A pleasant surprise

 

It was one of those phone calls that I dread.  An 85 year old woman, local, had a 7-8 year old German Shepherd she was looking to "get rid" of because she had taken to digging out of the fence.  In my experience, that usually translates into an 8-10 year old mixed breed, poorly-socialized dog who has never been indoors and had been living in a too small kennel her entire life. 

Happily, I was wrong and was pleasantly surprised when I went there this morning to bring home "Harley." 

She was indoors with the woman and was obviously well housetrained.  She was only 5 years old, turning 6 at the end of May.  She was spayed, vaccinated, on heartworm preventative.  She was a bit shy and suspicious of me, but I've seen worse.  And to top it off, she has a history of living with a cat! The dog was obviously devoted to her and all she really needed was to keep the dog mostly indoors and have a bit of work done on her fence.  But I don't think she was interested in having a mostly inside dog and had already made up her mind to give the dog away.  So I brought Harley home, walked her a bit to get these pictures, and brought her in to a crate in my office, next to Maggie Mae and Molly. 

She is shy, particularly with men, and she didn't seem to know stairs, but she made it up ok and she has allowed me to handle her.  She's not fear-aggressive at all.  She had never been crated but she went in and is laying quietly.  I'm going to try to keep her indoors and move her to another foster home this weekend if possible.  All she needs is a heartworm test and kennel cough vaccine.  She will be a great dog for someone, IF they will give her time to settle in and get comfortable with them.  Shepherds are not Labs and they are not Golden Retrievers.  Those breeds are popular for a reason, and deservedly so.  Some shepherds are outgoing and friendly to everyone, but it's not really characteristic of the breed.

Maggie Mae was full of moans and groans yesterday evening after her surgery.  She was in pain; obviously uncomfortable.  She wouldn't eat the chicken and rice I cooked for her and Dugan, but Clay put the pain pill down her throat and about an hour later she did eat.  This morning she is surprisingly perky and ate with much enthusiasm.  I put Dugan out this morning into a kennel by himself.  He seems fine, but I will probably bring him in again tonight.  Trooper and Jeremy spent the night in the shed to make room indoors for the Maggie Mae, Dugan, and now Harley.  They don't really mind, it's quite warm and comfortable in there, so I think I'll let them camp out there for another night or two. 

p.s. The woman who gave up the dog was on my answering machine when I got home, wanting my address to send a donation.  Apparently this is "Surprise Brent Day."  I wish we had these days more often.