Say Hello and Bon Voyage to Gizmo

At around 1:00, only Gizmo had not yet had a volunteer walk;  combine that with his sweet Chihuahua expression and it was a no brainer, he was my choice.  He put his paws up to snuggle as I fastened his harness around him.  I had to loosen it a bit, Gizmo has been at the shelter for several weeks and put on some weight.  At nine years old he was not likely at the top of many potential adopters' "must have" lists. 

We began our outing in the exercise yard with the standard sniffing, exploring, taking care of business and watching other dogs walking by.  After about ten minutes  it seemed like a good time to start our walk.  Like most little dogs Gizmo is very good on the leash and really enjoys sniffing and exploring wherever you take him.  We did a short walk into the desert area, then back around the hedges near the building; sometimes very small dogs seem to like these small darker areas.

To finish our walk, I wanted to try one more visit to the exercise yard to see how Gizmo was at more structured obedience.  This was a different yard so I let him sniff around for a few minutes. As I was about to move to the other part of the yard to try him at "come", he went racing to the gate and began pawing at it.  He was ready to leave, NOW.  I tried coaxing him with treats, most dogs would like their outings to last all day, Gizmo looked at me pleadingly, he was ready to go.

I put him back in his harness thinking that we could do more of a regular walk. Gizmo did not want a walk, he wanted to go back into the shelter.  Still undeterred, I thought that I could let him walk around some of the common areas inside if they were available or, take him to a get acquainted room.  Gizmo had other plans.  He trotted straight to the front desk.  The staff person greeted me with " Someone is here to adopt Gizmo".  Animals will never cease to amaze me.  I naturally assumed that she had spent considerable time getting to know  Gizmo, etc. and that he had simply picked up her scent; but I do not think that this was the case.  When the staff person asked her if she wanted to take Gizmo for a walk, she said she had not known that this was allowed, but, yes, she would love to walk him. 

Gizmo's wonderful new life will include,  15 acres to explore in the company of another dog, cats and horses plus two people who already love him.  Not bad for this sweet little guy. 

Grover Finds His Forever Home

Grover the super sweet Mastiff puppy was adopted this week.  Wonder of wonders, his new family includes another Mastiff!  Way to go Grover.

Grover

At 3:00 all of my category of dogs had been out for at least one volunteer walk, but Grover's had been quite early.  I took one look at this sweet guy and my decision was easy.  He is a huge ten month old Mastiff puppy, making the best of his current confined circumstances.  He met me nearly eye to eye at his back door.  Despite the normal exuberance and energy of puppies I was happily surprised that  he  managed to back away and sit for me to get him harnessed, once I entered his kennel.  He was not bothered by the cacophony of barks as we left the kennel area and headed down the hall and out the door.  According to his profile he is fine with other dogs and cats.

We stopped first in the exercise yard for some serious energy burn off.  Grover loved racing around, I planned to do obedience practice after our walk, not before.  As the day was warm, Grover ended his workout with a dip in the pool.

 Harnessed up again we began our walk.  Grover is one of those dogs who clearly listens to you and wants to obey.  He is very good on the leash, to change direction all I had to do was say "this way Grover", no need for me to tug on the leash.  We walked for about 20 minutes then returned to the exercise yard for another romp and some obedience basics.  Grover comes when he is called,  sits on command and is very close to doing fetch.  He is not that interested in treats; he just wants to please you.  I would be impressed with most dogs who behaved like Grover but to find this in a ten month old puppy in an extremely stressful situation given his size and age - amazing.  Let's hope some very lucky family finds him soon.

Victor Finds his Forever Home

Little Victor was adopted this week. I know this squirming little bundle of energy is bringing lots of happiness to some lucky family.

Scrappy Finds his Forever Home

At long last Scrappy has won the heart of some special person.  Not everyone could see beyond Scrappy's somewhat "esoteric" appearance, but the right person did. 

Victor

Since Victor's profile said he might be timid, I opted for a pocket full of hot dogs - the great persuaders - and went off to meet him.  I looked down through his back door to see a black and tan bundle of energy wagging, squirming and whimpering; approximately 10 to12 pounds of unbridled joy.  Once again the volunteers have clearly brought him out of his shell.  Victor is just about a year old and mostly Manchester Terrier, a very handsome little guy.   Since at 3:00 this was his first volunteer outing of the day, he was more than eager to get going; we raced down the hall and out the door.

He just loved tearing around the exercise yard, chasing balls, chasing me, happily running and jumping, barking at the other dogs passing by; he has typical terrier energy plus he is still very much a puppy.  After about 20 minutes I realized Victor was not going to run out of energy any time soon, so we started our walk.  Like any puppy he is thrilled with everything, fortunately he is small so his darting around on the leash is not really a problem.  I think that once he has a home and matures this will solve itself.

Our second stop in the exercise yard was a little more fruitful.  He happily comes when he is called because he is very affectionate and loves cuddles and pets.  This crosses over  making him reasonably promising at fetch.  He loves running after the ball, and naturally wants to come when called - result - Fetch.  He is such a sweet little guy, let's hope he finds his new family soon.

Dog park information, plus Brandi finds her forever home

I attended last night's meeting of the Sunriver Amenities workshop which included a discussion of the proposed dog park.  I walked into the room thinking "How wonderful, we are at last going to get our own dog park. Yes, it appears to be somewhat small, no shade, no where to sit, and ugh double ugh, bark or wood chips, but, at least it's down on paper and SROA (Sunriver Owners Association) wants our input." 

I left the meeting feeling not so up.  The dog park ANY DOG PARK, is not a slam dunk.  The meeting focused 99.999999999999999999999% on  boat launch issues, excepting my measly comment on a dog park and my mention of my preference  for the surface being either planted with a tough native grass or left natural.  Dog lovers, SROA needs to hear you.

A bright note, the Sunriver volunteers who have spent countless hours working on this project are very open to your ideas and seem to really want to implement what Sunriver residents want.  Their main objective seems to be to get the residents to specifically tell them what they would like to have.  While it would be great if you could make it to the discussion at SHARC following the annual meeting Saturday.  I think it would be  even better if you would just send them an email at infosroa@srowners.org  letting them know your thoughts about having a dog park as well as any specifics you would like.  Make sure you include your name and Sunriver local address.  Please let anyone else who may be interested know that their input is very important. 

It took beautiful little Brandi no time at all to find her forever home.  No surprise, one lucky family.