Lab news

Maddie went to a new foster home last Sunday.  She had a placement in mind for the dog and apparently the dog is there now, is already trained on their electric fence (who said labs were dumb?), and is making herself at home. 
That didn't take long at all, it was just a matter of getting her out of here, and to someone who could find her a home.  Sometimes dogs languish here because I have too many other dogs that I'm pushing and sort of continually fall to the back of the line.  That was the case with Maddie.  I had too many other dogs, too many shepherds in particular, and she was getting neglected in terms of the adoption process anyway. 

But it may have been for the best because she ended up in a really great home, where she has a new name, Willow. 

And then there's Max.  The news here is somewhat surprising, but also very good, excellent in fact. Max's foster called and wanted to talk.  He's doing fine, still working on the cat thing, but no cats have been harmed.  He's doing so well that they've re-thought the surgery and decided against it, for now at least.  The x-rays don't lie and he has no hip joint to speak of.  But, he runs, he plays, he's getting stronger, he doesn't seem to be in any pain. 

I had a similar situation with a shepherd years ago.  The x-rays looked terrible but the dog felt fine.  I couldn't see cutting into a dog who was asymptomatic.  I adopted him out, with full disclosure of his condition and even sent along the x-rays.   The adopters knew that he might need surgery in the future, but he never did.  They kept him on joint supplements, and most importantly, kept him exercised and lean. 

Max might need surgery in the future, but for now he's ok.  He was underdeveloped from lack of exercise because he lived with Maddie in a small pen and never really got out.  Now he's running, playing, and gaining lean muscle mass.  We are going to leave well enough alone for now.

However, I collected a lot of money from many generous people for this surgery.  I haven't cashed anyone's checks yet because I wasn't going to do so until I sent out the thank you notes and I was just now getting around to doing that.  So I'll be sending your checks back with a thank you note in the next few days, before I leave for vacation anyway.  For those of you that made donations in other ways, I'll take care of getting that back to you as well.  The response was overwhelming and heartwarming.  We collected enough to pay for the surgery, but I'm happy that we don't need to use it.  The time may come when I need to ask for help again, and I will, but I don't want to go to the well too often.