A good start to the weekend

We've sold and gotten rid of a lot of stuff. The house is beginning to look a little bit empty, at least in parts. A lot of my garden stuff moved out in the past week so it can beautify others' homes this year. We received our one year renewable visas from the French embassy and have booked airline tickets. I'm able to manipulate the zero turn mower now so I'm not completely useless. One of the last hard tasks we had was going through boxes of photo albums and we got a good start on that today. Bailey and Jan and I went on another 2.5 mile hike on Friday and scattered the cremains of four more dogs. I'm not fooling myself, we still have a long way to go and a relatively short time to get there, but we are making progress.

But perhaps the best news is that Woody had a successful meet and greet with prospective fosters/adopters on Friday. They loved him and I told them everything I could about him with zero sugar coating. What makes me think that this is the best chance he's had is the fact that these folks are fosters themselves, with another organization, so they have experience settling a new dog. They also understand that they aren't buying a dog that comes with some sort of warranty, they are rescuing a dog that comes "as is" and who will become the dog they make of him. That's a very different mindset. They have no other dogs at the moment, which is sort of both good and bad, but mostly good I think, and they have a fenced yard where they can put him when they need a break. We are looking to make the move sometime in the second week of June. In the meantime, Woody will go on another overnight visit to another foster home sometime next week just for the experience.

Oh, and Marvel is back with us for the weekend while her family is away. She is as lovely as ever. 

Sparky's watering hole is a deep spot in a stream that crosses a trail we hike. 

Sparky loved to jump in and cool off here even on days that weren't exactly hot.

Bailey napping after Friday's hike. 

Marvel and Maya getting re-acquainted.

This is all the remains of my "free to a good home" pots. 

If you want any, please contact me and come and get them.

Bailey and Woody going out to the pasture as I was mowing.

Marvel can be distinguished from Woody even at a distance by her bushy tail.

A little yard time

I had a good therapy session Thursday morning and was feeling pretty good all day so I decided to try some yard work Thursday afternoon. It wasn't anything serious but I was moving pots and planters around, gathering up those that I'm giving away in one spot and those that I still hope to sell in another. I probably did more lifting that I should have done, but I was pretty careful. It felt good to be outside in the yard puttering around again. 

I had Bailey and Woody with me, of course. Woody was constantly putting his ball where I could sometimes kick it for him. Bailey just hung around and supervised Woody. But when I got the hose out to water a few things Bailey really lit up. That's her favorite outdoor game. Suddenly the dog who will leap across streams to avoid getting her feet wet doesn't mind getting completely soaked by water. 

These pots are all "free to a good home." Come and get them if there's any you want.

National Rescue Dog Day

There's a saying in the rescue community, something like "don't overlook the difficult dogs, because they can teach things you never knew you needed." Going through the boxes of cremains from our former dogs I'm struck by how many of them fit this description. Max was the poster boy for this slogan. Nero, a black shepherd had an untreatable MRSA infection, but was still a sweetheart. Trooper, with his stranger aggression was a real snuggler. Maya, the escape artist, who became my little girl. Gypsy, who viewed any female as an unwelcome competitor for her role. 

Compared to many we've had, Woody's issues pale by comparison. And yet, they have so far prevented him from being successfully adopted. He's an easy foster, but he doesn't transition well. Another GDU foster home and shepherd loving home has been watching Woody and yesterday he went to their house for the day and night, just for transitioning practice. And it went really very well. We learned some new things about him. He's scared of children (not unusual for many dogs, they like like humans and yet they are tiny, very confusing). He spent the evening on a sofa with kids in the room, was around other dogs, and spent a quiet night in his crate before coming back here this morning. It was a very good experience and one that we hope to repeat, just to get him used to new things, people, and places. 

(The pictures are repeats, it's a rainy day so I haven't been out to take any new ones.)

Scattering

Today I started something that needs to be accomplished before we leave - scattering the remains of all the dogs that have been euthanized in our care. We had a columbarium in the dining room, a cabinet containing boxes and pots holding the ashes. I don't have an exact count on the number of containers, but when we emptied the cabinet they filled six boxes that have been stacked in the dining room. 

I had decided to take them on hikes with me and scatter the remains along the trails and the river bank where we've hiked. It seemed like a fitting place. I went out on hike with Bailey today and had intended to make a start by taking one package with me. However, with my right arm in a sling and holding Bailey's leash in my left, I wasn't sure I could carry anything else. Also, some of these dogs never went hiking with me. 

The one that I randomly picked to start with was a German Shepherd named Klaus. I have only vague memories of Klaus and it seems that he predated my blog, but I did a search and found one mention of him, on his last day. It was from a post titled "The canine chorus" from May 19, 2013, in which I was discussing the group howl phenomenon: 

"The most poignant howl I remember was when an old foster, Klaus, died. Everyone knew he was gone or going and as I got him lifted into the van for the final trip to the vet, the howl started up. It was a most beautiful and fitting send off."  

Anyway, I never walked Klaus at Pleasant Grove, but he probably did use our pasture, so I decided to scatter this remains out there this afternoon. I did several others as well, including Lady, Arby, Vito (who moved with us into this house 25 years ago), our cat Shooz, and the cremains from one other vessel that I couldn't identify. It was just a start and I'll need to keep at it over the coming weeks. 

I did get out for a hike with Bailey and then she accompanied me on my scatter walks out to the pasture once we got home. In many ways Bailey is the embodiment of all the dogs that have gone before her. I learned something from them all and she is the recipient of all that experience, for better or for worse. 

We spotted these two young guys in the woods. 

Candace joined us on the pasture walks this afternoon too.

This is just one of three sections of our columbarium.

 I count 16 containers here, so there may be 40 or more total. 

Arby

Lady

Vito

The Woody test

We tend to look at dog adoption from the wrong perspective. I guess it's natural to ask if the dog can pass the tests we throw at them, can they conform to human expectations of what a dog should be. But consider it from the dog's perspective. Can this prospective human give me the same degree of loyalty and devotion, through thick and thin, that I am prepare to give as a German Shepherd Dog?

I know he was a major pain in the butt in the beginning, and he's still an OCD shepherd, constantly wanting to play fetch with either a stick or a ball, but really Woody is pretty easy to live with these days. You never have to worry about him running off. I walk outside and whistle and he's always the first to come running. He will willingly go into the dog yard or to Daneland when I want to leave him outdoors. I have to leash Bailey to take her out to Daneland and she just sails over the dog yard fence without even exerting herself. He does like to play ball if anyone gives even the slightest indication of willingness to engage, but indoors he settles down quickly and quietly, sometimes having a chew session on a bone, or just snoozing on his bed. He goes willingly into his crate when I ask. 

He's a good playmate for Bailey and all things considered he's become a pretty easy foster, but he can't stay here forever and he will be a pain in the butt when he relocates unless someone gives him enough time to settle in. He's not an off-the-shelf, ready to go right out of the package dog. He's one that will test any adopter's patience, but will give back so much more to anyone who passes the test.

My shoulder seems to be healing. I've been going to physical therapy twice a week but can't begin any strengthening exercises until it's been six weeks past the surgery. Right now it's just range of motion stuff. But I'm back to sleeping in bed again instead of in the recliner. Bailey is good company and hasn't complained about our lack of walking but we need to get back to that. We also need for this damn rain to stop.