my dumpster dog.

03 Jan 2012 16 Comments

by mary kathryn tyson in family & friends who are family, life abundant.

princess zella-bella boo-fella tyson was 10 months old when i adopted her from the orange county animal shelter in my hometown.

it was my sister‘s idea. i should have realized when she said, you need a dog, she really meant, i want a dog but i don’t want to take care of it, so you get one so she’s your responsibility and not mine. we were living together at the time and i had only just started therapy, else i might have had a different response than to agree with and want to please her before heading right out the door to find one.

turns out, though, she was right (but just this one time).

i went to the shelter and filled out a wish list and answered an extensive questionnaire. i want a toto-dog, i said. i had no idea what kind of dog, as in what breed, that was exactly. i just knew that i wanted a dog that looked like toto. (because who doesn’t, right? small dog. cute. compact. lapdog. throw her in the car and go. eats everything in sight and thinks she’s a person and gets these wild, crazy eyes and sharp fangs about her when she knows she can’t have something and gets uninvited to family gatherings and certain homes. WHO DOESN’T WANT A DOG LIKE THAT.)

i worked at the ‘duct at the time, so i also indicated that i could bring my dog to work with me. you know, because we needed a wild dog-child running around there greeting guests and digging in their purses for lipstick and bubble gum.

i took a tour of all the orphan-dogs and would have adopted all of them if i could have, but did not find The One with whom my heart connected.

so, they told me to check back in every week-to-ten days as new ones were always coming in.

it would seem i was set as flint to get one because i went back two weeks later and a girl who worked there pulled me aside. she said they found a dog behind the dumpster at wal-mart three months earlier, which she adopted. only, it turned out she couldn’t give it the life it needed. ‘bina’ (short for ‘sabrina’ – i know, let’s not talk about it. her name has been changed.) spent most of her days in a crate while this young girl balanced school and work.

i read your profile, she told me. she’s exactly what you want and you can give her a better life than i can. if you’ll agree to it, i’ll surrender her back to the shelter so that you can adopt her.

so we arranged for me to meet the dog later in the week.

she was right. ‘bina’ was just what i said i wanted but, to look at her, i just wasn’t that…moved…by her.

to be honest with you, i felt bad for the girl but i also felt bad for this dog. mostly, i just thought how selfless this girl must be to want to give this sweet dog -her dog- a better life.

it never even crossed my mind that this dog might have just been too much for her to handle.

call it a guilt complex or maybe it was because i was a people pleaser trying to save the world, but i agreed to adopt the crying girl’s dog. i picked her up from the shelter a few days later.

the truth is, i didn’t really think ‘bina’ was all that cute when i brought her home with me that day. none of us did. and now…look what love has done, my sisters and i laugh now. because she is absolutely, positively The Cutest Dog in the World to me now, even if age hasn’t calmed her crazy.

we changed her name, too. i had already picked it, but there isn’t another that fits her more perfectly. my grandma’s first name, which she was never called, was zella. i loved that name but couldn’t guarantee a.) that i would ever have children, and b.) that whomever i may or may not have children with would love that name like i did, so i named my dog that instead.

i had no idea what i was getting into, when i a.) adopted a dog, period, and b.) adopted a terrier. (by the way, i had no idea at the time that toto was a cairn terrier, or that zella actually was the same breed.) had i known, i might have thought twice. and then a third time. and probably a fourth. SO IT’S A GOOD THING I DIDN’T KNOW.

and now, this month, she is eight years old. this love of my life, sweet cuddle-bug child of mine who both calms my crazy and makes me a tiny bit more insane.

* * * * * * * * * *

my zella-grrrl, you are the light and love of my life. i want to laugh and cry each time i look at you with your playful spirit and sad eyes. you have been the greatest comfort and most fun/tiresome part of my day for the last seven years and two months.

i can’t do life without you, and i wouldn’t want to.

thank you for being excited to see me every time i come to the door and for making me get out of bed each day because sometimes your urges are the only thing that does.

you are My Very Favorite Part of Life, princess zella-bella boo-fella, and i wouldn’t have picked out a different dog had i been given the chance or known any better.

thank you for choosing me. 

princess zella-bella boo-fella tyson

{born sometime in january, 2004}