Lexi, Our New Dog

    For months and months we have been scanning the internet dog rescue sites trying to find a dog to adopt.   It was very frustrating because we live in an isolated small village and the sites were from cities and they wouldn’t “reserve” or “hold” dogs for people over the phone, you had to be there to visit the dog.  We would watch the sites and see dogs we would like, but they would always be adopted by the time we were able to get to the city.

    A couple of weeks ago we saw that there was a toy poodle available at the Prince George SPCA and it was on their site all week long.  I had a dental appointment on that Friday so we thought, maybe this would be our chance.  Late on the day before our trip, the dog disappeared from the site.  We were unhappy and very discouraged.  We went up to Prince George for my appointment, and afterwards when we were at Costco, I decided to check their site again.  

    Amazingly, there was another poodle listed. 

    Wow, I thought this one might work out for us.  We ate lunch then zoomed over to the SPCA.  When we got there a couple there and who already had the dog.

    Frustrated again, and about to give up on ever getting a rescue dog, we considered just buying a dog from a breeder.    I was still in the habit of checking the various rescue sites, and I looked at the one for WHARF (Whitecourt Homeless Animal Rescue Foundation) in Edmonton.  

    They had had Lexi, an older cute Cocker Spaniel/cross on their site for a while, and I figured it would be adopted right away, so didn’t really bother inquiring but surprisingly, Lexi’s photo was still there on the site.  I made a phone call assuming they had just forgot to take her off of their site and if not, to see if Lexi was still available and she was.  I filled out the forms about our background and sent it to them.   They replied that they thought we looked like we might be a good home for Lexi, so we made immediate plans to make the six hour drive to Edmonton the next day.

    Its been a while since I had done such a long drive, and it has been a decade or more since we  had been in Edmonton, and had to face a lot of changes to the city, and the speed and congestion of urban driving.  We had to rely heavily on our GPS to find the house of Laura, who was Lexi’s foster home.  We met Lexi, and Laura, who answered all of our questions.  

    We decided to adopt Lexi.

    I felt sorry for Laura, who had been caring for Lexi for months.  I know how hard it must have been to give the dog up, but she had other dogs, and soon another rescue to soon rehabilitate.  The next day, we signed all of the papers, got Lexi, put her in the back seat and made the long drive home in a terrible rain storm.

    Once back at our house we faced the problem of introducing the new family member to Lucifer, our sometime aggressive cat.  We kept the two of them apart but within sight of each other, and slowly they solved their curiosity with out any blood or fur flying.

    Lexi really likes people and loves to be petted.  She is thought to be seven years old, but I was surprised how much energy she has when we walked her around our pond.

    In the evening we took Lexi on a longer walk down Horseshoe Lake Road.  She was again full of energy and leading the way.  We had to do the walk at a faster clip than what we usually do.

    I think Lexi is exactly what we were looking for.  We are very happy.

    

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