Sage

But we were cautious, because we had two cats, formerly feral, who Clay had taken in from the snowy back yard nearly five years ago, before we fell in love.  They had gone from being skittish and wary to openly loving, and their confidence and trust in us was so precious we worried about disrupting their happiness with a dog, as much as we longed for one.  And we live in a one-bedroom apartment right below our landlord and had no idea if he’d permit a dog anyway … So our life continued, dogless, until one day I idly typed “bernese mountain dog” in the Petfinder search box and saw Sage.  

Had someone in a laboratory concocted a dog with every physical feature I crushed on, it would have been Sage. He has the coloring of a Bernese, but with the freckles of a pointer (the grey and white spotting I call “Oreo face” because it reminds me of cookies and cream ice cream) and icy blue eyes.  But it wasn’t just his looks:  

We were contacted by a contact within an Animal Control facility, who lets us know about dogs who have little time left before being PTS. She told us about Sage, and how he was a very shy and terrified boy. He would stand at the back of the cage, and would never get the chance to even get on the floor to get adopted. He just was so scared. We came in and rescued him and now he is up for adoption. […] Sage was slow to warm up. It seems he has been hit and neglected in the past. He is so grateful for food and love, it's just sad. He is a VERY good boy. Housetrained, polite, quiet, gentle

The bio went on to talk about how gentle Sage was with cats, how he would talk to them in a “special low talking voice”.  How he was overcoming his fear of cars.  Updates on how gentle he was with kids.  Something in my whole body knew something very important.  I sent Clay an email with the link to Sage’s page, saying only “I think I found our dog for reals!” 

Sage’s foster mom, Lis, had posted her phone number on his bio.  I called and left a message, she called me back right away.  I was immediately struck by her candor and warmth, and got a strong sense that this woman did not mess around.  I remember asking her a lot of questions about Sage and cats, and his fear of cars, as we live in Brooklyn and well, there’s cars all over the place.  She invited me to call her anytime with questions, to fill out an application, and explained that if they liked out application that then the next step would be a home visit.  

We deliberated for a couple of days, even lying in bed at night, talking about the gravity of adopting a dog. We watched Sage’s little video over and over and over again, and we knew that this dog was right.  As crazy as it sounds, we knew that Sage was the right dog the way we knew we were the right people for each other. All we had to do was ask the landlord.  We were pleased to learn from him (a very religious Catholic) that evidently Satan hates the dog more than any other animal for his innate goodness and loyalty to man, and that we were free to adopt one.  

We filled out the application as conscientiously as we could.  I hadn’t been this nervous since applying to college. A few days later, I got a call from Lis.  I recognized the 609 area code, and I remember exactly where I was standing on McGuinness Boulevard when she called me to tell me that they liked our application and wanted to schedule a home visit. (Every time I walk past that spot my heart lifts a little bit, like remembering a corner where you first kissed someone.)  

We were so excited and so nervous about the home visit.  What if we didn’t pass? What if our house was too small? What if Deette thought we were weird? And the weekend of the home visit was the same weekend Clay was having three teeth extracted!   But we were determined to do all we could to adopt Sage.  

At last it was the Sunday of our home visit and Deette drove all the way from Pennsylvania to our Brooklyn apartment.  We all sat in our backyard and watched it rain and talked about dogs.  It was beyond obvious that Deette is a deeply conscientious and  feeling person dedicated to animal rescue, and as she shared stories about dogs Kya’s had helped I was moved over and over again. After being in our apartment for almost two hours she said, “Well, listen, Sage is yours if you want him, we think you’d be great parents” and I burst into tears.  “Oh my god, YES, we want him so much!!!”  

Lis emailed me regularly with pictures of Sage and updates as the date of the adoption grew closer.  We arranged to meet them in North Carolina to do the pickup.  In the meantime, we talked about Sage non-stop, joked with the cats how they had a BIG SURPRISE coming, de-cluttered our house some more.  A sweet/ embarrassing moment happened at an engagement party, where we were at a table with a group of people and someone asked “Do you have any pictures of Sage” and Clay and I said “YES!” only to realize that the questioner wanted to see pictures of a tablemate’s DAUGHTER, also  named Sage.    

The day of the pickup we drove 5 hours from my sister’s place in Arlington, Virginia, to North Carolina.  It was June and 100 degrees, and we were so happy we had rented a car with air conditioning! We finally turned into the rest area where Lis and Jeff had told us to meet them.   

And there he was! Our boy Sage! It was so weird to see him at last in person, after mooning over his pictures and videos for weeks, almost like meeting a celebrity.  It was amazing to finally meet Lis and Jeff as well as Petri and Dizzy.  It was too hot to spend much time outside, so after some chatting we signed the papers and did the handoff and got Sage into his new collar and then into our car and headed home.  Sage was nervous at first and panted a lot, but then settled down and was a total angel for the entire ride home.  And our hearts were so full of joy at having him here, with us, part of our family. That night I kept waking up to watch him sleep.   

Lis had sent me a 4 page document titled Sage’s Stuff thoroughly detailing his daily routine, his likes and dislikes, how they had been caring for him, the commands he knew, etc. It was incredibly helpful for us to have a handle on what to expect and I was so grateful for it. And that is my experience with every aspect of Kya’s Rescue Angels: They are dedicated, thorough and honest and will do whatever it takes to rescue, foster, and place the animals in loving forever homes, (and they do it from a pure place, without the holier-than-thou factionalism of some animal rescuers, who are in it as much for their own egos as for the animals.)  If it hadn’t been for Lis taking the time to write a detailed, loving, constantly updated bio on Sage, I might not have known he was the one.  If it hadn’t been KRA’s insistence on doing a home visit, we wouldn’t have met Deette and thus wouldn’t have that extra information on how 100% solid and trustworthy these women are, that they are straight shooters with hearts of gold.  In fact, we trust them so much that we are adopting our SECOND dog through their rescue, Siri, this Sunday!  KRA’s philosophy is that the rescuers, dogs and forever families remain an extended family of sorts for always, and I could not be happier or prouder to be linked to Lis, Jeff, Deette, and the whole Kya’s Rescue Angels extended family.   Kya’s Rescue Angels is a paragon of animal rescue. Because of them, and Sage, my life and heart have opened up so much, and I will be eternally grateful.   

Update 11/10/2008