18. Rescue another dog and name him Remus Lupin. –101 in 1001
Yesterday, we went to the animal shelter to coo at puppies and came home with one of our own. We have been wanting to adopt a new doggy friend for a while now and have put it off because we wanted to rescue but we happen to be very picky.
This little sweet heart is Remus Lupin. We knew we wanted a Remus to go with our Sirius and the obvious breed choice was an Irish Wolfhound. These dogs are incredibly difficult to rescue simply because no one lets them go. They are the tallest breed of dog in the world and are gentle giants. If you think you have never seen a wolfhound, think back to the Iams dog food commercial with the veteran who returns from war to a horse sized dog.
Imagine our surprise when we discovered this wolfhound mix in our local shelter because he was found wandering around in the local town. We weren’t going to take him home with us because he was a) predicted to be older than we were looking for. He’s approx. three years old b) we didn’t want to afford a dog right this second as I just graduated and c) it was just impulsive. But we can never resist a dog that wants to hold paws/hands so we bought this little fella home.
(Thanks to a sweet woman at the shelter for snapping and posting this to facebook)
We are neat freaks and germaphobes and so before we brought him in we gave him the bath of his life in Sirius’ kiddie pool. It also gave Sirius the chance to meet him in neutral territory. While bathing him, we discovered over 15 ticks, 3 of which were engorged. Because I had the heeby jeebies and was nervous for little Sirius’ health, we took Remus to the vet 20 minutes before closing time.
(Side note: Stage Road animal shelter has the sweetest, kindest staff ever. As people who have worked in both health care and retail we know how it feels to have someone come in right before closing time and they were just awesome. They were patient and fast and just all around awesome. If you are in the Harnett/Wake area, I definitely recommend them).
The vet found a tick that I missed but also updated his vaccines and discovered that he was heart worm positive. I am really grateful that my paranoia about the bugs made us take him because we wouldn’t have known about the heartworms other wise. He is beginning his treatment and should be in tip top shape shortly. Sentimental Almost-Husband and I are going to keep him and give him some love because he is sickly, under fed, and we are suckers. So I will update later on his treatment and how Bossy Britches Sirius is handling a new play mate. For now, Sirius and Remus and I are going to enjoy this rainy day watching a Harry Potter marathon.
