A Saint Bernard in Florida?

I will never forget how Cassidy ended up adopting me.  Mike, being allergic to animals was doing a great job with my cat Otis.  Mike adapted well so I sold him on the idea of adding a dog to the house. 

The day before with excitement I was telling all the girls about my plans to travel to the SPCA to find a rescue dog.   The conversation went something like this.   “What kind of dog do you want Dixie?  Saint Bernard.  Dixie, are you crazy?  It is to hot here!  You cannot have a Saint Bernard in Florida!  Well, I guess you are right, but I sure do love the breed.”   

The next morning at the SPCA, we were walking around looking at all the dogs.  This cute old lady started talking to me.  Without knowing she was interviewing me.  After a conversation, she looked me strait in the eyes and said, “We have a Saint Bernard if you would like to see her.”  She had to stay in the A/C and could not be in with the other dogs.  She opened the door and here sits this huge dog on a couch.  She had perfect markings giving me a sideways curious look.  She was the prettiest dog I had ever seen.  It was love at first sight! 

We were then taken into the mangers office.  She told us how difficult and expensive Saints could be.  She asked us to go to lunch and talk about it.  At lunch there was no discussion on my side.  I could not eat.  I just wanted to go back and adopt her, take her home and love on her!  Mike, thinking more realistic then me, gave me the reasons we should not take her home.  We went back to the SPCA, looked at all the dogs, and walked a few all while my mind was on the big ball of fur laying on the couch in the A/C! 

Needless to say, there was nothing they could say to make me walk away from her.  Unfortunately, they wanted to clean her teeth so we had to wait a few days before we could bring her home. 

I went and bought a book on Saints and started preparing myself for this big bundle of Joy.  While reading I found out the bigger the dog, the shorter her life.  A Saints only lives 7 to 10 years.  She was somewhere around 3, I knew then she was going to break my heart.  When we went to pick her up she limped all the way to the car from being put to sleep for the teeth cleaning.  When we made it to the Jeep we open the door, but she did not jump in.  She had to be lifted into the car.  So when you see me throwing around a 40lb bag of dog food, no I don’t need your help.  If you have a big dog you have to be able to lift a big bag of food  J