I interrupt my regularly scheduled day of art appreciation and inspiration to introduce you all to the newest member of Matt and I’s family, Molly. We’ve been thinking about adopting a dog, especially a pit bull, for awhile now and Molly just wiggled her way into our hearts.
Here’s Molly’s story: Last month Molly was found as a stray and picked up by Animal Care & Control. That’s where we saw her for the first time. When we walked into her room with just a long row of kennels and barking dogs, there she was, with her eyes wide and her tail wagging happy to see up but not barking like the others. We asked to take her outside to play a bit and she waited at the door patiently ready for some fresh air and exercise.
Outside they have this little stand with big letters that say “ADOPT ME” set up to take photos of the pets for sites like petfinder, Molly (named Francis by the Pound) bounded right over to it and sat down. “Adopt me, please,” she seemed to say. We really wanted to adopt her right then but Matt and I still weren’t sure if we were ready. We still hadn’t gotten the pet rider from our landlord and we had no doggy stuff, so we left Molly there. In hindsight, we should have adopted her right away.
Yesterday, Matt and I decided to pull the trigger and just adopt. Molly was still on our minds so we decided that this weekend we would go get her. Little did I know how that is an eternity for a dog at AC&C. I was reading the blog Passion for Pits by another pit lover in NYC and she highlighted some of the terrible practices of the AC&C in Harlem, the very shelter that Molly was at. When we met Molly, she had kennel cough. It’s common at nearly every shelter I’ve ever visited and totally curable. Thanks to Passion for Pits I found out that AC&C has a reputation for putting down dogs with kennel cough.
My heart dropped. I rushed over to the shelter as fast as I could. When I got there I couldn’t find Molly in the adoptable dog kennels and had to go downstairs to find out if she was just adopted, in the sick area or something worse. Its was really long wait. Not just because there workers there are incredibly inefficient but I was really stressed out. How could we have been such idiots to think she would be there when we got back? That the city would care about “just another stray pit bull” no matter how sweet she was?
Finally I was called up to find that Molly was still there. She had a bad case of kennel cough and was scheduled to be euthanized the next day. “Do you still want her?” the lady asked.
“You betcha,” I said. What came next was a lot of paperwork and waiting. I was helped through the process by a girl about my age who said she was still pretty new there. She had an enthusiasm that the others lacked. After about 3 hours Molly came bursting through the door, tail wagging like crazy. She looked at me like she knew what just happened and she thanked me with some very sweet kisses. We still didn’t know what to name her. The AC&C called her Francis but we weren’t in love with that name and it didn’t really fit her. There was a little boy in the waiting room who pet Molly on the head and said “She’s so pretty. What’s her name?”
“I don’t know,” I replied, “What do you think I should I name her?”
He thought for a bit and then just before I left the shelter he shouted, “You should name her Molly!”
Last night was crazy with our new pup. I’m pretty sure she wags her tail in her sleep. We gave her a bath and some quality snuggle time. Neither Matt or I got much sleep because we were so excited and every time Matt would look at Molly on her bed she would pop her head up, wag her tail and want to jump into bed with us.
We are crazy lucky to have gotten to the kennel when we did and we are just so happy and blessed to have Molly in our lives now. Let the dog owning adventures begin!