Copper

No, not another dog. Sadly. :(

My sister and I were walking to a Thai restaurant right across the street, when we saw him running around the streets. Lots of cars were honking at him.. So, of course, we went after him. He kept running away from us though. Then we saw these two teenage boys staring at him.. So we asked if the dog belonged to them. They said no, but they joined us in trying to get Copper off the streets. Then we split up, and they went into a gated community while we ran for 2 miles, cause we lost them. We ended up walking to the Jack-in-the-Box that we split up at, since I had a cold and needed to blow my nose.. After a few minutes there, we saw the two boys walking toward us with Copper in their arms. They said they cornered him in the community and brought him over to us. He had tags, but they stated that he belonged in San Luis Obispo, which is in NorCal and we live in SoCal. They asked if we could take care of the rest, which of course we did. We took him home, and made a bed out of towels in the laundry room. He slept pretty nicely that night..

The next day we called the number, but the owner didn't respond and the other number was the city office. They looked up his tag number and told us his breed, but they didn't have any other information. My mom started getting angry with us, saying that he stank and she wanted him gone by the next day.

The next day, I was *so* worried. I posted a picture of Copper on PetFinder and Facebook, as did my sister. My mom told us that if we didn't find him a home by that day, she'd bring him to the shelter. Even simply finding someone to doggysit him for a few days while we looked for a home would've been greatly appreciated. Thankfully, an hour before my mom's deadline (4 pm), my friend volunteered to doggysit him until Sunday, and it was Thursday. She said she would pick him up at 9 pm. I went out to walk him before she picked him up, but on my way, a lady walked out of her yard and said, "You want him? He's yours.

"Apparently, he's a Smooth Fox Terrier, though seeing him, I think he's a mix of a bunch of breeds. Also, he's 8 years old and responds to the name Copper. She said she was the owner's sister, but the sister had to move to an apartment that didn't allow pets. The sister didn't want to give her pets up, but she had to. The lady volunteered to take Copper and her cat to make her sister feel better, but honestly, I think she just said that to make her feel better, because her true intentions were to bring both of them to the pound. Then she said that both the cat and dog bolted out of her yard a few days ago. We found Copper, but her cat is still somewhere out there. Also, she said if we didn't take Copper, she'd just drop him off at the pound.. So of course we took him.

My mom was angry, seeing that he was still here. I explained that my friend would be taking him in for a few days, so then she was fine with that..

My friend, being quite generous, bought Copper some food of his own and a leash. She kept me updated on him while he was there.. But he only stayed at her house for 2 days. Saturday morning, my sister got an email from a lady who was potentially interested. Though my sister's Facebook picture of him, a friend of hers re-posted his story. The lady's boyfriend then saw the story too, and showed it to his girlfriend (the lady, who's name is Arah).

Over the next day, we told Arah about all of his great qualities. He was completely potty trained, loved to be around people, followed you everywhere, great with kids, loved tummy rubs. He even had a cool 5th toe.. Though sometimes he makes this little "wheeking" noise. My sister's boyfriend hypothesized that he fought another animal, but it bit his neck and tore the skin on his throat, so he has saggy skin running down his neck. Basically, he was the perfect dog.. Though we knew a lot of people wouldn't want him because he was 8 years old. Arah looked past his age though, and she decided that she would adopt him for sure. :)

We got a few items prepared to help get her ready for Copper (food, a toy, shampoo, etc.), and picked him up from my friend's house. When we got him back, everybody in her household had positive comments. They said he had excellent behavior, was super cute, never barked, never pottied inside, and never bit anybody, not even playfully.

That night, he slept really peacefully. I heard him snore, heheh. :3 When I went to say goodnight to him, he rolled over for another tummy rub.. So sweet. <3

The next morning, when Arah and her boyfriend came, they loved him immediately. It was hard saying goodbye, but.. I managed to. :')

Now, she says he's doing great, and every weekend, they go to her parents' house to play with their other dog. I'm so happy for him. :D

A week or two later, I checked my email.. I got several emails from people on PetFinder that wanted to adopt him. Of course, I felt bad having to turn them down.. But I was glad that some people wanted him. :)

Oh yeah. My friend who doggysat him? Her parents thought they weren't ready for a dog.. Until Copper came. They regret not keeping him (he was perfectly suited to their family), but now they're looking to adopt a dog. Yaaay! :D

So yeah. That's what I've been doing during spring break this year.. :)

Done