Bummed Out...

This post is not meant to knock any rescue or adopting in any way...I love the rescue, and I have and want to adopt every boxer I every have. We lost or sweet Noel a few months back and our now 7 year old boxer boy Fred is getting pretty lonely. I called the rescue and set up a time to see if we could set him up with a new sister. They told me upfront they did not have a lot of boxers because they have stopped taking them in until September. The first boxer girl they showed us was perfect. (to me anyways). She was a 4 year old spitfire little girl. Got along great with Fred and super friendly. Her story was that her owners surrendered her because they worked all day and she was destroying their furniture. They decided we could not adopt her because both husband and I work. I agreed with them that we would crate her ( we have a oversized 4ft by 4ft crate from Fred's puppy days). It breaks my heart because I think she is living in a kennel right now, and we can give her so much more. So next they showed us a lovely bouncy 1 year old female who was super tall like Fred. She got along great with him, too...they felt even better then the first one. She was submissive to him and basically told him you'd be the boss. They told me up front this girlie was pretty new to the system, and would need training before they let her go. I told them I would be willing to come and train with her. Then they brought up the fact that I live on a very busy road...I do..have lived here for over 20 years. I am anal about it with the dogs, and very careful. We have never had an incident. They said she would need some additional "lunge training"...I said OK, no problem..let's give her a home. They said she will end up hurting Fred...They said I should wait until they get an old dog and then we can see. I was so disappointed. I love these people. I love what they do and what they have done for me in the past. But I know my dog. He has lost two sisters already and he needs a youngster to keep him going. I seen this with my girl Lucy when she lost her brother...we went to the rescue, and they denied us a young boy then, too--told us they would call when someone else came in, but they never did call. Lucy was growing old fast without a buddy. That's when we added Fred, as a 10 week old puppy. That combination was great for both of them...Lucy lived to a happy almost 13. We added Noel then--from the rescue. She was older and it was perfect...Fred was used to an older girl and kept Noel young. They were two peas in a pod. Now I can't help but think it is Fred's turn. I need to put his needs first...he deserves it. I see him getting older like Lucy was. They've pretty much have ruled out a young dog for us, so I am sadly forced to troll ads and other shelters. My heart is so broken from this.

 

I would be bummed as well. I am afraid I am going to run into the same problem with Arabella. All the males they get in are either older, are huge, or are in need of special attention. Arabella needs a pup, 6 mo. or younger. She has a fear of larger dogs, so I need a smaller one she can "grow into". It is going to be awhile no matter what, as we just moved again and our new home doesn't have a fence yet. I do get online and look through petfinders.com to see if any of the local shelters are getting any young males.

 

Thanks Pam, and good luck to you in your search. I never heard of the petfinder site...I'm going to check that out.

 

Thanks Jan. Fred is a young 7, to me. Still takes the stairs three at a time and is extremely strong. They said his back legs were weak and that he walked wrong. I'm not exactly sure what they meant...I was kind of upset at that point. He's going to the vet to get a bump checked out so I'm going to ask them about it there. After thinking about this for a day I feel only worse about it. What upsets me is that these wonderful dogs only get such a short amount of time and I just hate to think of them being unhappy or without a home. I can't stop thinking about those dogs I met and that they don't have anyone to snuggle with and to call a family.

 

Fred went to the vet and she said he is in very good shape. She manipulated his back legs and thought they were in very good condition, especially good for a 7 year old. He's no show dog, but at least I know he is up to the challenge of a younger buddy. I know there is always the possibility of him (or the younger dog) getting hurt, but I have always been and always will be careful when my dogs play together. I can not deny him the happiness of a buddy. The search is back on!

 

My Sammie is 9.5 years young now and I am looking (very selectively) for a buddy. She plays very nice with "my half dog" that is the Rottie across the street. Rory is a young Rottie but her and Sammie play nice together. I have to watch closely but they do "play nice" most of the time. Rory keeps Sammie on her toes and vice versa. (I call Rory my half dog because she spends most evenings here. I think her owners work a lot and we live in the country where dogs run free. Rory comes here when her people are at work in the evening.)

 

There is just such a happiness you see in them when they have a buddy, IMO. Well, this whole incident has turned out to be a blessing in some ways...they ran a blood test on Fred at his appointment, and it showed his thyroid level is low...not horribly low, but low enough to go on the meds. We just found out on Saturday. In hindsight, he has been shedding more, and slowed down a bit. He started his meds tonight. I also got a line on a family who is looking to re-home their two young boxers (12 month and 18 month)...they live a few hours away. We are going to be traveling thru their area in a couple of weeks, so if they still have them we will make a side trip. It will give me a chance to get a good read on how the thyroid meds effect Fred.