Those of you who know me and have listened patiently--or better yet asked questions!--as I go on and on about pit bulls know that generally speaking, for successful housemate matches, the safer bet is opposite sex pairings. So why would we bring an adult female into our house, you may ask?
Well, for one, we're not looking to make a successful housemate match. ;) We're looking to give a down-and-out dog a place to chill and enjoy life while they wait for their next (and hopefully last) family to find him or her. In this case, it just happened to be a her in need of our services. =)
Now, being the beautiful she that she is, we haven't introduced the girls to each other yet. I say yet because we fully intend to be able to introduce them at some time in the future, once Bailey is more settled. So far, they have seen each other through the baby gate and crate doors and all body language was positive, thank goodness!
Bailey is an owner surrender, she was actually adopted out from A Rotta Love Plus as a pup. Two years in, she is coming back into the program due to some rather bogus reasons on the family's part, to be quite honest. Their reasoning doesn't jive with the lady we're getting to know here in our house, that much I can tell you. To their credit, it appears they did do some solid obedience work with her and she loves to play (have you ever met a dog that didn't know how to play?! It is heart-breaking!).
To their discredit, her first day or so here, she was covered in a cloak of fear that caused a good amount of worry. Pit bulls are typically confident, people-loving pooches; to see one exhibit fear toward a human is an unsettling experience for sure, knowing how atypical it is of the breed. Of course, there is no way to know for sure what her life was like and if her former owners instilled that fear or if it is just the drastic changes in her life that made her wary (we were her third stop in four days since leaving her former family).
Still, watching that cloak dissolve and a happy-g0-lucky girl emerge has been one of the more rewarding foster experiences we've had in our short time as fosters (it was just 6 months ago that we took in our first foster, Pumba!). And lucky for all of us, it hasn't taken long for her to begin to leave her fears behind. =) She just came to us Wednesday morning and is already showing very steady improvement in that area.
Our former fosters were all pretty much in and out of our door within about a month, some much less, some a tad longer. Sadly, I won't hold out hope that the same will be true for Miss Bailey. Two things are stacked against her: she is all brindle (with dark "smudges" on her back, very unique) and she is an adult. =( For some reason, the all-brindle dogs tend to wait longer, just like black dogs tend to wait longer (black dog syndrome, ever heard of it?).
I want to take a moment to encourage any and everyone out there to consider an adult dog the next time you're looking to add a furry family member. Some worry--unnecessarily I might add!--that one would be taking a greater risk with an adult dog, that an unknown history and lineage is just too scary to consider. This is so untrue! An adult dog, appropriately temperament tested for stability, is less work than a pup and their temperament is already set, meaning that generally, what you see if what you get. The BAD RAP "monster myths" section discusses this well, if anyone cares to check it out.
Okay, I've gone on about dogs long enough I suppose. ;) Suffice to say, we're lovin' our new Bailey sweet and getting to know her has been a total treat so far. Hopefully a family will see all the benefits of an adult dog and all the sweetness she has to offer. Yes, pups are cute and fun, but if you don't want a dog, don't get a puppy. =) Might as well skip all that work and get to the good stuff if you ask me! HAHA.
I'll be back with some Bugga-blog-love soon, I promise! He has been melting hearts and taking names around here lately. When he's not making us roll with laughter, that is. ;)
And to all you non-doggie-lovers and non-pittie-enthusiasts, thanks for hangin' in. =)
2 comments:
Love the new look to your blog! And I know all about the black dog syndrome, considering we were given a black dog because they are "more difficult to sell." But I certainly love my ebony puppy, Shiloh! :-)
Thanks Elizabeth! =)
YAY for Shiloh too. ;) Sometimes the whole black dog syndrome is a little surprising, because I actually know many people with black dogs. But if the shelter workers say it is so, I believe them, hehe. They would know.
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