Our flight left Phoenix at 10am this morning. We actually saw Air Force One at the airport as we drove in. I guess Obama is in Phoenix today. It was really cool to see it in person and up close. We landed in Denver around 1pm and our awesome roommate Paul came and picked us up. We picked up our car from the garage on campus where we left it before Europe and then went out for a quick lunch. Paul is just as excited as we are about getting a puppy so he wanted to go with us to look for one. We went to the Colorado Humane Society first, but they were closed. So we drove to the Dumb Friends League that's just blocks from our house. They are a little more expensive than other shelters, but we wanted to take a look anyways.
First we completed a questionnaire on a computer screen. Then we went into a hallway with kennel after kennel of dogs. A lot of them were barking and going crazy, and a lot of them were laying completely still in the bottom of their cage. There were not many puppies there. We wrote down kennel numbers for dogs we were interested in. We wrote down close to 7 numbers, I think. Then we went to the receptionist desk. We told her the dogs we were interested in and most of them were unavailable. Some were on hold, some were adopted earlier that day, and some still had to pass behavioral exams or something like that. There were two dogs left for us to see: a black lab puppy and a deaf Australian Cattle dog puppy. They brought in the black lab first just in case another family wanted to see it too. The puppy came in and immediately jumped all over us and licked our faces. At first, I was hesitant. We had never talked about a lab. Also, he was a little older than I would have liked. He wasn't the cute tiny puppy that sits on your lap; he was the rambunctious jumping up and down kind of puppy. Paul had to go to work, so I drove him home while Daniel stayed with the puppy. When I got back, that was it.
What sold it for us was that 1) labs hardly shed at all and 2) he didn't bark the whole time. When other dogs were barking like crazy, he didn't bark at all. He was excited and loveable like any puppy would be, but he didn't bark and he didn't really bite that much either. The adoption fee was a little more than we would have liked ($300) but in the end, it's for a good cause and he would have cost way more from a breeder. He looks like pure-bred lab to me. Then we had to come up with a name! The girls that were helping us were so great. They thought he was adorable too and were happy to help us. Finally, we settled on Jackson. It just felt right. I asked the volunteers about other costs and what else we should buy today. I told them we wanted a crate and I was worried about the cost. She said they often sell them for much less than Petsmart or any store like that. Unfortunately, they didn't have any, but right there and then she went online to Craigs List. While I was still in the office with Jackson playing at my feet, I emailed a lady about a crate she was selling for $50. She called me right back and we went straight to her house from the Dumb Friends League.
On our way out, we stopped in their shop to get some of the necessities. We got a collar, a leash, dog bowls, a chew toy, and some food. Of course we'll need to get a lot more. We had to leave Jackson there to get neutered and microchipped. We can pick him up tomorrow at 4pm!
Tonight we have unpacked all our Europe stuff and gone through our gigantic pile of mail. We have puppy-proofed most of the house. The hardest thing is going to be keeping things off the floor because Jackson is probably going to chew on everything. He will be a big dog too, close to 80 pounds they said. But labs are great family pets. He is loveable and social and wants to please us already. Labs are easy to train too. I can't wait to take him back to Phoenix to meet my parents and Daniel's parents! What an exciting time!
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