Good point Joy! Do neither of them have service dog potential? Or are you sticking with going the puppy route just to keep things simpler?
I'm tempted to take EVERYONE home. Joking aside, my tendency to vastly overthink things means none of it seems easy or clear to my poor overcharged brain, which seems to have sprung a leak after the last 8.000km leg of the Labratour. I'm also still finding the idea of another dog after Brogan (even two years after his passing) to be...erm..."challenging". Besides, if I actually got a dog, I'd have to give up my very prized and unique title of "Longest on the forum without an actual dog". Not sure I'm ready to give up the crown.
If you're not careful, I'm going to change it to "For the love of all that is holy, won't you just get a dog already?!"
More shelter walkies today, though unfortunately most of visiting hours were under very heavy rain. I got Messi out for about an hour even though we got soaked. He didn't seem to mind and in fact was the bounciest I've ever seen him. Finally he was acting like the big puppy he is! He even grabbed the leash and had a fierce game of tug of war with me. Shhh.... don't tell anybody as I know that's a no-no, but he was having such fun that I didn't stop him. After our drippy walk, it really started to storm, so no more walkies. They said I could just go into whatever pens I wanted and have puppy cuddles, so that's what I did. Besides Bobo and Messi's pen, my favourite couple were Charlotte and Max. Charlotte was found tied to the shelter's front gates about three weeks ago along with another mastin, both with medical issues. I took both of them on several walks in their first days at the shelter - true to mastin form, they were slow, gentle and affectionate girls. Charlotte's friend has happily been adopted, but Charlotte is still there. She just wants pets and cuddles and was a bit frightened by the storm, so we just had a nice confab while I brushed and petted her. If I stopped, she would gently put her big paw on my arm. What a lovely girl. The other excitement was a group of tiny Bodeguero puppies that a nice man rescued from a rubbish bin and brought in today. They are probably about 4-6 weeks old but super skinny. I've never seen puppies look like that. They need to test them for parvo, then they will go into foster. I volunteered, but I'm second in line as I live so far from the shelter (it's a 1.5 hour drive) and am not that well known as a volunteer. They'll tell me tomorrow morning if I can pick them up or if a regular (and closer) volunteer will take them. I would love to have them, but I'm also nervous that if they DO come, I'll end up adopting three Bodeguero puppies because I won't be able to let them go! I said as much to the volunteer coordinator, who looked at me as if I was off my head, so that probably dashed my chances unless they are truly desperate. Probably for the best, because...three Bodeguero puppies! Can you imagine the mischief!? Messi from a previous day as today it was too wet outside for my camera... Max and Charlotte during the 2 minutes I could let them outside for a bit of fresh air and quiet... Charlotte again...that face!
You are good @Emily_BabbelHund - such a kind thing to do for those dogs. Charlotte looks like a fab dog .
Actually the dogs were doing a kind thing for me. It's been a rough few weeks and I needed some puppy cuddles. Charlotte just gets to me for some reason. She's not actually that old, but she reminds me a lot of Brogan in his last year - the body getting tired but still a sharp dog behind the old eyes. If I lived in Spain full time and wasn't in perpetual movement, I'd be very tempted just to take her home, buy the biggest softest bed I could find and let her snuggle there happily for the rest of her days. The fact that I can't really does make me question the whole 'perpetual movement' thing.
I've just heard from the shelter that their regular newborn puppy fosterer is going to take them. I have to admit, I'm pretty disappointed - but it's great news for the pups. I'm telling you, if I could figure out how to turn a Bodeguero into a service dog, I'd do it. Those little dogs are awesome with personality to burn, plus they are tough as nails and live forever. Even the little pup I got to carry today - the size of the palm of my hand, little pink heart on his nose and screaming the house down and trying to wiggle out of my hands. Indomitable!
Wow, I'd never had to worry about dieting again because a dog like that would keep you on your toes! And I do remember the Bodeguero/pointer cross at your shelter - beautiful boy!
Hehe, he really would! Such a lovely boy, he'd be an amazing dog in the right home. But maybe not quite what you're looking for
Today I went to my local private shelter. I thought I'd give it a try as going out to ADANA (where Messi/Charlotte are) is 1.5 hours each way, so is pretty much a whole day excursion. I'm still going to aim for going two days a week to ADANA, but if I mix it up with the local shelter (only 15 minutes away), I can get in more doggie walks. I went to the local shelter a couple times last year but found it really overwhelming. They follow the common model of having all dogs in cages from 2pm-9am and then letting them all out at once into a large courtyard when workers/volunteers are there from 9am-2pm. It gets really loud and (at least to my eyes) a bit scary with 70+ dogs interacting in a single enclosed space. ADANA is much more my speed - dogs are in small groups of 2-4 per cage, but each cage has an indoor area with dry beds and a fairly large outdoor area for playing. It's much more peaceful than the "stick them all together" model. But no ding on the local shelter - I admire anybody who tries to do anything for dogs here in Spain. It's a tough road! It was raining buckets through my whole visit, but I'd decided to walk dogs, so I just layered on the plastic rainproof everything and went. My first dog was "Hope" (pronounced HOP-AY or just "Hop") a scruffy boy who looked like a bull terrier mixed with waterdog and...bodeguero? Pretty funny little guy. They asked me to take him as he is not allowed in the central courtyard with the others due to dog aggression, so he gets lonely. The good news is that he is going to a new forever home next week. This is really a big deal, because I remember him from last year. He's been there a LONG time. So, way to go Hop! My second dog was the result of one of the nice volunteers who remembered me from last year trying to matchmake. I told her I wasn't currently looking for a dog anymore (long story) and she said, "But do you have a dog?" And I said, "No, but I'm not looking." And she said, "Oh yes you are". And then she says she's got the perfect dog for me to walk after Hop. Can you guess what he was? A black Lab. Yes, I can't even escape them in Spain. I've never even seen a purebred Lab in a shelter in Spain, but out of 70+ dogs, I see them bringing me "Carbon". So despite the fact that I'm not looking for myself , I got to spend a lovely and very wet hour with Carbon. From what anyone could tell me, he has been in a perrera (the local state-run dog pound/pit of h*ll) for at least two years and came to the private no-kill shelter just a couple weeks ago. I could tell he'd been mistreated in the past, but he was a real gentleman walking and was very happy to get cuddles for a job well done. He was reactive to the cows, but we did a bit of LAT (using cuddles instead of treats as I didn't have any of those) and he very quickly got the idea that cows aren't so very scary. I was very impressed that his real Labrador temperament could be largely intact after the less-than-ideal life he's had. Tomorrow i'll bring treats and we'll tackle those cows again. (sorry for the bad photos - I was trying to shoot one-handed between the rain drops) Hop Carbon
