Seeking Owner of Teen Mom Puppy

The Arndt adventures continue…

I’ve been meaning to update you since my last post months ago, but the pandemic hit and right around the same time, my depression got really bad again. Like so bad all I wanted to do was sleep. Like so bad I had zero motivation to do anything but feel sorry for myself, feel ashamed of myself for feeling sorry for myself, and work a LOT of jigsaw puzzles. There were days when all I would do is drag myself to the living room, sit down and work a jigsaw puzzle ALL DAY LONG. I am not proud of this but this is mental illness. Lucky for me I have a saint of a husband who cares for me when I’m in this state, an incredible therapist, really good friends who know to check on me, and wildly supportive family. I am one of the lucky ones, and even in the depths of it, I’m aware of that and it helps.

I also know now that one of the things that happens to me when I’m depressed is that I REALLY don’t feel like writing. I wish I could – I wish I could write about how I’m feeling, how my reality doesn’t seem mine, how it’s impossible to think of anything to look forward to. How I think I’m the Biggest Loser but I didn’t lose 117 pounds. How I’m just a loser.

The good news is that thanks to a medication switch, some therapy and my sweet daughter getting me motivated by launching a few projects outside, I’m feeling really good again. I know that the depression will likely come back, but I’m learning how to manage it better and better.

And I feel like writing again. This is my happy place so that’s good stuff. So there is the update in the event that I drop off again. You will know the drill.

Anyway, on to the story of the pregnant teen puppy who is currently living with us….

Yesterday afternoon, my daughter ER and I were driving on the feeder of I35 and saw a man jump out of his car and chase a tiny frantic dog across the Target parking lot. She was FAST, and we drove around to help grab her, as did about 15 other sweet strangers. She ran at top speed about the equivalent of the Boston Marathon and nobody could catch her.

ER jumped out of the car to join in the adventure to try and grab the puppy. This was quite a journey that ended when she ran inside Advanced Auto Parts (their door was open), where ER found the dog basically passed out from exhaustion in one of the aisles. We went to look for the guy who chased her initially and he was gone, so we figure he wasn’t her owner and gave up the chase. Can’t say I blame him for giving up; this gal is FAST.

To add to the drama, upon immediate inspection, this poor gal appears either pregnant or nursing a litter. Poor baby! She’s a baby herself. We took this sweet little teen mom to our vet to see if she was chipped, and get this – she’s miraculously chipped!

And – get THIS – she’s been missing for FIVE months!

We were so relieved and excited to reunite the dog with her owners. I called the owner to coordinate drop off and she said she moved to Bastrop (a town about half an hour from Austin), and could she pick her up tomorrow? Hmm..

After a series of texts, the woman tells me that she knows the puppy’s mom, and they gave this puppy and two of her siblings away when they were born, and that this girl was adopted out but ran away from them. She then said she can’t take her because she has four dogs already (hello spaying and neutering -argh), but that she would reach owner #2.

Owner #2 also didn’t want her.

We fed and bathed her and kept her overnight, and this morning I promptly set a vet appointment for later today to get her checked out. We love her already, and are prepared to keep her and I guess witness the birth of puppies if she turns out to be pregnant (!!!), and we will adopt her and love her as our own.

We named her Margaret. Her first name was Camila but we changed it because those people don’t want her anyway. It’s so sad to me! But these are weird times so maybe the family just can’t feed another bunch of mouths. I sympathize.

For the record, I wanted to name her Tits but ER said that is incredibly inappropriate. But I think having dogs named Tits and Taco would be so hilarious!

Now, If this is YOUR baby — if for whatever reason you’ve been caring for her and she escaped your care – please provide some kind of proof of ownership so we can reunite you. Otherwise, we will adopt her happily, and get her shots and spayed. Fingers crossed this all works out, and that Margaret’s birthing experience is a smooth one. My neighbor is already calling me “a canine midwife.” We’ll keep you posted!