Week 1

This here is Week 1 of DogBlog. It's also my first day of the new year back at the SFSPCA, having been on vacation in Washington, D.C. and Baja, Mexico. Did you know that in Baja, every town is allotted 1 stray dog by the government? And that each of these dogs loves to saunter into the middle of the road just as you drive into town, forcing you to slam on the brakes every time? This tradition is observed religiously by every dog we encountered.

Almost every dog who was here at the shelter last month in December '07 has been adopted. Here are three new dogs I got to know today:

Oso...A big fluffy chow.
Kody...A high-energy yellow labrador retriever.
Banta...I forgot her name as soon as I got her out the door so I decided instead to call her Borat during our walk.

Have you ever noticed how the attractiveness index of a person or an animal can rise based on repeated external validation? Allow me to demonstrate. The following event took place as I was walking Oso in the park near the shelter:

Lady in the park, raspy-voiced: "Oooh, that's a cute dog."
Me: "He's available for adoption."
Lady: "I'd rather adopt YOU!"
[I continue jogging past with Oso, trying not to laugh.]
Lady: "I'd rather adopt you, 'cuz I think you'd be easier to taaame!"

Many have tried. None have succeeded. Farewell and good luck to you, Lady in the Park.

Moments later, as we were crossing 16th street on our way back to the shelter, a woman we passed in the crosswalk saw Oso and cried out, "Oh, you are gorgeous, aren't you!" So there you have it, folks: bring Oso home and you'll have yourself a confirmed beauty!

Many of our labrador retrievers at the shelter (and sometimes other breeds as well) I call "soccer dogs." These dogs will dive through the air to catch a flying soccer ball, catch it with their front paws, and stop the ball on the ground. Then they will nudge the ball to you or wait for you to take it and pass it back to them. It blew my mind the first time I witnessed this. Kody is a verified soccer dog. I discovered this on our first lap around the soccer field when he dove for a ball coming towards us from the other side of the fence. If you were to bring Kody home, you'd have yourself a loyal new teammate!

Banta is a big dog with a lot of poise. She is also a housebroken dog and very well-behaved. At the moment she is recovering from spay surgery and then is going to her new home--she was just adopted!

As of 1/18/08:
Oso...AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION.
Kody...AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION.
Banta...ADOPTED!