The unnamed third dog.

It's amazing how quickly your life can change... and how odd it is to watch that change occurring, know it's huge, and yet still only be able to watch like you watch all the rest of your life passing by.

Monday, Jill brought home a dog. It was one she found in the street, a dog that had narrowly avoided getting run over by a very angry driver. Jill took the dog in, hoping she could find its owner. Upon hearing of this news, I was rather annoyed - Jill already has two dogs, and believe me, two are enough. I knew that she wouldn't be able to take care of a third dog, partly because of how much more work it would entail, and partly because of the fact that the apartment only allows a resident to have two dogs at most. It also really didn't help the fact that we were moving all of our stuff into a single new apartment, and have less than two days left from today to finish.

When I first met the dog, I didn't go over and pet it immediately, or anything like that. I wanted the dog to know that I didn't want it around, so it wouldn't get too comfortable. Then she (the dog is a girl) came to me and licked my hand and wanted me to pet her, and my attitude changed a bit. Over the next few hours, I started coming to the realization that her life wasn't very good, that she was probably on the street because her owner had thrown her out, or she had simply run away from a bad life. I realized too that she was very lonely, being cut off from anything resembling a pack.

That night, I decided I would sleep on the couch so at least I would be nearby in case she needed to feel like someone was around. I guess that was the right decision for her, because she jumped up on the couch and curled up next to me. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable sleep I've had for a while, but it was awfully darned cute.

I spent the next day at work trying to will myself up to the point where I could take her to the pound if I couldn't find her a home. I failed miserably at that - Jill kept reminding me of how awfully the conditions were at the pound, how they kill dogs when they aren't adopted, etc. After all of my effort, I just couldn't do it. Instead, we posted her information on a message board to see if anyone would be interested in taking her. Of course, we never stopped looking for her original owners, in case they were looking and just didn't know where to look, but we also knew we had to do something quickly.

Last night I slept on the couch again, and actually slept through the entire night without waking up. And the little dog slept right next to me all night.

Then today, someone replied on the message board that they would be interested in taking the dog. Just this evening, she came over to meet the dog and see what she thought of her. I guess she liked what she saw, because she took the dog and they're on the way back to her house now.

I'm still not sure how I feel about this. To one extent, I'm *really* happy the dog is gone - I just couldn't keep up with her, she ate vociferously, would run away all the time, and cried when we weren't home. But to another extent, I've already really created an emotional bond with this dog, and I'm sad to see it go. Which is odd for me. I used to hate dogs. How is it that I've changed so much?

Well, whereever you sleep tonight, #3, I hope you like your new home. Sphere: Related Content