Adoptable City Dog Annabelle

12/26/2023

Seems that it is time to turn out the lights and close the door a final time. Annabelle has found her home. I walked dogs yesterday morning and the first thing I did when I got in the kennel was to head to her room, to her pod. A part of me hoped she'd be there - there are times when a dog is adopted that they don't head home immediately, a home may need to be readied or perhaps they stay with us awhile longer for medical reasons. I smiled to myself when I saw her pod door open, the pod empty. I took the sheet from her pod, a sheet one will find on all of the adoptable's pods - I wanted a final keepsake. With a building bursting at the seams and well over a hundred dogs there each day who need help I'm pretty sure that it won't take long to fall in love with another who could use my help. Today, though, I'll say goodbye with one final post here on my page dedicated to helping my sweetheart. And I'll thank you all for your help along Annabelle's journey.

12/24/2023

I'm glad that I took my contact lenses out a few minutes before I refreshed my Facebook feed - tears aren't really good for contacts. I've had an emotional and very tough couple of weeks as Christmas approaches tomorrow. My mom passed away in June, and I am missing her - she would have turned 80 on the day after. These most recent tears have been for the best reason I can ever think of - my Annabelle has been adopted, just a little while ago. I never expected to receive a gift tomorrow - I know how hard this must be for my father, they would have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary just a few days after my mother's passing. My gift came today. Somehow, someway I've been given the impossible. A gift I wasn't sure of when it would come but one - knowing how special Annabelle is - I knew in time would. I'm going to miss you my special friend, but each time I do I'll simply turn my thoughts to how happy you must be in your forever home. Annabelle's gotcha photo, cropped to respect the privacy of her new best friend.

12/24/2023

"I hope the day will be a lighter highway / for friends are found on every road / can you ever think of any better way / for the lost and weary travelers to go

Making friends for the world to see / let the people know you got what you need / with a friend at hand you will see the light / if your friends are there, then everything's all right"

12/24/2023

Stress is the worst enemy we face in helping the far too many dogs that come to need us. That find themselves residents of the kennel. One tell-tale sign is a redness around the eyeball. For example, I walked one City Dog a couple of weeks back and my heart broke for all of the redness that surrounded her eyes. We took a longer walk but I knew I had no magic pill to cure her of the stress she was dealing with - my heart was relieved when, thankfully, I read that she'd been adopted a few days after our walk. Annabelle has been added to the list of our stressed dogs - she's been at the kennel since October - and if I look at her from the right angle, I see that redness around her eye. Caitlin Jeffries helped me take Annabelle to Edgewater yesterday - I'm 2/3 of the way trained to be able to take one of our dogs offsite by myself - and we talked of Annabelle's stress. I never see that stress when we're together, I only see a happy, excited, loving dog. I've added the regular, daily face of a friend to Annabelle's life at the kennel and have earned her friendship and trust in return. I believe that the time we've been together - each day - has helped Annabelle cope with life at the kennel. I hope that it will see her through. I think that Annebelle can fit into any home, any situation - she's so full of love and easy-going. I'm also grateful for Caitlin's having filmed this video I'll share here. It's Annabelle opening her Christmas present. And a wish from her that you have a Merry Christmas.

12/23/2023

I'm pretty certain that I've mentioned before how much Annabelle's coloring and eyes remind me of my adopted City Dog Teddy. If I haven't, well, I'm going to show you with a few videos here how much they are alike. It's how much Annabelle reminded me of Teddy that helped to draw me closer to my girl. I shot these yesterday, the first two are of Annabelle's interaction with Cat #3 as we walked in the morning and the third is from the afternoon, with Teddy in the car meeting his newest friend.

12/22/2023

Every day walking, Annabelle takes me on a tour of the benches that lie around the kennel's property - getting up on each one and looking for a bit of attention and a treat. Here are some action-packed photos of Annabelle getting up on the first of these benches. Have a beautiful weekend.

12/21/2023

Another afternoon with my girl. You know, Annabelle's walk board notes mention her shyness and to not fully harness her. I don't. At least I didn't until yesterday. She's been on hikes - fully harnessed - and took a trip to Edgewater with myself and Caitlin Jeffries, again fully harnessed. So, halfway through our time together I thought I'd finish her leash - and she actually was a much better walking partner the rest of our time together. Not as much in a hurry as she can be. Something new that I've learned about my very special girl.

12/20/2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNEdxZURTaI

Music video by ABC performing The Look Of Love. (C) 2004 Mercury Records Limited

12/20/2023

What’s my girl still doing at the kennel?? I don’t know the answer to that question. If I knew I would tell you. Look, for your information, there’s one thing - the one thing that still holds true. That’s the look of love.

Thanks to Annabelle for the inspiration. This photo was clearly not shot yesterday - I just didn’t get a chance with yesterday’s bad weather to go through all of the pictures I had taken of our time together. And thanks to ABC and a 40-some year-old masterpiece for lyrics I may have altered slightly. Take a good look at a very special friend of mine who sure could use the love of a forever home. And take a glimpse upon the look of love.

12/18/2023

My mother loved our City Dog Teddy - the happiness that seeing Teddy brought to my mother meant the world to me as her health declined further and further. She would often ask me how I knew that Teddy would be such a good boy and, after I would answer her, she would always remind me of how I had always found the best dogs - having adopted Fozzie Bear and Tinker prior to adding Teddy into our lives. Fozzie Bear also was a City Dog, my Tinker was adopted from Lakewood's Animal Shelter. There has always been a feeling, a confidence, something that I can't put my finger on. I just knew. It seems that I just haven't been able to reach the type of audience with Annabelle's page - Adoptable City Dog Annabelle - that I found with the pages I created for City Dogs Nelson and Robin before her. Each page took a different approach, but I don't want to think for a moment that this could be the reason I'm not reaching farther out. I ask you all to help me today by sharing this. I have that same feeling, that same confidence when it comes to Annabelle as I felt with Fozzie and Tinker - whoever is lucky enough to find and adopt her is going to spend each and every day with her wondering how it was that they were so lucky to have found this very special friend.