“It’s a girl. Pretty sure she knows no puppies are coming.”
“Oh my god! It’s a girl? I’m being humped by a girl dog?”
She disentangles the dog from my leg. “Be a good girl, baby,” she coos at it.
“Be careful,” I warn as I back away. “She’ll French kiss you if she gets the chance.”
She returns the dog to the kennel. “I think little horn dog only has eyes for you.”
“This is a bad idea,” I grumble as we continue our search. “Maybe I should let Cedar win this bet. The world won’t end if I don’t complete the dare. What do…?”
I trail off when I realize I’m talking to air. I search for Juniper and find her kneeling in front of a kennel petting a dog through the bars.
“Who’s a good boy?” she murmurs.
“He’s too big for me,” I tell her.
“Good. Because he’s mine.”
“I thought you weren’t going to adopt a dog today?”
She scrunches his face between her hands. “Have you seen this face? How can you say no to this face?”
Melanie’s not stupid. She hurries to let the dog out of the cage. Apparently, the dog isn’t stupid either because as soon as he’s free, he bounds to Juniper and jumps on her to lick her face.
“Hi, baby boy. Are you excited to go home with your mommy?”
I leave her to her love fest and continue down the hallway between the kennels. This place is beyond sad. Many of the dogs don’t bother to look up as I pass by. They’ve given up on finding their furever home. Poor things.
Stop it, Cassandra. I can’t be feeling sorry for these animals, or I’ll end up sponsoring the entire shelter. It wouldn’t be the firsttime. It’s easy to give away money when you have a bunch of it you didn’t earn and don’t deserve.
A dog scratches at the cage and I kneel to say hi. He’s about the size of a corgi, but he’s missing an ear and one of his rear legs. Poor baby.
“She’s been here for five months,” Melanie says as she squats next to me. “No one wants a three-legged dog.”
“Why not?”
She gestures to the rest of the kennels. “Why choose a dog with three legs when there are plenty of four legged dogs?”
“What happened to her?”
“We think she was run over by a car.”
“She was living on the street?”
“We believe so. She isn’t chipped and she wasn’t wearing a collar when she was brought in.”
I scratch her behind her remaining ear, and she leans into my hand. She’s desperate for a bit of affection.
“I’ll take her.”
“Are you certain?” I glare at Melanie. “A dog with medical issues won’t be cheap.”
“You can’t put a price on love,” Juniper says as she joins us.
I chuckle when I notice her dog now has a collar and is on a leash. She didn’t waste any time.
“I’m certain,” I tell Melanie. “I want her.”