Mistaken Identity: It's Not Olivia!

I am absolutely shocked to report that "Olivia," the dog Sam and I got out of the shelter is not actually Olivia!  I'm speechless, dumbfounded, almost entirely incredulous!  The dog we met seemed exactly like Olivia in appearance, temperament, and behavior.  She was shy but sweet and curious, and warmed up to me quickly.  Based on her appearance, I was sure it was Olivia:  so few brindle mastiffs have no white markings at all; we compared specific stripes of her brindle coloring; and we even found several scars that matched ones that we know Olivia has.  Even the absence of a microchip seemed to me to indicate that it was more likely to be Olivia.  Since so many dogs, especially so many rescue dogs, have microchips these days, the fact that this dog (like Olivia) didn't have one put her into the subset of dogs (maybe a minority, maybe not) who don't have one, so it was one more point of comparison that matched.

The only factor that weighed against its being Olivia was that the shelter had her listed as "unaltered".  From what I understood from the shelter staff, however, it still seemed consistent with Olivia.  She had been too fearful for them to check her belly for a scar, but they saw that her nipples were distended and presumed that  she had not been spayed.  Though I was cognizant of this inconsistency, the behavioral trait that precipitated it made me even more sure it was Olivia, as did her appearance.  Her nipples were distended, but less so than they had been when she ran away.  Anyway, I bore this in mind since the moment we found out about the dog in the shelter, but it was not enough to convince me it wasn't Olivia.

Sam and I took "Olivia" straight from the shelter to the vet and told them the first orders of business were to check her spay status and give her a microchip!  When, several days later, I had not heard anything to the contrary, I assumed that the vet had confirmed that the dog was actually spayed and the shelter staff had been mistaken.  It was only a week later that I found out (at least third-hand from Sam) that they had confirmed the shelter staff's determination and had spayed her that morning.

In retrospect, I guess much of my certainty that the dog was Olivia was my really, really, really wanting it to be so.  Even now, though, I can hardly believe that it's not Olivia.  Rationally, I know it's not. Apart from the spaying issue, Sam had made a little scent item from the dog at the shelter and asked Salsa to match it to Olivia's scent but Salsa didn't find a match.  Sam thought maybe Salsa's medication was affecting her sense of smell but, in retrospect, we agree that, as usual, Salsa was right.  It also made sense that, when I got home from the vet and told Leah I was with Olivia and let her smell my shirt, she was only as excited as she ever is when I mention Olivia (which surprised me a bit).  Later, when I thought that I didn't need to isolate the scent items anymore, I opened one and let Leah smell it and said Olivia's name, she got much more excited. (Caveat:  for those of you who tend to get confused when reading my anecdotes about Leah, please disregard the last two sentences. Disclaimer: No, Leah is not a trained tracking dog (yet!), and I do not rely on her excitement levels as evidence of the scientific certainty of anything, except maybe of how excited she is.  If this is still too complicated, do let me know and I'll try to explain in greater detail.)

Someone brought up the issue of whether perhaps the one-page medical record I have for Olivia documenting her spay could have been mistaken or that the vet had botched it.  It does seem that the chances of having two shy English Mastiffs, the same size and weight, with quite possibly identical markings, distended nipples, and even scars, lost in this area at once are less than those of the occurrence of a clerical or surgical error regarding the spay procedure.  But Olivia's rescue-mama, who has kept in touch with us throughout the search, was able to confirm that she was in fact (successfully/effectively) spayed.

So there it is.... I'm still shocked writing it even now, but I regret to announce that "Olivia" is not Olivia.  "Ellie", as the shelter named her, is Ellie; and the real Olivia is still out there.  Ugh!  I'll write more when I've processed this at least a little more.