Success!

Duke is still an only child/dog. Matthew and I went to the shelter this morning to photograph the dogs and we managed to come home without a sibling for the Dukester.

There were about 10 people who were there volunteering to walk the dogs. It was great to see such a turnout. All those people were there just to give those pooches some human contact and some exercise. The people were all super cool and lots were dog walking regulars. Pretty fantastic. There is a dog park not too far away, so some of the dogs get to go there and others get nice long walks around the neighborhood. There were about 10 dogs who needed their photos taken and high energy shelter dogs are not too keen about portrait sitting, so you can imagine it was a lengthy process. While we waited for the last 2 who needed photos to come back I walked 3 dogs.

A 10 year old chihuahua named Mr. Ramirez broke my heart. I'd never walked a dog that small before, so it was strange to hold a leash that felt like it wasn't attached to anything. Duke is hefty and you know you're attached to a beast when you walk him. Mr. Ramirez is so tiny that I couldn't even feel him fluttering about next to me. He's old, he's blind in one eye, he shakes a lot, he doesn't like other dogs because he lived at the city shelter for as long as he could before coming to BARC and he picks fights. If he were a human he'd be the old guy on the porch yelling at the kids to get off his lawn. He's not cute, he's not nice, he's not cuddly. But you know what? Mr. Ramirez broke my heart. Who in the world is going to adopt an old, tiny dog with a bad attitude, a slight neurological issue, and one eyed blindness? I hope someone does. If he wouldn't antagonize Duke all damn day I would have taken him home this morning. Te amo, Sr. Ramirez.