My First Adventure with Lulu

I was sitting at my desk attempting to balance some budgets a few weeks ago when my cell phone rang. My sister was on the other end to inform me that she was submitting an application on my behalf to the local golden retriever rescue. I had been humming and hawing over the prospect of picking up a new best friend for about two years--ever since my old pal George had gone on to the great rainbow bridge by-and-by. I thought this kind of pressure might be just what I needed to stop my feet from dragging, and I consented to Bib Sis's "help."

"You need two personal references... Also, are you willing to have a home-visit? They probably don't do that, but just asking weeds out the wackos." So Big Sis said, but I had to wonder... After all, it was not stopping us.

She submitted my application electronically and within 12 hours I had an email response AND a phone call from the head of the organization. "I emailed your references and someone will be calling you within a day or so to set up the visit. In addition to adopting, would you be interested in possibly becoming a foster parent?" I wondered whether, like foster children, foster dogs required their own bedroom or just their own beds. Big Sis and I began cleaning up the house and the backyard. Would they give a dog to someone who had not managed to properly landscape the yard despite the fact that it had been the official "summer project" for three years running? Would they find me to be a fit mother?

My personal references were not just emailed. They received calls asking them whether they would trust me to tend their own pets while they were away. The home inspectors arrived (there were two!) with eight pages of questions and advice. "Do you have any breakable objects at tail level? Are you aware that the typical golden retriever requires much more exercise than a simple daily walk? Does your gate have a lock? What will you feed him or her?" Then came the moment I had dreaded. "Where will your new pet spend the majority of his/her time? In the yard, throughout the house, or in his/her own room?"

Next came more calls and a "meet and greet" with a dog that the rescue staff and I agreed might be the most compatible with "the family." Lulu charmed me from the start, but there was no rushing the process. We had to comply with the 24 cooling-off period--a time where I was expected to take a step back, think through the magnitude of the situation in a rational way and decide whether I was ready to again become mom to a pup who might be damaged from her past experiences in a hard-knock world.

Who could not fall in love with her face? She was worth the trouble. (Of course, the comedy alone was worth the trouble...) Here's to a lifetime of future adventures! She'll keep you posted about her own adventures if you follow the link (left) to Lulu's very own blog.

P.S. If you thought I was being overly dramatic with the rainbow bridge thing, you obviously have never spent a lot of time with true golden retriever lovers! Get educated, people.

http://www.goldheart.org/rainbow.htm