Gabby & Sadie

Given the last few weeks (months?) of visiting the animal shelter, writing stories about animals for work, taking pictures of homeless animals, answering countless animal emails from people every night, accidentally getting myself involved in local political drama that revolved around animals, and spending the last week cleaning rescue dog puke out of my car, I'll admit, I'm a little animal'd out.

That said, one of my favorite blogs, Kelly's Korner is doing that "Show Us Your Life" thing I try to participate in from time to time, and this week's topic is "Show Us Your Pets." So, I'm gonna take what seems like rare moment lately and spend a few minutes on my own pets, Gabby and Sadie.

I'll start with Gabby. I've written at length about her here before: a girl and her dog, and if you search my blog for her name, you'll see tons of pictures and anecdotes. She's been with me since college (she'll be nine years old in November) and every day, I see her getting a little older. Her eyes are starting to get a little cloudy, and she sleeps more often than not. She can't move as well as she used to and her face is turning gray, but she's still my best friend in the whole world. I can't imagine my life without her.

Gabby hasn't been the easiest dog in the world. She has allergies out the wazoo, and she's been hit by a car. She's more stubborn than I am, and she tends to get herself in many a tricky situation. I've written about the time she disappeared and my entire family spent a night combing the woods, looking for her, only to find her curled up in my bedroom. Then there was the time I locked both her and my keys in my car, and it took a number of police officers to get it open. OK, maybe we've gotten into some tricky situations together.

My parents often joke that they don't know who is more of a pain in the ass, me or her, but I guess what they say about people being like their dogs is true. She's been with me since I moved out of my parents' house, in and out of other places and together, we've watched people come and go from my life and careers start and end. When I went through a spell of having really bad anxiety attacks almost every night, she curled up next to me and let me hold on to her for dear life. I've cried my eyes out into her fur when my life didn't go as planned. I've spent nights sitting at the animal hospital, willing her to live. I give her way too many treats and let her have her way with my house even though she sheds more than anything I've ever seen, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

In January '10, I saw an ad for German Shepherd puppies at a shelter about an hour away and knew I must have one. I'd been thinking about getting another dog, and I'd become pretty fond of the breed. Over the weekend, three of the four puppies in the litter were adopted, but the one I wanted the most was still there. That Monday, I got my mom to drive out there with me and as soon as the shelter employee let her out of her cage, I fell in love.

It wasn't until we got the paperwork filled out that I realized that was not the same dog from the picture. This puppy sitting next to me in my mother's arms was the one I'd wanted the least, but, of course, I wasn't going to take her back. She needed me, and I needed her.

Gabby wasn't too thrilled about her about her at first (she hid in the bedroom for the first day or two), but within a few days, they were snuggled up together on a blanket in the floor, and I knew things would work out.

I waited for Sadie to grow to be this huge German Shepherd, but even though she had looked a lot like a German Shepherd puppy when I got her, she was anything but. She now weighs a whopping 37 pounds and looks more like a little Sheltie or something. I was not amused, but she has grown on me, and even though she'll never admit it, Gabby loves her too. Every night around 10:00, the two of them start playing, and they get so rough that it sounds like I've invited Michael Vick over for supper. I never thought I'd see Gabby love another dog, but these two couldn't get along better.

I'll never forget the time I took them to the park when Sadie was just a few months old. This guy was there biking and he had a Rottweiler that wasn't on a leash. The dog came charging at us (it turned out to be friendly, but I wasn't really sure to begin with), and I freaked out. I picked up Sadie because she was so small and tried to pull Gabby close, but she wasn't having it. Her normally lackadaisical attitude disappeared, and she got in between Sadie and me and the other dog and was ready to rip him to shreds.

I call Sadie "Little Bit" because she has such tiny features and even though she's almost two years old, she acts very much like a baby. She makes this grunting/whiny sound when I enter the room, and she always has a stuffed animal in her mouth. She's scared of practically everything, including my neighbor's tiny cat and being left alone in a room for any amount of time. I never thought I could love another dog as much as I love Gabby, and even though it's horrible to admit, I probably still don't, but I've learned to love Sadie more than I ever thought I would.

So, those are my girls. Do a quick search for either of their names if you want to see more pictures. (Yes, I'm that lazy right now.) Those are just the most recent that I took with my iPhone.

And because I can't totally let it go, I'd like to point out that both of them were shelter dogs - the best kind of dog to have in my opinion. As a matter of fact, the other day I wrote here about some shelter dogs that I worked really hard to get adopted and for my pet column this weekend, I was able to share some follow-ups with their new "moms" and "dads." It's really one of my favorite articles I've ever written, because all of the dogs mentioned were more than likely not going to get adopted otherwise, and it was kind of heartwarming to hear how well they're all doing. You can check that out here: Happy Endings for Homeless Dogs.