I went to the beach today with the puppy. While it's lazy hot over by our house, it's perfect hot at the beach: a warm breeze, the water just cold enough to be refreshing but not shocking. Unfortunately, the rest of Santa Barbara had the same idea and there were so many fucking people. Also, there was a German Shepard who kept trying to get Damien's stick, which was ok, but then I noticed his paw was all messed up -- like, it was useless, just flopping around, but he was still using the leg. And he kept running up and down the beach with no one taking ownership to him, even though he had a collar on, and it was just making me so depressed that we had to leave. I really doubt he was a stray, but it was just ... I don't know, I don't like seeing dogs suffer. I come from a family who put down a puppy whose leg would have been amputated but we didn't want the dog to grow up three-legged. That's how I was taught to deal with dogs: if they aren't in perfect health, they should be put out of their misery. I don't know what I would do if anything serious happened to Damien.
We've been talking for years about getting another dog and I really really really want a dachshund. There was one dachshund in my neighborhood who was a bitch (in dog terms and in slang terms), but every dachshund I've met since then had been so ridiculous and sweet (and neutered or spayed, not coincidentally) that I feel I must have one. We're going to wait until we're settled in Chicago before we even think about getting another dog and I don't know that I could ever seek one out. The only lasting pets I've ever had are the ones that have come to us -- we got Charlie the cat at the post office, Zoe the cat at the nursery, Maccer...well, he was the exception, my mom got him from a puppy farm, and Damien off the street. The other pets we've had -- Duchess the Himalayan my mom bought, Ginny and Dreyfus the Bassets we bought through the classifieds -- were all awful pets we eventually gave away. So I don't believe in seeking out pets. Like finding a boyfriend, you just have to let it happen and make it work when it does.