PART 2 - bella finds a loop hole
bella missed her curfew. i was never destined to be one of those parents who world ignore these adolescent mis-steps. i had the wrong mother for that. so when she was three minutes in default i texted her asking why she wasn't home. her reply came immediately. "sorry dad but i can't come home right now because i'm holding sleeping, day-old puppies". certainly not the reply i expected. as i sat holding my phone wondering what to say, she texted a picture of the minuscule cur nestled into chest. it was everything i could do not ask for the address she was at so i could come hold day-old puppies too.

bella had a new boyfriend and his family worked in animal rescue. this meant they always had a dozen or more critters of different types and ages around their house. every saturday they ran an adoption event where they sought to match their abandoned animals with kind-hearted folks (seeing how successful they were in this, i am still struck by the number of good people in this world who would take these animals in). bella became one of their main helpers and rarely missed a saturday event. fact is, i rarely missed many of them either. but i would just stop by for twenty minutes or so because one of the things you could do there was hold puppies. so if the boys and i were out on a weekend dad hour and near the place i would ask if we could stop for a little bit and see bella and hold puppies. while not top on their list, my boys never deprived me of my weekend puppy-time. granted, i think they enjoyed holding puppies too. probably not as much as me, but who, aside from marty, doesn't like a squirming, licking, nipping pup in their lap.

every week i expected bella to approach marty and i and say the "adoption" word, but as the weeks and months rolled by, she never did. i think it was more than a year before i got a suspicious text from her. she asked if i was coming by the event. i said i had some stuff going on and didn't know if i'd make it. of course, i asked why she was asking. she said there was a dog she wanted me to see. in time i pulled out of bella that one of the rescue groups had a dog that was pretty fragile and they were having problems socializing her because there was just too much going on. the guy said that they needed to place the dog somewhere where there were no dogs around so she could calm down. of course bella knew a place where there were no dogs. when i first looked in the cage, the dog was in the back-corner shaking like she was wet and in ten degree weather even though she was perfectly dry and sitting indoors. when bella and i walked through the door at home with the dog, a crate and a bag of supplies marty wordlessly took us in. if her face said anything it was probably one of surprise that it took this long. i later explained the situation and told marty it was very temporary. thankfully star, the dog's name, didn't make me a liar. after a few weeks with us and learning how to negotiate stairs and go on leashed walks, she perked right up and you would never know what a quivering mess she was just weeks prior. after just three weeks with us, star got adopted.

the rescue folks, impressed with our quick rehab job, asked if we would consider taking another dog. this dog, they explained, they couldn't even bring to the adoption events given how traumatized she was. she would be a real project they said. given how well we did the first time and how well we did insulating marty from it all, we agreed. this is when our home officially became known as the betty ford clinic for canines.

good to their word, this next dog was every bit as damaged as they described and more. when we first got her home and let her in the backyard she quickly scanned the terrain and then bolted for the most protected corner the space had. a spot behind a wood-pile and compost bin. we soon realized she had zero intention of ever coming out of this hole. when i tried to crawl in to get her she snapped and bit with the ferocity of a trained german shepherd. we only got her out after i donned some leather work gloves that could absorb her gnashing teeth. this was keisha. and as you might guess, keisha would not be getting adopted in three weeks.

NEXT : Part 3 - keisha earns a second chance.

PHOTO me puppy-holding at an adoption event. leaving empty-handed was hard every time.