Email

Hank

I have a very bad personal habit.  When there is something I don't want to deal with it, I just ignore it.  Unpleasant things don't just go away, they just sit there waiting for you.  Email is one of those.  I've gotten really bad about simply ignoring email but it just builds up, it doesn't ever go away.  Some days I don't want to even open my email because I'll be faced with all the things I'm ignoring.  This is a very bad personal habit, a real failing, and I make no excuses for it. 

Hank entertaining himself.
He goes to a dog park too.

Today, however, I glanced at my email, ignored the unpleasant stuff as usual, but was happy to find a couple that made my day.  The best email I ever get is good news about former fosters.  Some I see or hear about on Facebook periodically and that's great.  Some just pop up out of the blue occasionally in email and that's great too.

Hank as home inspector

I think I once described Hank as a "dog's dog."  He's a shepherd/hound mix and he's just pure dog.  I had Hank for quite a while and his hound-like voice reminded me why I don't take hounds, even though they are absolutely wonderful and are usually the best choice for people with children.  Hank was a good guy, got along well with everyone, and he loved to run in the pasture. 

I nearly missed the chance to adopt Hank to his eventual adopter because I just plain forgot about him after a vacation.  Fortunately, he didn't forget and he didn't hold it against me.  He took Hank, gave him a great home, took him to obedience classes, fenced his yard for him, and sent me these pics today.

This is one of my pictures of Hank from his time here.
It's one of my favorite dog photos.

The other email was about a former foster named Duke.  "Duke" is a pretty common dog name, but fortunately she gave me more background info to jog my memory. 

Everything about them was wrong.  Or actually, just one thing but it was a biggie.  They had a newborn baby when they wanted to adopt Duke.  Normally I wouldn't have given those adopters anything more than a polite brush off.  But they had one thing going for them, one really big thing, which was a personal recommendation from someone that I completely trusted.  That person assured me that they were dog people.  I met them and convinced myself and adopted Duke to them. 

Duke now lives in the outback of Australia, which proves that I made the right decision in adopting him to this couple. The newborn baby is now a four year old boy and Duke is his companion and guardian.  He loves everyone and everyone loves him.  He learned about kangaroos.  The adopter says that he has more friends than they do. 


And for those who haven't seen it, here is a picture of Patch settled in his new home.  I'm very happy about this one.

There's a couple of people interested enough in Max, and not put off by my write up, that they want to come meet him this week.  We will see.  And I have a new owner-surrender coming in.