On
July 3, 2004
, Kelli and I had a party to celebrate July 4th.
It
included Barbeque, Beer, and Fireworks.
Or
as I see it, it included Beer, Barbeque, Beer, Fireworks, and Beer…
We
had decided to help out Operation Kindness by asking our guests to
bring an item that was on the list of items needed by the shelter,
which I included with the invitations.
Everyone
thought that was a great idea, and the donations poured in.
The
following Saturday, July 10th, Kelli and I took the
donations to the shelter and took a tour of the facility.
While
viewing the dogs, there was one that caught my attention, she was
barking at me as I walked by.
I
noticed that she did not bark at any of the other people that walked
by her, just me.
I
started petting her, and wiping the tears away, caused by allergies I
am sure.
She
just looked like she needed a good home and lots of love, but at the
time we already had five dogs and two cats, so I started to walk away.
Again
she barked at me, I turned around and walked back to her, knelt down
and pet her some more.
This
time, I read the tag that was on her cage, Sarah….
I
had a Rottweiler several years ago that I had named Sarah.
Was
this a sign, fate, or do I look too deeply at things like this ?
I
really wanted to take this little girl home, but kept thinking that we
had five dogs already and that we didn’t need another one.
I
finally stood and walked away, moving quickly to the door as to not
let anyone see that my allergies had made my eyes water.
Once
Kelli and I had made it home, I went into the computer room and looked
Sarah up on the operation kindness web site.
There
she was, complete with pictures and a description.
I
would have loved to take every dog in there home with me, but
something made Sarah special, maybe her name, maybe the thought that
she had actually picked me out by barking at me, instead of me picking
her out, what ever it was, I still wanted to give her a home.
The
description had been written, it
may not be exact as I am going by memory now, “Sarah needs a good
home and lots of love and attention……..”
I
copied, pasted, and retyped the description in an e-mail: “Sarah
needs Darrell’s Love and Attention…….” and sent it to Kelli
along with the pictures of her.
Kelli
read the e-mail and told me that she didn’t know that I wanted her,
or we would have brought her home.
I
explained that we had five dogs already, so I did not say anything to
her about Sarah while we were at the shelter, at this point, my heart
was making my allergies act up.
The
next morning, Sunday July 11th, Kelli and I went back to
the shelter to get Sarah.
When
we entered the shelter, I headed straight to the cage that Sarah had
been in the day before, just to find it empty.
My
heart dropped into my stomach, I just knew she had been adopted out,
and I knew that she had picked me and was now stuck with another
family that she may not have wanted to be with.
I
walked back to the lobby and Kelli could tell by the sick look on my
face that something was amiss, she asked what was wrong, I told her
that Sarah was gone.
She
turned to one of the employees and asked about Sarah.
They
replied that she was probably just outside for her daily walk.
I
quickly made my way outside to see her, following the trail through
the trees, I found her at the end of a leash.
We
took Sarah into the shelter, filled out the required paperwork and sat
with her through the Cat Test…. which had to be done to see how she
reacts to cats since we have two.
Which
brings up a very funny topic, Sarah and our Cats.
Sarah
will be laying down, minding her own business, and one of the cats
will walk into the room, Sarah will leap up and lunge towards them,
about three steps, barking a few times, just to watch them run, she
then will return to her spot on the love seat. (You can almost see her
laughing at what she has done.)
We
made it home with Sarah and introduced her to the other Babies, they
all loved her and got along like they had been raised together.
Sarah
was about one and a half years old when we adopted her in July of
2004.
She
has become Kelli’s dog, she follows Kelli everywhere she goes.
I
am the one that throws the Frisbees and Balls for her and plays Attack
Dog with her, letting her jump up and attack my arm, she is always
gentle in doing so.
Sarah 
Always
on guard
