Prison Pup

My sweet friend Tonia lost her dogs this year. Both of them within months of each other. These weren't just pets for her and her husband, they were family, her children.  So they were our family too.
She was determined that she would wait for awhile before getting a new pup. It was just too heartbreaking and they had plans and were they really ready to make this kind of commitment again?  And, and, and...

And then...

This is Zoey and she is in a medium security prison as part of the Death Row Dogs program.  DRD is a fantastic program that takes dogs in high kill shelters and places them with inmates for a twelve week training program. Once Tonia and David applied to adopt Zoey (after an interview process) she received the word that Zoey was HERS!

This is such great news, not only for Tonia, but also for this sweet girl, who was born in a shelter and has lived her entire life there, except for the 12 weeks she has been in prison!  And this puppy is sitting in a cell right now, not even knowing the awesome life she is about to begin.  She doesn't know that her new family is spending their time preparing for her to come home.  They are re-working their schedules to ensure that she has quality time with them, they are reading about how to introduce a new pup into their home, and they are making plans to go to jail on visiting days.  

They have been getting weekly reports from her inmate trainers on her progress.  "This week, Zoey has been working on her manners and leash behavior"  or "Zoey has trouble focusing this week" are some of the reports that she receives.  And when she is ready, she will graduate with a ceremony at the prison including cake, punch and doggie treats!

Tonia and her husband are nervous, so nervous.  They are worried that Zoey won't like them.  They are worried that they won't make a connection with her.  Although I know for a fact that Tonia's animals are better cared for than my children, the real proof is right here:  just look at this face

I don't think either of them have anything to worry about!

Hobbies, Fun Facts and Trick Questions

Someone called me the other day at work and asked me to answer a few questions for a regional newsletter.  They wanted me to tell them my hobbies and a few fun facts about myself.  To me, it felt like a trick question: hobbies for a person that works in a bookstore- I'm guessing a large amount of these surveys will include reading as a top hobby.  But what else do I like to do:  crafting, spending time with my family, driving kids around, playing school, playing American girl dolls, volunteering?  How many of these things are things that I like to do, or just things that I do?

Fun facts about myself- well, I think I'm fun, but somehow it didn't translate into "3 fun facts."  It didn't help that every time I mentioned something the person on the phone would make disapproving sounds,  like perhaps my facts weren't as fun as he had hoped.

I left work feeling a little boring, invisible and un-Natalie-ish.

I got home and did my usual: played, made dinner, played, cleaned, played, did homework, played.  Later that night I found my flag raised on my Valentine mailbox, indicating that someone had left me a note!

There are many times when your life belongs more to others than to yourself, and I'm good with that.  Maybe PTO board member, room mother, crafter, game player, and homework helper isn't who I am in the future, and definitely isn't who I was 10 years ago, but it's who my kids need me to be right now- and I'm good at it!