Corgi Comes Home

          

January 4, 2023, we had our beloved Dino the Wonder Dog put to sleep. After being our most faithful four-legged friend for nearly 16 years, it was time, and he was ready.

          Less than a year later, my heart started aching to have another dog in the house. Then last May, when we put down Cheshire Cat, leaving special Emma the only critter in the house, it was too quiet.

          I started looking on Petfinder for a small to medium dog who was already fixed and got along with cats. So many sweet faces greeted me on my laptop, but none said, "Take me home." Until this one popped up one Sunday afternoon.

          I started filling out the application before I even asked Hubby. My bad.

          I was interrupted by a phone call from my brother – he had yet another crisis. His crises range from his record player not working to being locked out of his house to not liking any temperatures outside, which fall under 28 degrees. I can't remember what he had going on that day, but we had to run to his house to tend to it. It gave Hubs and me a chance to talk about this nipper.

          Not that it mattered coz we all know that I get my way with most things, so I emailed the application off shortly after we got home.

          Within an hour, the woman from the rescue emailed me back that she had multiple applications for this pup, but I was at the top of the list, so I had to let her know ASAP if I was sure I wanted her.

          Really? With that face?

          The biggest hurdle was that she was in Oklahoma, or as the rescue calls it, Okla–hell–oma. Apparently, animals, in general, are not treated well there, and none of the shelters will let Oklahomans adopt. Which sounds pretty unfair, but I don't know. I don't live there.

          Anyway, the rescue schedules transport, but it's expensive and took a few weeks to get set up. I think I saw that this rescue sent six dogs north in the truck with our baby. Traumatic for them all, I can't even imagine. The poor little puddin' was terrified when I finally met her Saturday night at a gas station in Wausau.

          But let's move on to the good stuff.

          She is a two-year-old Corgi mix. Ever since I was a kid, I have wanted a cocker spaniel, beagle, or Corgi. We had the cockers, Shadow and Pepper, from around 1996 to 2007. They were good dogs but dumb as several boxes of rocks. I think I'm getting too old for a beagle, but two out of three ain't bad.

          She came with the name Jojo, which I was never a fan of. Who names a pet something that rhymes with "no, no"? Luckily, she wouldn't answer to that anyway, so we renamed her Hannah.

          We've had cats named Alice, Betty, Barney, Bam-Bam, Cheshire, Emma, Fred, and Gizmo, plus Dino, of course. So I've been kinda going through the alphabet, which lands us at the letter H.

          I had an aunt named Hannah who never moved to America from Germany with the rest of Dad's family in 1924. No one ever knew what happened to her, but I'd like to think she survived the Holocaust, had several kids, and that her grandkids are still somewhere in Germany.

          Thinking about Dad, though, I remember a story he told about when he lived on the farm. They had a dachshund and a mutt, and one day, the wiener dog chased some rodent down its hole. The little dog kept digging her way into the hole until the hole collapsed on her. The mutt ran home and got Dad to rescue her.

          And since Hannah looks like she has dachshund in her, that name is a tribute to Dad and his family in several ways.

          I'm still getting to know her, and this is getting too long already. Will tell you more about her on Friday.