While our youngest, and Bonus Baby was in high school and Most Quoted and Dream Come True were on their missions, Emily begged me for a pet dog. We had lost our precious Taz just a few years before and we all missed him so much. One day while running errands we noticed that the local pet store was having an adoption day. We went in just to look. They have quite the set up, telling you how wonderful it is to adopt a pet, one that might end up being put down if not adopted. They were all adorable, and very friendly. We wanted a dog. He or she couldn’t be too old, because we just had just recently lost our beloved Taz, and adopting seemed like a good idea thinking the dog would already be trained to go potty outside and some of the basic commands. We saw a cute little fluffy dog and read the name, Spazzle. Hmmm, is that a name that represents someone just having fun, or is this dog a Spazz? We wondered, but decided to get the dog.

Now just so you know, it’s kind of a production adopting an animal. First the animals are have a computer chip inserted to identify the animal if they get lost or stolen. The animals have been fixed so they won’t produce other animals. The price to adopt was $100. They make you sign a form that says you won’t take the animal to the pound, or sell the animal to someone else. If there is a problem you call them and they’ll make it right.

The very first night we got Spazzle home she slept in her kennel and pooped in her kennel. This was a huge red flag to me, knowing that dogs don’t poop where they sleep. I cleaned it up really good and she slept there the next night and pooped again. I thought this dog has been abused and left so long in its kennel it had no choice but to relieve itself. She had many accidents in the house. I thought maybe she just needed to have a little encouragement. We would go out with her to go potty, in our fenced yard, and wait for her to go, so we could give her a treat and praise her. She would never go. Finally we’d come in the house and as soon as we did she’d poop or pee on the floor. I have never had so much frustration with an animal in my life.

Finally after two weeks of trying to work with her, I called the adoption place and told them, “Either come get her, or she’s going to the pound.” I’ve never sent a dog to the pound. They came and got her, and we lost $100 dollars.

The more I thought about it and the more we talked about it, it felt kind of like a racket to us. ‘Let’s guilt these people into adopting a dog that is a Spazz and has been mistreated, then tell them we decide what happens to the animal even after they adopt it.’ So when you are at the end of your rope and can’t handle the animal anymore, not only do you have to call them to come get it, you lose money. Then they can re-adopt this defective animal to another unsuspecting family. I feel sorry for Spazzle. She was a sweet, dumb dog. The people who were trying to come across as caring, animal people, were not. I will never adopt an animal again.