Decisions, Decisions

The blog has been quiet, as has been the pattern for the past several months. Admittedly, it’s not a great strategy to keep readership at a consistent level, but I’m also not going to write content for content’s sake. Which means I have something of substance to write about today!

Over the past few weeks we had been moving towards a potential adopter of Isaac. It was as perfect a home as I think we could have found for him; rural, 10 acres of land, a single, retired adult male with no other dogs at home. I had been trying to set up a home visit when the man called me back earlier this week to say he could not adopt Isaac at this time because he was potentially facing knee replacement surgery.

Clearly this failed adoption was just a matter of unlucky timing; it was no fault of Isaac’s or the man’s. It was just bad luck.

So handsome in his new collar.

But the outcome is the same – we start back at square one trying to find Isaac a home after nearly 14 months of fostering. I’ve found myself seriously debating whether we shouldn’t just officially adopt Isaac but I don’t want to do that just because we haven’t found right home yet – it may still be out there. Plus adopting him means taking on the medical expenses of two bulldogs (one is costly enough) and because it solidifies that Lucy is going to have to co-exist with Isaac for however long he lives. And mentally I can’t make that commitment.

While things have gotten better between them, they’re still not ideal. Isaac continues to hump her from time to time and any playfulness from Isaac turns into humping. Lucy has been able to spend a bit more time off the couch and share the floor with him, but the couch is still where she spends most of her time because she’s scared of him. It’s absolutely not fair to her.

“Yeah, Mom, it’s most definitely not fair!”

So, to adopt or not adopt. I absolutely love Isaac. He is by far the most challenging foster we’ve had because there are things that I cannot fix – he will never love other dogs outside the home, he may always be protective of me when we encounter strangers (and not protective in a good way…) – but he’s also a fabulous dog inside our home (minus the humping). His eyes kill me, his joy at seeing me walk in the door is my favorite part of the day, our twice-daily walks keep me sane (usually), his nubbin that shakes when he’s happy, his pouncing on his toys when he’s excited – he is just the most fun dog to have around (although Lucy strongly disagrees).

So right now there will be no adoption of Isaac, at least not by me. We’ll keep plugging away trying to find his perfect forever home while we continue to love him beyond belief in our home.

Dog Days: 2015 Version

Dog Days at Susquehanna are back!

I LOVE Dog Days. Maybe even as much as Lucy. The minute we park at the University, she sprints to the area where Dog Days is held.

Dog Days are every Tuesday in September and the goal is to ease homesickness any students might feel – dogs always make people happy! For the past few years we’ve been staples at Dog Days but last week we had three home athletic events that prevented us from going to the first one of the year. And honestly, we probably should not have gone today – it was 93 degrees and felt like 95. The complete opposite of bulldog weather. But by the time I got out of work we wouldn’t be able to stay long anyway and the shadows were creeping in. So off we went!

Soaking up all the attention. And there was a lot of it.

As usual, all Lucy wanted a water bottle and she was in her own world, which completely defeats the purpose of Dog Days since she won’t let anyone pet her, but she was happy.

“MINE!”

We’ll be back next week in what is hopefully more appropriate bulldog weather!