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Her background is a bit tragic. She was abandoned by her original owner on the highway (special place for you in hell, folks) where she was picked up and handed over to the animal shelter. Impact Animal Foundation put her up in a foster home and up for adoption. We spotted her last week on their website and instantly applied for adoption after our efforts at fostering pets had fallen through due to our apartment complex’s idiotic (and biased) pet policy. Fortunately for us (and Lucy), the process was a breeze as we downloaded the application, filled it out, and handed it over to the Impact folks yesterday at the local Petco. We had expected the process to take a while but her foster parents called us yesterday for a home visit which is a mandatory step in the adoption process. We thought they would simply bring her over to take a look at our place and see how she adopts but they ended up leaving her. Of course, Lucy made the transition for them much easier by jumping all over our apartment, hopping on our beds & sofa, and sniffing the hell out of every corner.
Excited but a wee bit nervous, it took us only a short time to get used to her presence in our home. I had a dog in India ever since I was seven but Ash hasn’t had much experience with pets but can you really resist such a cutie? We hadn’t even bought the initial pet supplies so off we went with Lucy to Petco where we picked up her crate, food & water bowl, collar & leash, dog food, doggie treats & chewable rawhide, and couple of toys. She is crate-trained and house-trained or at least her foster parents didn’t have any problems although she hasn’t pooped yet after gobbling down umpteen treats and her morning grub. In order to know her ’schedule’, we took her out for several walks yesterday evening but apart from sniffing her new environs and barking at big dogs, there wasn’t any solid output. I even took her out early this morning but no such luck and ended up rushing back home for my ’schedule’.
Pet care is so much different in the United States compared to India. There are umpteen things to take care of - embedded microchip, county tags & registration, vet visits, house training, crate training, obedience training, etc. It is almost like having a kid. Hope we turn out to be good parents. As you might expect, there will be regular updates on Lucy’s progress and transition to our household in the next few weeks so if you are not a dog person, you might want to take a hike :)
by Patrix | on Monday, September 22nd, 2008 at 9:17 am | 
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September 22nd, 2008 at 10:07 am reply
Hi -
First things first, you don’t know me. I chanced upon your blog a long time ago and keep reading it every so often and this is my first time commenting! The dog is adorable, I should say. My hubs and I want to get one too but I am not sure about the added expense and general household dynamics of having a dog. I would love to hear your updates regarding that.
Sam
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:26 am reply
Lovely Terrier; how old is she?
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:13 am reply
Congrats on your new friend. We have two and I can’t imagine what our house would be like without either one of them. If you can get past the first few months of house-breaking and training, I think you’ve got yourself a best friend for the next 8-10 years.
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:18 am reply
@Sam: Glad to see you delurk. We did lot of research before we got her regarding expenses and other aspects. I will try to cover that as and when our ‘research’ is confirmed with experience.
@Chetan Kunte: She is around 1+ years old. We don’t have an exact date since her past history before she came into the shelter is unknown. She was named Lucy by her foster parents who only had her over the last week.
@Santosh: As a dog owner, I’m sure you understand our excitement. Of course, house-breaking and training goes hand in hand with all the joys of having a dog.
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:48 am reply
Aww - she is adorable. We’ve been planning and planning for a while now - I would have loved to have a lab, but as usual, idiotic appt policies prohibit it. We may settle for welsh corgi, though i know we’ll take some time to get one.
You definitely misled me with your twitter message LOL ;)
Either way, congratulations! Dogs are absolutely adorable.
S
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:04 pm reply
Hi Lucy!!
September 22nd, 2008 at 7:40 pm reply
@Supremus: A Lab is a great dog and yup, the apt. complex doesn’t allow dogs more than 35 lbs. But you should go for a smaller one. Once you get a house, you can get a Lab too. More the merrier.
I’m glad I managed to mislead at least someone with my twitter msg :) Dinn know you were following me. Don’t see you on my followers list.
@Amit: Lucy says hi too.
September 23rd, 2008 at 12:55 pm reply
move to dallas…..most apt complexes here allow bigger dogs (my apt complex has a 100 pound limit, but most are at 80 pounds). My neighbor has two beautiful Irish Setters
And hello Lucy!
September 24th, 2008 at 6:46 am reply
@sunil : Is that 100 pound per dog or weight of all dogs in an apartment should be under 100 pound? And what if lady in the house is a bitch? Will that weight be included as well?
September 24th, 2008 at 8:43 am reply
@Sunil: 100 lbs???? Heck, a few more pounds and I can qualify as a pet :) Nah! Who am I kidding? But glad to know Dallas apts are more friendly to bigger dogs. Will definitely be scoring that in the Dallas column when I’m job hunting.
@Aditya: errr…if you’re calling the lady in the house a bitch, then probably her weight is not the biggest issue you have. And I’m sure she is calling you a pig and wondering about the pig policy.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:12 am reply
welcome to the latest member in your household , P & A :)
September 24th, 2008 at 5:16 pm reply
She is gorgeous. You better take good care. :)
September 25th, 2008 at 10:20 am reply
@Neel: Thanks.
@Sakshi: Lucy is my fifth dog since childhood so taking good care is a given.