Crazy lady may require more help than just the adoration of dogs...

You want to love me.

Over the last year I have written a bunch of different stuff for this blog. Normally, I’d sit here trying to compose a slightly more eloquent or sophisticated sentence than that, but in this case, I really think “a bunch of different stuff” is about as descriptive as I can be  about my collection of blog posts. When I started the blog, I didn’t intend to write about dogs but this is where my life has taken me and so it seems appropriate that my writing reflect what is important to me. And this post is about something that has become extremely important to me in an extremely short period of time. Her name is Esme.

My previous post about Lacey tells the brief story about how I found Secondhand Hounds and became enamored with the face of every dog they rescue. My first foster dog, Lacey, was adopted a few weeks ago by an incredibly sweet couple who I feel confident are showering her with love right this very moment, so even though it was a lot of work having Lacey, I’m happy I could help connect the dog to the humans. It will be an amazing relationship for both species, I’m sure!

Two days ago I brought Esme home and I have fallen head over heels in love with her, just like I did with Lacey. Esme is some sort of wire-haired terrier mix, but I haven’t a clue what she is mixed with. She has the cute, scruffy terrier face but a funny long body and furry, curlicue tail. She reminds me of a wild animal the way she slinks down the stairs like she’s getting ready to pounce on something, as opposed to the double-legged gallop that my Jack Russell Terrier employs. Her hair is a sandy mix of tan and rust colors and, as the name indicates of course, is wiry in some spots but smooth and soft underneath. She’s got big pointy ears that she can rotate like little sonar discs, picking up important signals like the sound of food being unwrapped. There are few noises that seem quite so important to a dog.

Esme came to the Twin Cities from Joplin, MO where she had been spending time in an overcrowded shelter. I don’t know a single thing about her past life beyond this. There are two little white marks on her nose that make me wonder if they are scars from some run in with claws or teeth of another critter, which in turn makes me wonder about mistreatment. She seems very frightened of the world but still has an incredibly sweet disposition in spite of her fear. In the past 36 hours, she has discovered one thing that makes her feel better, though, and that thing is me. And that is the whole reason I wanted to try fostering rescue dogs. Is it totally narcissistic and self-centered to crave the love and adoration of a frightened animal? I don’t know. What I do know is that it is so easy to love this dog, as it would be easy to love probably any dog that came into my home.

I can’t keep Esme, as much as I love her, just as I knew I couldn’t keep Lacey. My dog, my family, my life is just not the best fit for this girl. But it is at least adequate to give her a temporary layover between her previous life and the Joplin shelter and a potentially fabulous future home full of love and soft blankies to curl up on. Have you ever thought about owning a dog? Have you ever wanted a furry, four-legged child to love more than life, one who will never learn to talk and argue and beg you for stuff and then get mad and tell you “it’s not fair?” Do you know anyone who does want this? Because if you do, I have the girl for you. She will learn to love you in no time flat, she will put her fuzzy little paws on you and look into your face with more sincerity than any human being could possibly muster. She will learn quickly just what you want from her and she will be happy to perform.

She needs a little work on the potty training front, but shows no signs of not being able to grasp this concept. But mostly all she needs is love and time to get comfortable, time to learn that the world is not so scary, and time to trust you. She is not a yappy dog and seems to like my curmudgeonly pooch Carson despite Carson’s unprovoked sniping. She seems like she has a lot of energy if you are looking for a playful dog, but she is also cool with the relaxing and snuggling. She might even learn to bring you your slippers.

Have I sold you yet? Think about it, because I know she could make the right potential dog-owner a very happy human being. I wouldn’t normally resort to a blog post advertising my foster dog, but I’d like to get back to writing, which has been sparse since my foster care started and I’d like to help out my family (dog, child and husband) who are all a little stressed out by our latest visitor, not because of who Esme is but because of who we are as a family. We’re high maintenance, I admit it, and maybe this is part of the reason I want my foster dog to adore me in spite of my shortcomings. But who wouldn’t like that, right? Like I said before, sometimes we all need a little rescuing and we most definitely need to be loved.

Find Esme and tons of other cute, deserving pups at Secondhand Hounds!