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The Story of Carter

Woo on Activities - Wed, September 03 2008

I got a phone call from my mom wanting to know if we had "NEWS" for her and Dad. She wondered because my dad had a dream about finding a giant tree laden with gorgeous fruit. He plucked two pieces of fruit and carried his precious bundle home. When he woke up, he said to my mom, "Our daughter is going to have twins, give her a call and find out if I'm right."

That's when I laughed and said, "I think Dad's premonition was about our new puppy, Carter. Now, we have two dogs again, Carolina and Carter."

"Ayyah!" Lamented my mom. "When are you going to concentrate on having kids?"

I laughed and said I didn't realize concentrating could make babies, maybe I had ADD after all. Then I told her how I came to be Carter's new mom.

Hunter heard from an associate that some guys had a black lab puppy that was "free to a good home." ***sigh*** Knowing how that can pan out, he told the associate to caution the guys about the potential dangers. "Better yet," he said, "get them in contact with my wife, she'll talk some sense into them."

After a couple of emails, I realized that these guys were in way over their heads with this puppy. A typo led me to believe the puppy was 9 months old (he was in fact much younger), not house broken, not neutered, not properly vetted, not socialized, not crate trained. I explained that responsible breeders would accept any of their dogs back and they would rehome the dog. This was met with a lot of hemming and hawing; exclamations of "we have papers" (I never asked and frankly don't care); the breeder lives in Michigan; and finally: "we didn't actually get him from the breeder, he was given to us."

Come to find out, he'd only been with them a few weeks. Before that someone else had him a few weeks. Before that he was at the breeders. As far as I know.

At this point, I had just left a job interview and I was on the phone with this kid, stuck in traffic and getting kinda fired up. Abruptly, I said, "Text me your address. I want to meet you." It took him off guard and he said, "You want to come here?" I said, "Yes, I want to come see the dog in his home environment."

On the way over there, I ran through everything I was going to say to them about responsibility, about commitment, about life, about pet overpopulation, what did dogs ever do to you. I was working myself up into a fine tizzy.

When I arrived, I was greeted by a college aged kid. He was one of the puppy's owners. The other owner was in India. The puppy was small. Too small to be 9 months old. Turns out he's only 3 months old. He was eating adult dog food, had no collar, was scratching at fleas, and reeked of cologne. There were several stains all over the carpet.

I listened to the kid's story. We've all heard it before. Same story, different day.

I told him about IACC, about how animals die everyday because someone decides caring for a puppy is not so easy after all, about how we were looking at Labs in rescue, about how all the rescues were strapped for resources, about how non-unique his story was, about how depressed it made me.

He listened politely to everything I had to say. I could see he was feeling trapped and defensive.

I finally said, "Please don't do this to another dog. I'm taking him home with me right now." And we left.

I can honestly say Carter does not seem to miss his previous people.

Carter is a decidedly happy puppy, full of energy, clumsy, lovable, he flops down instead of laying down, belly rubs and ear rubs are akin to nirvana--I swear his eyes roll to the back of his head, he adores Carolina and won't leave her alone. We are working on the potty training; mostly successes, some misses primarily because we missed the signals. We've contacted Doggone Connection for classes; we might have a schedule conflict, but we're working on it.

As for the Labs we were looking at with Lucky Lab Rescue, three have been added to the "adopted" page. We've decided we are going to make a donation in honor of Carter to help Baby Ruth who is recovering from parvo and a nearly debilitating secondary infection.
Her story is here: http://www.luckylabrescue.com/8.html

Sorry for the lengthy post. I've been IP deprived for a while, making fly-by comments here and there, encountering "internal server error 500" in some new ways, and conducting a job search and training a new pup. Whew! But once things get back to a routine, I'll be around a lot more!

Daisy on Sep 03 at 06:37 PM

You are such a good person to take Carter in. You two didn't meet by accident. It was all planned by God. Good luck with him and keep us posted on how he is doing.

Tilly on Sep 03 at 06:51 PM

Awww, that's such a sad story but I'm glad it has a happy ending. I hope Carter is having as much fun as I am in my new forever home! You're such an awesome mom...C&C are two lucky pups.

Scouter-Roo on Sep 03 at 07:28 PM

Long story short, it was meant to be! congrats to carter & carolina on a new friendship!

Carolina on Sep 03 at 07:46 PM

My mom can be sooooo long winded sometimes. sheesh!

But you're right about it being meant to be. She's been saying that for awhile.

Carter on Sep 03 at 07:52 PM

Tilly, you're lucky, too. I hear your mom and dad are total softies.

