Kaiju is Jake's 19th birthday gift, he named her.
Kaiju is Japanese for 'strange creature'. He wanted to call her Cannibal (her main talent thus far is stealing hearts and chewing knuckles). We both wanted to poke fun at the whole 'every female dog in the past 4 years has been named Bella' trend. Bella means beautiful.
The story:
We decided to start looking in earnest for another dog for Kuma. He is Jessie's dog and she is in decline. She may have another 5 years in her, but they will be spent ruling the roost from her perch under the forsythia bush in the side yard during the summer and her sheepskin pile on the porch in the winter. Unless it's cold or raining. Then it will be near the warmest heater inside. She's been a good dog, she's earned her rest.
But, she's not the running/playing companion Kuma still needs. He has not dropped in strength at all and Nia is no filler for Jess. She's small and pesky! Her idea of a good run is 15 feet into the weeds and back to the porch where she wants to jump up in his face and yap about the adventure they just had in the scary woods. He needs another shepherd/hunting breed dog made for action and working. He doesn't want to chat about feelings, he wants to watch the game and have a beer, then go rebuild an engine.
We have been to 4 different pounds and rescues in the last week, every dog I have had any 'feeling' about has been adopted out from under me. Which is FINE, I would so much rather a dog find a home with not-me than be put down. There are dogs galore needing homes.
Jake and I sat down and made a list. We don't want a slick dog, we want a black or grey dog with as much fluff as possible, no speckles (the neighbors have a speckled dog that rushes the van and has been the source of MUCH stress for household drivers). Nothing huge, nothing tiny. No young puppies. I joined rescue mail lists and called a pound in Georgia about a Belgian they had. He was already adopted.
We got a message Thursday morning from a friend alerting us to an adoption drive in Huntsville to save some animals headed to the Back Room. Their time was up, the pound is too crowded (well, was. Petfinder shows only 26 animals now!). We looked over the online listings and headed out to get Matt, who took a couple hours off to go with us. I had a certain dog in mind-a Malinois mix they had tagged as a German Shepherd. Never hesitate if you get a chance to get a Belgian Shepherd of any strain, they are phenomenal dogs. If I ever get serious about thoughts to breed any animal for show, it will be Belgians.
As we walked in, he was up front, waiting for the paperwork to go home! :(
We went on back-might as well, we were there already. We cruised by the puppy kennels, I was enamored with a pair of Feist girls, they were SO adorable. (Feist are crazy diggers, avoid avoid!) They had a pure Yorkie I nearly caved on (it got adopted while we were there, yay!), I got out a Cocker mix and made eyes at the guys to no avail. No interest from them. (he also got adopted while we were there!)
Jake saw a Husky he really wanted, but I said no to that-he was grown and had signs of not being treated well. That could go all kinds of bad. Plus he was very new, only been there 2 days. They had no ideas of his temperament or anything. I don't want a dog that can actually kill and partially eat me!
There were pit bulls in practically every kennel. We looked at every dog in there and went back to a few more than once. Matt was not interested in any of them. He led us around to a pack of Chihuahuas! OMG, he lost his mind! But...in the middle of this mass of mini Aztec war dogs was...Kaiju! This gorgeous fat puppy. We flipped through the paperwork and hang tags looking for any info. None. Well, none for HER. There was a tag that described her markings and said she was a 10 month old Chihuahua! ack!
I found the single worker (I swear, ONE employee for 80 kennels) and he said she just came back from foster and was in the wrong pen. I immediately thought the foster family brought her back because she's a horrible dog. Then I looked at her face and my brain reset into babylove mush. He went off and came back with a sheaf of papers that were probably hers and they said she was a St. Bernard!
Well, we could hardly care by then. We had looked her over and she was perfect. Puppy breath-check! Clear eyes-check! Good joints, pink ears, clear nose, walks well, comes when called, soft as a baby butt-check! She's also a slick dog, brown and white with speckles and a young puppy. Perfect! Exactly what we had our our checklist! hahahaha!
I did make them both go outside with me and go over every bad point to getting her. Then we went in and got in line (one clerk! During an adoption drive!) and waited for nearly an hour to fill out the paperwork.
She had to get spayed before she can leave the county, she's at the vet now and Matt will bring her home after work.
I am SO excited to get this dog, I think it's because it's Jake's dog and I know he's going to be a really good dog dad-he will take great care of her. That takes a LOT of stress off me. He is over the moon.
She's certainly NOT a St.Bernard or a Chihuahua. :) She's a beautiful strange people-eating creature.
WELCOME HOME, BABY GIRL!
