Apples, Peaches and New Dogs

Yesterday my mother called me from Williamson Orchard and Vineyard to tell me that there was a dog that had showed up and nobody had come to claim him. She said that she was pretty much in love with him and that, for some reason, her heart had just gone out to this dog immediately. She told me that if no one had claimed him by 4, she wanted to take him and spare him the pound while we searched for his home. Later that day I got another call from her asking me to go out to the orchard and get a box of Honey Crisp apples, a box of sweet but tangy peaches, and a dog. It was quite possibly the oddest request that I have ever gotten!! Mike (my boyfriend and Faulkner's co-raiser) drove me out to the orchard and we were recognized right away. It's difficult to miss someone described as the "cute little redhead in the neck brace" as my mother had told the employees.

When I saw the yellow lab lying serenely on the porch it didn't register right away that this was the homeless dog that no one had claimed. He looks to be a pure bred yellow lab with one of the most gorgeous faces I have ever seen on a dog. He is friendly, calm and overall too good to be true. And then I put a leash on him. He's not a fan. He wasn't out of control at all. He just didn't want to move! After a lot of coaxing and a little bit of yanking, Mike and I got the two boxes of fruit and the dog into the car.

We stopped by the vet's office to get him scanned for a microchip, but one wasn't detected. The vet tech who helped us at the front desk confirmed that he was just over a year old as I had guessed. We got him home and he's been doing amazingly well ever since! He just hangs out in the living room with us. Happy to lie on the floor and come over for an occasional love.

My mom has fallen completely in love with this boy and we have named him Eliot Jones for the time that he's here. We've put him on Craigslist, hoping that his family sees him and they can be joyously reunited. If nobody claims him, though, I'm thinking that Mom won't mind having him around. With a little bit of work, he's going to be an amazing dog!

When we brought him home, we brought out Honey (the pet dog) to meet with him to make sure that dog interaction would be civil. Eliot Jones passed the test with flying colors and he and Faulkner have become good buddies in the day that he's been here. We're always extra careful with bringing new dogs into the house because Faulkner got bit in the face when he was about 6 months old and it was a traumatic experience for all of us. He's recovered from it fully and has no problems with other dogs these days, but it's always better safe than sorry.

Having this new dog in the house is fun and new and he fits right in. He sleeps a lot and is incredibly low-maintenance. We're all falling in love with Eliot Jones and hoping that he's claimed early on so that we won't have to suffer too much heartbreak. But for now, we're letting sleeping dogs lie.