I'm having loads of fun! Why today, I showed Mom how to remove the screen from the back door. It was loads of fun!

Lynn on Sep 03 at 08:13 PM

Carter, your one lucky guy to have found such a loving home.

Angie on Sep 03 at 08:57 PM

Not only are you a good person, you have a gift for writing! Great story and another lucky lab!

Stacy on Sep 03 at 10:53 PM

Congratulations on your new baby boy!! I really enjoyed reading your post too, so be as long-winded as you wish! :) I especially enjoy the part about concentrating and children! :)

I'm trying to PM you about the bulbs, but I keep getting the error 500s! I've typed two messages now only to have them eaten by the 500 error. I'm just going to send you an email with my address, so you can get your order to me. Thanks for ordering!!

Connie on Sep 04 at 06:57 AM

I love the people of IndyPaws. If there were only more of us in the world, there would be fewer unwanted animals. Woo, you rock. Maybe something you said to the silly college boy will even stick and maybe he won't get another puppy without thinking.

Marci on Sep 04 at 07:56 AM

Woo, you really are a wonderful person. I really hope what you told that young man will stick. Your story is wonderfully written. I too love the portion related to your parents. My parents realized years ago that there would be no skin kids, and that they might as well accept the dogs as their grand children. They have done so with open arms much to my delight.

Amber on Sep 04 at 07:56 AM

Great job Woo! Carolina and Carter are lucky to have you, and it was obviously meant to be, as indicated by the dream :) Don't worry, my hubby and I have been getting the "kids" speech too, I just keep telling them they have a grandpuppy...Eddie:)

Jennifer on Sep 04 at 08:30 AM

He is so beautiful! Congratulations on your new addition!

Anne on Sep 04 at 08:30 AM

You are fanastic, period. And I was laughing out loud about you just showing up at their house!!

Hopefully, a bit of what you said will sink in and they will all think really long and really hard before getting another dog.

My brother got his two dogs, Kona and Lou from Lucky Labs - so I made a donation in their honor... hopefully she'll be as lucky as Carter in finding such a fantastic forever home.

Everything happens for a reason - it seems like Carter was meant to be part of your family!

Anyway

Anne on Sep 04 at 08:32 AM

Amber said:

Ha! I think your parents and mine must have been talking b/c we get the same thing :)

Andy on Sep 04 at 09:26 AM

It's good to know Carter went to a good home and hopefully those people will learn their lesson about lying!

dreya on Sep 04 at 10:26 AM

You're awesome, Woo! That Carter is one lucky pup. He is so handsome and looks very happy in his pictures. I'm sure he knows he is much better hands now. Like others have said, twas meant to be!

Oh, and my ma has all but given up on me having a human kid. C'est la vie! She loves her granddogs/kitties!

Chuck and Sandy on Sep 04 at 11:30 AM

From the mom of two rescues - Thank You!

P.S. about the baby thing. My first mother-in-law used to trap me in her kitchen and tell me that I was her only shot at being a grandmother. My husband at the time was an only child. Believe me, I know what it's like to get those hints about having babies!

Rhonda on Sep 04 at 12:17 PM

Chuck and Sandy said:

From the mom of two rescues - Thank You! P.S. about the baby thing. My first mother-in-law used to trap me in her kitchen and tell me that I was her only shot at being a grandmother. My husband at the time was an only child. Believe me, I know what it's like to get those hints about having babies!

I swear we ALL have the same mothers! My husband is an only child too, but I'm glad everyone has finally come to terms with the fact that we aren't going to have human children. So, our dogs are called the furry grandkids and they get birthday and Christmas presents from both of our families just like human grandkids would.

Batman on Sep 04 at 12:28 PM

Rhonda said:

Grandma says I'm a great granddog because I'm the only grandchild who she knows won't do drugs, won't get pregnant or do anything to get my name in the paper in the police report. Plus, I have a stronger work ethic than some of the grandchildren. So, Grandma lets me snuggle up with her on her couch when I visit.

Woo on Sep 04 at 01:18 PM

Thanks everyone for all the kind words. The grandparents will come around, they always do. Once Carter is a little older we'll have to try a get together somewhere.

In case the story of Baby Ruth gets buried don't forget to look at her profile and her story.

http://indypaws.com/post/index/20064

http://www.luckylabrescue.com/8.html

Diane on Sep 04 at 07:03 PM

MMUUAH here's a big kiss from Mick for rescuing Carter and making him yours!! You ROCK!!
Mick says to tell Carter that he flops, too. No laying down or slow roll for him! Just one big flop. :) xoxo

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