Dogs

[rimturse]

The Frisbee episode made us so weary that we decided not to take in an older dog. The plan is to wait until we can move and then get a puppy. I stopped searching. Right before I deleted all the club- and shelter links, I saw "Robin". He had potential: grew up in a family with 2 adults, 5 children, 1 older dog and a number of other pets. He had been following his previous owner to work in a facility for the mentally disabled. He's almost three years old and a Belgian Shepherd, my preferred breed. I pushed him out of my head - was just too tired to consider another dog.

So a couple of weeks ago, C and I decided to go to the Animalia animal show. In that connection I was searching the special clubs yesterday to see if and where they were showing - and Robin is still looking for a new home. I sent the link to C, he thinks the dog looks cute. We're now discussing whether to call or not. I'm no longer willing to compromise with any problems like we did with Frisbee. However, the fact that Robin is not yet taken could mean two things: 1. That he has serious issues not mentioned in his glowing presentation or 2. That he is our dog.

Comments

[cathemery.livejournal.com]

Can't find out without asking, I guess. I would think that if you are blunt about your needs, they will be honest with you about possible problems.

I always feel so sorry for dogs in shelters (and cats, too) but one doesn't want to end up dumping them back you found out too late that you couldn't/didn't want to cope with some behavior like biting hands that hang at hip level, or eliminating in the wrong place, or -- ugh. Anyway. :) Good luck finding out, and I hope you enjoy the show.

[frigg.livejournal.com]

Hopefully you're right. I really felt bad about taking Frisbee back. I felt pretty confident that I could handle the car-chasing issue, but hadn't bargained on getting bitten by a case of misplaced agression. :(

In any case you're right about not knowing until we ask. The dog is currently living with his sister and cousin, and is not yet in a shelter. If the woman who has him now is not in a rush to hand him over, then we could perhaps have more time to evaluate him.

I feel really bad for the animals in shelters as well. When we went back to see Nero the first time it was awful. The shelter was clean and warm, but the expressions on those dogs' faces...And the cats...lots and lots of them sharing the same living area, must be very stressful for them.