The Gunster...

So, Gunner didn't make it into the Search Dog Foundation. He past all but the last test. They said he will make a good working dog and suggest he be a drug or explosive detection dog. My husband and son are taking him in today to meet someone. I hope this one goes well!!

Search Dog Foundation

So, we take Gunny (or Gunner) to the Search Dog Foundation tomorrow for evaluation. Part of me feels bad because the poor thing has been bounced from house to house for the past 6-9 months. I also feel bad because he was supposed to be our dog. But, we can not do more than one dog right now. Plus, he is very high energy and would be a good fit for the Search Dog Foundation. The only concern is his age; he might be too old for them. (He's three.) This guy is so ball driven and wants to play catch ALL DAY. And when I say all day, I mean all day!! Some dogs are treat orientated but this guy is tennis ball orientated. He is such a sweet dog. The good thing about SDF is that once a dog is in their program, he has a home for life! He would never go to a shelter. The other cool thing is that if he is accepted into the program they will post pictures of the dogs and their handlers at the rescues they go on. I would feel very proud to see Gunny in one of those pictures.

It is funny when you look out into our yard right now. We have opposites!
One white dog, One black dog
One with ears up, One with floppy ears
One with curled tail, One with a straight tail
One with spots, One without spots
One taller, One a bit shorter
One with energy, One with a lot more energy
One loving, another One loving!! :)

Will the real owner please claim this dog....

So yesterday evening we got a phone call from the Animal Shelter.....!!! Hmmm - let's back up a bit. You need to know what happened last year in order to understand this call. ALMOST EXACTLY one year ago, we went to the animal shelter. My husband and son found a two year old, male, black Lab they really liked. They waited the required "waiting period" and went to the shelter and adopted him. He had to go to the vet and get fixed, vaccinated, and chipped....and the license. We got him supplies and brought him home. We named him Gunny. My son was in heaven. It was the first time we (our family) ever had a dog. A few days after we took him home we received a call from the shelter telling us that the owner showed up and they would like to have their dog back. There were actually two black lags (one male, one female) that came in as strays. They both got adopted out on the same day, one by us and one by a family. The small female dog was returned the next day because the family that adopted her already had a dog and it didn't get along with the female lab. Anyway, the owner was able to get her back and the Shelter was calling to get the other one back. They said legally dog is ours but they wanted to know if "we would be nice and give the dog back." We struggled with it for a while and talked about it as a family on what we should do. We debated on whether the owner was responsible enough. What happened that both this dogs got out? Apparently they were owned by some girl, and when she was at the animal shelter she was crying that they wanted her dogs. The Shelter said they wanted proof. It took them over three days to come back and show them proof. We thought, if she was so upset about losing her dogs, that when she finally found the dogs, it took her another three days to come back and show them proof!(?)!! I would have gotten on the phone with the vet and had them faxed over proof. I would have shown them photos from my cell phone....something. Also, as a responsible pet owner, she failed to get either of the dogs fixed, no tags, not chipped.... nothing! (Side note: we found out the girls name and what city she lived in. Turns out she is a porn star. Not that that should matter , even port stars can love a pet. We don't remember her name anymore.) So we thought the best thing to do would be to give him back. Even though we felt he was part of our family and we loved him. He would go back to his owner and to his sister black lab. Our son was very sad. We told him that sometimes the right thing to do is also the hard thing to do. My husband took Gunny back. Ironic side note........ turns out Gunny's real name was Gunner. How weird is that??!! Now back to that call yesterday evening. We get a call from the shelter. GUESS what responsible dog owner "lost" their dog again? GUESS which responsible dog owner did NOT change the contact information on the chip?!!! You can really tell how she wanted to make sure she was able to get her dog back if it ever went missing again. So, the call we got was from a different shelter in a different county. My husband explained to them that he was not our dog and what happened. About a half hour later they called again. They said that IF we wanted to they "would consider us the owners" if we wanted him - since we are the name on the chip as the owner. She said she would also waive a bunch of the fees and just charge us for the boarding. He is in a regular shelter (not a no-kill rescue). They also said that they are over crowded and that he would be transferred to a different shelter on Monday. We debated on getting another dog. We thought we would wait. We also pondered taking in a "Guide-Dog" puppy. About two months after giving Gunny back we were driving by the Animal Shelter and went in. There was this one dog that really loved my son. Other people would come by and look at her and go. She didn't really do anything. But, when my son walked away she would whimper. She was such a cute pup! She was about 8 months old and a pretty good size (not a small dog). They had her down as a stray that had come in the day before. They next day I went away for a business trip to New York. I wondered if after the waiting period, I would come home to a new dog in my house. And the answer to that would be "yes"! We named her Riley. She's a white dog with black spots on her coat. The black dots do not site on her coat (like a Dalmatian). She also had some really big ears - that stood up. She also smiles!! She really does have a great personality. Now the dilemma we ended up adopting a dog after we returned Gunny. How can we now take him?! My son wants him. I honestly don't know how we could do two dogs?! We also have three cats. Two years ago we didn't have anything. I take that back we had a goldfish. I really have to write a lil blog about the goldfish). The cats is another story too.....! So, did I mention that I am allergic to cats and dogs?! It triggers my allergies and then my asthma. So, GUESS where we are going today?!

Struggles...

So, I go from proud of my husband to totally disappointed in my son. We took a loan to send him to military boarding school for 8th grade. He struggled at first but did really well. He loved the school and everything about it. The only part that was hard was being away from home (in another state). We thought this would be a good launching point for him for High School. We had to pick him up from that school in May of last year. Last year for 9th grade he went to an all boy's private school. The semester started out rocky. I know a lot of it had to do with the crap he came home too. It was right when my husband was leaving me to pursue a relationship with her. My son was very angry at my husband. My husband in turn was very short with my son. I feel that their relationship has been very strained since then. As the year went on his grades got worse. He was failing most of his classes. He had to take winter intersession classes to raise any D and F grades. The second semester just got worse. He had to take summer school in order to redo three grades. With that he still failed Algebra. He is in public school for the first time this year (10th grade). He is taking his regular classes and Algebra. He should be taking Geometry. Well, we just got his progress report and like I said in the first sentence, I am totally disappointed. I don't know what happen to his motivation and drive. He used to have it. I think a lot of it had to do with his Dad wanting to leave. It wasn't just my husband being "unhappy" in our marriage but it would have meant him leaving us as a family. I think that is hard for anyone, especially a son. He (my son) has lost his way and no matter what I seem to do to help him find his way back, he isn't. I tell him that this is so important for him and his future. I want him to do well, I want him to do better then us (his parents). We have him working with an "academic counselor" so I am hoping that it will help. I thought my son had an epiphany this past weekend. He wrote out a list of things for him to follow and do. I am hoping that this is still the case. I have to be optimistic.... maybe tomorrow... because today I am just disappointed.

Write something good....

So yesterday my husband got notice that he was going to be a writer for a local web newspaper! That is so exciting. I am really proud of him. He writes really well and he has a way with words. He has written me through the years poems and letters. They have all meant something to me. Even last year when we were going through the toughest time in our relationship, he was blogging and writing. He wrote me a nice "sorry" letter. Even the "other" stuff he wrote was "good" writing, even if I didn't like the content. I have always told him he should write a book, screen play, childrens book, short stories,... something. I have even bought him stuff to help him with it. But, he goes in spurts with his writing; he has to be "motivated". I am hoping this really motivates him to really write more. I think it brings something special out in him. so, now he has to respond to the offer. So, hopefully soon, he will be writing, published and have a byline!!

So PROUD of him!!