If I ever go postal this is most likely one of the reasons.
many years ago I was dropping off donations to the local shelter.... while talking to the gang there a yound beautiful hound , reagally walked up to me, HMMMM I thought, I could add her to the pack easily. While chatting and making up my mind, mentally counting the money in my pocket , since our shelter takes cash only I thought yep this one is for me, another family came in and the kids fell out over her, they raved over her looks and sweet nature and fought back tears when told she was to go home with me... I was waiting for the final paperwrk to be brought to me when a smallish , shivering black lab came up from behind and lay as close to me as she could trust. Her eyes went pickaninny as she tried to watch me and her lips puffed in and out in a silent panic... she was in a cage marked for Euthanasia that afternoon. I watched as my picked hound pranced and preened, her body fit and gleaming, she had been lost during a storm, in my heart I knew some one had been looking for her. ...
That darn lab lay there , trying to catch my eye... she knew. After saying good bye to the hound , I took Frisco home, she was afraid of storms, and motorcycles, beer and base ball caps. She was a mess around men and wanted nothing more than to be a Ridgeback....
I had a battle to keep her, even though my DH was a lab person before the rhodies, he couldn't figure out this small black dog who winced and flattened every time he spoke. I went back to the shelter and spoke with the crew, after chatting them up over a box of fresh doughnuts I found out the former owner's names and address. Silly me I "ran into them" and began a conversation....
"I love dogs" I commented, " OOOOH us too " she said... "I have a kennel" I causually mentioned. "we show dogs" "You got Pure bred dogs ?" she asked, ""yes, we show them and train them for therapy" "wow, that sounds like fun, we had a purebred dog once" She thought out loud... "t was the worsis dog WE ever had " ... ( I am not kidding she said worsis) " Gosh , really ? " I asked feigning interest. "Yeah, we paid a bundle for her, 50 bucks !! and she was a piece of .." " Gawd I 'member that d*mn dog" He interrupted over the top of his beer can. "pitiful excuse for a hunting dog" he added. "she couldn't catch a thing, not even her own shadow" pop , he opened another beer and offered me one. "I'm good " I said , waving off the 9 am beer, "what kind of dog was it?" I queried with a straight face. " She was a pedigreed lab, a real pure bred dog" She eagerly offered, as she ran her hand over my LV purse for the umpteenth time. " That pure bred stuff is pure cr*p if ya askes me !" she said, " well not like your purebred dogs of course..." I managed to keep from screaming... "Gee why is that? " I asked, " Well that dog we bought was like retarded or somethin" she began, "Yeah , retarded " he said just before belching. " "she was the biggest fraidy cat, I mean she couldn't handle storms, or bike rallies, it was like she was confused" she began to explain.... he reached for yet another beer and said " He*L baby you always did cut her too much slack.." I thought my eyes would make a sound as they rolled back into my head... " that stupid ole dog couln't find game and feed herself when we went out of town...she just got inta the trash..." "you didn't board her when you had to go out of town ? " I asked. "Well no, " she laughed , "we just look like we got money" blushing as she looked at her Dear Hubby, " the worstis thing about that dog was her everlastin barking, yap, yap, yap We'd get inta a fuss and she'd haveta be in the middle of it, it was cute" "Cute my A** what an interferin mutt, ever time she " pointing a finger at his wife, " got a bee in her bonnet and started nagging on me the dang dog would get in between us" At this point the little wife got an odd look on her face, luckily the big man had to go to the bathroom so she continued in a husded voice " It were kinda nice, when he gets to drinkin sometimes he pushes me around, I hate it when he gets like that, handsy , ya know?" What was I supposed to say ? " He didn't hit me so much when she was there, he'd just kick the tar outa her... it was nice not to haveta deal with him by myself" HEYYY Baaaby", he hollered as he came back from the bathroom, yet another beer in hand... "did ya tell her about how that dumb dog you wanted would bark and scratch at the door all night when it got a little cold? Tooo dang stupid to get under the trailer.!! " He was now flushed and one sid eof his shirt was untucked. She seemed to shrink as I looked back at her. ... I didn't have the heart to continue, saying goodbye I headed for my car, " Hey, hey there... ?" both of them called, " yes ? " I said through gritted teeth, " How much would one of yer dogs cost?? " floored I struggled to answer, " my dogs run pretty high,.." "What's high ?"" he asked in his best ready to dicker voice, " a pet starts at 2000.00 " They both looked floored, " Fer a dog?" "yes sir." ..." You mean fer just ONE dog?" sigh "yes sir" hmmmmm , she grabbed him by the arm and tugged, " Come on Baby, we don't need a dog right now nohow, " slighty petulant but at the same time wistful, "Why ?" I asked , " Yur right Surgar baby", He grinned like a buffoon, " we dumped that stupid dog the day my Sweet Baby and I are gonna have a baby!" He nearly shouted, "It was time ya know, we aint gettin any younger so it was time to forget about the dumb dog and think about a kid or two...."
Frisco lived with us for almost 14 years, she traveled ALL over the US and was adored. She passed away in my arms, loved and honored. Last I heard her first owners had 5 kids and were working on yet another. They were a bit disapointed from the lack of stellar activity by the children. somehow the genes passed on just didn't shine the way they had thought they would. I can't help but wonder if Charles Manson's folks thought there was something not 100% about him too???
Yeah this topic could make me postal easily, no doubt about it ....
Bonita of Bwana