By John Murphy
More coveted than clean water or hand sanitizer in these pandemic days are dogs. Man’s best friend. Everybody wants one, it seems.
So the CalTrans Girl and I were tickled Saturday morning when the Devore Animal Shelter called and said they had a pooch for us – a 3-year-old, toy poodle/terrier mix named Nadia. She was found with another small dog running loose in an unincorporated area of San Bernardino.
The dog was advertised on the shelter’s site and we expressed interest along with some other folks. A lottery was held and we finished fourth – but were moved up the ladder because the winner pulled a no-show and two others didn’t answer the phone. You snooze, you lose.
So it was that we tooled up the 210 freeway Saturday afternoon and took the Kendall turnoff.
“Go through that door and wait in the cubicle on the right,” the shelter volunteer said. Five minutes later a woman named Melissa led a skittish, unkempt mutt into the cubicle who was at first curious, then decided to turn tail and run. We didn’t take it personally.
Melissa rounded up the shy canine and brought her back. I got down on her level so I wouldn’t be so imposing and pet her dirty, matted fur.
“Who’s a good dog?” I mindlessly asked. She responded by licking my hand, a good sign.
Then I gathered up the scrawny dog and delivered her to the CT Girl. It would be her dog after all. That works well for me as I won’t have to buy her food or clean up poop. I’ll take her for some walks though, as I’m OK doing the fun stuff.
The meet-and-greet went well and it’s a match. We have a dog! We changed her name to Miya and will pick her up Monday at a pet hospital in Highland.
This fills a void for the CT Girl who misses her old pooches, Bert and Beya — who both died of old age within the past few years.
My better half has been on Cloud 9 since the adoption and has even stopped hammering me for all the wrong stuff I do. I think I love this dog already.
Main Street Dog 