In the Nick of Time

Oh my has it been a week! Lovely Layla was adopted by a single mom with a six-year-old. She loves children so it was a good fit. The only concern is that she wasn't a fan of pottying on a leash, and her new family doesn't have much of a yard. Nevertheless, I hear she's getting the hang of it.

So I engaged in the cardinal sin a few weeks ago of scrolling through Petfinder.com even though I wasn't looking for a dog. I just wanted to see how many Boston Terriers were around but not in MidAmerica Boston Terrier's care. Well...I came across a little black dog, said to be a Boston Terrier-mix, named Emily. The write-up said that her time was limited so call soon. That was on a Friday. On Monday I was still thinking about her, so I wrote the shelter in Garden City, KS, where she was living, to suggest that if her situation really became an emergency I could try and get her into foster care.

The shelter wrote me back within five minutes to let me know they were about to euthanize her! Apparently she had been at the shelter since she was eight weeks old (she was now four months old) and her time had run out. I think the reason nobody wanted her was because she was black - the terrible "Black Dog Syndrome," which I knew nothing about before we wrote our book about Labs. It turns out that black dogs often get passed by in shelters because of the dim lighting - they are hard to see and sometimes come off as mean or scary. So sad!

Anyway, I told the shelter I would figure something out. My rescue wouldn't take her because she was already 25 lbs. - clearly not a Boston Terrier. The shelter said she was part Pit, but the Pit rescues said no way. I was stuck, until I remembered my friend Ashley had said she would take a foster for me if I ever had an emergency. Well, this was an emergency, so I called Ashley who said yes just a little too quickly. What was up? She had lost her Boston Terrier a few months earlier, and her elderly Pit Bull, Eli, needed a friend. Just the day before she had been talking with the neighbors about getting a dog, so she said she'd be happy to take Emily in (Note: Eli-Emily...pretty close in names!)



I paid for Emily to get spayed and updated on her shots, the kind woman at the shelter, Danna, paid Emily's "bail," and a Emily was sent to Colorado on a transport. Danna was concerned because she said Emily was a crazy puppy, but I assured her that we know all puppies are! Though I bit my nails for a few days, it turned out to be a match made in heaven. Ashley and Emily (now Emma) became instant pals, and Emma's presence has really perked Eli up. She's a sweet dog with a friendly demeanor and I know that she's found her forever home. Whew!