about a week ago, while taking my dogs outside to go to the bathroom, i heard the unmistakeable sound of a dog whimpering. i peeked over my fence and discovered a small pooch in the alley behind my house. it's not an alley that cars drive through; it's an enclosed drainage ditch with a gate on each end.

with a bowl of water, i hopped my back yard fence and jumped into the alley. the dog took off. i called my friend adam for help, and he drove to the other end of the alley and cut off the dog's escape route. after we had him trapped we just sat there in the alley, giving him a comfortable distance, hoping to gain his trust. after about 10-15 minutes he came near us and allowed us to pet him. he even rolled over on his back for a belly rub! i named him skinny pete, after the character on breaking bad, because he was skinny! i could easily feel his ribs.

we got him back to my apartment where he met my other two dogs. they played together for hours. they all got along really well and i started thinking about keeping him, at least for a couple of days, while we waited to see if his owner turned up in the neighborhood. i took him to the vet to be checked for an ID chip. as expected, he didn't have one. he spent the night sleeping in my armpit. he loved to burrow under the covers and curl up in a tightly-wrapped ball.

the next morning we had a nice walk and he started eating, which was a great sign that he wasn't seriously sick, especially since all i had was dry perscription food made of eggs. i got to thinking about my vet appointment, and how i would have to lie about where i got the dog if i wanted him to get checked out (a vet is required to take stray a stray dog to the shelter).

then i got a feeling of guilt, thinking about the owner, and if they were looking for their dog. maybe this was all a horrible mistake or accident. i thought, "if i lost my dog, what would i want the person who finds them to do? lie to a vet and keep them, or make sure i had a good chance to be reunited?"

i cancelled my appointment and took him to the shelter. this was my first experience in an animal shelter, and was without a doubt the most depressing place that i've ever been to in my entire life. there was a long line of people, half with stray dogs and half with stray cats. they were all disheveled, my dog was the only one that looked like it hadn't been living on the streets for weeks. one elderly couple was there to leave their dog to be euthanized because it was old, sick, and blind. i watched as she handed to the leash to an employee and then stopped her at the last minute to bend over for one last goodbye kiss. she walked past me to leave, weeping.

seeing that was too much for me to handle. i got the hell out of there with him and drove home.

once i got home i realized that despite how much that sucked, i'm going to have to take him to the shelter if i want to legitimately adopt him. i went back, this time accompanied by adam.

the second visit had a slightly shorter line but it was equally depressing. there were two people who brought in dead cats they found in the street, and one woman who brought in her dead pet dog. i kept my nerve and left him there. i told the shelter that i want to be called when the dog goes up for adoption so i can have the first chance to adopt him. that was no problem and they took note of it.

i was told that by saturday i would know if he's going up for adoption or not. saturday came and went and i didn't get a phone call. on sunday, i checked their website, and he was still listed as a found dog.

yesterday, i checked the website again, and noticed he had been removed from the found dogs, but had not been added to the dogs for adoption. my stomach sank to unimaginable depths. i called the shelter immediately and was informed that he would not be going up for adoption because he failed his behavior test. "not going up for adoption" has a much deeper and darker meaning.

i was in shock. i thought, if anything, he would fail the medical exam, but not the behavior test. i spent a day and a half with him and he spent most of that time getting harrassed and humped by my dogs without so much as a growl. i've been around plenty of dogs and this dog is a threat to no one.

i left for the shelter immediately, determined to find the person responsible for these decisions and talk them into changing their mind. i had no doubt that i would succeed in this task, i was just hoping that i wasn't too late and he hadn't already been put to sleep.

i arrived, and told the receptionist my problem. he cautiously approached one of the offices and quietly knocked. after a moment a lady emerged to talk to me.

she told me exactly how he failed his behavior test.

one of the tests they do is a food-guarding test. they place a bowl of food in front of the dog and let it start eating. then, they reach in with a fake hand (yes, a fake hand. think hand-on-a-stick) and try to take the food away. apparently, he nipped at the fake hand. yes, nipped. not bite. and not an actual person. a hand on a stick. this nip, in the eyes of the shelter, makes him unadoptable. it's actually not that surprising because there are currently 300 dogs up for adoption and the shelter takes in thousands of dogs per year. you can do the math. they only have so much space.

i told her that i understand the policy, but i would be more than happy to sign a liablitity waiver and i would never hold the shelter responsible if he hurts me. she said that it wasn't an option. her argument made it sound like she was doing me a favor. "the shelter can not allow a dog to be adopted that might bite someone!"

i resisted the temptation to become sarcastic and angry and just kept repeating my arguments, pratically begging her. i must have told her i would sign a waiver five or six times. her answer was the same every time. she had to protect me from this potentially bad dog that might bite me some day. the fact that he is going to die was just an unfortunate side effect. this argument was just grating to my ears, worse than a thousand fingernails on chalkboards. if we euthanized every pet that has some kind of food posession issue i would have to kill off half of my friends' pets. i'm standing here, right here, right now, willing to take this animal that you are about to kill. and your answer is no?

defeated, and in tears, i finally left the shelter and got back in my car. it was the worst feeling i had experienced in a long time. not only because a kind, innocent dog was about to get killed, but because i was partially responsible for it. if i had been willing to tell one stupid little white lie to the vet, he would be alive and happy. i missed the ramp to the highway. i drove around north vegas aimlessly for half an hour. i couldn't find the highway and i didn't really care. i didn't want to go home, i didn't want to be anywhere.

i made it home and when my girlfriend, amy, got home, i told her the bad news. she took it a lot worse than i did. we both cried.

she asked me if there was anything we could do, if there was anyone we could call. i told her that i was at the shelter for half an hour, begging, and that i didn't think there was anything we could do. she wanted to call anyway. i gave her the phone number and eventually she got in touch with the director of operations, carly scholten.

after a ten minute conversation with my girlfriend, carly took our dog off the euthanasia list (he was two hours away from execution) and promised she would talk to the "behavior team" in the morning. as long as he didn't attack anyone, she would let us adopt him, as long as we would be willing to sign a waiver form (lol).

i couldn't believe it was that easy. we felt relieved, but i was still slightly nervous about an unfavorable outcome. she said she would call me the next day sometime before noon.

it was a pretty big sweat. i couldn't function at all this morning. i just sat at my desk and played GTA IV while looking at my phone every five minutes to make sure it didn't ring. she called at 11:50 with good news. i celebrated by letting my dogs jump all over me and lick my head. i rushed to the shelter to pay for him so he would be mine for good.

tomorrow morning he's getting neutered and i pick him up tomorrow afternoon.

i have a lot of sympathy for the employees at the animal foundation. that's gotta be a very tough job. i would not be able to deal with that much suffering on a daily basis. the first lady i talked to made a mistake, but at least this time it had a good outcome.

sadly, the outcome won't be so good for most dogs that end up at the shelter. i never realized what a problem overpopulation is. it's sad that shelters have to kill dogs, but they have no other choice, there are not enough resources to take care of every dog in the world.

congratulations skinny pete, you wandered into the right back yard. enjoy these final precious years that you almost didn't have.