My Dog

My dog, Riley, is seriously the best dog in the world...and here are just a few reasons why:

 When I have a bad day, he gives me kisses.
 When I'm sad, he snuggles with me.
 When there is a bug in the house, he eats it.
 When I need a walking partner to keep me going on my weight loss, he's there.
 When there are people outside our house, he lets me know.
 When it's time for the kids to get home from school, he waits at the window for them.

Riley gives us so much & asks only for the occasional treat in return. Riley is such a good boy! I just love my big, silly dog!

Apology From Tootie's Rescue

I received an email reply from the rescue that has Tootie. They apologized & hope we don't think badly of their rescue for this. They also asked if we would be interested in fostering for them or if we were interested in any of their other dogs. I'm shocked at this! I think it's best that I don't respond to those questions at this time.

My family has decided that we are going to slowly begin to look for a puppy. We would like to adopt a puppy from the South (where Riley came from). We aren't set on breed, gender or anything. We are going to start fresh with this search and take it slow. Sometime in the next year would be great.

Adopting a dog should not be this exhausting. Nor should a family have to go through everything we went through in the last 3 weeks. So, for now we will focus on Riley. I am going to get him into Good Citizen Canine Classes so he can get certified & then we can start working on training for Therapy Certification. My dream is to be able to take him to visit the elderly, sick & disabled. He is such a gentle, good dog. I believe he can enrich people's lives, as he does ours.

Hard Decision

My family had a big talk tonight & came to a decision regarding Tootie's adoption. Here is the email I sent to the rescue that has Tootie;

"We discussed at length tonight about everyone's feelings about our situation. We have a few concerns. The biggest one is regarding the decision making with Tootie's adoption. I do not think it would be fair to my kids to have Tootie stay another weekend with us if they have not made a decision about keeping her or not. If she stayed with us again, my kids would bond even more with her, leaving them heart broken if they decided to keep her. I can not do that to my kids. Although we can understand where Tootie's foster parents are coming from, we don't feel it's fair to our family to have this go on any longer. My hope is that our interest in adopting Tootie has made them come to the realization that they do not want to let her go & will agree to give her a forever home. 

Another concern is her reaction to people walking by the house. Tootie reacts because she is scared (not because she is aggressive). She displayed no signs of aggression, just fear, which can lead to lashing out or possibly someone getting hurt. We agree this can be worked on with training & was not a deal breaker. But for this reason we think she may do best in a home as the only dog & no kids. My family feels Tootie would thrive & do best with her foster parents. They are wonderful people & it's very clear to us how much they love Tootie. We have been foster parents to many dogs & felt that way about a few, which is why we took a step back from our feelings for Tootie & came to the decision that she truly would be better off staying with them. Tootie is happy & they are happy...and we just don't want to interupt that. It's not broken, so why try to fix it? There are so many dogs out there that need to be adopted. It's not that Tootie isn't a good fit for us, we just think she is a better fit for them. We have Tootie's best interest at heart & want what is best for her."

I hope this came across nicer than the thoughts in my head sounded. I just couldn't do the back & forth with them anymore. One day we were fostering to see if we wanted to adopt her, the next the foster parents wanted to possibly keep her. The communication was terrible. When the foster family picked Tootie up on Sunday after we had her all weekend, they made a few comments that lead us to believe they had decided they did not want to keep her. The very next day we were told they were still tossing around the idea of keeping her, but wanted Tootie to stay with us the next weekend again. I just couldn't have her stay with us another weekend & then find out the foster parents do want to keep her. How would that be fair to us, especially my kids? It makes me wonder, did they really just need a dog sitter? Were they planning on keeping her all along?

Dog Sitting Tootie

On Friday I rushed home from work & found Tootie & my family playing. Tootie seemed so comfortable & so "at home." I was very proud of my dog, Riley. He is such a good boy. He was a true gentleman all weekend long. We played, took walks, had lots of treats, went for a car ride & to a few pet stores, played at a friend's house with their dog...it was a great weekend! I thought we were going to have issues at night with the kennel, but we didn't hear one single peep. Riley even gave up sleeping in bed to sleep in his kennel next to Tootie's kennel so she wouldn't get scared. Tootie did not have any adjustments issues at all.

If we do get the opportunity to adopt her, there are truly only a few things that need to be worked on.
1- basic training
2- fence issues...Tootie charges at the fence when people walk by (growling & jumping)
3- she needs some Vet care. I believe she has an ear infection. Her ears are caked & smelly. She may have some allergies as well. She seems very itchy & pink. She has a few bumps/lumps that are probably no big deal, but I would want my Vet to check them out.

All weekend I felt like I was subconsciously putting up a wall. I feel terrible for this but I don't want to end up devastated. We all love her & have formed bonds with her. There is only one person who knows what is best for her. It's out of our hands now. All my family really wants & hopes for is that Tootie has a forever home.

Feeling Crushed

So much has changed in the past few days. We were told by the rescue that has Tootie, that she would be coming to stay with us on Friday. We had an agreement to foster her for a few weeks to see if she is a good fit for our family & then we would discuss adoption. The day before she came we were notified by the rescue that Tootie's foster family was having second thoughts about her leaving their care. It seems (after 3 months of fostering her) they are just not sure if they want to adopt her themselves. This news crushed my family.

You see we have been through a similar situation with one of our very our foster dogs. We had a "friend" who could no longer keep her dog & my family agreed to help her out. After a few weeks we just adored this dog & wanted her to be a permanent part of our family. This "friend" told us we could keep her dog & that she was so happy this worked out. This "friend" turned around & surrendered "her" dog to an animal rescue. The dog was then adopted to a different family after being in our care for over 3 months. This was devastating to each of my family members. We do not want to go through this hurt again.

We were told the foster family hopes to make a decision within a few weeks or so. Although I find this to be very unfair, I feel the ultimate goal is for Tootie to have a forever home. So, whether it be with her foster parents or with my family, I will be happy for Tootie.

Play Date With Tootie

I was so nervous all day for Tootie & her foster parents to come visit tonight. I have never been on this side of things before. I have done home visits, meet and greets & adoptions in the rescue world, but never had a home visit/meet & greet for my family personally. I am happy to report that everything went wonderfully! Tootie & Riley got along amazingly! My kids loved her! Glen & I already loved her but fell even more for her!

Her foster parents told us all about Tootie. She is a wonderful dog! They told us she won't eat when she is nervous & that she doesn't like treats. Each of us offered her different kinds of treats & she ate them all! She explored our house & yard. I think she felt very comfortable with us. I can't wait until Friday when she comes to stay!

Riley is so happy to have a playmate...he RUVS her!