Status Quo or No: Deciding to Add to the Crew
When is it time to add a fourth dog?
First of all, let me update you on Kera. She is mostly much better now. Evidently, the antibiotics needed to kick in. I will admit that if I am not on the ball with the fluid administration, she drinks too much water and throws it back up. With that in mind, I am learning what the appropriate time frame needs to be. Her days of longer walks seem to be over now but she really enjoys any walk, albeit at a slower pace. I will take what I can get. Every day is a gift.
This brings me to the subject at hand. I miss having four dogs. Of course, I REALLY want that fourth dog to be Merlin. Of that, there is no question. He is imprinted on my soul and I think of him many times daily. But until we met again, he is only in my memory. So I am torn. Kera may not have many days left and I want to assure her of my commitment to her without any competition for her attention. But I also wonder whether the addition of the right crew member may give her a morale boost. And what if she does have many days left and I am waiting for naught? ‘Tis a dilemma.
There are a couple of dogs that I have in mind. One is a dog that I spent a lot of time and effort in trying to get him to safety. He was on the run, after only a few days in a new adoptive home that a local shelter placed him into. He resembles my Siri. BB, as is his nickname, was finally captured in late January after wandering the local woods since August.
To say that I have been worried is a vast understatement. Now that he is back at the shelter, he is on a low activity requirement until medically cleared. He escaped from his adoptive home just after being released from his heartworm treatment just. He was supposed to be calm for six months. No one told him though. How he is with other dogs remains to be seen. However he is very much in my mind as an addition, should it be meant to be. By the way, he is a Rottweiler/ GSD mix, just like Siri, though with a head size double hers!
The other immediate option is my friend’s “puppy”, a Doberman/Caucasian Ovcharka mix, who is from an “oops” litter, that I was tempted by when that litter was born. He was returned shortly after adoption due to the adopter not being particularly knowledgeable about housetraining. Amazingly, despite his stellar qualities, now a few months past the age of one year, he is still with my friend. I have not yet met him, although he is listed on my rescue website. I wrote a blog about these puppies a year ago. Does this mean that this may be meant to be? I don’t know.
And of course, the right dog may be neither. I don’t feel ready for either choice. He (and I am sure that I want a “he”) may be a dog who has yet to appear. The answer to this whole thing is not readily apparent and I struggle with this whole subject.
I feel that Siri and Trent are ready for a new addition yet I don’t wish to short change Kera. I have always known when it was the right dog to include permanently in my life in the past. This has never been a light decision for me. So I look for “signs” that it will be the right thing to do.
Hearing how others have made this decision will help. Please tell me how you solved this dilemma.
I am a firm believer in “signs” too. I originally found JuJuBi on Petfinder months and months ago. I knew she belonged to me because in her description it said she “is part ballerina” and “she pirouettes quite nicely”…I am a dancer/dance teacher. Also she was described as “very tall” as am I. My husband is a runner and JuJuBi was looking for a “jogging partner”. SIGNS! It just seemed too good to be true. For whatever reason we thought she was adopted. I was devastated. I gave up on the search for the perfect dog. About 6 months later my husband found another random dog he was interested in, but I was a little weary. He went through with the application anyway. As it turned out, JuJuBi’s foster mom was handling the adoption for the other dog! Of all of the thousands of dogs on PetFinder MY JuJuBi’s foster mom just happened to be on the other end of this phone call. As soon as I heard my husband say “JuJuBi” I started yelling from the kitchen, “THE JUJUBI, THE JUJUBI that I wanted months ago??? The too tall doberman?! OMG that’s my dog!!!” Long story short, JuJuBi is here sleeping next to me while I type. We love her and she loves us. I guess what I am trying to say is, you will know when the right dog comes along, your heart will tell you. Good luck with your decision! Love to Kera!
I firmly believe in love at first sight, or intuition, that a dog will be a good match for a family. I fell in love with our 2nd and 3rd Huskies upon description and pictures. Our 2nd Husky (Kodi) was a foster at the beginning and as we were not initially committed to adopting him, it was made clear to us he was a good fit with our other 2 girls. I knew he was right for us, even if he did not know it at the time.
Our 3rd Husky was a well-bred Sibe from a sleddog kennel known for excellent temperaments. I was not looking for another dog at the time, but my 1st Husky was 10 and would not be capable of pulling the rig much longer (how wrong I was!). I fell in love with him on sight via their website and dreamed of getting such a young dog with more training and knowledge than I could accomplish in a single season! He came home with us almost 2 months later and it was *not* a smooth transition, but we are working on it!
Oh, what a tough decision!! When I was initially building my herd of dogs, it came so easy. Nash was perfect, I got him a friend who was much-less-than-perfect (but they loved each other, and eventually loved me, so it was good). Then we brought on Georgie who was another set of problems that drove me and Josh nuts, but they loved each other and eventually Georgie loved the humans. Brew came with Josh and he was eventually accepted by Nash and loved by Georgie and Grace. We were together as that family group through a lot of changes, and the dogs were great through it.
After Nash passed, the house felt so empty. We still had 3 dogs but it wasn’t enough. So we fostered and, following the signs, we adopted Tonka. When I adopted the others, it had been on my criteria. Now, combining the criteria of more humans and of dogs, we chose a dog who the humans loved and he ended up hurting the dogs. I didn’t want to give up on him. Now I still see the impact that one wrong decision, one misinterpretation of signs, has on my other dogs. Brewser and Gracie aren’t as friendly and are frankly grouchier. Grace has incessant acid reflux. Georgie is un-fazed :).
In trying to replace my beloved boy, I made a mistake. I chose a dog who was not the right age or temperament for my crew. What I didn’t remember was that my dogs are a lot older now than when we first built our family and my dogs have a lot more to guard now. Even if they see me as their leader, they still feel the need to guard the kid. So they are older and have more responsibility and didn’t appreciate the addition that I gave them.
I know you’ll make the right decision for your crew. Good luck!
HELP! My girlfriend fosters for a Lab Rescue. She has 5 of her own, 4 of which are over 60 pounds. 2 of the bitches are close in age (estimated @ 3 & 4 years old) and they keep fighting. Today was “the straw that broke the camel’s back” as they did serious damage to each other.
I have a theory and have had trouble finding anything on the net or in convincing my girlfriend. I think that there are too many animals in a confined space/territory. Though this may not be the ultimate cause I can’t help but believe it is a contributing factor. Her yard is not “large” and she lives in an average 3 bedroom home in the Chicago suburbs. She fosters anywhere from 1-2 adults or 2-6 (only once) puppies, at a time.
My argument is that there are too many bodies in too small a space for a territorial animal and that the resulting stress spills out through aggression. FYI- they do get at least 1 walk of 45 minutes (average) a day and lots of play outside.
The 2 offenders are only aggressive to each other but this last time she swore to put the aggressor (usually the same individual) down. I have taken her to my home with my 15 year old lab mix who is probably not going to last through this summer. Looks like I’ve adopted her as she’s visited a number of times without any incident.
Your thoughts? I’d like to know what this is called and be able to show her “proof” via something she can read herself on the internet or via your book. I realize there may not be a set # of feet required per dog of “x size” but this is the crux of my arguement.