post. On Friday I was running and all of a sudden I heard a dog chasing me from behind. I looked back and braced myself to be tackled by a fury beast, but this is what I saw instead:
(except picture her running behind me tongue out just as happy as could be)
At first glance it was clear that she was no threat to me, but it quickly became clear she was a threat to her own jolly self. I was going to keep on running and not pay her much attention, because I didn't want her to follow me, but as I looked back to check on her, I noticed that she was running in the middle of the road. At one point she was literally stopped on the double yellow lines with cars stopped on both sides. At that point I decided I better go back and check on her. Walking back it became obvious that everyone thought I was her horribly irresponsible owner who didn't care to put a collar and leash around her neck. Despite their stares of judgement I continued towards little lady because I knew she needed a rescuer. She was a danger to herself. Unfortunately she had no identification on her, so I made a conscious decision to encourage her to follow me so that she wouldn't be in the road.
When we got to the house, I rang the doorbell and Ron came to the door just a puzzled as ever. I never come through the front door, let along ring the doorbell and let alone with a furry (and wet) friend. When I explained the situation, Ron agreed that we should let her stay with us until we could find her owners. She grew on us from the beginning with her long scruffy snout and her big black eyes covered by her floppy bangs. She was playful and sweet, and we were excited to have her with us as long as the LORD saw fit.
A problem quickly arose: what to feed little lady?? What was the closest food I had to dog food? Honey Nut Cheerios! Hey, it was the best I could do and she seemed to love them.
Worried about her owners concern, we took pictures of her (and laminated them I might add) and made poster to put up along Darwick Rd. When Ron went to put up the signs in the neighborhood, he noticed a cardboard sign that said, "Missing Scottish Terrier...Very Old and Deaf...Her name is Maxee...call ###-####." BINGO! Ron called the number and sure enough we had Maxee, their Scottish Terrier. Despite her age and lack of hearing, apparently Maxee is quite the escape artist. We were glad that she escaped into our hands and that we could now reconcile her with her owners. But not for a week.
We found Maxee on Friday and her owners went on vacation on Saturday before we could bring them their pooch. They told us to take her to Cash Lovell Stables and she was to stay in a stall until her owners returned...IN A WEEK. Wanting to respect their wishes, I put the bone we got her and her stout self in my car and off we went to the stables:
I called Ron on the way to take her and we both were uneasy about our new friend staying in a stall for a week, especially with it being blazin' hot! We agreed to offer our house for the week if the owners so desired. When I got to the stables I met up with Cash Lovell of Cash Lovell Stables and told him that we were more than willing to take her back to our house for the week. He jumped on that idea; apparently he wasn't overly excited about keeping Maxee with him for the week. He called her owner and with a brief conversation we were headed back home for a week of caring for Maxee.
Even though Maxee has had several "accidents" in our house, gets up at 6:30 am and starts scratching at the bed and wants to get up on the bed with us (we're not quite ready to have someone else's dog all up in the bed with us), we have really fallen for this little lady. So much so that we decided last night that we would like to get a dog just like Maxee. Ron searched the web for regional breeders of Scottish Terriers and found one in South Carolina. We put our name on the waiting list and sent in a deposit. So it looks like we'll have a little Maxee either late October or around Christmas time (depending on the number of pups in the next litter). We hope our expected pup is as special as our new friend, Maxee:
On a side note, I couldn't help but reflect on Maxee's oblivion to danger when she left her owners, started chasing me, and then proceeded to stop in the middle of the road. I couldn't help but think of my own sinful self, so prone to not stay close to my Creator and wander forgetting the safety that comes with staying under His authority. Thank you, Maxee, for the reminder to cling to my Creator!
Psalm 91:1, 2
1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.[a]
2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.[a]
2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
