You snooze, you lose

Hunter came in shortly before the puppies, I guess, and I hadn't yet had time to do much with him.  He was easy to foster, fine with the other dogs, stayed in the dog yard without a problem, so he wasn't at the top of my list of dogs to deal with.  The puppies pretty much took over the top of that list to the exclusion of all else.  I did snap a few pictures of Hunter and he went up on the VGSR website with a very minimal write up.  But he's a good looking, young male shepherd, the kind people always say they want.  I should have been flooded with inquiries, but I got none.  It's just as well, most of them would have been from inappropriate people.  It seems that what adopters want is a dog that fits certain categories.  We use a standard list of characteristics, e.g., age, sex, color, housetrained, good with cats, kids, etc.  Many people use that checklist for their desired or must-have characteristics and don't look at or consider dogs that don't fit their mold.  The problem with that is that dogs don't really fit any mold, and people who "must have" this, that, or the other, will all too often return a dog who doesn't live up to their expectations.  I usually repond with "unknown" to many of the questions, so often my dogs get overlooked.

Visiting female (left), Hunter (right), and Ryland (front and center)

That's just as well, because I'd rather adopt to someone who sees the potential in a dog and is prepared to work on everything else.

I did get one serious inquiry about Hunter, from another VGSR volunteer, and he came to meet him with their dog one day last week or the week before.  They came back again today and Hunter went home with them.  Hunter was very taken with their female shepherd and after getting comfortable around here, she seemed equally happy with him.  I think they will make a good play pair.  They are both young and have similar energy levels and play styles.  The humans know that they will need to work on everything else, but everything else is workable as long as the dogs get along.
 

So all the Type-A, checklist making, anal, would-be adopters missed out on a hell of a good dog.  Hunter made out very well, however, and that's that really matters. 



p.s., Puppy Update:  I'm extremely happy to finally be able to report that Laila is happy, playful, and she is eating, drinking, pooping, and acting normally.