Little Emma Lou

Emma Lou was a little waif when I brought her home from Austin Humane Society to foster her. She belonged to a family who had gotten her as a puppy for their daughter. Two months later, when they decided they didn't want her anymore, they threw her in the backyard and decided to starve her. I don't know how long after that a family member saw her and intervened, but she showed up at the shelter door just before closing lethargic and barely able to hold her head up. An IV was inserted for fluids, and she was fed her first good meal in I-don't-know-how-long. One of the clinic staff took her home that night, to watch over her and monitor her condition.

When I walked into the clinic the following morning, it was the first time I had ever seen her and I was greeted with a happy "roo, roo, roo!” I was sucked in by her fuzzy face and sweet disposition, and since the person who had taken her home last night was also fostering a litter of puppies, I offered to take her home.

I placed her in the master bathroom, since being all tile, it would be easy to sterilize. She was not happy with this arrangement, but dealt with it well. I bathed her every other day in an antifungal shampoo, and it was only a couple of weeks before her fur started to grow in and I knew that soon she would be able to join us in the rest of the house.

When that day came, she was a happy little Emma monster and took right to harassing the other two dogs. Who were older, and not ready for this little 4 month old puppy to be jumping all over them. Ben and I quickly fell in love with her, but we really weren't sure we wanted another dog. When she started showing some dominant aggressive tendencies, I quickly enrolled her into an obedience class at the shelter, and started bringing her to work everyday to get her as socialized as possible. All the work paid off, and soon, one of the students in the vet tech program was calling me, interested in adopting her.

I set up a meet and greet with the student, and on my way out the door that morning, Ben said asked me why couldn't we just keep her? I didn't want to think about that with the meet and greet happening that day, so I grabbed Emma and headed out the door. However, when I got to work I was a sobbing mess, and didn't want to adopt her out. The tech student was very understanding, especially since Emma was not really what she was looking for. Elated, I quickly filled out the paperwork and adopted her myself.

Emma quickly turned into the sweetest tempered of our three dogs. She is fun and funny, and loves to talk. Even to this day when we walk in the front door after work, she does her "roo, roo, roo!" in happiness.