More short timers

There are some dogs that I can take one look at and tell that they won't be around long. I'm not prescient, it's just that big and beautiful is always popular, in dogs as well as people. Hannibal and Nemo were two such dogs, and Brutus was another.

Nemo had numerous inquiries and adoption offers. Many of them were suitable, one of them was best for this dog. He went to his new home as soon as we got home from Thanksgiving and retrieved all the dogs from the boarding kennels.

Nemo, now Huck, went to a home with a three-legged Golden Retriever who laid down the ground rules and also taught him the household routine. He apparently doesn't like the crate, but he's done well in the house, which is amazing given the fact that he had never been inside. His eating habits have also become a bit more civilized now that he knows that meals come regularly in his new home.

Hannibal is still with me, but he has chosen his new home and will be moving just before Christmas when his new dad will be off work for a good long week to help him settle in.

Hannibal's new home is actually an old home, a prior adopter who came back to me for another dog when he had room for one more. Hannibal and Hannah and I drove to visit the home on a cold and rainy/snowy day last weekend. Hannah wasn't too interested, but Hannibal was and he hit it off with Ricco, the other dog in the home.

Here's a pic of Ricco before he was adopted just about a year ago. Ricco had, and still has, a condition known as Pannus. It's a chronic eye problem but it's manageable if one is willing to do daily eye drops. Ricco's dad took him on without hesitation and has the condition stabilized, and even improved from where it was at the time of adoption. I held off a couple of people who were interested in Hannibal until we had a chance to get Ricco and Hannibal together. Anyone who will take on a dog with a problem like Ricco's moves to the top of my list when they come back and want another. It is also the most dog-friendly home I've ever seen. Only the TV and the motorcycle are off limits to the dogs.

It was great to see Ricco again too. Apparently he generally isn't too warm and fuzzy with strangers, but he greeted me like a long lost friend. I never mind when a former foster doesn't seem to know me or care much about me. It just means that they've moved on and are happy in their new home. That's a good thing and it doesn't hurt my feelings. But when I am greeted enthusiastically by a former foster, I indulge myself with the anthropomorphic belief that they remember me, understand what I did for them, and want to say thank you for their wonderful new home. Who knows, maybe they really do.

I got a similar greeting just yesterday when I dropped off a rabies tag that should have gone with Brutus when he was adopted. Brutus greets everyone that way, however, so I can't fool myself about that one. Brutus never made it onto the web and these are the only pics I have, taken the first day he arrived at my house. He's not nearly as serious as he looks here. He has a great new home--no kids, cats, or other dogs to complicate matters and both of his people work from home. It doesn't get any better than that for a dog, and they are good people too, which matters in my book, especially when choosing among multiple adopters who all want the same dog.