AMBER

Amber came into our lives accidentally like most of the other pups who adopted us.

Our oldest daughter knew we had been looking for a playmate for our husky/shepherd, Crockett. We had just adopted Bear (Grizzly Bear), the Rottweiler/Chow, unbeknownst to our daughter. Steph found this beautiful girl on a soccer field wearing no collar. This was on a Saturday. She took her to a shelter and told us she had found this beautiful dog. So, I called the shelter and asked about her. I was told that if the owner did not show up after a short time, she would be put up for adoption. I asked if I could adopt her if her owners did not show up. Then, I was asked where did I live? Whoops!!! WRONG COUNTY!!!

I was told that they couldn’t adopt dogs outside the county. I asked to speak to the supervisor. So, I was connected to the Director of the shelter. He said the same thing. I then asked what would happen to this dog if she wasn’t adopted out. I was informed that she would be put to sleep. I said, you mean killed. He said, no, I mean put to sleep. He went on to say none of the shelters adopted outside their counties. That is crazy making!!! I was appalled by this entire encounter.

I then said, if you do not let me adopt this dog, I will write a letter to the editor of the Washington Post, and then I will call PETA. PETA does some good work, but sometimes they go too overboard in their decisions. The supervisor then said, o.k. you can have the dog. I said I had a business trip for the upcoming week and would not be returning until Friday, and to please put my name and phone number on her kennel run. So, 6 days later, I drove back from my place of business and went to the shelter and picked up Amber. She was about 18 months (according to the vet) and was with us until she passed from cancer of the spleen at age 12. She was amazingly smart, eager to please, and quite the character. We still miss her every day.

One special thing about Amber is that when we would give each of the 4 or 5 dogs a cookie, each seated before receiving their big cookie, Amber would hold hers in her mouth until all the other pups had eaten their cookie. Then, while the others were watching, she would eat hers - then, and only then. It didn’t matter whether it was a tiny or large cookie; she would just sit patiently and wait until all the crunching was done.