Chapter 50: Holding Period and Priority
Anna sighed and continued to explain, "I'm very sorry, but this is the harsh reality. Long-term care would overwhelm the shelter and could cause the entire system to collapse. We don't have unlimited kennel space, and we don't have the budget to support hundreds of animals living here indefinitely."
Afterward, Anna tried to end the conversation, gently telling David, "Please rest assured, we'll take good care of him. Our veterinarian will begin a series of basic health checks immediately. You can leave him with me now."
She reached out, ready to take the puppy from David's arms.
But David's arms instinctively tightened for a moment. Finally, he let go, allowing Anna to take the puppy.
He looked at the puppy in Anna's hands, and the puppy was also looking up at him with eyes full of trust.
David's mind instantly flashed back to last night, when the puppy slept in the apartment, nestled against his slipper.
"I can't bear to imagine him being... being euthanized," David's voice was slightly hoarse as he said to Leonard. "That's too cruel."
"Of course, I can't stand it either!" Leonard immediately agreed, but he tried to think positively. "But luckily, the probability of that happening is pretty small, right? He might be found by his owner, or, if not, adopted by someone else. He's a puppy—everyone loves puppies. Who could resist such an adorable little guy?"
David, however, shook his head: "Those are just comforting words. Your theory last night was probably right—he was most likely deliberately abandoned, and the possibility of his original owner finding him is practically zero. His only real hope is adoption."
Leonard still wanted to reassure him: "I'm sure someone will..."
David wasn't listening anymore. He pulled out his phone and quickly searched for relevant statistics.
Soon, he turned the screen to Leonard, which displayed data on California's pet adoption rates and euthanasia numbers. These two figures—one dismally low and one horrifyingly high—did nothing to reassure either of them.
Leonard looked at the screen, then at the conflicted expression on David's face, and suddenly realized, "Wait, do you want to adopt him yourself?"
David stared at Leonard, then slowly nodded.
Then, David softly added, more as if talking to himself, "Maybe, the moment I woke up last night and saw him sleeping against my slipper... I already knew."
Leonard immediately breathed a sigh of relief, saying with a wry smile, "If you want to adopt him, just say so! Why have we been standing here going back and forth, making me think you were trying to convince me to adopt him?"
"I was just... convincing myself," David explained, his gaze still fixed on the puppy. "I've never had a pet before, and my current situation doesn't exactly seem ideal for having one. If I hadn't literally stumbled upon him, I probably would never have thought about getting a pet. So, I needed to work through it mentally."
"In that case, what are we waiting for?" Leonard was a man of action. "Let's go get him back!"
So, the two turned around and found Anna, expressing David's desire to adopt the puppy.
Anna listened, a sincere smile appearing on her face: "We absolutely welcome finders like you adopting animals—it saves us a lot of work trying to find homes for them. However—rules are rules. The puppy still needs to stay at the shelter to complete the statutory 3-5 day stray hold period, to ensure that rare situation—the original owner coming to claim him—doesn't happen."
David, though somewhat disappointed, understood that this was a necessary and unavoidable process.
He confirmed with Anna, "So, you'll make sure my name is at the top of the adoption list for this puppy, right?"
"Absolutely!" Anna replied with certainty. "Once you clearly express your adoption intent and pre-register, you become the first-priority candidate with preference. Now, please show me your ID, and I'll process your pre-registration. In about three to five days, if no original owner appears, we'll contact you to complete the formal adoption. I can give you a pretty confident expectation: based on my experience, in situations like this, it's extremely unlikely for an owner to come forward."
So, David provided his driver's license as requested and completed the pre-registration process.
Afterward, he prepared to leave, walking to the temporary kennel where the puppy was housed, and said to the puppy, who was tilting his head and staring at him, "Goodbye, little guy. I'll be back to pick you up soon."
Just as the two had taken a few steps, Anna, as if suddenly remembering something, called out to them again: "Actually, we also have a 'foster volunteer' program here."
David and Leonard stopped, turning around: "What do you mean?"
Anna explained: "For shelter animals awaiting adoption or owner retrieval, we encourage qualified volunteers to temporarily take them into their homes for fostering until a permanent adopter is found, or until the owner comes forward."
David immediately caught on: "You mean this program would allow me to take him home right away?"
"Exactly. This not only relieves pressure on our kennel space but also allows the animal to receive better socialization in a home environment. For this puppy, as long as you register as our foster volunteer, you can take him home—he'll be considered fostered by our shelter at your place during the hold period."
Anna said, taking out an application form to become a foster volunteer and handing it to David.
David's eyes instantly lit up as he took the form: "Of course! I'm absolutely willing to foster him at my home for these few days until a possible owner comes to claim him!"
David quickly filled out the form and returned it to Anna.
Anna took the form and, while beginning to enter the information into the foster volunteer database on her computer, said with a smile, "Please wait just a moment then. We'll have the vet give this puppy a quick health screening. If there are no issues, you can take him home today. Once the hold period ends, if no owner has appeared, you can directly transition to formal adoption. However, before that, you'll need to sign this agreement."
She handed over another document. "An agreement that during this period, if an owner comes forward and provides valid proof to claim their lost pet, you must return the puppy unconditionally."
David unhesitatingly took the pen and signed his name on the document.
Next, David and Leonard followed Anna to the shelter's veterinary examination room for the puppy's quick pre-foster health check.
During the various examinations, the veterinarian spoke while working: "...Hmm, this little guy appears to be a Husky, and his coat color is the relatively rare Agouti pattern... Alright, heart rate and body temperature are normal... Come on, open your mouth—hmm, the teeth came in earlier and are sharper than typical puppies of the same age and breed... The paw size is also unusual—they're really big—but this is all within normal variation, nothing to worry about."
After confirming the puppy was healthy, with all basic indicators normal, no signs of infectious diseases, and after completing basic vaccinations and deworming procedures, the shelter created an animal health record based on this information, printed it out, and provided a copy to David as the foster volunteer.
David carefully put away this form, which represented "official health certification," and then took the puppy from the veterinarian's hands.
"With this health record as proof, let's see what Sheldon Cooper has to say," Leonard happily patted the puppy's head.
Meanwhile, Sheldon Cooper, still holed up in the apartment, had no idea the puppy would be returning.
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