Clyde and Colin

The way the adoption process is supposed to work is that I supply the dog, the adopter takes the dog, and sometime later the adopter comes back to me for another dog. It's simple and everyone should follow that procedure. Sometimes an adopter gets confused and messes up the process. That's how I ended up driving to South Carolina and back today with two new dogs. I won't name names, but he knows who he is, and he's not the only adopter who has failed to follow the procedure over the years.

Nameless adopter knew someone who was coming into possession of a Great Dane and a German Shepherd Dog, who were being legally extricated from a bad situation. For some reason he thought of me. I always preach about rescuing from the local area, and these two actually came out of south Georgia, but nameless adopter has adopted not one or two, but three dogs from me in the past and I wasn't about to say "no" to two purebreds of my favorite breeds, especially given the circumstances that these two came from.

Clyde is the Great Dane. He's maybe four years old. He's actually a blue merle, but his coat suffers from bad nutrition and is sunburned so it's more brown than bluish gray right now. He's got a couple superficial scrapes or something on him, and he's underweight. Given the lack of care and the fact that he's been kept outdoors in the armpit of the country with no shelter, it will be a miracle if he's negative for heartworms, etc.

Colin is the shepherd. We were told he's 2-4 years, but I actually think he's a puppy, less than a year old. His fur is puppy fine and soft, in spite of bad nutrition and lack of care, and his attitude is all playful puppy.

I left at 6:00 a.m. this morning, aiming for a noon meeting at a point equidistant between me and the dogs' starting point. I got there about 11:30 a.m., they arrived about 12:30 p.m., due to dog-related stops. It wasn't a bad drive, but any adventure into the South is somewhat scary. I was on Jerry Falwell Expressway in Lynchburg, and later, Billy Graham Expressway in Charlotte, along with stretches of road named for Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. From here south, it's basically nothing but kudzu, NASCAR, and Jesus.

Thanks to Green Dogs Unleashed for agreeing to take in Clyde, and to Promises Animal Rescue for taking on Colin. Both boys need full vet work and neutering so they aren't available immediately, but I hope to get them vetted soon. Both seem friendly, and understandably confused after all they've been through in the past week. I'm including some pictures from the shelter here, because it was too dark by the time I got home to get decent pictures.