Discovery

I'd been thinking about adopting a third dog for several months. Crazy? Everyone seemed to think so, but as I started a third year of doing the local 5k running circuit, I had a feeling I might go on to longer runs, and living in a decent-sized city, I knew I would feel safer if I had a companion dog. Meeso, my Pembroke, has never been able to run much longer than half a mile. She loves hiking--at eight years old, she was still able to hike 12 miles in the South Dakota Black Hills--but she's a sprinter when it comes to running. Molly, my German Shepherd, is 12 and has several health problems, including loss of vision and coordination in her back legs. She is spectacularly loyal and brave, as her breed tends to be, but I hesitate to take her on walks, let alone runs.

So, I knew I wanted some energy, but I could not handle anything younger than two, the age where most pups are entering some level of maturity. I tried that last year with a Coonhound mix, and I wouldn't try it again. But after more than a month of trying to reach people at the rescue where I acquired Molly, I was giving up when I signed up for the Run for the Dogs, a benefit for the Heart of America Humane Society. I'd discovered the organization and its run when I ran into a local PetsMart one Saturday, checking out potential adoptables. After signing up for the run, I looked through their list of dogs needing homes, made a mental list of potentials, and hoped to see them at the run.

Well, I did see one of the potentials at the run, and while he seemed sweet, I am cautious about adopting male dogs because of problems I've had with them in the past, and I wanted to meet another dog in particular who I'd been scouting and researching for breed tendencies: a Catahoula Leopard Dog--a short-haired, spotted dog (meaning a merle gene interacted with the dogs' coloring) who looked intelligent but sounded a bit reserved from her Petfinder description. A day or two after the run, I emailed her foster mom and waited.

Within a few days, she emailed back, and after a few exchanges, we arranged a meeting. I had high hopes, but I kept telling myself that I needed to be prepared for a dog who sounded like she might be shy. The drive took a little longer than I expected, but when I spotted Shelby, she looked at me, made a beeline in my direction, and I knew she would be the next addition to the family: Sweet, affectionate, and unique looking, she seemed to take to me in a way I had experienced with Meeso and Molly--a way I knew meant we had the potential to be a good match.

Because I had to be interviewed by a screener, I came back in a few days, and after a short tussle over medical issues, I went home with Shelby, who remembered me from the previous visit. In the almost two months I have had her, she has been as close to perfect as I could hope to find in an independent dog: listening to me (most of the time), staying by my side, going on vacation with Meeso to South Dakota (see the pic above), and running as far and as hard as I have to push us both to prepare for a half-marathon in August. She won't get to do the actual run with me because of race regulations, but she'll be with me in spirit, and I will miss her steadfast energy the entire way.

In the mean time (and after), I'm looking forward to sharing our running stories.