A one-way trip for Sherlock

Sherlock was adopted today and he has moved to New York. Clay and I drove up to a small town called Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, just south of Harrisburg. The trip was about 3.5 or more like 4 hours, and his adopter had about the same length of trip coming from the north. She knew someone from Harrisburg who told her about a nice dog park in this town that isn't heavily used. It seemed like a great meeting place.

The adopter has a 10 year old female Great Dane who had to approve the adoption, and apparently she isn't always great when meeting new dogs. Sherlock can be a bit much himself when he meets a new dog, so neither of  us knew how this was likely to go, but we agreed that an unrestrained (off-leash) meeting on neutral ground, with no other dogs around, would maximize the chance of success. When we left home it was sunny and we were headed for another day in the 80s. The weather in Pennsylvania wasn't quite the same. It was cloudy with spotty rain, and the temperature was much cooler. It turned out to be ideal conditions, however, because the dog yard was deserted on Sunday afternoon. 

We arrived first, it was raining lightly, and Sherlock had the opportunity to explore the space on his own. With time to kill I even fitted the gentle leader on him and we did some nice leash walking around the park just to prove to myself that he could still do it. The adopter arrived and she came in alone at first to meet Sherlock. She loved him, of course, and he was very sweet. She went back to her van and got her girl out. Sherlock did his crazy excited bark/bay thing as they approached. This old girl is pretty much blind but not deaf so she certainly knew he was there. The whole neighborhood knew he was there.

We had talked about how to do it and agreed that just letting them meet, free of restraint, and work it out between themselves was the best way to proceed. That's exactly what we did, although both dogs were trailing a leash so we'd have something to grab if we needed to intervene. The Dane (Filly) ran first to sniff a well used fire hydrant, allowing Sherlock to run up to her. They met, sniffed, circled, danced a little, but there was no problem. She's rather dominant and had her big neck and head over the back of his neck, but he was cool about it. He dipped to get out from under her, turned around, and did a play bow. She established herself and he was happy to accept her on her own terms.

The timing was perfect because as we were finishing up some other people and other dogs were arriving. We exited to dog park to avoid meeting anyone and loaded up Sherlock and Filly for their journey back to New York. I was elated and felt like I could fly home. It was a long time coming but I think it's the perfect home for him – an experienced and serious dog person who was looking for a bloodhound and knew what she was getting. Well worth the wait and well worth the trip.

I got a text from the adopter not long after we got home saying that they were also home and had a good trip. The final picture below is Sherlock in his new home.

Sherlock has found a new home.

We should be very happy for Sherlock.

Good night, Sherlock.