When my husband and I got married, we decided there would be no dogs (or babies) for at least the first year of our marriage. After our first year anniversary we decided that it was time to start looking for a dog. Many months later, after looking at many shelters and many dogs, we wandered into the shelter where we found Tera. On that day we almost didn't make it into the shelter. We discovered that the battery to our car was leaking, and upon calling my Father for help, I quickly learned that he had just called an ambulance for my Mother.
I worry...that's what I do. I felt like my world stopped and all I wanted to do what be at the hospital with my Mother. That wasn't possible, so we called (and signed up for) AAA, and went into the shelter to look at dogs while we waited. I got a call from my Father, saying that they were at the hospital and that my Mother had stabilized and that she should be fine. Mark and I looked at many dogs at this shelter, but I don't even remember seeing Tera (who was labeled with a number on the cage) there when she came into the room.
Tera came into the room and my husband was sold, he immediately said that she was the one for us. I was a little more hesitant, because my husband has previously told me he didn't want a dog that would get too big or shed too much. I told him that due to the breed she was, she would be doing both. He said that would be fine as long as it was her. I did my tests with her by rolling her over, pulling the ears and tail, and cuddling with her. She passed all the tests with flying colors, and we decided she was the one for us. Due to the shelter being one that does put dogs down, she had not had any medical treatment while she was there... That day we brought home a 8 month old white German Shepard, who we knew had fleas and was very underweight.
We brought Tera home and got things situated, and set up her first vet appointment. At the appointment we found out that not only did Tera have fleas, and has had them for a long time, but she also had worms. I was a bit disappointed, but we went home and took her back a couple days later to be spayed. I dropped her off, but got a call from the vet just hours later with bad news. Apparently Tera had a very serious upper respiratory infection, that would require more treatment and putting her spaying off until she is healed. The vet spoke grimly on the phone, and when I got off the phone, I shut my office door at work and cried, cried, and cried. I was heartbroken that our sweet Tera, who had only been with us for a week, could be leaving us.
We have been fortunate that Tera has healed from all of these medical issues, and are so happy that we chose her at the shelter. We were told that without a doubt she would have been put down at the shelter within the next week or couple of weeks due to her illness. The money didn't matter so much because we were so happy we were able to save her life. I often think about the grim situation that Tera was in, and how she has such an amazing life now. Despite having issues with infection and inflammation after her spaying and the additional vet appointments, she has been worth every minute of time and energy we have put into integrating her as a member of our family.
In later posts I will discuss Tera, but now I'm going to finish with a few pictures of my baby Tera, who is now 13 months old.
