HECKLE & JECKLE

Yesterday was a very long story.

Short is - My parents might keep the 2 puppies that got delivered to me with my mail.

I have an awesome mail lady. Her name is Suzy. Whenever she has a package for me that is too big for the mailbox, she comes and knocks lightly on my front door. She doesn't ring the door bell because she doesn't want to wake the baby, if she is sleeping.

Yesterday Joey was awake and while we were talking, 2 black lab puppies came up and said hi.

They were 4-6 month old (think BIG puppies) and had no collars. They were a boy and girl and were also not spayed or neutered. That right there tells me they are stray.

Let me take this moment to say:

If you own a pet, and it is not spayed or neutered, then you are an AHOLE!!

I called 311 and made a stray dog report to have Animal Services pick them up.

DON'T YELL AT ME!

I have a nice pair of dogs and that's enough. Besides, Mark can't wait for these 2 to die. He says no more dogs after that. Also, a nice set of puppies like these would very likely get adopted. There are a lot of groups that work with Animal Services to get as many animals adopted as they can. Animal Services has to put down HUNDREDS of dogs a WEEK, and that is NOT their fault. There isn't enough money to pay teachers, you think there is enough to feed and house a gazillion animals indefinitely? It is the fault of everyone of you out there who has a unneutered or unspayed pet. Don't talk to me about being pure bred, or only being kept on a leash or inside or in a fenced in yard. Dogs get out, fences get jumped, shit happens. If we all spayed and neutered our pets and only got new pets from the Humane Society or Animal Services, then we wouldn't have this problem.

311 said it would take 1 to 5 days for them to pick up the animals. (The guy was out later that afternoon.) In the meanwhile, I introduced them to my dogs, and they got along well (and a lot of dogs don't.) I then called my dad to tell him how my day was going.

"Puppies?" "What kinda puppies?" "BLACK LABS?" "Wait a minute... do you think they belong to someone?" "Are they cute?" "Do they have webbed feet?" "What are they like, do they get along with your dogs?"

I went through a game of 20 questions with both my dad & Chris. Basically you can't say the word "Puppy" around a Craven. So I I took them to the vet to see of they were microchiped. They weren't. I called back 311 and canceled the pick up. I also talked to Animal Services and e-mailed them a FOUND DOGS flyer to put up in their facility, on the off chance that someone lost these puppies. But the diarrhea poo they made in the back yard told me they had never received their puppy vaccines and still had the worms they were born with.

All the people I spoke to (vet's office, animal services, humane society clinic) said it sounded like they were freshly dumped. Someone's dog had a litter and they couldn't find homes for all of the puppies. They kept them while they were cute and little, but now they were starting to get big and troublesome so they drove out to a nice neighborhood and dumped them... hoping a nice family might take them in.

I took them to the lost cost clinic in the South Dade Goverment Center parking lot and got them their 1st round of puppy shots. When my dad got home, we went a visitin'. We wanted to make sure that Shadow and Chili didn't mind them; Dad didn't want to disrupt his happy pair of dogs.

They weren't sure if they wanted both, just one, or none at all.

Chili, my dad's german shepard mix, is an uber-dike. She is a female dog who lifts who leg to pee. She must be dominate of all other dogs that come in. She has an abrasive personality, at first with other dogs. Then, when she has established her dominance, she just wants to play. The puppies past the Chili test (not all dogs do.) Shadow doesn't care how many dogs are around, as long as Dad pets him first and longest. Dad took them all for a walk and they did fine together. Watching all of them play ball was hysterical. Shadow would plow through the puppies like a bowling ball through pins. Even with 4 dogs, Shadow got the ball 9 out of 10 times.

They are a happy, smart, good natured pair of puppies. But it is was coming close to decision time. So naturally the best decision is to delay the decision. As of last night, the plan was to keep the dogs a few days. In a few days they would be more comfortable, well fed and de-wormed, giving their true personalities time to shine. Then they would probably just pick one.

As of this morning, Chris thinks he may have found homes for them. It should be noted that the puppies DID NOT like Chris's cat Bobby. The rest of us said Bobby could stand to be taken down a peg or two and could just stay out of the back yard. Chris's response was "Hhmmphh!"

IF my parents were to keep the pair, my dad wanted to name them Bonnie & Clyde.

Mom and I like Heckle & Jeckle better. (The 2 black crows in an old cartoon)