One morning, upon our return to the Sipsey Wilderness, I awoke to the sound of rattling and shaking on our back platform. My first thought was that someone was attempting to sneak off with our kayaks, so I peeked out the back window from bed and saw nothing amiss. I was eye level with the kayak restraints and couldn’t see anyone there, let alone any sign of disturbance. I chalked it up to the wind and tried to resettle myself back into bed to sneak in a few more minutes of sleep before my alarm. The jostling started again, and I took another look straight out the window, seeing nothing, before peeking down at the platform below that housed the kayaks. There, I saw a little brindle rascal dog.
You see, strapped to our back platform, we have a small outdoor trash can used to store bagged dog poop for situations where there isn’t immediate access to a more permanent poop solution. This tiny, adorable imp was tugging at the lid of the can, attempting to reach the stinky treasures within. Considering this whole solution was devised to avoid the malodorous garbage we toted around out of sheer responsibility, I am not at all sure what this silly girl was going for. But the campground was full that day, and I figured someone let their pup out for some morning shenanigans, so I gave a knock and a shout and she went on her merry way. Unfortunately for Craig, he hadn’t seen this cutey, but I kept thinking back at her sweet and curious eyes looking up at me as I sent her scurrying off.
A few more days passed of hiking and relaxation, we finally conquered Fall Creek Falls and were settling in for our last evening at Sipsey, contemplating hitting the road before dark and finding another spot for the night. It was a delightful day, breezy and sunny, and I was lounging on the couch, bird and butterfly watching, when I caught a glimpse of a rather larger critter a few campsites over. She lazily sniffed around the firepit, munching slowly on some roasted potatoes we knew were there thanks to Winston’s earlier discovery and taste test. It was her, our attempted poop bandit! I excitedly pointed her out to Craig, and we sequestered our boys inside the bus, as we weren’t sure what this strange pup was like.
Craig went out solo at first, placing a small bowl of food and some water out for her. She happily munched the food down, then came right over to our front door and plopped herself down, waiting for her royal welcome into our home. Although she seemed sweet and gentle (and already showing signs of that brindle spoiled entitlement we’ve come to know and love in our Reese), I wanted to make sure we handled things as cautiously as possible. Craig gave her a lookover, checking for obvious signs of fleas. We did slow introductions, first just me, and then Reese, then Winston, slowly seeing how everyone got along. They all seemed to do just fine - first hellos and then ignoring each other, busy with their own smells and toys.
As we contemplated what we should do for the evening, as the weather predicted storms, this Little Miss let us know exactly what was on her mind by continuing her vigil in front of our door, clearly expecting a welcome. Since she seemed in decent health, and all the pups were getting along, we knew we couldn’t let this tiny, skinny pup fend for herself in the storms. So I cleaned up our cab, making sure to remove most soft surfaces that might trap disease, and erected a barricade out of our outdoor chairs, to attempt to quarantine her safely in the front for the evening. She immediately made herself comfortable on the driver's seat, and thus began our first evening with our houseguest.
The next day, we set off to figure out who this Little Miss belonged to. We first headed to the county shelter, where we couldn’t find anyone to talk to, so we then headed back to Huntsville’s Humane Society, figuring they would have resources and information to point us in the right direction. They told us what we should do legally to ensure Little Miss wouldn’t be considered a stolen dog, and then sent us to the local animal care clinic for any veterinary help we needed. While I was concerned about this tiny baby’s health, I also wanted to make sure we weren’t putting the health of our boys at risk having her around. There was a bit of a debate at the vet’s office - since we weren’t officially her owners, they weren’t sure if they could ethically treat her. They scanned her microchip and attempted to contact the connected information several times. We asked if we could at least ensure she didn’t have any communicable concerns if we held on to her while we figured this all out, and they agreed to give her a quick check up. Our first point of concern was her weight, and the vet was on our side with this, saying she needed to gain around 10 pounds onto her existing 20 pound frame. They found quite a few ticks on her, and the presence of some parasites, but she was otherwise in fine health. Judging by her tooth health and skin tag she had on her arm, they estimated she was between 4 and 5 years old. We loaded up on necessary drugs to rid her of her current health issues and future drugs to keep her safe, and settled into another night with our tiny guest. At this point we had gotten her her own collar, and realized that for a skinny, malnourished, sickly little girl, she was QUITE the puller on a leash!!!
The next day we wanted to continue ensuring we were attempting to find her owners, although that was becoming less likely, as well as ensuring we were pursuing things through the most correct legal avenues. We called the county shelter in the area where she was found again, and finally got through to someone to talk to. This poor saint was clearly swamped with work, and cared deeply about animals. We asked her about the required stray hold, a 3-7 day hold where the shelter would list her as a missing animal and allow for her owner to find her and pick her back up. She told us how utterly swamped the shelter was with stray and found dogs, and how most of them meet an unhappy end as the shelter simply does not have the resources for long term care of the ridiculous number of dogs they take in. As a result, she felt like Little Miss’s future looked bleak if we dropped her off with them, and that if we were interested in providing her care, she was ours.
So, that’s how we added a third member to our pack!
Up until this moment, we had hesitated on letting ourselves get too attached. While the charming nickname Little Miss didn’t exactly do the trick of keeping our emotional distance, it at least was better than fully diving in and giving her a name. But after our phone call, we decided it was time to welcome her to the family by giving her a name. We wanted to honor the beautiful sights of Sipsey, a place we had fallen in love with and a place that had led us to this adorable and special pup. Since the spring wildflowers were such a highlight for us, we decided to name her Bluebell.
Whether it was the naming or her nature, this girl made herself right at home. From her first nights in the bus, she was already comfortable requesting breakfast in bed and making sure she hogged the whole couch, for optimal stretching room. She had no problem pushing her new brothers out of the way for an extra tummy rub and showed herself to be quite the cuddler, stretching herself until she was cozied up right between me and Craig.
But since we knew she’d be living in the bus with us long term now, it was time to ensure she was really ready for house life. So we headed up to a campsite at Monte Sano State Park, where the availability of a water hook up meant it was time for the dreaded bath. Bluebell went first, and really put up quite the wiggly little fight to show her displeasure. Although she clearly was not a fan, and expressed that by attempting to jailbreak her watery prison, she showed no signs of aggression or violence, and we were pretty impressed by her gentle nature despite what she’d been through. Next up was Winston, also quite the wiggler and escape artist, but we chugged through. Thankfully, Reese is smart enough to know that if he complies, it’ll all go smoothly, so he accepted his fate and we quickly got it all over with. The campground also had human showers, as well as a washing machine, so by the end of the night, we were all smelling great and sparkly clean, Charlotte included!!
We hadn’t been sure what our future plans were going to look like, since we originally thought we might have to stick around a bit while Bluebell was on a stray dog hold. But since we were able to avoid that, we now had to decide what to do. We thought about our time there, and realized that we had really had the perfect visit to Alabama - waterfalls, wildflowers, butterflies, fireflies, wonderful beer, good runs, and now, our unexpected souvenir - and that it was time to say our goodbyes.
It was hard to leave, as we really had fallen rather in love with northern Alabama. But we were looking forward to our next adventure, and we were excited to show our new girl what wonders there were to see, sniff, and explore.
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