I left my wife of 16 years mid 2005 and she wouldn't let me take my two cats. I love animals and I was lost without their company.
I hadn't had a dog since I was 13. It's been 24 years. I "think" I can handle the responsibility. So I started looking.
I found Zoe in an Ad, back when Kijiji was new and a better place to find anything (looking at you, Craig), and I responded, asked if I could see them.
They respond. A family had a litter of seven puppies and they were selling them at $200 each. They were selling the litter quite early. They said the puppies were now eating solid food. The litter was born October 7, 2005 and the ad was placed a couple of days after the picture below was taken.
This stank. Nothing right about weaning animals this early, they need at least two months of their mother's milk; they're really immature and don't have the wherewithal to find a food bowl let alone fight for a teat with their siblings. I grew up knowing little furry things we adopt need at least 8 weeks of their mother's attention.
Zoe, less than a month old. This is the image they used for the ad and I fell in love with this little Bologna Loaf (Bill Watterson reference) and had to have her.
When I called I asked if any of the puppies were still available and could I come by for a viewing stating that I REALLY wanted the puppy in the picture if "it" was still available. Something told me that the puppy pictured was the one I needed to adopt/buy and take home with me.
"She" was.
We made an appointment. I went to visit them and see the puppies.
The family lived in a town-house with neighbors on both sides. They had a female dog who wasn't spayed.
She looks nothing like Zoe. She was quite a bit smaller than her, fully grown. Zoe's Mom.
Their next door neighbor had a dog who looked EXACTLY like Zoe but quite a bit larger. Zoe's mom went into heat and her Dad dug under the fence into Zoe's Mom's yard and the sparks flew. The pregnancy wasn't planned, obviously and now this family needed new homes for thee little guys.
Zoe's Dad. Much bigger than Zoe but a dead ringer.
They had the puppies in the basement... a horrible damp, dark dungeon-like basement where things went to die. They were in a little pen and they were tiny and moving around in there. The Mom was sniffing around but it looked like she had lost all interest in them. She jumped in the pen and the puppies started getting her scent and gravitated towards her but she didn't seem to care. Then she jumped out.
I asked about "Zoe" and asked to hold her.
The owners had given each puppy a different coloured cat collar so they could tell them apart. The husband reached in and picked out a puppy and handed her to me.
She was tiny, so small, so fragile. I remember this very well, her puppy smell, "her" just being "her", with me next to her and it was just like that. I was smitten. I didn't want to hold another dog, thanks. I found what was missing.
I had never had my own dog.
The family told me they had given her the name "Porky" as she was the first-born and gained the most weight in infancy and for a while she outweighed all her other siblings. They laughed and thought it was cute. I didn't. I didn't think it was funny that she was being weaned a month early and supposed to eat kibble and water. That's what they had in their pen; bowl of water and a bowl of kibble.
There you go guys, make your way...
I spent some time with her and really wanted to take her right then and there but after what I had seen I was worried about a few things and I needed time to think and maybe get some advice. I was making a big decision. I wanted a healthy dog.
I left telling them I was looking at other puppies. That was a lie. What I really wanted was the dog in that picture.
I went home and did some thinking.
There was no way I was leaving her there. If I had $1400 I would have taken each one.
Couple of days later, we pick her up.
She gets a bath. Once she couldn't fit in the sink any more all baths were chaos and struggle.
And Zoe becomes a part of my life, and I have no idea what I am doing.
Zoe, first day at home, hairless guinea pig for scale.