Riley RIP

Last Saturday, after a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with Oregonians, good food, good booze, and good times something terrible happened. My friends Greg and Beth and Beth's mom Patrea took Riley on a walk in the woods with Patrea's two other dogs. I stayed at the house and talked with Grandma. In the woods, the group ran into a woman with a dog and a puppy. A fight ensued and during the chaos Patrea's two dogs obeyed and were put under control. Riley did not. Now, I knew he was bad with other dogs and animals. During the month that I had owned him he was always looking for a fight when ever we came across other animals: cats, dogs, ducks, deer, etc. I thought this was so weird considering how cute he was and how good he was with people. I had even taken him to a friend's house and the kids aged 7, 5, 3 rode him around and he was totally fine.

After Patrea's dogs had been called off, Riley continued to attack. (Now all of this is a little unclear because as you all know I was at the house.) Riley had the puppy in his mouth and was killing it. Patrea tried to pull him off, the owner of the puppy was screaming and kicking Riley, and Beth went for the puppy. And then it ended. Beth had a bloody dog bitten hand and the puppy was rushed to the Vet ER.

Back at the house Patrea came in screaming about Riley, a dead puppy, and how I needed to euthanize my dog. WTF. At that moment I was shocked, sad, disappointed, confused. And then Beth came in with her bloody hand and went immediately to the hospital with Patrea.

There I was with Grandma and Greg in Dundee (a small town west of Portland.) I needed to get myself and Riley out of the house. Luckily, Greg was there with his two door sports coup. I had to make the decision of what to do with Riley. As far as I could see I had three choices.

1. Euthanize the dog.
2. Take the dog to Lakeview and have someone who owns a ranch kill the dog.
3. Give the dog to a shelter and tell them what had happened.

All three of these choices sucked for many reasons.

1. Playing god. Being the one to decide whether the dog should live. Paying for the procedure.
2. Although respectful, difficult and I had no way to get back to Lake County any time soon.
3. I think this is irresponsible. The stress this dog had given me and all parties involved was too much and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone. Also, because Riley is so cute and good with people- would they believe me? Would I be blamed for the behavior?

So, after a bit of research Greg and I and Riley headed to Portland to euthanize the dog. It was miserable. It also proved impossible. Because Riley had bitten a human (Beth) he needed to be quarantined for 10 days to ensure he did not have rabies. This is a Oregon law. Now, if Riley had had rabies I would be shocked as would the doctor, the vet, and pretty much everyone involved. The two shelters we went to would not take him off our hands or kill him. I did not want to go to a vet and lie and have him euthanized.

So there we were in the industrial part of Portland after 6 hours of misery and there the dog was in the back seat looking so cute. I had made a terribly hard decision and then could not take action. So, Greg and I decided to get some pizza and beers and talked about other things. During this time we got a phone call confirming the death of the puppy. WTF.

So there I was with a killer dog in Portland on Saturday night. 7 hours from home, no car, nothing. Back to the decision making. We headed back to Dundee and realized that I had two choices: return Riley to the Klamath Falls Shelter where I got him or have a cowboy kill him. I called my boss, Ronne Lindsay, and she said I should return him to the shelter and that they would know what to do with him. I was nervous to do this because I thought the people at the shelter wouldn't believe me or the severity of the situation. As it turned out the woman I spoke to at the shelter when I returned Riley was empathetic and very responsive. She actually teared up while I was crying and telling the story. She said she was going to quarantine Riley and then possibly euthanize him. And she offered me a refund or the option of adopting another dog sometime in the next 6 months. I told her I would think about it.

The whole thing was so weird. It would make a good dark comedy. All of the feelings I had were crazy and I never even imagined a situation this insane. It was so bizarre to be with Riley for about 48 hours after I knew what was going to happen to him. It was hard to distance myself from the dog knowing that what he did was totally beyond his control. He did not mean to kill the puppy. No way. It is just so weird to know that Riley had that hidden in him. And so weird that he didn't seem crazy or dangerous in any way.

So, now I am back in Lakeview and have been since Monday. I am back to square one. No dog. No friends. And my house is cold.

RL

I was chatting with Cara Romanik during the beginning of September in Seattle and we talking about how and why Vermont just wasn't working for me. (This is much easier to write after a move to OR.) And I was going on and on about how it should work- good friends, beautiful landscape, good job (at least this past summer), close to family, connections with family... Care then said, "Erin the problem is that you are uninspired." That really hit me as truth. Not only truth but also very sad and terrible. No inspiration? What is worse then that. Not much. My life in Vermont really seemed like THIS IS IT except without a husband, kid, volvo, or golden retriever. And it was so damn lame. I can picture myself in VT in about 10 years until then I think that I have some more adventures.

Anyway, fastforward to my acceptance to RARE and move to Oregon. My supervisor/boss is this woman named RL. I had a phone interview with her while I was still in Mainer. And was struck by three things: 1. The first things she said other then hello was that she was very informal, 2. Her bottom line was helping people and demanded to know my bottom line (I don't really have one, yet), and 3. The amount that she laughed. I didn't even know her and the entire conversation was filled with laughter.

Here are some of RL's characteristics:
-she is from LA and moved to Lake County to be with a man she knew for three days and procceded to become the HR head at the biggest ranch in the county (about 150 cowboys under her)
-she listens from the heart, does projects of the heart
-she has a GED
-her make-up is tatooed on her face, a few weeks ago she had it "reapplied" in Vegas, she also told me right after that she looked like Alvira and that there was an Alvira look a like competition happening and she was thinking of entering
-she was a teenage mom
-she is pro-life

Me: Well, I think that birth is the crucial point.
RL: No, conception.
Me: So you think an egg is a chicken.
RL: A vegetarian thinks that an egg is protein.
Me: Vegetarians also think that tofu is protein.
RL: Tofu is gross.

-she does not believe in global warming
-her cell phone's ring tone is hallajullah (not the Jeff Buckley/Lenord Cohen song)

This woman is amazing to work for. She is honest, hardworking, and an absolute doer. She has a task and completes it. She laughs all the time. I am so happy to be working with her and spending a lot of time with her over the next year.

Riley

This is Riley. So cute. That is his bunny. And the other photo is on a hike this morning.
It is about 65 out and I am using the internet on my front lawn. Riley has been exploring the neighborhood, and apparently people do not think he is as cute as I do. The Lakeview police, Officer Boone to be exact just came over and reminded me of the city leash ordinance. I mean common.