May 2017
In February Melissa picked up a dog named Snow from the Clackamas County Animal Shelter. We tracked her down to a backyard breeder in Oregon City. According to the vet who chipped her, she is nine and a half years old. According to the people who turned her in, she is over twelve. Her pedigree, which we think we found, says she is seven. Although the chip record should be most accurate, we don’t believe she is that old; it’s more likely the receptionist at the vet’s office miscalculated and the pedigree is correct. We have a boy who is not yet two, and she regularly wears him out. Her activity level is high and her teeth look three. It doesn’t really matter,since she will have to stay here.
We waited for two months for a potential adopter to come meet Snow, only to find the match wasn’t right. Even though there were extenuating circumstances, we won’t do that again. A dog staying more than two weeks believes she is in her new home, and another move is difficult. When we placed Vincent (more on him below), the people also wanted to take Snow and we said yes. We told them she bit someone once, and they understood she was a fearful dog. Unfortunately, she bit again, and we took her back. Kathy had to drive to Victoria to get her, so Snow is with us again. Although we don’t really want six dogs, there is no choice. We can’t take the liability of placing her now. It’s too bad, because Snow has never shown anything but her sweet side to us, and she is the first lap dog I’ve had in years. We don’t know what happened to her in her earlier life, but the rest of her life will be here.
Over the last couple months we have been talking to people in Beaverton who had a seven year old male Sammy. They told us he had a bad separation anxiety problem. They also have an 18 month old son, which we believe is the real problem. His name is Vincent, a big friendly boy. We arranged for a couple to drive down from Vancouver Island to meet him, and the people from Beaverton brought Vincent to our home. John and Heather have adopted several times over the years, dating back about 20 years, and theirs is a great home. The Beaverton couple got here first, and Vincent wandered around the house. When John and Heather arrived, Vincent immediately went to John and sat down and leaned against him. We see this all the time. The dog really does choose the people, and it was an obvious, strong connection. Kathy took him for a walk while his old family left, and Vincent seemed not to notice. He happily got in the car with John and Heather when they left. All reports about Vincent are great.
The storm that rolled through early this month was intense, and no doubt a lot of dogs were unhappy about all the thunder and lightning. That certainly includes our Lily, who didn’t leave Kathy’s side. Meanwhile, in Seattle, Nicky and Holley sat on their front porch so Nicky could watch the weather. Nicky is a senior, just recovering from a health scare, and one of our favorites. He’s also very photogenic.