MURPHY BROWN
My name is Murphy Brown and I came to be adopted because my foster mom told me she flunked Foster 101. I don't really understand what that means except I know that every day I get more comfortable in her home. It is obvious that she adores me. But I'll let her tell you more.
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Murphy Brown's Mom:
When we had to put our almost 15 year old ESS, Nigel, to sleep in May 2003 after he exhibited signs of having suffered some type of stroke, it was a very sad day indeed for us. Losing a loving pet after many years is, indeed, difficult. Compounding the problem was the fact of living for part of the year in a condominium with a breed specific poundage limit (i.e., set by the AKC standard for the male of the breed). I really missed having an ESS in my life and so I decided that when I was at my winter home in Florida I would become a foster mom. Shortly after arriving in Florida I was asked to foster Murphy Brown, a six year old liver and white female, whose owner had died.
After picking up Murphy on Halloween (thanks to Lisa Kay Butts for going out of her way to transport her on that night), Murphy dashed into our house and explored all its nooks and crannies. I'm sure that she could smell, even after so many months, Nigel's scent in the house. We settled down to watch television, me with Murphy on the floor since I did not want to start her on any bad habits, like jumping on the furniture, just in case her future forever home would not like that habit. That night I tapped my leg and Murphy "scrooched" over from her dog bed, to lay her head in my lap. From that moment she started to wheedle her way into my heart.
Monday of the following week, I took Murphy to the vet for what I thought would be just a routine checkup. Also, I had noticed a sebaceous cyst on her back that I wanted to get checked out. During the exam the vet found that her teeth were in need of a heavy cleaning; she also had infected ears, but the worst thing was that the vet discovered that she had not been spayed as we had thought and had a suspect breast tumor. Murphy was operated on later that week and, while waiting for the results of the histopathology on the tumor, all I could think of was "what if this little girl has cancer and no one wants to adopt her - how can I leave in May and go back north and leave her to another foster home." Luckily her lab report showed only a benign tumor so Murphy was given a clean bill of health. The inquiries about adopting her started to come in, but by this time we were heavily into the Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday season and nothing was progressing that quickly. However, I was preparing myself for her to go to someone's forever home after the 1 st of the year.
From the beginning I realized what a sweet, even-tempered dog Murphy is. She came to me immediately the first time I called her name. She was not aggressive with food, didn't counter surf, and was not super demanding of us. She seemed like the perfect dog. Each day I lived with her I realized how difficult it would be to give her up since I knew that one day, we would be abandoning our condo up North to live full-time in Florida . I knew that any dog we got at that time would constantly be compared to Murphy Brown. I just knew of no way I could keep her until my wonderful husband, knowing how much I loved her, suggested the solution. He said that if I wanted to I could stay down all year round in Florida and he would commute occasionally up North to see family and friends and take care of family business. So on December 23 I informed June Davis, Florida's Regional Coordinator, that we wanted to become Murphy Brown's forever family.
As she gets more comfortable living with us, Murphy's wiggle butt is going into higher and higher gear. She lets us know when we have left her alone too long by "woo-wooing" when we get home - which I translate to mean: "Where have you been. I want to go out and look for squirrels. Hurry up - Let's go!" She has located her biscuit jar and sits in front of it after her evening meal, waiting for the one or two additional biscuits I give her. Getting up on the furniture is still not allowed but we have gotten around this by letting her sit on our laps while watching TV - at 40 pounds she is a bit large for a lap dog but seems to enjoy cuddling with us as much as we enjoy cuddling with her. She is our perfect little girl.
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Dianne and Mike Shanley Naples , FL