A Dog’s Life - Pt 4
Monday, July 23, 2007
From the Citizens for Humane Action web site (I volunteer at CHA once a week):
Maddie (click thumbnail image for larger photo)
Breed/color: Tan and white mix breed
Age: Puppy; 7 months
Sex: Female
Estimated weight when full grown 35 - 40 lbs. (1/28/07)
Maddie is an adorable mixed breed puppy who needs a special home. She has some vision issues which make it difficult for her to maneuver up and down steps. She is mostly housebroken, knows SIT, and would do best in a home with another dog or with children over 8. A note from Maddie’s Foster Mom: “It’s so easy to fall in love with Maddie. She loves everyone and is such a fun and silly dog! Once she got used to our house, she fit right in with all the other dogs and cats. She needs a strict routine and as long as her adopters follow through with a regular schedule for her, she will be a great family dog!” (Updated 5/26/07)
Not any more, you can’t. The main reason I became a volunteer at CHA was to provide extra care for dogs who had been in the shelter for a long time. A couple of weeks ago I decided to foster Maddie, since she’d been at CHA for seven months — the longest of any dog.
I didn’t expect what ensued. I liked Maddie right away and she’s not as problematic as her web site description would have you believe. She was timorous about stairs, but I coaxed her up and down a few using freeze-dried liver treats, she gained confidence in her ability to manage them, and soon was bounding up and down them as fast as my two dogs, Jethro and Gypsy.
After a couple of days I didn’t really want to let go of Maddie — I began to get the itch to adopt her outright. Still, I didn’t want to do anything impulsively and spent a week thinking it over. By the end of that time I didn’t have a doubt in my mind that I was going to keep her. She was so sweet, got along well with Jethro and Gypsy, and was surprisingly low maintenance.
As of last Wednesday, she’s been a member of the family.
