Feeling: philanthropic
Listening to: Blue October - 18th Floor Balcony
Reading/Watching: Castle & Heroes

The night of our fall concert, some of my students found a stray dog that had been injured, either by a car or by another dog. She had a wounded leg that was infected, and could barely walk, so was therefore starving. Cruel punk kids had stuck gum in her fur. It was raining, so she was shivering in the cold.

This particular little stray is a sweet, friendly beagle mutt that I loved. I had been tossing around the idea of taking her home, but could never find her at the end of the day when I was feeling adopt-y.

So that night, the little boys who knew I like her bundled her up in a towel, found some random cloth to tie around her wounds (even though they were old and infected, not actively bleeding), and carried her into my classroom to get out of the rain.

I'm not sure if I'm more touched at the thought of my sweet little boys caring for a stray dog because she's hurt, or taking care of her because they think of her as mine. Either way, I took a wet, limp, shivering stray to an emergency vet last Wednesday, and came home with a new little sister for Andante.

After just one night of being fed and receiving some antibiotics and pain meds, she was already bouncy and investigative in the morning. Now, three days later, she's flea-dipped and collared and has a full belly, and she's giving the Booger-bear a good run for his money on Tug-of-War and Keep Away. He's annoyed by her, because she steals his toys, but also very gentle with her, letting her win, because she's little and still healing (vet thinks she's about eight months old, but her paws are big and her leg makes her clumsy).

It's just about the cutest thing you've ever seen. They're both happily exhausted by the end of the day.

So her name is Dolce, meaning "sweet," and I have taken pictures to show my students on Monday. I will have to post them here, as well.

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