Back on my phone call to the Lhasa Apso rescue committee. I called and spoke with a kindred spirit named Kathy and explained that I was heartbroken over losing Misty. I wanted to know if there were any puppies that needed a good home. WELL…..she said she thought she had the perfect candidate in mind. The only hiccup was that she was NOT a puppy. Kathy told me she was 2 years old. She also stated very playfully that this little dog named Sadie, “has problems.” I told her to tell me about them. And when she did, I could not help but smile. Sadie was possessive of her owners, wasn’t great with kids, liked hopping on people furniture, tended to experience separation anxiety, and her biggest problem of all . . . she liked food . . . A LOT! To me, those weren’t “problems,” they were part of the Lhasa experience!
Kathy explained that Sadie’s owners were on the verge of putting her to sleep because she had bitten one of their children. But in the course of our conversation, I learned that Sadie had been provoked. A stray lollipop was left on a coffee table, and Sadie could not withstand the temptation! Instinctively she went after the lollipop, but the toddler tried to stop her, and well . . . Sadie did what came naturally; she bit the child (it was not a serious injury). Because of this, Sadie literally had gone into a depression, I was told, and had chewed off “2-3 inches” of her mane. The owners were at a loss. Come to find out, they’d only owned her for a few short weeks. But more about that in another post.
I hung up with Kathy and shared the information with my husband. I was still terribly heartbroken over Misty and the thought of bringing another pup into my life sent me for an emotional roller coaster. I could not bear the thought. Since my husband had always had a dog in his life, this too was extremely difficult for him, but he felt ready to have another one. I just wasn’t ready yet. In the meantime, I called the current owners for more information and found out in fact that she was over 6 ½ years old! I thought, “NO WAY! This dog is already set in her ways and I’m not ready for another heart break any time soon!” My husband and I agreed that this wasn’t going to work for us. So he kept an eye on the paper for puppies.
We drove to a breeder’s home and looked at 2 Maltese puppies, we went to a large store and nearly bought a feisty Maltese girl, went to another store and our hearts went out to a sickly Lhasa boy, and came close to getting a little ShiTzu boy whose family was moving overseas. All of these were adorable, but on the brink of decision, I would emotionally collapse. I just didn’t feel ready. The night we saw the ShiTzu, I could not sleep. The thought of Sadie being punished for obeying her instincts kept gnawing at me and I kept wondering what would happen to her. I couldn’t get her off my mind. Little did I know, my husband felt the same way. The next day he called me from work and brought Sadie up. He said, “What about Sadie?” He suggested that since her lifeline was running short, what harm would it do to take her in for a few days and find her a good home? For the first time, I felt that was something I could do. I didn’t have to make a long-term commitment; I could just do a good deed and find this baby a loving home! So I called the owners and told them what we were willing to do. We set up a meeting spot half-way between their city and ours. So, on August 9, 1999, with butterflies in our stomachs, we set out for a road trip that would change our lives.
