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 Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2006 6:35 pm
In 2003, I adopted the first female dog I'd ever had in my life. She had a horrible beginning, but we gave her a new start. Then, in 2004, she found a new home. As happy as I am that she has a good, solid home now, I still miss my baby dearly, even if we only spent a year together.
Being an obsessive regular at SoA, I finally decided to quest for a lioness based on my girl, Aulani.
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Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2006 6:48 pm
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Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2006 6:49 pm
Naturally, he took the box and put it in his truck, taking the abandoned babies home. They weren't old enough to be away from their mothers: the puppies were about four or five weeks, and the kittens seemed to be only three. When he got home, they inspected the babies closer. They were ridden with fleas and obviously hungry. He and his wife gave them all fleabaths and kept them out on their back porch, raising them until they were old enough to find permanent homes.
My mom's best friend and her family live right next door to Norman and Heidi (the two who kept the puppies and kittens), and so we were over at their house having dinner one night when I heard about the pups. If you know me at -all-, you know that I'm an animal freak - especially when it comes to dogs. Naturally, I wanted to go over to see them, and my mom said it was fine - as long as I didn't get attached. "We already have three dogs," she warned. "We're not taking any more."
"Okay, fine," I said, ready to agree to anything to be able to see the puppies. Brittany (Norman and Heidi's daughter; a good friend of mine) let me in and took me out on the back patio to see the puppies.
There were three boys and two girls. Two of them - a boy and a girl - had brindle fur all across their bodies. One of the boys had a white stripe down his forehead, giving him a skunk-like appearance. The other two, boy and girl, were all black with tiny bits of brown brindle on their paws and white points on their chests.
So, of course, I got down on my knees and played with them all. It was hard to believe that they had been abandoned on the side of the highway - they had grown into fat balls of fluff, as young puppies should. My promise to my mom was instantly broken. I loved all of them. Who wouldn't immediately fall for a cute, rolling blob of puppy?
I knew my mom was a no-go, though. She was right - we had three dogs at home, one of whom was big enough to eat these pups in one bite. Then it hit me: my dad had an apartment with no dogs.
Scheming, I called him and told them about the puppies. My dad isn't as much of a dog person as I am, or even my mom is, but he likes dogs as much as the next person, and I knew that he missed having them. He and my then-stepmom (thankfully ex-stepmom now, but that's a WHOLE different story) agreed to come look at the puppies the next day.
So, they get there and decide to adopt one. It was mostly up to me - I could choose and as long as they liked the pup that I chose, then it was all good. Choosing between five adorable puppies is definitely hard, but I finally settled on the little black-furred girl with the white tipped tail.
They took her home and in set a new dilemna: what to name her. I wrote up a list of names, a lot of them taken from my RP characters. My dad firmly disapproved of several of them, such as Fawhn (it was that day that I learned that he hates odd spellings of normal names xD). The next idea? Babynames.com! I began looking through Hawaiian names and settled on one: "Aulani", meaning "God's messenger" (looking back a few years later, I found that it in fact means "king's messenger", although I suspect they might've changed it, because I feel quite certain that it once said "God's messenger"). I'm not particularily religious, but the name (and the meaning) were beautiful and so I offered it to my dad. It was accepted, and so my little girl had a name.
Nothing else was very eventful. She grew and slimmed out, taking on a border collie-like body shape. Her ears were ever changing: one moment they'd stand up, like a German shepherd's, and the next they'd flop over like a collie's. The brindle on her front paws became more distinctive and her smooth puppy fur became slightly longer and silkier. She loved my little brother, who was only a few months old at the time, and would lick his toes whenever he was sitting in his carrier.
Then, one day, my dad told me that he had the chance for a promotion that would require him to move back to Denver (which is where we moved from when I was four). He asked me what I thought of it - he told me that if I didn't want him to go, then he wouldn't. I thought about it and told him that he should go if it meant he'd move forward in his job, and besides, I could always visit him. I loved Colorado and still do, so it would be a fun change.
They started looking at apartments up there and finally settled on one: one that only allows a maximum of two pets. My stepmom had two cats that she had had since they were kittens, and so they took priority over Lani. I had to find her a new home, and fast.
