With me volunteering at the SPCA so often now, it was bound to happen that Pedram and I would end up with a dog sometime soon.

A small disclaimer about myself. I feel bad for things, and often choose to purchase the least desirable product out of a sense of responsibility and pity.  For example, at the market I often take the overripe fruits, or the ugliest vegetables, because otherwise, no one else would.  Or when we picked up Shazdeh, his black and gold brother was definitely more attractive, but I wanted Shazdeh because his coloring was less popular.  So when it came to adopting a dog, I knew automatically I would fall in love with the one who has been there the longest and was the least desirable.  And it would be my duty to take that dog.

However, both Pedram and the SPCA didn’t think that would be the best idea.  Eventhough I had already fallen in love with Shadow, a lab/german shepherd mix stray who was picked up at a park in July, and has been at the SPCA ever since.  She has never lived in a home, was a little coo-coo, and needed about 10 hours of training a day.  She is stunningly beautiful, but the SPCA thinks because she is all black, she is not as attractive to prospective dog owners.  Also, she has a little bit of crazy in her eyes.

Luckily, the adoption counselors at the SPCA found another dog for us.  A smaller, calmer, affectionate dog who was three years old, already house trained and probably the most mellow, lovable dog they have had in their care in a long time.  His past owner left him alone for the majority of the day, and then went to the hospital and forgot about the dog.  So the SPCA had to find him another home where he could get some more attention, and lets just say Pedram and I thought he was pretty fantabulous.  All he asks is that we pet him and show him a little bit of affection.  Which we do.

Sadly, before we could give him any affection, we had to chop off his nuts.  And when we brought him home last night, he had to wear a cone around his head.  We have no clue what kind of dog he is — a mix of at least 3-4 different breeds.  Meet the newest funny looking member of our family:

Due to our nostalgia for Brussels where he could have pooped freely without us having to pick it up, we decided to name him

Eugene Flagey Ixelles van Ruisbroek

but you can just call him Rusby, for short.