We met Charley today... he was hilarious! Floppy ears, big paws and a level of enthusiasm that is only acceptable in a dog! He is a great dog... needs a bit more training but he is only a puppy. Considering his start in life, he is exceptional! The woman who has been fostering him is a pure saint. She has 8 dogs including Charley. Eight! She lives on a farm and has adopted some of the most sad, pathetic cases you could ever imagine, from a dog who is blind and whose family dropped him off at shelter pretending they found him on a street when really he was their dog (discovered by tracing the licence), to a chubby poodle who went through 3 adoption attempts to a chicken who was picked on by all the other chickens. She also has 3 cats, several children including some foster children. I love people like this, they inspire me to do more. We walked Charley and played with him for awhile. He and Boomer "bonded" and Boomer was incredibly patient with Charley. He's incredibly adoptable, the question is whether we want to do puppy. Still thinking on that...
The second complication for me is my desire to save the saddest case ever and that is where Albert comes in. Albert, the 9 year old dog whose owner is terminally ill is having trouble finding a home. Two matches have been considered, each not working out for several reasons. The last attempt involved a family with a lab who turned out to be not so nice and attacked Albert! Poor old guy didn't even defend himself! Albert has to find a new home by February 28th. His owner is now considering putting him down even though Albert is sweet, socialized, well trained and does not have behavior or medical issues!! This breaks my heart!! How do I NOT take Albert?!
And so tomorrow, Albert is coming for a visit and I may be joining Albert and the lovely woman trying to re-home him for a hike on Monday, schedule dependent. At this point I am hoping for the easy answer, that DH will "suggest" that we take both! Snort! Yes, that would make for a dramatic life change wouldn't it?!
4 comments:
I forgot to add that I have purchased several Behavioral dog training books and am getting my clicker ready... part of my adrenaline rush is the opportunity to finally do some behavioral animal training! Seriously good times!!!
I'm ready Dr. Dunbar right now, who's on your list?
Does Dr. Fox own dogs?
I am reading Don't shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor and am dying to buy a clicker and start doing some clicker training!!!
We went with Albert. Charley was a big love and I would have happily taken him as well but he's a puppy and at this point in my life, that is not what I need. Albert chose us though... he's met 3 families and never settled with anyone and yesterday he very clearly chose us. HIs owner said he felt very reassured to see Albert with us and that fills my heart with joy. Albert arrives tomorrow for a sleepover, I can't wait to shower him with love.
Yayyyyy!!! You have a dog!!
Oooh...can we have a nerdy dog-training clicker weekend!?!? We could do a poster on it!!!! lol!
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