A New and Different Journey - The Story of Joe Lee

It was an accident. Truly, it was. I didn’t intend to adopt another pup. Not yet, anyway.

On Monday, August 30th, I was idly killing some time doing what I had begun to refer to as “Cruisin’ for Catahoulas” when I came across “#7824 male,” a cute little speckly-nosed pup with clear blue eyes that seemed to look into my soul. I sighed and shook my head. Too bad he was incarcerated in the East Baton Rouge Parish Animal Control Center, 956 miles away from home.

Since Winnie died in June, people had asked if I was going to adopt another dog to replace her. I told them all no, that I was fine with just two dogs, and with Tim’s health in such a precarious position, I didn’t think it was right to introduce chaos into his life. Two dogs were cheaper than three. It was so much easier to walk two, there was so much less mess with two. So I wasn’t seriously looking for a dog. To make a search even less likely to succeed, I had decreed that if I was to adopt another dog, it would have to have at least one blue eye. I’d wanted a blue-eyed dog since I was a girl, and after meeting Koda, Kristy’s pup, that desire was renewed.

That night, I couldn’t get the little freckled face of #7824 out of my mind, so I emailed my good friend Jolie, who lives in Louisiana, on the off-chance she might be in a position to pull a pup from that particular shelter if I could make some sort of arrangement to come get him. When my sister learned I was interested in #7824, she had offered to drive over to Baton Rouge and get him, and then I could pick him up at her house. Jolie replied, saying she lived about 5½ hours away from Baton Rouge, but she would contact a sorority sister of hers who liked animals and see what she could work out.


On the morning of Tuesday, August 31, I still hadn’t heard from Jolie. The hours passed slowly. I am definitely not a patient person, and at around 9:00 (I told you, I’m not patient), and after encouragement from several of my friends (especially you, Kathy), I called the shelter just to find out if they adopted out of state.

The woman who answered the phone at the East Baton Rouge Parish Animal Control Center, Suzie, was one of the warmest and most charming women I have ever talked to. She confirmed that, yes, they do adopt to folks who live out of state. She asked which dog I was interested in, and while I held on the phone, she looked up the records for #7824 male. I held my breath when, at first, she couldn’t find him. Apparently, he was still in the “Strays” section. Then she found the records. Was he a Lab mix? No, the Petfinder site said he was a Catahoula mix. She asked me to hold again (“Darlin,’ can I get you to hang on just one more time? I promise I won’t be long...”). She went back to physically make sure he was the right dog and that he was still in the right cage. When she came back to the phone, Suzie said, “Oh, that’s the right one. He’s Lab and Catahoula. He sure is a cute little guy, isn’t he, with all those spots on his sweet lil’ nose?”

And then, when I asked how one would go about arranging a long-distance adoption, she said, with a smile in her voice and the sweetest of Southern accents, “We do take credit cards!”

By the time I got off the phone with Suzie, she had taken all my information, and we scheduled the pup's neuter surgery for September 10th. In return, Suzie gave me her cell phone number. "Now, if anything happens, you know, if the plane makes a wrong turn or you're runnin' late, y'all just give me a call, and I'll take the little fella home with me. You can pick him up at my house, bless your heart!"

And that’s how it happened. When I called, I was just testing the water, as it were. My questions were theoretical. I ended up doing a cannonball into the deep end, and I am now the owner (in absentia and virtually sight unseen) of one of the cutest pups ever born!

So, it looks like next week I’ll be going on another Road Trip. I gave fleeting thought to attempting to arrange a transport - after all, I’ve participated in several transports for other folks, along with countless home visits - but I found that I really want to meet Suzie, and I want to see the Baton Rouge shelter where little "Joe Lee" came from. Plus, on the way back, I will get to meet Jolie face to face and even get to see my sister, Pam!

I’ll take you all with me through the trip, and take lots of pictures along the way. This is going to be so much fun!




For now, we’re calling #7824 “Joe Lee.” For some reason, it just seems right.

And the Gypsy Heart and Farmer Feet are, for once, in agreement. This is definitely the right thing to do.