Well, there was a LOT of begging towards my mom. I know we had three dogs, but I couldn't bear the thought of giving up my girl. She adamently refused. I understand now, but I admit, I'm still a little bitter about it. I was already going through a lot of emotional issues at the time, and having to give up my beloved puppy -didn't- help. I tried asking friends, I tried getting them to ask friends... no one wanted her, but I couldn't give up, because if I couldn't find her a home, then we'd have to take her to Operation Kindness. Now, OK is a no-kill shelter, so it was assured that she'd find a home... but I'd never get to know who adopted her, and I'd never get to see her again.
My mom sent out emails at work, asking her coworkers if they were looking for a new dog, and finally a lady named Denisha replied. She said that she had two children and they had been considering getting a dog. My mom and Denisha talked a bit and it was settled. Lani had a new home.
It was -hell- when we took her to the office parking lot for Denisha to pick her up. Handing the crate over and driving away... it was harder than most things I've ever had to go through. I was cheered up a bit when about a month later, Denisha contacted us and asked if I was available to dogsit over Labour Day weekend while they went out of town.
I gladly agreed and I got my baby back for three days. In that short amount of time she had grown, but she still recognized me. The days were great, but then come Monday afternoon, I had to give her up yet again. This time is was easier, and I gave her back to her new family before watching them drive away.
That was the last time I ever saw Aulani.
It's not that they refused to let me see her again, or anything on their behalf. Denisha got a new job working for a different company, and so my mom had no way to contact her anymore. We just sort of... lost touch.
Two years later, I don't hurt about having to give her up anymore, but I still wish I could see her again - see how she's doing. I hope that Denisha and her family still have Lani, because Lani's siblings became... a bit of trouble. The Hammond family, my mom's best friends, had adopted the brindle girl and finally had to adopt her out because she was just absolutely nuts. She was hyper and chewed everything up. Lani's brindle brother, along with her look-alike brother, were kept by Norman and Heidi. They still have them, but Bear, the brindle boy, is only just now calming down. I can only hope that Lani didn't present these problems for Denisha.
Lani should be almost four now - finally a grown up. I still wonder if she has the same outgoing, exuberant personality, or if she ever grew anymore..
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Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2006 6:49 pm
Species: Lioness
Lineart: Mistweaver
Stage: Adult
Physical Description: Aulani has dark brown eyes - the standard type that you'd expect from a dog. The majority of her fur is black, although there is a stripe of white on her chin. Her tail tuft is black with a splotch of white at the tip. Her forelegs have brown brindle markings up to her mid-leg and her hind legs have brindle up to her ankle. Her nose is black and the insides of her ears are either light pink or dark gray (I haven't decided yet).
History: Aulani was born to a Mistweaver mother and rogue father right before the plague. Her mother perished from the illness and so she was left with her father, who took her away from the pride to live a rogue's life with him. He had never developed fatherly feelings towards the cub, however, because he viewed her as a mistake: he and the girl's mother were not mates, but had simply had a casual fling. Now he was annoyed that he was left with a cub that he didn't even want.
Soon thereafter, he remedied that. He was at the end of his rope with the exuberant and cheerful cub, whose energy never seemed to run out. One night he simply left her in the den where they had been sleeping and took off on his own, relishing his freedom once more.
Lani, on the other hand, was completely devoted to her father and absolutely adored him, so his abandoning hit her hard. For a long while she feared that he had been killed, never once thinking that her dear old dad could ever leave her on purpose.
She continued to wander and came across a rogue lioness who had two cubs that were Lani's age. The young female began to see the lioness as somewhat of a mother figure and felt as though she had family again. She was a juvenile when tragedy struck - she was out practicing her hunting and returned to find her adopted mother and two siblings killed by hyenas. She fled, alone once more.
Personality: On the outside, Aulani has a cublike air about her - she's bright and playful; exuberant and inquisitive. She loves to roughhouse and can constantly be found chewing on things, be it a bone from the graveyard or a plain old stick. She is friendly... almost too friendly, as she generally assumes that everyone else is as nice as she is.
Inside, though, she has serious abandonment issues. She wants desperately for love and affection, be it friendly or romantic, but is afraid to grow too close to anyone for fear that they, too, will leave her. Because of this, she can seem distant, because she's afraid to 'let anyone in'.
Other Details: Physically, Aulani is petite, about the size of an adolescent rather than an adult.
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Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2006 6:51 pm
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Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2006 6:52 pm
You can post now. :3 -goes to set everything up-
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 10:48 pm
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Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 1:26 am
Thanks Seaki! ^__^
-edits the title- Now I just have to wait for slots. >w<
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