Cheyenne's Pages

The Cheyenne Story - part 5 - The Big Day Arrives:

<--Back to part 4


     To say we were excited that Saturday morning would have been an understatement. In fact, we could talk about virtually nothing else for the better part of the week. So with the anticipation of a small child on Christmas morning, we set off to pick up Cheyenne.

     We walked into the shelter, and the place was full of people. It was much different from the lazy evening of a couple days ago when we signed all the papers, and way different from that quiet night when we first dropped her off. There were a couple people dropping off a dog, but there were several people there to adopt a pet, or at least looking like they were going to adopt a pet. I noticed that the glass cases that ringed the main room, which were empty the other times we were there, were now alive with bunnies and hamsters, and there were a couple kids with their faces pressed against the glass, presumably trying to decide which one to take home.

     We walked to the counter and announced that we were there to pick up Cheyenne. The people there were happy to see us, as I'm sure they always are when one of their charges gets to go to a new home. They called one of the attendants, who came out to tell us how her procedure went, and give us any last minute tips. She said that when they shaved her tummy to do the spaying, they saw that she already had a scar from before, so they didn't have to do it. She said that Cheyenne seemed to be in excellent health, maybe just a little overweight, that the doctor estimated her to be around four years old, and that she was ready to go! The girl explained to us that they put the rabies tag on her collar, and that she had another tag, this one from the shelter, that we were to never take off. It had a number on it that I assume they could use to identify her if she was ever lost.

     We signed whatever we needed to sign, and they brought her out. She looked around a little, at all the commotion in the room, and came right over to us, tail wagging and face beaming. I don't know that I have ever seen Stephanie happier than that morning. They gave us a new leash, wished us well, and we were officially dog owners!

     We led her out to the car and opened the back door, and she jumped right in without hesitation. We climbed in the front seat and looked back, and she was sitting down, facing front, as if to say "Let's go!"

     As we pulled out of the parking lot, Stephanie and I started to discuss what we needed to get for our new family member. Obviously, we needed food, bowls, treats (of course!) and probably a toy or two. There was a Pet Care almost around the corner from the shelter, so we thought we'd stop there and load up on what we needed. And we were pretty sure that Pet Care would let us bring Cheyenne in with us.

     We parked the car, and Stephanie went inside, while I walked Cheyenne around a bit before going in. After all, we wouldn't want any accidents on our first shopping trip! After she sprinkled the lawn a bit, we went into the store, and it was almost as crazy as the shelter was. There were lots of people running around, many of them with dogs. Stephanie saw us come in.
     "Hey, they're taking pictures with Santa! Should we get Cheyenne's picture taken?" she asked.
     "Wow! What perfect timing. Yeah, let's do it."

     We took her to the back of the store, where Santa was set up. We paid our fee and got Cheyenne positioned between Santa's legs, and the helper snapped a Polaroid of the two of them. They put it in a little cardboard frame for us, and Stephanie put it in the cart that she was loading up.

     Cheyenne and I took this opportunity to wander the store. It seemed like every corner there was a group of people and we had the same conversation:

     "Oh, what a beautiful dog! What kind is he?"
     "He's a she, and I really don't know what kind she is. We found her on the street and adopted her."
     "When did you adopt her?"
     "Oh, about a half-hour ago."
     "OH!!!!! That's GREAT!" they would exclaim. And then they would say to Cheyenne, "You are such a lucky dog!"

     This happened over and over, and I don't know how Cheyenne felt about the attention, but it sure made me feel pretty good. We finished our shopping, loaded up the trunk, Cheyenne jumped in the back seat, and we were off.

On to part 6 -->

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