Last Ones Picked…

Many of my foster dogs have come and gone quickly. So quickly, that we barely got to scratch the surface of their personalities. This is not the case with my two current dogs whom I think may still be with us at Christmas.

Not because they are bad dogs – quite the contrary, but here’s the complications involved with either of them finding a forever family quickly….

First, take Whoopi.

She’s a hit at events. Even a non-dog lover easily proclaims, “Look at the bloodhound!” They’ve all seen them on TV and in the movies, because what screams redneck, hillbilly, sidekick as loud as a bloodhound?

I took Whoopi to the Petapalooza on Sunday and she was wonderful.

Here she is posing with the Mary Kay lady in the next booth (“Mary Kay is so powerful it can even take on these kinds of wrinkles!”)

Participating in the pet parade disguised as a butterfly….

And eventually collapsing in her drink after all that fun….

But here’s the thing — Whoopi is not an impulse buy. She needs a hound person. If you’ve ever met a hound person, you know what I mean.

These are people who are impervious to drool and instinctively keep their counters cleared of any food items and store their open bag of chips on top of the refrigerator.

They take no issue with sliding glass doors snotted up at eye level.

When they hear a hound let out a long, loud bay, they say, “Isn’t that gorgeous?” instead of “Will somebody shut that bleepin’ hound dog up?”

They are in awe of a dog with the ability to sense a dropped cheese curl at 50 paces or the trail of a chipmunk who sauntered through the yard several days ago.

Whoopi needs one of these people who will offer her the room to run and the freedom to sing when inspired.

And then there’s Ginger.

My sweet pup.

She is not so wonderful at events.

I haven’t witnessed her at an adoption event, but I have been taking her to my son’s baseball games. She LOVES outings. And that in there lies the problem.

She loves the excitement of the crowd too much. So much she can’t help but shout about it – nonstop. And she loves meeting new people. In fact, she feels the only appropriate response to new friends is to JUMP ON THEM AND LICK THEIR FACES. Not everyone welcomes a facebath upon introduction.

She also LOVES meeting other dogs and insists that they play with her nonstop. She’s that party guest who is still dancing on the tables when everyone else is looking for their coats. She doesn’t understand why any dog would want to take a rest, and she gets decidedly upset when her new friends want to stop playing and say, chill on a blanket with their person.

So, you can imagine how an adoption event would go. After all there are people and dogs everywhere you look. It’s simply too much for the sweet girl. She gives a bad first impression. This reminds me of another amazing foster dog we had, John Coffey, who also couldn’t attend adoption events due to his enthusiastic nature. JC ended up in the perfect forever family, so I’m holding out hope for Gingey, too.

For her part, Ginger has been getting better with each baseball game. I don’t know if she’s figuring out that there are treats and pets to be had if she’d just relax with me and watch the game, or if she’s now greeted pretty much all the players and parents on our team, so it’s not quite as exciting.

She’s such a smart girl, so we continue to work on this. But meanwhile, because she can’t attend adoption events and meet potential adopters, the only way her forever family will find her is through the OPH website.

And this is a problem also.

Most people who page through the website, make their decisions based on pictures. And getting a good picture of Ginger is not an easy thing.

She is in near constant motion, and when she’s not moving it’s because she’s sleeping. She does not hold still and sit pretty for the camera. What would be the fun in that when she could be licking the legs of the camera person or chasing down the butterfly that just passed by?

And more than that, her funny, sweet personality is difficult to capture on film. For instance, the other night she was chasing fireflies. Totally adorable. But is there really any point to taking a picture of a brown dog in the night?

Last night when Nick got home from work, he attempted to ignore her and have a little quiet time. He’s still pretty jet-lagged from a week in France. So Ginger watched him lay there for a second or so and then she tried to get his attention by licking his toes. I quickly snapped a picture, but it came out looking less like she was adoring him and more like she was about to lunch on his toes.

So, you see my point? Fabulous dogs, but both will require a very special adopter. I’m sure they are out there somewhere, meanwhile here’s hoping you don’t get tired of reading about these sweet girls, because it could be a long summer at my house for them. It’s a very good thing they get along so well.