A "small world" encounter

One of the effects of having been in rescue for almost 10 years now is that we've got foster dogs all over. We've got former fosters in Louisianna, Utah, Delaware, and two that I know of in New York. There's many more closer to home, of course, and many that I've lost track of, and quite a few that have slipped from memory.

As I drive around Charlottesville, I pass streets and neighborhoods that I remember based on dogs that I've placed. If I'm not careful, I'll turn into one of those old men who give directions based on landmarks that mean nothing to anyone else.

Charlottesville is a pretty small town and the dog community is a subset of that, so it's not too surprising that my adopters occasionally encounter one another. Huck (formerly Nemo) is one of two shepherds saved from their owner by a former adopter who transferrred them to me. He lives north of Charlottesville with a couple who have become volunteers with VGSR. Huck has an older brother, Tucker, who is a tripod (three-legged) Golden Retriever.

Cooper (formerly Copper), is the American Bulldog brought to me by my SW Va doggie dealer. Cooper lives not far from me, east of Charlottesville in Fluvanna County.

Both dogs live in rural areas and there is no reason their paths should have crossed, but they both happen to be taking obedience lessons from the same trainer. They are both in private lessons, not a group, but their schedules are back to back so they met as one's class was ending and the other's was about to begin.

I heard about the meeting from both adopters. Huck's mom has been reading this blog for a while now and she said that she recognized Cooper right away. He does have a very distinctive, and striking, appearance. Cooper is doing great with the training, by the way. He's smart and most importantly, he's willing and even eager to do what is expected of him.

I'm sure it's helping Huck as well, but he's a young male shepherd, and it's just hard for them to learn much until they are a little older. They learn, but they are not always interested in giving the behavior we ask for. I expect they learn very quickly, but then their brain moves on to 10 or 20 different and unrelated things, probably wondering why we are still stuck so far back on something mundane like "sit."