Online dating can bring love into your life

Published 12:00 am Sunday, March 6, 2011

One glance at her photograph and the hook was set. Who knew I’d fall for a tiny little rock star?

I was a relative rookie at online dating, but in hindsight, the whole process was actually fairly simple.

Glance through the rows of mug shots, see one that floats your boat and take your pick — easy enough.

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“How about that one? She’s cute.”

“Works for me.”

All that was left was to set a time to meet and see if any chemistry existed.

A few weeks ago my wife Julie and I apparently lost our minds simultaneously and decided our lives were not crazy enough already. We needed another “lady” — or is it princess? — in the house.

A look through a website and bachelorette No. 93A was calling our name.

She was a cute little brunette. She looked relatively young and was apparently an unwed mother.

In short, she needed a good home and we were interested in helping get her life straightened back out.

A quick drive to the Natchez-Adams County Humane Society’s shelter on Liberty Road gave us a chance to meet face-to-face with our soon-to-be new addition.

She was a little shy, understandably.

The weather wasn’t ideal.

It was raining when we were there. And the minute strangers walk into the cage room at the humane society, the barking quickly ramps up to nearly deafening levels.

To get away from the noise, we walked 93A out into the rain for a few minutes.

But it only took a second or two for Julie and I to realize that 93A was cute, lovable and needed a new home.

The squatty little dachshund waddled into the rain.

Even a glimpse of a human hand approaching her with the likely intent of petting her, will yield an instant flip onto her back, exposing her belly to would-be petters.

Her “show” worked well. It was a good first date and we were ready to make it official.

After a little paperwork, surgery was scheduled to avoid her unexpectedly becoming expecting again.

Sadly, we don’t have the space to take on more of the great animals that remained at the shelter.

Some of the little faces that are available for adoption can be seen at: natchezpetadoptions.org.

Our newly adopted 93A came home to join another dog that Julie adopted several years ago.

Suzy tolerated 93A pretty well from the get-go. Only once or twice have tensions and tempers run high.

After a few days we settled on a new name for 93A — Alice, Alice Cooper.

Sharing a name with a famous rock music star was not really intentional, but it did amuse us a little.

The reality is that she looks like an older lady and we wanted her name to start with an “A” as a nod to her former life as “93A.”

So far, Alice is fitting in nicely into our family. She and Suzy are getting along well and we’re all starting to get accustomed to having an additional lady in the house.

If you’re looking for a good companion and you think you may have what it takes to be a good pet owner, please consider adopting a pet from the humane shelter.

Checking out the options has never been easier and your next “best friend” may just be a click away.

Warning, you may wind up with a diva rock star. But you’ll love her just the same.

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.