Newbies

Samson (yet another shepherd named Samson), arrived today as an owner surrender from over in the Valley. The owner had been divorced. The dog had come from the ex-wife who was now gone, and he said quite frankly that he couldn't provide a good home for the dog anymore. The dog was living on a chain so I'm certainly inclined to agree and I think he did the right thing for the dog, particularly in seeking out a rescue group to take him instead of trying to sell him to the nearest local redneck for $50. Samson is understandably upset and confused, but he's a nice guy. At just over a year old, he should be fairly easy to re-home, even with that one floppy ear.

Athena came today from a shelter. She had been turned in by a woman whose son had dumped the dog on her a couple months ago. Athena initially displays some fear aggression towards strangers on the other side of a fence. But, you only have to look at her and can tell that she's all bluff, is basically scared herself, and is just trying to scare away the thing that scares her. I can walk right into her kennel as she's barking aggressively and she melts into a sweetheart. I guess she figures that if she can't scare me off, she will just have to switch gears and try her charm instead. A versatile girl.

She's a very pretty girl, just a couple years old, and should also be fairly easy to adopt. She will need to learn to trust strangers a bit, and should probably go to someone who is at least as smart as she is, but I think she will attract a good deal of interest. Both dogs are scheduled for vaccines, heartworm test, and neuter surgery on Wednesday so they should be ready to go by the next Gainesville adoption event.

I gave both new dogs their own kennel for much of the day but let them together with Bear, Jeep, and each other later this afternoon. No problems between any of them.