Unexpected Connections

"Hello, sir. How can I help you?" The woman standing at the counter was dressed in a uniform, probably in her mid-thirties. She looked nice enough.

"Um, I've never done this before." Derek said nervously.

"That okay!" The woman whose nametag said Claire said cheerfully. "We get a lot of first timers here. Are you looking to rescue?" She asked as she started digging around for something behind the counter.

"Oh um, yeah." Derek responded quietly. "I went online and filled out the paperwork." He pulled out a few slightly wrinkled and folded papers from the back pocket of his jeans and placed it on the counter.

She picked up the papers and looked them over. "Alright." said Claire. "I'll bring you back to meet them." She left her post from behind the counter and motioned for Derek to follow her down the corridor. "What age are you looking for?"

Thinking about what he was about to do, Derek felt the impending joy start to flow through his body. "I don't want a small puppy." He stated in a gentle tone. "But I don't want a dog that's going to pass away a year or two after I have it."

"Okay, I can work with that." Claire responded, going over a mental inventory of all the rescue dogs they had. "Do you want a small or big dog?"

"I have a ton of land so probably big." Derek shoved his hands in his front pocket. "But not too big." He quickly added.

They reached the cages where the rescue dogs were kept individually. Stopping at the first cage on the right side, where the larger dogs were kept, Claire started to tell Derek about the dog. "Here we have Donny. Male, yellow lab, five years old. He was brought to us because his owners were abusing him."

Derek looked at the sad dog lying in the corner of the cage and felt sorry for him but nothing more. This wasn't his dog. "I'm sorry, no."

Claire and Derek passed a few more sad, male dogs, each one of them being passed up by Derek. "Do you have any females?" Derek asked after they passed a three-legged boxer named Champion.

"Yes, we have three." Claire walked to the last three cages and introduced the first one. "This is Kyzer, a three year old McNab. Her owners passed away and she was brought to us." Kyzer was hopping up on the cage door, trying to get the people there to pet her. She had her tongue falling out of her mouth, her black and white coat shimmering under the fluorescent lights of the shelter. Derek bent down to pet her, his hand getting covered in her saliva as she licked her hand. A smile appeared on his face but left once she barked. It was one of the most annoying barks Derek had ever heard. He couldn't deal with it day in and day out. Not her, either. He thought.

"She's cute, but not for me." Derek said, losing hope that he could find a dog.

"That's okay." Stated Claire. "We want our owners to be well matched with their dog so we don't see the dogs back here." She moved over to the next cage. "We haven't named this one yet, she just came in this morning. We think she's about two, shorthaired Pakistani Shepherd. She was being starved and we rescued her." The still growing tan and black dog slowly walked up to greet Derek. "This breed of dog is uncommon in the Pacific Northwest because it's native land is hot and dry." Noticing Derek's peaked interest to the dog, Claire continued. "They love to heard and require a lot of exercise and need to be kept busy. They're very obedient and protective of their owner's and land. Also, very friendly." She laughed with the last sentence because the dog was clearly taken with Derek. "I can open the cage if you want to meet her." Derek looked up from his position on the concrete ground and nodded. He got up so the door could be opened.

As soon as there was enough room for the dog to wiggle out of the cage, she pounced on Derek in a playful manner. A laugh escaped Derek's lips as he scratched the dog's back. "Hey, girl." He said as they started to bond with one another.