Tanya

I picked up Tanya late this afternoon at a house right on Rt. 60, in Powhattan, just across the Cumberland County line.  I drove that area a lot when I was working with the Census Bureau as a temporary job a couple years back.  I hadn't been down Cartersville Road since that time so it was sort of fun to see the area again. 

Tanya's owner was an old man who died.  She lived in a decent sized pen out back, but that was where she had always lived, every day of her four years.  She was friendly with me, was happy to get out of the pen, and quite happy to jump into a crate in my van and come home with me. 

She is overweight, but some exercise and play can fix that.  She's covered in ticks and I'm out of Frontline so I'll need to pick some up tomorrow.  I gave her a Capstar as a temporary fix for fleas, and some Panacure for worms, although her weight and her stool look good so I'm not overly concerned about that.




Supposedly she's up to date on everything, but that probably means she had shots once.  There are no records so I'll just take her in and have them do it all anyway so I know it's done.  Given the level of care she's had and the number of ticks on her at this time of year, I'll be sweating the results on the heartworm/lyme/erlichia test.  It will be a miracle if she isn't positive for one or more of those, but we can take care of that and otherwise she appears basically healthy.  And she is spayed already, which is nice.

Most amazingly, she seems social and friendly, so I didn't hesitate to take her.  Since she's always lived outdoors, the transition to my kennels should be easy on her.  She's got a new environment and better shelter than she's had in the past.  I'll introduce her to the other fosters tomorrow.  We'll get her to a vet and see about finding her a foster home that will help her transition to a household.

Here's what I don't understand:  He was an old man who lived alone.  The best thing he could have done for himself was to have a dog as a real companion.  He deprived the dog and himself of an enriched life.  I guess he didn't really want a dog.  I will never understand.  At least it's not too late for the dog.