at the pound

It was a steady downpour when we arrived at the animal shelter. The first rain in weeks of dry weather, it was a very welcome wet.

I left hubby and the kids in the car and walked into the fenced compound. Two pitbulls, a large gray dog, and a small hyper brown and white one, barked enthusiastically at me. A Rottweiler cross stood patiently in a yard behind a sign marked "Guard Dog on Duty". It wagged it's tail at me and I chuckled. Sure didn't look much like a guard dog, more like a lap dog. He wagged his tail harder.

I opened the door of the small building at the center of the compound and stepped inside. Peering into the tiny office, I saw no one. To my right was a closed door marked "Cat Room". I waited patiently, reading the signs on the door. Rules about visiting the shelter. What to do if you want to pet an animal. How to make donations of food and bedding. Finally I knocked on the door and opened it a bit. My caution was worthwhile, there was a brown tabby staring up at me from the other side. Behind him was the Animal Control Officer (ACO) for the town. I told her who I'd come to see, and she told me where to find her, warning me that she barked at strangers.

My family joined me as we walked past the leaping, barking pitbulls and around the building to the back side. There were only two dogs on this side of the building -- an old, grayed lab cross, about 12 years old, which was bouncing up and down barking hoarsely. Next to him, the mountain of white we had come to see. I remember thinking that she didn't look as big as I expected a 100lb dog would look. And that she looked older than an 8 year old dog should look.

She walked steadily to the front of her kennel, barking voraciously at us. Her stance was firm and confident, her hackles were not raised, and her tail wagged slowly behind her, held level. Not a dominant position. Not a submissive position. Not friendly, but not aggressive either. She was all business -- strangers on her turf, as unnatural as that turf might seem to her, and she did what she knew to do, she was warning the woman who was currently her "boss" that there were strangers in the yard.

The ACO joined us, and I explained why we were there -- we had sheep and poultry in need of protection, and April was in need of liberation from the pound and a new job. A friend had sent me an email with a link to her picture on Petfinder an hour earlier, and I instantly saw how easily I could fill both of our needs.

The ACO moved April out to an exercise pen, and the boys and my hubby stood back a bit to help her feel more comfortable. I stood near the pen with the ACO and we chatted about April's history while she stopped barking and settled in to pace uncomfortably along the back of the pen. Despite the dogs around her barking at her and us, she paid no attention to them at all, focusing softly on us instead.

The story was that April had been surrendered to the pound a week earlier, along with the old lab cross kenneled next to her, because her owners had sold their cattle farm and couldn't find another home for the dogs. Both dogs had lived free in the pasture with the cows, April as a working Livestock Guardian Dog, the other as her companion. While the other dog seemed extremely attached to April, April didn't seem to care much either way. The other dog was a big-time barker, and being at least half sporting dog, would no doubt want to chase, or possibly eat, our poultry. There was no way we could take him.

But April we could take. The ACO was happy enough about that, she had been fearful that both dogs would need to be put down. There's just not much luck adopting out older dogs. At age 8, April is old for her breed, which commonly live to about 10.

We discussed Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGDs)-- the ACO had done her homework, and even though neither of us had ever worked with an LGD before, at least our notes matched. We both felt like this might just work out well for all involved.

The ACO was more comfortable bringing April out to us rather than having us take her from the pound, so I filled out the adoption paperwork and arranged for her to deliver April a few days later. April's adoption fee -- $5.


And thus April's second life began.