This is Todd. A few weeks ago Jacob started doing a paper route for a lady from church, and I felt obligated to help him. The second morning we were doing it, it was raining. Not too far into the route as we were about to turn a street I noticed something by a pole. At first a thought it was a cat, but then I realized it was a puppy. I made Jacob turn around to take another look and the poor little thing was wet and shaking. It made me so sad to see it. I didn't know what to do, but I didn't want to leave it there. Jacob asked if I wanted him to get it, I hesitated at first but then without saying anything I handed him my blanket. So he went and wrapped the puppy in the blanket and brought him back to the car.
He was shivering the whole time. It made me so sad. And he was so cute... well minus the dirt and smelling like a wet dog. Jacob and I both had work at 8 so I called Chrissy to see if she could help us out and take it to the shelter for us. Not long after I had talked to her I realized that he had some fleas, then I pulled the blanket down and noticed he was covered in fleas. I did my best not to freak out, and trust me it took a lot. And I set him in the back until we could finish the route. Once we finished I ran into Walgreens and got some flea medicine for him, and some flea spray for my car then we went to Chrissys. Once we got there the first thing we did was put him in the tub. Jacob and I didn't stay very long. When I got on my lunch break I had a text from Jacob saying maybe we could keep the dog. And so we were gonna do it. I called Chrissy, but she said she had already taken it to the shelter. I tried to put it in the back of my head and not think about it too much, which when going to work isn't hard to get distracted. It's always crazy busy... But when I got home from work the first thing I did was call the shelter. Chrissy noticed he had a bloated tummy when she was cleaning him and said he might have worms, so I wanted to check on him and of course see if I could adopt him. Well I found out it wouldn't be until the next Wednesday, about 5 days later. It was a long weekend of waiting. The next day after we finished the paper route we stopped by Jacob's parents house and as we were pulling up... There was another dog. It was just laying there in the grass. At first I thought it was dead. We got out and it was alive, but it just sat there. I bent down and was petting its head. And we were looking at it's tags. We were gonna take it to the address on the tag but when Jacob picked it up it started yelping. And then it reached around and bit Jacob. Fortunately it wasn't too bad. Just a small cut and his finger, but Jacob was pretty upset. I had to make him go inside to clean up and not hurt the dog anymore than it was already hurt. And while he cleaned up I called animal control.
I felt bad for the dog. And after this incident it definitely meant Jacob would not be helping out anymore dogs. Haha. Since the shelter was closed on weekends, monday I went and saw the puppy. By this time Jacob and I already had his name picked out. Oak Todd McConnell. Because we found him on the corner of Oak and Todd. I wanted to take him home SOOO bad!!!!
Such a sweet puppy!!!! Wednesday after work I went straight to the shelter to adopt him. And then they told me I had to pay the pet deposit at my apartment before I could get him. Which I wasn't surprised. The problem was that it was $600, $200 nonrefundable. I was upset, and ready to give up on the dog. I mean I could do it, but that was a lot of money. Too much. So I told Jacob about it. And I told him that we should probably reconsider this. But he wasn't giving up that easily. So he talked to his parents and cut a deal with them. The deal was that we could use their address, but the dog had to actually live there, well in the backyard. Not exactly what I was wanting, but I had already fallen in love with the dog, so we went with it. And the next day Jacob got him during his lunch break. Just in time too. He told me about 20 minutes after he got there someone came in to adopt out puppy. I got off work to find these cute pictures on my phone.
Jacob spent the rest of the afternoon with Todd. Going on a walk and playing in the backyard. And then I got out of class and finally got to play with him. We went to petsmart and got him lots of stuff. Toys, food, treats, and other things. And then went to Jacob's friends house and showed him off. The next morning when we were doing the paper route we stopped by Jacob's parents and took him with us. Towards the end of the route is when Todd threw up. I've seen dogs throw up before but it was clear. Which meant he hadn't been eating. And that really worried me. I knew he really needed to go to the vet. Again I had to get to work early, so I called during my lunch and the vet we had been planning to see couldn't get us in, the lady really freaked me out though when she said I needed to get him to someone else though. I mean seriously when one place is referring you to a competitor it can't be good. After I got off work and called a few places, I finally got him in somewhere. The first test she did confirmed the worms, Todd had hook worms. But then she did another test, for parvo. And it was positive. She told me even if I did treatments he'd still only have about a 20% chance survival. I kept my cool while I was there. Even when they told me I need to go straight back to the shelter and have them euthanize him.... Once I got back to the car is when I lost it. I drove to Jacob's work because I couldn't do it without letting him see him one last time. But once I started going I knew I couldn't even do it. Fortunately his boss let him leave early. So that's it... We had found Todd and fell in love with him, and we had him for a day, now he's gone. It's sad. And it hurt to do it. But I feel like we at least made a difference. We're thinking about maybe getting another dog, but we need just a little more time. But that's our puppy Todd...
Oh and I must say I'm glad the paper route is over. I was a zombie. Even when I would just sleep in the back of the car after helping Jacob roll papers. I never want to do that again.
Yesterday my Mom came up for the day. And practically me broke. Haha. Jk :) I'm glad she came, I enjoyed it. And now I have some cute new kitchen decorations!
Yay!
Well that's all! :)
