Birthdays

Wading through emails from the last two weeks is taking a few days.  One that I just saw was from an adopter from eight years ago.  The dog was a puppy when she was adopted, one of Buck's pups. 

I don't remember all the story, but I got a call from a young man who had a male dog and his litter of puppies.  The mother (a solid black female) had been placed directly with someone that I knew and she went to a good home but he still had a bi-color male, Buck, and x puppies. 

I drove to meet them.  They were living in a 10x10 kennel outside a single-wide in a mobile home park over near Fredericksburg.  The pen was pretty much full of feces as I recall and leaving them there wasn't ever an option.  Buck was a pretty cool dog and a good doggie daddy, but everyone needed out of that situation. 

This particular pup turned out to be partly, maybe mostly, blind, which led to some behavioral and personality quirks, like a fear of going through doorways, but the adopter and her family worked through them.  Finding out what the problem was went a long way towards dealing with it, of course.  They had another dog in the home, which helped this pup cope with everything. 

Her name is Liberty and she's a lucky dog.  Another pup from that litter came back to me a year or so ago after the adopter had babies of his own.  Jack wasn't overly fond of the kids, or the wife.  Liberty's family took Jack in as a foster and found him a second home, for which I will always be grateful. 

The email said that Liberty had celebrated her 8th birthday on September 11th, while we were away.  I can't believe it's been that long, but we've been doing this since about 2000 or 2001, so she certainly falls within the time frame.  Happy birthday, Liberty, Jack, and all the others. 

I have a shepherd coming in tomorrow, although I hope I can move her on to another foster home fairly soon.  I'm making arrangements to bring in a rottie this weekend, but he already has an adopter lined up.  Monday I'm meeting my doggie dealer who is bringing me a boxer.  Oh, and Teddy is coming for the weekend.  Vacation is over.