We decided to get Big and Little a dog for Christmas. Of course, not just any dog, but a Siberian Husky- DH insisted on it. I wanted a boxer. *sigh*. So, we are looking around the pound/Craigslist for a Husky, get a few from Craigslist that don't pan out- one almost happened, then a family member decided to keep him. We finally found one at the pound that we went to visit and got the adoption set up. He had to be fixed before we could take him home, so we waited for a week. The day before I am supposed to pick him up, we get a call saying he had bitten someone at the shelter and had to be put down. DH is convinced that he was not put down, but adopted out to someone else...who knows, either way, failed adoption #2.
Then we find one in Akron Ohio- 4 HOURS drive from us. But DH says he loves him and wants him. We call the day before and make sure there are no holds on him, we're good to go, as long as we are the first to get there b/c someone else said they might come in to look at him. We get there 1/2 an hour before they open. They finally let DH in (he stood outside the door for the whole 1/2 hour *eye roll*). We see him and he's too stinkin ass cute, so we said we'd take him, but the shelter "manager" puts the kabosh on our plans and says they need to call the person who said they might come in to look at him. WTF?!?! We drove all the way up there on the assumption that he was ours if we were there, money in hand. So they call, no answer. They tell us we have to wait until 1:30pm (2 hours from then) to see if this person might contact them. WTF again!?! So we wait for two frickin hours, playing with and bonding with this little pooch.
May God strike me dead 1:2-frickin-8, the guy calls and says he's coming in to get him.
I was so mad. Luckily, I had brought one other listing with me for a pooch in Cleveland (30 min further than the other place). We decided we might as well go see him since we are already up here. We go and see him and he's very sweet, older than the last one, so a little more calm, but still playful. He's excellent with Little and appears housetrained. We decide to take him home.
Right now he is at Doggy Bootcamp for professional training and boarding to keep him hidden from Big. The trainer is very pleased with him and says he has been very responsive so far. One of his easiest Huskies to train- and apparently they are one of the most difficult breeds to train b/c they are so independent.
This whole thing made me think about adopting kids- something DH and I want to do very much. Could I really handle it?! I was in tears over each failed adoption of a dog- I couldn't imagine if it was a child!! It's a good thing I have a lot more time to think about that.
Here's a picture of our new family member Hiruko (Hiro for short).
******************************UPDATE*********************************
January 2008. We are happily on our way to central KY one weekend for a family members wedding when DH gets a phone call. It's the shelter from Akron with the kabosh-putting manager and idiotic "2 hour contact time". Zorro (the little husky) is back. The "owners" decided that they didn't want him anymore- yes the people who snatched him right out from under our nose, IMO, just to spite us. They have decided that they *really* want a lap dog.
Yes, huskies are *such* lap dogs.
He's the exact same fricking size he was when the picked him up. The shelter would like to know if we would like to come pick him up. They casually remind us that they are a kill shelter and dogs who are returned generally do not fare well. Of course we'll take him. We wanted him once, why not now. We brought Hiro up and he and Zorro got along quite well, so we now have two huskies. Zorro went to boot camp as well, but didn't do quite as well as Hiro. Zorro has ADD. It must be me. Perhaps I give off pheromones that attract people/animals with attention issues. He's a bad rotten little dog and I'm pretty sure, he was brought back as (in true husky form) he HOWLS and WHINES and makes these ungodly noises all night in his crate. Still, he has got the silliest face that you can't help but to laugh when you see it. My sister says he looks like a mongoose.
Here is Zorro the husky/mongoose:
Then we find one in Akron Ohio- 4 HOURS drive from us. But DH says he loves him and wants him. We call the day before and make sure there are no holds on him, we're good to go, as long as we are the first to get there b/c someone else said they might come in to look at him. We get there 1/2 an hour before they open. They finally let DH in (he stood outside the door for the whole 1/2 hour *eye roll*). We see him and he's too stinkin ass cute, so we said we'd take him, but the shelter "manager" puts the kabosh on our plans and says they need to call the person who said they might come in to look at him. WTF?!?! We drove all the way up there on the assumption that he was ours if we were there, money in hand. So they call, no answer. They tell us we have to wait until 1:30pm (2 hours from then) to see if this person might contact them. WTF again!?! So we wait for two frickin hours, playing with and bonding with this little pooch.
May God strike me dead 1:2-frickin-8, the guy calls and says he's coming in to get him.
I was so mad. Luckily, I had brought one other listing with me for a pooch in Cleveland (30 min further than the other place). We decided we might as well go see him since we are already up here. We go and see him and he's very sweet, older than the last one, so a little more calm, but still playful. He's excellent with Little and appears housetrained. We decide to take him home.
Right now he is at Doggy Bootcamp for professional training and boarding to keep him hidden from Big. The trainer is very pleased with him and says he has been very responsive so far. One of his easiest Huskies to train- and apparently they are one of the most difficult breeds to train b/c they are so independent.
This whole thing made me think about adopting kids- something DH and I want to do very much. Could I really handle it?! I was in tears over each failed adoption of a dog- I couldn't imagine if it was a child!! It's a good thing I have a lot more time to think about that.
Here's a picture of our new family member Hiruko (Hiro for short).
******************************UPDATE*********************************
January 2008. We are happily on our way to central KY one weekend for a family members wedding when DH gets a phone call. It's the shelter from Akron with the kabosh-putting manager and idiotic "2 hour contact time". Zorro (the little husky) is back. The "owners" decided that they didn't want him anymore- yes the people who snatched him right out from under our nose, IMO, just to spite us. They have decided that they *really* want a lap dog.
Yes, huskies are *such* lap dogs.
He's the exact same fricking size he was when the picked him up. The shelter would like to know if we would like to come pick him up. They casually remind us that they are a kill shelter and dogs who are returned generally do not fare well. Of course we'll take him. We wanted him once, why not now. We brought Hiro up and he and Zorro got along quite well, so we now have two huskies. Zorro went to boot camp as well, but didn't do quite as well as Hiro. Zorro has ADD. It must be me. Perhaps I give off pheromones that attract people/animals with attention issues. He's a bad rotten little dog and I'm pretty sure, he was brought back as (in true husky form) he HOWLS and WHINES and makes these ungodly noises all night in his crate. Still, he has got the silliest face that you can't help but to laugh when you see it. My sister says he looks like a mongoose.
Here is Zorro the husky/mongoose:
