I Went Home for the Weekend and Came Back With a Dog

I am out of my cotton-picking mind.  Seriously.

I went home last weekend for a quick planning session for  a church retreat my sister and I are cooking for in May.  No stress, the first weekend of Spring Break, nothing could go wrong, right?  Well...

Mom and I returned home and opened the garage to see a giant dog staring at us.  WTH? I motioned to Dad, who was mowing the lawn, and he just shrugged.  Seems the dog wandered into the garage and wouldn't leave so he shut the door, hopped on his riding mower and did his thing.  To say this dog was in bad shape would be a compliment.  Her fur was matted and she just seemed so sad.  Mom called the number on her collar and let the owners know she was at the house.  They didn't seem concerned; said she wandered all the time and they couldn't keep her on a leash.  I loved on her for a while. Then, Mom shooed her toward home and that was that.

Michelle cleaning up Sylvie.

But it wasn't.  The next morning I was packing up my car to head home when low and behold, Dog showed back up.  This time she was limping.  I got my sister and together we discovered several burrs between the pads of her feet.  We grabbed scissors and one thing led to another and the dog had  received a severe haircut.  In addition,we had began pulling off ticks.  There were tons.  We were both horrified and I looked at my sister and told her I was taking the dog.  Now, we are partners in crime but in reality, she should have looked at me and been the voice of reason, right?  Instead she said "good or I was going to call and report them!".  

Now, I am a law abiding citizen most of the time.  With STRONG encouragement from my parents that taking the dog without asking was the wrong thing to do, I called the number on the collar again and spoke with the owners.  I let them know the dog was back and that we had bathed her and cut her hair.  I told them about the burrs and the ticks.  Then I asked if they were willing to give me the dog.  They didn't hesitate;
they said yes.  Seems they got the dog from the pound in January and let it roam free (my parents live in the wide open spaces, away from the city).  Who does that?  Really?

I put down plastic in my car and loaded her up.  Then I called my daughter to tell her I'd done something bad.

This dog was rough.  And that's no pun.  She spent the first few nights in the garage, which was a good thing because ticks were literally falling off of her.  GROSS!  That lost my daughter.  She didn't go near  her for a while.  I get that.  I got her shots on one day.  24 hours later Petco would groom her.  That took two days - one day to pull off ticks and do flea/tick treatments and one day to shave her down.  While discussing what to do with her at Petco, 3 FULL ticks dropped on the floor.  SO DISGUSTING!  Poor dog.

I bought her a new kennel (she is not loving that but a girl's gotta protect her house) collar and leash.  We also gave her a new name.  We are a literary family and this dog is so damn depressed that we decided to call her Sylvia Plath Reilly (Sylvie for short).  We will be keeping her away from the oven for sure.


She is the most mellow dog I have ever owned.  We are in the process of acclimating this Great Pyrenees into our dog family of a Yorkie and Mutt.  She needs to be fattened up a bit as she is very thin.  She was the last thing I was expecting to add to our family, but she's been pretty sweet so far.