Denali

Christmas 2006: A shelter worker arrived early one morning in late December to find a dog crate on the doorstep. Taped to the top was a note saying, "Snickers. 11 year old spayed female." She opened the crate and found a little pearl! A glowing, charming gem, though a little confused, and due to her age, unlikely to be adopted. So our shelter worker took her home, and assessed her condition and training. She's a housebroken, lively, youthful lady of a certain age. Her foster mom decided to change her name. We are delighted to have been entrusted with the placement of Denali.

Here are the first comments on Denali's first few days in foster care. Since receiving this email, we've learned that she's relaxed a little bit and seems to be more at ease with her foster siblings. Here's the original report:


"Just thought I'd give the first Denali update, now that we're getting to know her a bit more.

...this girl is great! We learned that she *hates* the vacuum - not only does she charge the vacuum itself, but also everything else in close proximity. She turns into a furry bowling ball, head down and Charge! Cracks me up, but obviously we'll work on that with her. She's been great so far with Lucy and Stanley the cat too. She *loves* her beds(and by bed, I mean any piece of fabric on the floor...) and will protect at once if anyone so much as thinks they might one day want to walk near one of them. But by "protect" I mean turning into the bowling ball and charging the intruder. No growling, nipping, anything like that. Luckily Lucy prefers the couch and human bed to dog beds (or mats or area rugs) so it's not a big deal (Denali prefers her beds, I think because she can't get off the couch or bed by herself - makes her nervous) . But we'll also be working on her "sharing" while she's here.
And since this girl's got the appetite of a gorilla, I'm sure the training will go well! She'll do anything if she thinks there's food involved.

She's also housetrained - she had an accident the first day, but it was when I was putting my shoes on to take her out. I even teach people "if you think about taking the dog out, take them out immediately - don't wait!" Would be nice if I could listen to my own advice...

She's incredibly sweet with people and has very nicely greeted every vistor we've had (which has been a lot - our contractor decided today was a great day to install our new picture window, but didn't tell us - surprise!). She's sparing with her kisses, and isn't much of a cuddler, but she will run over to you and turn around so you can easily pet her back - she loved being combed on her back! So all in all this is one great girl - I can't believe someone would give her up!"

We can't believe it, either, but who knows what personal tragedy or sad circumstance would force a loving owner to bundle her beloved frog-baby into a crate and set her on the doorstep of a shelter in winter's cruel cold and wind. She's our own dear Grandma Moses, cast adrift on the river of life in a sort of basket and fetched up on a shore of bulldogs instead of bullrushes. We feel that it's only a matter of time before this old girl arrives in her own promised land of gravy and biscuits.

Out of kindness and consideration for our readers, we will draw a veil over this painfully extended and far-fetched metaphor and close, remaining, as ever,

The Frog Princess