Timing is Everything

There's a picture on the wall of the teacher workroom. A photo. Two. Kind of like a "Wanted" poster. What's wanted is a new home for a little doggie. I would love to have this new pet, what with the passing of our baying beagle Tank (BY NATURAL MEANS, PEOPLE!) last weekend.

I know I shouldn't inquire about this little beauty, even though the phone number is right there on the wanted poster. It's too soon. I can't scoop up a replacement pet on the rebound. That's not fair to the new pet. Or the old. Besides, I don't think Hick would okay it at this time. Maybe during the summer, we can keep an eye out for the local pound puppies advertised in the Backroads Hometown Gazette. We've been a three-dog family for many years now. But this is not the time.

Smiling at the camera in that wanted poster is a 5-month-old Australian Shepherd/Border Collie mix. Uh huh. Kind of a high-energy companion. We have the room for her to run, but we also have chickens that we would like to keep alive. I fear that this doggie would be unsupervised all day, and have a heyday with our fowl. It was hard enough to keep my sweet, sweet Juno from chasing chickens she was raised with from when she was a tiny pup. She still grabs them by the tail feathers when she is feeling especially frisky, and forgets we have a picture window overlooking the front yard. Only last fall we found that pile of turkey feathers and feared the worst.

Doggie on the wall has her shots. I'm not sure, but I think she's had her special operation. She has a mostly black body, with that white stripe down her nose common to those two breeds. And she looks perky! Yep! Who woulda thunk a pup of that mix would be perky? The description goes on to say that she knows some commands, and IS HOUSEBROKEN! Who would keep a dog like that in the house? Not a china shop owner who stores inventory at home, I'm sure! I could imagine her as a playmate for my sweet, sweet Juno, but the timing is not right.

As if seeing this beauty on the wall yesterday was not enough...this morning before school a colleague at the Kyocera saw her, too. "What a cute little dog! But I couldn't keep it. I don't have the room. As it is now, we're trying to find a home for our beagle. We let her out to run, but she needs a big open space to run rabbits. She's had her operation. She's getting up there in years. Someone dumped her at our house. She's very loving. The problem is, she can climb the chain-link fence. Oh, she always comes back. But she's taught our other mutt to do it, too. And he comes back, but he brings things! Yesterday he had one of those solar powered driveway lights that stick in the ground. I'm afraid someone is going to complain."

No. I can't have a beagle, either. It's too soon. I'm sure there will be plenty of puppies needing homes over the summer.