Jananas

We spent the weekend up at the cottage. One the highway between Belleville and Tweed we saw a dog wandering at the side of the road. We kept driving and both of us had that “what do we do? do we turn back? do we keep going moment?” And then Jason turned around and we drove back.

We were able to coax the dog over to our side of the road and I was able to grab her collar. Another car had stopped and we spent some time talking with the driver. [Actually three cars stopped, but the other driver never got out. Still, it made me hopeful.]

The dog was very dehydrated and is very malnourished. We could see the vertebrae in her spine. You can clearly make out her hips and she’s so thin that I can fit my fingers between her ribs.

We looked at each other and then back at the dog. There was no way we could return her to a situation where she was being poorly treated. It also didn’t take long for us to name her Lila.

Jason went and rearranged the car so that we could fit her in. We tried to introduce her and Gucci on the side of the road and Gucci snapped at her several times. He wanted none of it. We were unsure of how the car ride would go, so we separated them – the rescued dog up in the front seat (which was pretty adorable because she’s so big that she barely fit) and then Gucci and I in the back so that I could act as a physical barrier.

Once we made it up to the cottage, the dogs started to get along pretty well. There were the odd dust ups over toys and moments of jealously when one dog was being pet more than the other. But they did really well.

She was starving and thirsty. It was late on the Friday night so nothing was open. The poor lady ended up getting fed diet dog food in larger than normal portions (it was the only thing that we had on hand). We fed her small-ish meals every 2-3 hours to give her stomach a chance to adjust. That Saturday we picked up some fresh stewing beef from the butcher and cans of wet food to round out her diet. She’s gotten plenty of food and more water than we thought a dog could possibly drink. Her energy was already getting better on Saturday morning, which was nice to see.

She loved the cottage. She prowled through the woods, easily going up and down hills, climbed through the stream, drank lake water, ate snails, chased chipmunks, and enjoyed being a dog.

She’s a very lovely lady. She can sit, come, and give a paw. She’s desperate for food, but won’t open packages. She’s very affectionate and will sing if she’s feeling jealous. Our guess is that she’ll easily be a 100+lb dog once she’s at her proper weight. She’s going to the vet tomorrow night to be checked out.

More from jananas

• An Update on Lila
• The Great Root Beer Challenge of 2010
• The Hybrid Generation