Zeus, in the I'm so cute and adorable pose.

I had to laugh at Jenn's dissing of Apollo from Battlestar Galactica. When I was thinking of names for my dog, I'd first considered Apollo as a name. (Nothing to do with Battlestar Galactica; I just like the mythology names.) But when I told Kent that I was thinking of naming him Apollo, he said, "Eeew!" (Or words to that effect.) He, then suggested Zeus, and the reason he gave for not liking Apollo as a name was--get this--because the two Dobermans in Magnum PI were named Zeus and Apollo, and Apollo was the one who was always trying to hump Magnum's leg. [rolling eyes]

But Zeus works really well as a name for him. (My dog, not Kent.) He already responds to it. Of course, he's an unbelievably smart dog too. That's not just my personal bias working here either; he really is amazingly smart. I've had him what--three days? And he already knows he's not allowed in my bedroom (had to do that since I have to sleep during the day, which means I need my bedroom door closed to block out as much light as possible, and I get little enough sleep as it is and if he kept me awake I'd have to commit dogicide.) But I'll go into my bedroom for something, and he'll stop right on the threshold and not come in. He follows me everywhere else in the house though. He was completely untrained when I got him, though he's very well-behaved. He knows Sit, Stay and Come already (though he's not as good when I don't have a treat in my hand; the trainer assured me he'll learn to do it without the treat soon enough.)

Okay, I could blather on about how wonderful my dog is for pages and pages, but I will spare you all. I will however share what I learned about his history and how he ended up at the shelter. Turns out that he'd gotten loose somehow and the Sheriff's department had picked him up and brought him in. Well, when the shelter checked him out they discovered he had heartworms, so they started him on a heartworm treatment. His owners came in to claim him, and were informed that sure, they could have him back, as soon as they paid for the treatment. They said that No, they didn't want to pay for it, and they'd just wait until he was put up for adoption and then just pay the adoption fee. And the shelter people said, No, we don't do that. If these people weren't willing to pay for some essential care (which could have been avoided if they'd been giving him heartworm pills already!) then they couldn't have him. So his owners said, Fine. And left him at the shelter.

That stunned me. I mean, I know that there are plenty of people out there who don't get attached to animals, and I know that there are plenty of people who can't take the time or make the effort to provide basic care, but it still stuns me. I don't know how much the heartworm treatment would have cost them, but I know that if there had been a money problem, the shelter would have let them have some sort of payment plan. Plus, when I adopted him I had to buy a six-month supply of heartworm preventative, and it only cost me about $30. Five bucks a month, people, to keep your dog healthy. Give it to him once a month. Is that so friggin' difficult?

So they didn't deserve such a good dog anyway. And I managed to get a very smart, very beautiful, purebred German Shepherd who is now heartworm-free, neutered, with all of his shots, for just the $70 adoption fee. Damn, but I got lucky!