Lola is one fierce bitch

This turned out to be very long once I wrote it. Sorry about that.

I have to joke about it or else I would dwell on what might have happened. Basically, my worst nightmare came true Monday: I came home from work to find that Keegan had escaped from his crate. Lola's cage was upside down on the floor, but miraculously, she was unscathed on the top of Monty's cage. I found three of her tail feathers in a pile across the room. There are only two ways they could have come out: she flew into something and they dislodged (unlikely) or Keegan was thisclose to having Lola as a meal. I can only assume that Lola summoned all the powers in the bitchy universe (she is laying eggs and is hormonal, after all) and scared the crap out of that pit bull because she was happy as a clam when I got home. Not only that, Monty's cage was completely intact. I mean, it's a freaking miracle that it was Lola and not Monty because a) Monty is not flighted for his own safety; b) Monty does not have the bitch gene whereas Lola is nothing but bitch genes. Either that or Lola has one helluva guardian angel watching over her.

I just cannot believe he escaped from his crate. Because I am (apparently rightfully so) paranoid, we even clipped a leash to the front door of the crate so that even if he opened the latches, he would be unable to get out. But my paranoia didn't get me far enough-he somehow undid one of the latches on the side door and squeezed out. The crate looked completely intact when I got home. Aside from traumatizing Lola, he didn't get into much. He chewed up my headphones, but not my iPod and he rearranged a few things, but nothing else was destroyed. He didn't even get into the trash.

I know you all are thinking, "hey dumbass, why didn't you put the birds or the dog in a different room?" Well, I have an answer for that and don't call me dumbass. You might recall that our lovely neighbors complained about our very unhappy dog. We share a wall with them in both bedrooms, and there is no other room for everyone to go into. So, the dogs were in the dining room and the birds in the living room. And you may also recall that the birds are in their "camp" cages as opposed to their birdie mansions, which are very large and heavy and would be significantly more difficult to knock over.

So, with very, very heavy hearts, we returned Keegan to his foster mom Monday night. That is the beauty of the Rent-a-Pet program, finding out if a dog truly fits in your family. We have made commitments to ALL of our animals that we will care for them for the rest of their lives. Period. They are members of the family. I don't want to bring a new family member into the pack/flock/boozefest if I don't feel 100% certain that I can make that commitment. What would happen if Keegan killed one of the birds in the future? Would I be able to keep him?

I just want to commend Keegan's foster mom, Andrea, for being so supportive the last few days. We've exchanged countless emails and text messages as she's been coaching me through the addition of a second dog. We even got to hang out with her Sunday at a Stray Rescue fundraiser. I know Stray Rescue is not alone in the rescue world in this respect, but having the support of the organization and foster parents is priceless. Their goal is to find permanent homes for their animals and that may involve trial and error and no judgement is given if your Rent-a-Pet doesn't work out. Better that than you dump your dog down the road. We were sad driving Keegan to Andrea's house in Illinois, but the goodbye was made easier when he was greeted by Andrea's large pack of dogs and fosters on her sizable property. What dog wouldn't love that environment?

But I want to talk about how awesome Keegan is in case anyone is looking for the perfect dog (as long as you don't have birds). Let's list his attributes, shall we?

1. Handsome (duh)
2. Listens very well. Knows his name and "sit," as well as "no." Listens much better than Levi, in fact
3. Playful, but not overly energetic for such a young dog, settles in at night
4. Walks pretty well on a leash, but does get excited (in a good way) when he sees other dogs
   
5. Likes other dogs (obviously)
6. LOVES people, giving kisses, and getting attention. But he's not annoying about it like some dogs are-you know the ones. He was also good with Andrea's nephews.
7. Rides well in the car
8. Would be a great running buddy! We jogged twice and he was fantastic
9. Is not annoying about sniffing everything in sight like Levi is on walks
10. Does not get you up early in the morning. I had to get him up at 6:00 the other day for our run
11. Gave me very good attention on our walks once he knew I was carrying yummy treats. He would be a dream to train and as long as his temperament doesn't change, I think he would be a good candidate for a therapy dog.
12. Like all Stray Rescue dogs, he is neutered, up-to-date on his vaccinations, and is microchipped.
13. Did I mention handsome?

As for the crate issue, all it would take is a few carbiners and he wouldn't be able to escape. He probably needs more exposure to a crate as well. He wasn't in it much over the weekend, so it might have been a shock to him when he was in it for five hours yesterday in spite of his previous crate training. When I did put him in it over the weekend, he cried for about five min. and then went to sleep, even with me in the room.

Which brings me to the very ugly part of this post. I have been very laid back about our condo situation lately, but this event just pushed me over the edge. We've had 0 showings in three weeks. Jason called our agent yesterday to discuss what more we/she could be doing. We've reduced our price twice, moved out for six months, what more can we do? This is the time of year when the market is supposed to be "good." I realize this is not a typical year, but my frustration is growing. If we were in a house, this event with Keegan and Lola would not have happened because we would be able to put them in different rooms. We would have been able to adopt him. I'm running out of patience. I feel like we're going to head into the fall and then it will have been a year (it's been seven months if you're keeping track) and we'll probably take it off the market for winter. And then what? Put it back on in spring 2011 and hope things are better? I feel completely trapped, I haven't seen my fucking personal pictures in 16 months, and I'm tired of having my life on hold. Thank god we don't want a baby. Sorry for the tirade.

Anyway, here are a few more pictures from the weekend. We had a little photoshoot at Forest Park before we drove him to Andrea's house. I admit that looking at these pictures makes my heart ache a little bit:(

As for Lola? I'll take that bitch into battle anytime in Wizard101.