Introducing Chai Hickson

On Wednesday Molly and I were out and about and heading home when I get a text from N. He's curious if it was going to be a nap day or not. I told him that Molly was pretty mellow in the back seat and it would all depend on if she fell asleep on the way home or not. He then texts me back this:



I immediately ask which shelter he's at and tell him we're on our way. Apparently my birthday was finally enough motivation for N to go pick out a new dog. I have always told him that if *I* go to a shelter we WILL be leaving with a dog. He was warned. Besides, it's been two years since Snickers passed and it was time. N had been at San Jose Animal Care Center for an hour and fallen in love with Chai. The funny thing was the shelter had named her Sadie. What are the chances?

When Molly and I arrived N had already filled out the paperwork. He dropped it off at the front desk and we were given a pager. They would let us know when a worker was ready to bring Chai out for a meet and greet. She was a 6 month old boxer "mix" (we're guessing some sort of pit) and full of puppy energy. We immediately went to her kennel to say hello. Then we took a look at another bay of kennels while waiting for the pager to go off. I came across two complete loves, a black lab mix (1.5 years old) and a Collie mix (3 years old). Granted if given enough time I would have adopted half the dogs in there. Molly fell in love with the bunnies and we had a hard time pulling her away. The shelter did have a great sign by the bunnies - "These are not a children's toy, they are a 10 year commitment."

However, N had been through the entire place and Chai was his first pick. The pager went off and we followed the worker to the kennel. There was another couple standing at Chai's kennel and told the worker they wanted her. The worker informed them that we had turned in our paperwork first (this couple had not even filled theirs out yet) and we had dibs. They took us to an outside caged in area for a meet and greet and N was pretty sold on her. I then took Molly home so we could grab Sadie and head right back for the meet n' greet (required before we could leave with any dog). Apparently if we let them put Chai back to bring out another dog the other couple could take her home. So N stayed in this outside area with Chai until I got back there with Sadie. I was a little nervous that Sadie was going to be super bitchy, but she was actually fine with Chai and even instigated playing with her. While I was gone N had finalized the paperwork and after the workers saw that Chai got along with Sadie just fine they said we could go home.

I then asked N if he was sure he didn't want to bring out the other dogs, but it became pretty clear he didn't want to chance losing Chai to that other couple. We had discussed bringing home a slightly older dog since Molly is still pretty young and I thought a more mellow dog would be an easier transition for Sadie. N wanted Chai and that was that. So, we took Chai home.



On the drive home I asked Molly what she wanted to name her as she was still Sadie at this point and she simply replied, "Sadie 2". Um yeah, that was not going to work. Having two dogs with the same name wouldn't be confusing at all. Besides the new pup had only been Sadie for a few days. Starbucks was the first thing that popped into my head since this was N's dog and he's such a caffeine whore. However, Starbucks is also something that comes up quite frequently in our household and even Miss Molly will demand Starbuck runs so I deemed that name too confusing as well. I then thought up Chai and Latte since she was sorta coffee colored. N had thought up Agnes (?). He said it sounded like a spunky name. I said it sounded like a grandmother's name. There were a few others (I think Daisy was in the mix) and then we asked Molly. Once she heard Chai that's the name that stuck and since N liked it that was her name.

Sadie and Chai playing the first night home: