Meet Elmer!

Meet Elmer, my new dog, a husky mix almost two years old. I adopted him from the Multnomah County Animal Shelter for $25 on a cold weekday morning in late December. When we first met in a yard, he was indifferent toward me and seemed scared and nervous. He’d been at the shelter for three months and was clearly shell shocked.

He didn’t want to get in my car, but finally, with some assistance by a shelter staffer, we got him inside and I drove him home as we listened to the jazz station.

It was a deeply emotional moment adopting this dog. I had been dogless for almost seven years after putting down my beloved husky Sonny, my boon companion of almost 17 years, during a personal crisis of catastrophic proportions.

I thought I’d never have the desire or wherewithal to have another dog.

That changed.

I showed Elmer around the house and yard. I fed him a meal and he devoured it. We took our first walk around the neighborhood and he pulled a bit on the leash.

He has yet to make his unique howl that all huskies have. It will come in time.

I celebrated my new dog with a good bottle of wine.

In the morning, it was still dark and we walked for several miles. Three hours later, I took him to a fenced dog park and watched him gallop and play with a couple of dogs.

My life will radically change with this dog. I am ready for change. I needed something to smash the stasis I’ve been feeling. Elmer the husky will certainly do that.

After orientation around the home and neighborhood for a couple weeks, I’ll take him to the beach. I am thinking Nestucca Spit in Pacific City, where I rambled with Sonny and Ray and Jo a thousand times. It’s time to reclaim part of who I was then.