Dog days.

Yesterday the missus and the bestie and I stopped by the local Humane Society to take a look (we do this fairly often) without any intention to adopt (we all live in apartments and have the max. allowed number of animals). We found a female terrier mix, Flora, who had been a stray. She was very scared and skittish, and apparently had nipped at a few people (there were two signs on her cage that warned of her biting).

We wanted to take her out and play with her, because she seemed really sweet, if a little frightened. The women at the desk actually advised us not to take her out to play with her ("she's not the best dog for that sort of thing" I believe were the exact words one of them used). Basically, they had given up on her. They did (reluctantly) let us take her out, and she warmed up very quickly, and stopped her shaking and started wagging her tail and giving us kisses (didn't try to bite us once). We decided that we wanted her.

Problem: I filled out an application (we had to, to play with her), on which I wrote that we have two cats (we do, and we're only paying rent for one of them--as far as the apartment complex is concerned, Gir does not exist). And according to the Humane Society's Big Book Of Stupid Rules, my apartment complex only allows one animal per apartment (that's wrong--it's actually two, at least it was when we moved in). The lady at the desk said that she would call the complex to check on the policy, and that we could place a hold on her until she got a yes or no.

The worst case scenario is that we won't get the dog and that we have to start paying for Gir. Which, after stressing about it all last night, I'm coming to terms with. But I still want the dog to go to a loving home, which I'm afraid won't happen if they keep scaring potential owners away with bite signs. When we were holding her, several people commented on how cute she was, and generally cooing over her, but at the end of our visit, she was back in her cage with giant orange signs warning people away.

This is Flora.


She is three years old and very sweet. She is good with dogs and cats, but gets nervous around small children. Her adoption fee is $125, which includes shots and spaying. She must be spayed before she's allowed to leave the Humane Society, and is available for adoption on July 28th (that's this coming Tuesday).

If you are not able to take on a dog at this point, please take the time to write the Genesee Humane Society to ask them to take the bite signs down and stop discouraging people from considering her for adoption. No animal should be given up on so easily.

Here is the contact info:
(Snail mail) Genesee Humane Society
PO Box 190138
Burton, MI 48519

(Phone) 810-744-0511

(Email) Contact@GeneseeHumane.org

I should know by Tuesday if we're getting the dog (which is not probable), and I'll let you know what happens.

UPDATE: We were approved! Flora comes home with us tomorrow.