March 20th, 10PM, Bill & I were coming home from a meeting in Lebanon. We came into town, and turned the corner, and there was a dog running from the laundromat across the road toward the corner of the car lot. It was dark, and for a moment we thought it was Max (yes, the other yellow lab that found our house and that we fell in love with--but found his owner--his name is actually Rusty, but he will forever be Max to us!), so I turned around at the road heading to Whites, and we headed back, to find the dog in Hwy 20. Bill called to her, and she came from the road, to the car lot where we parked. Just as we were looking for tags on her collar, and finding none, we were discussing what to do with "her". Bill looked at me and said "We will do what we do with every other stray that ends up with us"...so we opened the car door, and she jumped right in, and sat like a pretty little girl! It was then we heard someone yelling for a dog...and we thought "Ah-ha!" So we drove with the dog to the house on the other side of the tracks,and Bill talked to the lady that lived there. She said the "white" dog had been hanging around a few days, and she actually felt sorry and fed it the night before....but it was hanging out with her German Shepherd and she didn't want another dog. SO...we brought her home. We put an ad on Craigs list, Put ads on facebook, the lost pet pages, and on Friday, I called all the vets, shelters and animal control places in Linn and even Benton County. Kristin took her to the vet to see if she had a chip. (no chip) By Monday, we were all thinking "No one??" I called animal control and Safe Haven again. No one had called for her. Kristin was excited, yet kept saying she didn't want to get attached because if someone claimed her, she didn't want to go through the same heartache as she did with Max. Bill, who is the "toughie" in our house, said "If no one claims her, we should keep her". We headed to Walmart for flea and worm treatment.....and of course a collar and a tag. We named her Molly. She is well mannered and someone has spent a lot of time with her. She sits, stays, lays, stays off the furniture (when everyone is looking), doesn't jump up, and gets along great with our dogs. It was almost like she has always belonged. She was a good fit, and very loveable.
Fast forward one day short of three weeks. An email....a response to my Craigs List ad. Before I opened it, my heart sank and I said a prayer....and knew there was a reason for everything. I opened it up...and it said "Her name is Gracie"..tears welled....until I read "She ran away from my husbands work....and we had been trying to look for a home for her, since we don't have time".......I thought REALLY??!!!! CAN IT BE TRUE??!!! The pit in my stomach eased, those welled up tears spilled and turned to joy! I called her previous owner. She shared a lot of good info. Molly had a good home, but most of all...we were keeping Molly!! We really tried to go back to her name Gracie, but after almost 3 weeks of Molly, none of us could do it. Her nickname was "Woof" and that has become her nickname here.
We've had no accidents lately, she wakes me at night to go out, and almost on a schedule, although she doesn't go to the door like our other two do to go out, she comes and nudges until you say OK...and off she heads to the door. She has taken lots of queues from our girls. We've yet to hear her bark, and I got my first "kiss" today...she's full of snuggles, and one of our cats (Squirrel) loves her!! His 22 pounds and her 50 are a funny match. I will get pictures when I can. Until then...here is Molly's new bed....and Kristin showing her how to use it!!
