HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE DUCHESS OF DOGWOOD!!!

Pic top : Jenna (Daisy) as she looked in the Animal Control pic that broke my heart

Pic bottom:  Daisy -Duchess of Dogwood--forever Daddy's girl

It's hard to believe that it's been TWO YEARS since little Daisy came into our lives.

Daisy's story started on Face Book. She was posted as an adoptable dog who was counting down the minutes at the Animal Control. 
Now I see MANY of those furry faces every week, as I make every effort I can to share them on Facebook so that their faces are seen and their adoption chances might be improved. They ALL make an impression on my heart, and as they are laid to rest, one by one they take a chip of it away with them.
But ever so often, one of those pictures posted speaks to me in a different way. I know that if anything is going to be done--I'll have to do it myself.
I begged my Better Half to let me have her, but received a firm NO.
So I connived a different route--could we foster her????
Better Half thought it over, and finally relented.  We had fostered once before, a beautiful Border Collie named Sadie who was also a pound baby. She lived with us a little under 30 days before she went to a wonderful home. With that in mind, Better Half conceded.

We went to the Humane Society early on Saturday morning, March 27th,  and told our good friend Ginger Scott that we wanted to pull this dog from the pound and foster her thru their program. Ginger didn't stall a second, and picked up the phone and told the AC Officers that we were on our way to pick up "Jenna" which is what they were calling Daisy  at the time.

From the HS Office, we drove straight to the pound and told the officer at the desk we were there to pick up "Jenna".  He gave me a form to fill out and I went over to sit in one of the lobby seats to complete it.

Suddenly the front door opened  and a white furred, black dotted blur leap from the door, flew half way across the room, and hit me like a ton of bricks. I hardly had to time recover before my face was covered in dog spit and I could feel the urine puddling in my shoe. Before I came to the realization that this was the dog i had come to save, she jumped straight out of my lap and into Better Half's arms.

She was a four month old bag of skin and bones. You could have played her ribs like a Xylophone. But BOY did she have a lot of ENERGY!

Better Half tried not to admit it--but love was in the air . Ok--maybe it was dog farts--cuz she definitely had gas. But once this little girl had made her entrance--we were both seriously afflicted.

We named her DAISY. We both hated the name "Jenna"--and Better Half said that the black spot that covered one eye  looked like a flower. So DAISY she became.

We expected that she would be snatched right up by a wonderful family that was right for her age and her amount of energy.  But all the applications the Humane Society received were from people with toddlers and older folks who she would have exhausted in a week. I know some folks got ticked off by being told no--but that's OK.  What's the use in saving a dog from death, only to put it in a home where it will either be thought of as a pain or where the dog might even end up BACK at the pound???

So Daisy settled in at Dogwood with our other canine convicts: Lucy, Charlie, and Hines the rat terror (I mean terrier). They loved her just as much as we did --and she slid right into an informal place in our pack. Even our beloved lost Pearl, who was the only kitty at Dogwood then, gave a nod of approval.

March gave way to April, and April turned into May. Then the flood came. Everything was in such disarray that adopting a dog was the last thing on people's minds.  I told Better Half that after a little over two months with this little girl, there was no way I was going to let her go.
Better Half AGREED---and Daisy became the official DUCHESS OF DOGWOOD.

Two years later, I cannot imagine a life without her.  She still finds a way to make me laugh, and to touch my heart in so many ways.

I can't save every animal that enters the pound--no matter how hard I try to help. But I saved Daisy--and that means the world to me.

Happy Birthday my sweet innocent. Daddy loves you now and forever.