My doggie experience!

For the longest time, I have wanted to get a dog to fill the gaping hole in my life, really ever since I stopped taking care of Lexi, Tommy's Siberian Husky puppy. I went onto the internets and found the website for an animal shelter here in vegas, and I found two that were really what I was looking for! They were both older (less freakin' out) and furry (in case I move somewhere cold).

Today, I figured I would go and meet the dogs, just to get to know their personality. The adoption center has like, 22 buildings of dogs! Each building has maybe, 15 cells? That is a lot of doggies! To help me search for the dog, I'm supposed to copy down their ID number. I wrote them down, but then forgot them at home!! Luckily the nice employees there helped me look up Tango and Akamaru, the doggies I was looking for. I found Tango first, and he's a ~2yr old border collie male, with all three colors! (yes!) But he took little liking to me, and didn't even rise up to greet me. He just sat there, and stared at the reflection of the dog in the next cell barking. (I knew this because I stuck my head in front of his head and followed his gaze)

When I found that out, I went and put my hands in the way of his line of sight to the other dog. FINALLY he looks at me, like, "woah! I was so lost in that other dog. Now I can stop staring at him and hide in the corner" and then withdraws a little bit from the edge of the cage and tucks his front legs in.

Akamaru is a 3yr old white welsh-corgi (mix) female. When I got to her cage, she was shivering, and she seemed to spasm a little more every time a dog barked. She did come up to the edge of the cage and see what I was all about though. I took her out to play and she was ALL OVER THE PLACE! But she did obey me a little, and she totally responded to her name and some commands like sit and come. =) She does NOT know how to play catch though. I'm kind of not too into the body shape of the corgi, though.

I took Akamaru (lol dunno why they named a white dog "red fur" ) back and went to take Tango out to play. But right when I told the staff about which dog I was looking for, they knew him right away. Apparently he is very shy, and reacts very badly to men. Even getting him out of his cell was hard, and I had to coax him out with jokes about it being quieter outside. (he seemed to understand) Walking him was easy, but if I turned to quickly, he mistook my fast motion for aggression and tried to bolt (but was tied to me by the leash) One time I took him into some unpaved area to pee, and he jumped on a big boulder like "WTF YOU GONNA DO TO ME?!" After I walked him though, a staff member was like "wow i am so impressed with you, because Tango does not like men at all!" Later on I found out how true that was! Playing was a bust (not interested in balls whatsoever) and twice I couldn't get him to move. He did sit close to me, behind me, and on my left side though, while we were in the play area.

IN FACT! I noticed that was a trend, Tango going around me to my left side. My best guess is that he used to get harassed/beaten by a right-handed male. The dog SURE IS SMART though, and I love the breed. So I'm going to go again tomorrow and visit him, and if he doesn't warm up to me in 5 days, I'm not too sure what I can do.

One thing is for sure, I have to get him to trust me before I take him home. My mom already doesn't want a dog, and she especially doesn't want a freaked out, peeing/pooing dog tearing up the house. So once I can be sure that he'll react in a predictable manner, I'll bring a crate with me and i'll show it to him and hopefully he'll be like WOW A CRATE? I'LL LIVE INSIDE!