Gooddogz Blog: Rosebud has a family!

The weekend brought a new family for Rosebud. We turned down lots and lots of people for the oh so pretty girl. I talked/emailed about a dozen of them, and I know the rescue fielded at least 5 times that. No doubt, everyone wants a pretty dog and many of those people don't bother to read or really think through if a dog is really a good fit for the family. It was not that the people were not good homes, just not a good fit for my border line special needs girl.

Some of the reasons that the fit was not right included:

Folks really wanted a Golden Retriever puppy.

"Why yes, I look like one, but I sure as heck don't act like one. If you pulled up I would not jump in your car."

No fence. "Hasta la Vista Baby."

Too busy a household

Electric Fence -I am sorry, but I did not hand feed this dog for 3 weeks so she could get traumanized (mis-spelling intended) by her new family that she would not bond with or trust after they shocked her.

To earn Rosebud's trust was nothing short of heart melty. After scooting away from me for a few days, and even sleeping outside because she didn't trust me enough to want to come in, or just freezing and allowing us to catch her (learned helplessness), she chose to come to us. We earned it. Of course she got by a lot on looks.

It was really hard to let Rosebud go because Rosebud and my youngest daughter Heather had something really special . The level of closeness that those two achieved would make one believe in reincarnation. The only explanation being that Heather and Rosebud already knew each other.

Or I suppose one could sum it up to the magic of children.

Whatever it was, it was real and Heather helped Rosebud adjust to life in a house quicker than I could have on my own. As usual Finney helped after the initial meeting where she acted like he was going to murder her in a way that only puppies can scream.

Pet peeve part

Rosebud clearly had some good genes in there somewhere. After being caught in a junkyard, she was fostered for a few months in the south by a really nice woman who has been unsuccessful in capturing the Mom and sister. The two dogs continue to breed. I know had those breeding strays been in the north, there would be a bunch of well meaning rescuers who would not rest until the dog was captured.

Sad isn't it?

My other pet peeve is that the dogs who are fostered outside in the South (a VERY VERY VERY common practice), are missing out on their socialization window. By 4 1/2 months, pups should have seen pretty much all they will see as an adults, and what is lost here can never been completely regained. Rosebud and her sister Marti have an uphill learning curve for shizzle.

Ok, back to the good stuff

Due to the wonders of summer, my daughter Heather was not here for much of Rosebud's three week stint at Chez Gooddogz, but she still helped immensely. I knew the tears would be coming and they started when we updated Rosebud's Petfinder.com bio with this photo.

"Why can't they put an ugly picture? That's not fair that my dog will get adopted first. Everyone will want her." She cried for a few hours. No lie. In between tears came the why can't I keep hers.

Once again, I felt pretty horrible for doing to this to my kids again and I really did consider keeping her. But she is not our dog and I found her a great home living on a lake no less. Where is my lake?

Heather cried for a good part of the waiting for them to come and pick her up to.

(bad mother! bad mother!)

Meet Jess and Mary. By the time we got to leaving part Heather really liked them - and approved.

It helped that they are keeping her name. The loved her name and in one of those weird "signs of the universe," Mary's grandmother's name was Rose, and her nickname was Rosebud. Guess which one of the two Rosebud took to right away? How cool is that? Even Heather noticed it.