Cat and Mouse in the Cosmos

It has been a strange week full of unexpected twists and turns, one of those weeks when you get the overwhelming sense that the cosmos is just toying with you for its own simple pleasure.
We had a dog arrive last Saturday, Goose, and we had been hearing about him for more than week before his arrival. He was rescued in NoLa during the Hurricane Gustav rescue efforts last summer and a shelter in St Louis took him up to their facility. He has not been doing so great up there, he has cornered numerous people and has bitten several of them - there is a strong sense that this dog, when inclined to go at somebody, would not stop unless there is a second person there to stop him. He is a 65 lbs pittie with a head almost as big as a bowling ball (lots of jaw muscles) and for the most part he is a great big dork. I met him just after his arrival at the Lodges, along with some other staff members (because of his history, anytime somebody needs to enter his run, there must be at least two people present) and he was mostly interested in galloping around his run being a great big Goober (that was his name, but we already have a Goober, so it was changed to Goose). Because of his odd behaviors, the management decided that it would be best if the three most experienced staff at the Lodges - Terry, Jorge, and Megan - would be Goose's primary caregivers initially. However, on the day of his arrival, I spent more time in with him than any of the other caregivers, so we went down the following day to speak with John (manager) about making me one of his primaries, since I had been around him more than any of the designated three. John, seemingly unwilling to even listen to reason, quashed the idea rather abruptly and told us if we had any more concerns about the matter we could come to speak with him individually. I was so flabbergasted, so over the moon angry at his apparently irrational ability to see something so very obvious laid out right in front of him that I wanted to kick him. I was curious about the whole "Come speak to me individually" thing, but I was so irritated and frustrated by the situation that I couldn't really see myself going to talk to him and still having my job at the end of the meeting, so I just avoided him the rest of the day and fumed. That night, I got home to my neighbors having a party, not an unusual occurrence with them and I usually don't mind at all, they are very nice to me, but I was in such a mood that all the little screaming children in the front "yard" were perilously close to getting kicked themselves. Since I hadn't showered the day before, and also to drown out the racket the kids were making, I decided to take a shower before going to Megan's house to play cards. However, my stupid water heater decided to arbitrarily stop working for the day, so I had no hot water for a shower. Because I keep my house fairly cold most of the time, I couldn't see myself taking a lukewarm shower for fear that I may never feel warm again, so I did the whole bend over the side of the tub and wash my hair thing, which prompted a muscle spasm and pinched nerve in my neck. It was really just a delightful day all the way around.
The following morning on my drive up to work, I couldn't decide if I wanted to go talk to John before heading up to the Lodges and try to reason with him or not. I decided that I didn't want to start my day off on a bad foot, so opted not to go talk to him. After lunch, inexplicably, my mood had improved greatly, and when John arrived for his team meeting with the Deja crew, he told Megan and I that he also needed to talk to us when he was done. All afternoon, we kept crossing paths with him on his way here or there and he kept saying he would catch up with us before 4:00 (when Megan is done for the day). At 4:10 he flagged me down on my golf cart and asked if we could chat a bit, Megan wasn't around, but he seemed to be okay just talking with me about whatever it is that he wanted to discuss with us - presumably Goose. This was the point when he informed me that there was more to the story that we hadn't yet been told with regard to the plan for Goose's care and his primary caregivers. They have been watching me - rather ominous sounding, right? - and he had some things to discuss with me. When he saw the panicked look on my face, he said, "Don't worry, it's all good! Really good!" He then proceeded to explain to me that there was going to be an opening at Amra's and they wanted me to take it. Amra's is over in Dogtown Heights, next door to the building where most of the Vicktory dogs are housed (dogs from the Michael Vick case). At Amra's, they spend the morning doing all the "chores" and once those are done, the rest of the day is primarily spent doing enrichments - walking dogs, taking them for car rides, going to the creek in the summer, all kinds of really cool training and socialization activities. It would be a place where I could learn so much more about training techniques and really be working very intensively with the dogs. We have finally gotten to a place at the Lodges where we are able to be working with the dogs in more consistent ways, but it isn't all of the dogs, we have to pick and choose which ones will get the more intensive work. At Amra's, there is no picking and choosing, there are 22 dogs currently, and the goal is to work with each one everyday. I decided to take it, though I did so with a very heavy heart. Thinking about leaving the Lodges makes me really sad, but I have been assured by management that this won't be the last time I work at the Lodges - when they need help covering shifts, and things like that, I will be first up to help cover. I will continue taking Brenda to the reactive dog class that we started last week, which means I will be up to the Lodges at least every Tuesday for a bit of a visit. It is a weird time for me, I am very excited for this new change, but very sad about it too. I will say though, the timing really couldn't be better, with Tasha having left two weeks ago, I haven't started to seek out a new personal project dog, yet, which I think will make the transition much easier. With this change, my schedule will be changing again, too. I have the day off today (Sunday), before I start at Amra's tomorrow; yesterday was my last day at the Lodges. I will now be working Monday - Friday, so look for posts on Saturdays and Sundays (and with all the pet sitting I am doing in the coming months, sometimes maybe even during the week).
All in all, I think this is going to be a good change for me. I will learn new things at Amra's and still be connected to the Lodges. It will be weird to go into work tomorrow morning and not hop in a cart to head up the Lodges, but this is a chance for me to grow and learn and I can't pass that up. If I hate it at Amra's - doubtful - I can always go to John and Michelle and ask to be moved back over to the Lodges, but it will be nice to do more intensive work, like I did with Tasha, on a daily basis with more than just one dog. Change is usually good, even if it is very sad and a little bit scary at times. I just keep reminding myself that it is going to take patience, something I am not always good at, but I will make my very best effort to give it time and let myself settle in some before I let myself get frustrated. Truly, I think it is going to be really good, and I am fretting for no reason, but it is hard to say good bye to the Lodges, I have grown to love it up there more than I ever would have expected when I started.