how yoda came to live with us.

yoda was surrendered to the SPCA where i work by her owners. they had been evicted and could not take her, or her mother, with them. yoda is 13 and her mom, Princess, is 14. they had been outside dogs their whole lives so it was highly likely that they were not house trained, unsocial, and therefore plain unadoptable.

from the moment i saw yoda i loved her. her name was "fifi" and she would hide under the Kuranda beds at the shelter out of stress. she would wiggle out when i came to her kennel for a treat, then retreat back under. i would climb in with her and hug her while i fed her treats, visiting her as much as i could throughout the day because i know the kennel can be awful for a dog. i could see it was affecting her negatively.

then yoda fell ill. she has mucus coming from her nose, a cough, and she wasn't eating. she was put in ISO while the equivalent of kennel cough ravaged her. the vet techs at work stated, even in her medical records, that she was depressed, ill, and euthanasia was likely.

thankfully a volunteer at the shelter who runs Rescue Ridge decided that just because she was old didn't mean she had to die. i wholeheartedly concurred. it takes 5 signatures to put a dog to sleep at our shelter. there were 5 on her sheet. the volunteer simply asked to take the dog to see a vet at Red Bank Vet Hospital and get a second opinion. thank god - that second opinion saved her life.

yoda had pneumonia. she was put in critical care in an oxygen tent for two days. the morning after being admitted she started eating again.

fast forward to three weeks later; today. we are still on meds as her pneumonia slowly heals. we are slated for four more weeks of antibiotics, but she is slowly coming around. she gets spunkier every day. we are fostering her until her medical stuff is cleared, then we adopt.

the little old dog who "wasn't attached to humans" follows me around everywhere. she loves ear scratches, jerky treats, and going for walks. she never wants to be alone. it is as if she has been here for 10 years. realistically i know i won't have her that long, so the psychic feeling of already having had her here is satiating enough.

she doesn't have many teeth, has some hip problems, and is mostly deaf, but we love her.

lou on the lam.

we ran some errands today. one took us up in the neck of freehold to the mall to grab some stuff for a care package.

while traveling to this mall on the highway, we were nearing our destination's exit when i spotted something that struck fear into my heart.

coming off the 'on ramp' in the other direction were 2 greyhoundesque dogs, running down the highway at top speed. a golden retriever and a black lab were tearing down the road in traffic. i said to chris, 'oh my god, we have to turn around'.

turning around wasn't so easy, we had to exit, take a couple jug handles and sit through a couple lights. my heart was pounding the entire time. by the time we had resurfaced onto the highway there were at least 4 cars stopped and people out of them chasing these dogs. someone had gotten a hold on the golden, but the black lab was escaping rescue continually. he was running back up in the direction we had originally been headed, still on the highway. i said to chris, 'pull over!' i jumped out of the jeep and sprinted across the highway to the other side only to watch the black lab's rear end bounce up the highway. he was already back up where we had originally exited. do-gooders littered the highway, which was at a dead stop on that side. the black lab would have none of anyone who tried to call to him or grab him.

i sprinted about half a mile up toward where they'd all convened. i decided to lay back in case he escaped them. he did. he headed back towards me and past another lady on the original side they'd been running on -- cars were now coming from that direction. i hopped the median as he ran in my direction. i was now alone in this, the 15 other people including chris now behind him. i dodged the oncoming traffic and stood on the shoulder as he got closer and i whistled. i didn't yell or wave my arms, i simply stood still and held my arms up at my sides to make my body appear bigger, hoping to mentally trick him into stopping. it worked. he paused, put his ears up at my whistle, then decided that jumping the guard rail was his only option.

i could see from my position that it was a steep embankment, covered in brush where he had entered. i could also see that there was about 50 feet of fence now keeping him from the brush where he was tumbling through and another busy road that went under the highway. there was only one option.

i vaulted over the guard rail and ran down the embankment, slipping and sliding as i went. i curved my path around his, watching him the entire time as he stumbled through. i headed him off at the bottom where he pushed through a final bush and held my arms out as i had done on the road above us. i said nothing as i approached him slowly, him watching me. he slowed his movements and i gently said, 'down, down' while i kept motioning my palms to the ground. a miracle occurred and this unstoppable dog lowered his body and crawled toward me, exhausted and panting. i didn't know this dog, so i was unsure how he is going to react to me touching him. i quietly talked to him (i forget now what i said), and slowly reached out to him as he came within a foot away of me. i saw him give me a little lip, so i paused and let him come to me as i crouched before him -- no eye contact. i felt contact with his fur and slowly slipped my hand around his collar and recited, 'good boy. good boy. good boy.' he immediately laid down on his side, breathing heavy and foaming a little. i sat next to him on the hill and just gently stroked his fur as i caught my own breath. my heart was still pounding and i could feel his doing the same.

the owner magically appeared a couple minutes later, distraught and frantic. i called up to ask what her dog's name was as she repeatedly said 'thank god. thank god.'

turns out that lou and his golden buddy had slipped out the gate her son had left open in their backyard a few miles down the road.

did i mention i did all this in ballet flats? phew. someone get me a drink.