Have you ever met a dog and just knew you were meant to be theirs?
The DogFather will tell anyone who’ll listen that I’m a crazy dog lady.
“I can’t believe I let her talk to me into adopting this dog, fostering that dog…” etc.
“She plies me with alcohol and breaks me down. I just want her to be happy.”
While there is some truth to these statements and it is me who is usually talking him into things, this one wasn’t my fault!
Consuela came to us as a foster dog about a month and a half ago. It took about a minute and a half for the DogFather to feel that “click.” He fought a valiant battle with himself to push it away and deny his feelings with all the excuses: “we have too many dogs,” “we won’t be able to keep fostering if we keep adopting” and “people are going to think we’re crazy!”
After seeing and feeling the connection between these two, I put my foot down. I went from, “We could keep her, ya know” to “She’s not leaving this house.” How could I allow him to deny himself the joy she so clearly brings him and he to her?
As a bonus, she fits in perfectly with our pack, got along famously with our grandbabies and welcomes new foster dogs with open paws.
So, with a new name, here she will live forever. Welcome to the family: Whiskey Marie Gleesing!
After she was picked up by animal services wandering around town, Consuela was surprised no one came looking for her. She didn’t want to spend her Valentine’s Day in the shelter.
Consuela knew she had done nothing wrong. She may have had puppies at one time in her young life, but that was just a blur to her now.
Every time the door opened, she jumped up to see if it was her family coming for her. But sadly, it never was. She kept slowly returning to her cot to wait.
Looking around at the other dogs in the shelter, she noticed they had hearts painted on them ~ yet no one had painted a heart on her and she wondered why. They must have all been getting ready to meet their valentines.
And then like magic, her kennel door opened. Consuela was given a new leash and she heard, “Come on with me. You have someone waiting for you.”
When she got to the lobby, she didn’t see her family. Instead, a stranger greeted her ~ a stranger who wanted to make sure Consuela could feel some love on Valentine’s Day. She was leaving the shelter to begin her new life with rescue.
Consuela gave her shelter friends some high fives on her way out, invigorated by the fact that her life’s best days are ahead of her. She’s excited to find a new family who will always love her.
3/13/24 Update: I’m happy to report that Consuela is here and doing great! She’s a butterball of energy and just wants to run and wrestle.
When she arrived, I introduced her to our pack and she launched herself into the group with vigor and vibrance. She pounced and bounced and leaped, sometimes over the smaller dogs, and made her presence very well known. To sum it up, she was A LOT.
I think it’s important to note this because after having been here a few days, she has settled into our routine and is starting to match the energy of the rest of the pack. I suspect she’ll go through this routine again when placed in her forever home. It’ll be important that her adopters give her grace and have patience with her because, boy, is she worth it!
It didn’t take long for her to steal the DogFather’s heart. I have caught him on more than one occasion staring lovingly at her, saying things like “Who’s MY pretty girl?” and “You are SO CUTE!” Being married to me, he’s learned to tolerate a steady parade of foster dogs over the last few years. While he’s very patient, he rarely lets his guard down for a dog, but it’s completely disabled for this girl. Yep, she’s got him wrapped around her chubby paw.
She’s scheduled to have cherry eye surgery this week, so keep her in your thoughts. Stay tuned for more updates on this girl. I know she’s going to be a fun houseguest!
3/22/24 Update: Consuela had to take a trip to see Dr. Larsen again because she busted her stitches in her cherry eye correction. Dr. Larsen teased it a little and got it good and angry to promote blood flow to the area, which will promote healing.
Now it’s our turn to do our part in keeping her as quiet as possible and with a cone on so she doesn’t do it again, which is no easy feat! As you can see, she is part mountain goat.
However, when she’s cute, she’s CUTE. Look at her all snuggled up with the DogFather, but don’t let that squishy face fool you ~ she’s a Tasmanian devil!
