I met Gizmo early February when we visited a friend of mine, who had had the 4 year-old labrador for a month or so. His previous owner had had to move from a house with garden to a flat, and could only keep the chihuahua. Tethered to the dog house, his tail would wag his entire body every time we came to pet him. I had an instant crush!
My friend said he was a sweet dog but he may not stay with them much longer as he had the annoying tendency to run away every time the kids would untie him. I was ready to take him with me in the trunk of my car the next day when we would go back home, but my offer rekindled interest from the household and that very evening, Gizmo was promoted from the garage to the living room, where he got to sleep next to the fireplace!
When we left the next day, having heard that they would think about my offer in the next four weeks or so, I was quite sad and had very little hope.
BUT, one late Saturday morning at the end of March, I heard from them! Gizmo, whom they had decided to keep, had run away one time too many and had been impounded. They were not going to get him back, but I could if I still wanted him.
You bet I did! The craziest day in months, possibly years, was about to begin.
I had to take my son to a birthday party after lunch, go grocery shopping, get my son back three hours after, drive a couple hours to get Gizmo, and drive a couple hours back. And my friend, who was stuck in work meetings, had to transfer paperwork to the animal shelter where Gizmo was, and ask them if they were willing to wait for me after hours.
I put my kid and my dad in my car, drove to the birthday party place so my dad would know where to go to fetch his grandson, drove my dad back home, rushed to the store where I got rudimentary dog-owner equipment, as well as dog food, and quickly finished the weekly shopping by the time I received confirmation that the paperwork had been emailed successfully to the shelter, and they would wait for me until 6pm. I got gas, and phoned my dad to confirm he was to pick up the little one, and tell him I was getting us a dog!
I drove as fast as I could and arrived at 5:58pm! Woohoo! Paperwork was in order, I paid the impounding fine, signed the release paper, and left with Gizmo. I was ecstatic. Here he is in the trunk, as we were about to leave the animal shelter in L’Isle-Sur-La-Sorgue:
I called my dad to tell him all was going according to the plan, asked him to make dinner and not wait for me, drove another half hour, and met with my friend for drinks since her meetings were over. It was lovely to catch up again, exchange a few dog-owner tips (I had none), hang out, just the two of us, and the dog.
Around 1am we were back home. My dad was up and met Gizmo as I unload the groceries from the car.
The next day (and weeks), he spent all his time next to me. Either at my feet, or *on* my feet :), or not far, curled up between the sofa and the coffee table.
Here are a few pictures of Gizmo and the family his first day at home: