6.11.2014

June 11, 2014

White Dog inspected the Army. "YoYoMa, try to stay calm, no crazy spinning in circles. Puff, do your best to look frail but happy. Bella, for dog's sake at least come out from under the chair; doing your little dance would be a charming touch. Sachi, skip the yipfest and go right to jumping up and snuggling. Taiko, you could not have picked a worse time to get into it with Yo; be your friendly self and PLEASE do not make mean faces at any of us."

Then she motioned for Steve to follow her. "Backyard, check. Michael did a good job on poop patrol. Fresh water in all of the bowls. Freshly vacuumed; great floof control. Glad you washed the kitchen floor. By the way, Sachi peed on that bag of donatable clothes you put on the porch, you will need to clean off the bag and floor...maybe put the bag in the car."

There was a method to the Queen's pushy demeanor; today was the day Animal Control was coming to inspect the house in order to issue the Multiple Pet Permit we needed to become totally legitimate and end the three years of trying to get this done. The appointment was for 10:30am and White Dog wanted everything shipshape before Steve headed off to teach.

At 10, the officer assigned to our case called. They were having vehicle issues at Animal Control. Could she change the appointment to this afternoon? We rescheduled for 2:30pm, which was good because Steve would be home, but stretched out the tension and WD time to hand out more instructions.

By 1pm, WD was jumping and losing her cool at every noise outside and every movement of the WDA. We gave her a Composure herbal calming tablet, which had no effect.

When the AC Van pulled up in front of the house, the WDA sang a song of greeting, made longer by the fact that the officer sat in her vehicle for a while and then got out walked up the drive then went back to the van before coming in. For his own comfort I leashed YoYoMa and kept him at my side.

The first thing she needed were the microchip numbers for White Dog and YoYoMa, which should have already been on record. When the officer pulled out the scanner, Yo panicked; things were made more difficult because the scanner was not picking up his chip through his thick coat, constant movement and the officer's fear of being bitten. She agreed to just read the tag on his collar to manually capture the number. Steve held White Dog and she scanned instantly.

The officer did a count of the White Dog Army, accepting Bella's paw sticking out from under the chair as evidence of her existence and health. She did not even ask about Taiko's ear (I could hear White Dog's sigh of relief). By now, Sachi was sitting on her lap.

"Would you like to walk through the house and see where they sleep, the dog door and such?" Steve asked. No, was her reply. Everything looks good. "If I could just take a look in the yard." Steve was prepared to walk her around the yard, but all she did was stand on the deck and look over the area. "Looks good." (Please do not tell Michael, he even got up early this morning to do an extra tour for cleanup).

The officer came back inside where the WDA was all huddled around me holding their breaths. She didn't even look up from her clipboard. "If you want to write a check or have cash for the $50 fee, I can accept your payment and give you a receipt. You won't have to go into the office then." Steve wrote the check, she gave him a receipt for the payment, then gave him a copy of the permit. "If you do not get my fancy certificate, this paper is evidence that you are permitted.. Next year, to save yourself hassle, just wait until I come for the renewal and you can renew all of the individual dog licenses at the same time."

Really? Just like that? So easy? It was almost anticlimactic after all we have been through on this journey.

But as of right now, today...THE WHITE DOG ARMY IS LEGIT and in TOTAL COMPLIANCE!

Everyone waited until after the van pulled away before erupting into an hallelujah chorus and victory dance. The celebration involved high fives, pets all around, head kisses, nose kisses, and of course, jerky treats!

Join us in our joy and happiness...you have walked this journey by our side and were prepared to come to our aid if needed...we gratefully share our moment of triumph with each of you!

5 comments:

Brian's Home Blog said...

BRAVO GANG!!!! We knew you all would ace that silly test!

JudyMae said...

Whew! I can stop holding my breath for you and give a sigh of relief. So glad that things went well and even easy. I was so worried for you.

Random Felines said...

hate those situations....all the drama and over painlessly (though we guess the alternative would be worse). YAY for the WDA! We bet Sachi in her lap helped. :)

Sagira said...

Glad you are all legal now. :)

KB said...

I'm so glad that you're legal but I'm sorry it brought so much stress.

I really cannot believe that "they" had the nerve to come in your house to start with. But, I guess that the end result was good because you're completely legal!! Yahoo!