open window: the origins of ginger

I'm not sure exactly when my husband started getting doggie fever, but he got serious about it in the summer of 2008. He had done his breed research and decided that a corgi was the perfect dog for us. I think he literally wasted hours at work reading all the rescue corgi bios and staring at their cute mugs. Now, when I was growing up, my family never owned a dog and I was actually a tiny bit afraid of them. Todd finally wore me down and we filled out an application with the Corgi Rescue League in Georgia (we were living in South Carolina at the time.) I was definitely on-board with adopting a rescue since #1 - I was truly afraid of having to house break a dog and #2 - it just felt good to be saving a little life.

We had been warned that it could take quite a while to find a good match so that meant I would have more time to mentally prepare myself for a new member of our family. Well, wouldn't you know, they found us a match right away and wanted us to meet - see if we'd all hit it off. This got me completely flustered but really excited too. So, in August, we drove an hour to meet Jody the rescue lady and Rita the corgi. Jody named her Rita because she was found wandering the streets in Henry County and for some reason Henrietta got shortened to Rita. She was a very calm dog - exactly what we hoped for. After our brief meet-and-greet with this shy petite red-and-white corgi, we went our separate ways and waited for Rita to get spayed and ready for us.

Well, it turns out that she had already been spayed. Makes you wonder about her back story. She was obviously well taken care of and well behaved. How did she end up loose? Did she just sneak out of her owners' yard? Did somebody abandon her because they were moving or getting too old? We'll just never know (unless she starts talking one day, which I wouldn't put it past her. She's a smart little pup.)

So while we waited for September 6, 2008 to roll around (the date we were to pick her up for good), we kicked around some names. Rita just didn't fit. Penny and Ginger were at the top of the list, and ultimately, Ginger (and I) won. Hey, Todd was getting his dog, I should at least get to name her.

We picked Ginger up at the rest stop near I-85 Georgia exit 60 on that sunny Saturday morning, drove home and had an inaugural brushing on the back deck. And then Ginger truly secured a place in our hearts by watching the Ohio State football game with us. It's been great adventure ever since!