A New Addition

Abby

The Man is a softy.  If it was questionable before it's not anymore.  The Saturday I was leaving for Arkansas we got up super early to get me to the airport.  The Man checked his email and he had just gotten the freecycle digest.  In it was a plea from a couple who were having to sell their house and move out of the country for someone to take their dog.  Abby is golden retriever who is ten years old.  If they took her with them she would have had to spend 9 months in quarantine.  She has several benign tumors, is mostly deaf, partially blind and is suffering from arthritis.  She's only expected to live another 2-3 years and they don't want her to live in a cage for the years she has left.  They were also concerned that if they brought her to the shelter that they would put her down because who want to adopt a dog with all those issues?


The Man's response was we will!  We have room for another dog and the ability to take care of her.  His heart broke at the thought of Abby being put down or having to live in a cage.  He was going to pick her up during the week but she was limping a lot and they wanted to take her to the vet to make sure she was okay.  The verdict is that she's doing great for a puppy her age.  She's on a new medication to see if the will help her arthritis.  The Man picked her up on Sunday and so far so good.  Miss Molly is a little jealous and growling a bit but she's doing okay.  Abby has no problem growling right back.  The boys don't know what to think but they'll be fine.


Update 12 hours later:
Okay, so maybe it's not going as well as I thought!  Miss Abby had to be taken out 3 times during the night...in addition to the two accidents she had in the house.  She might be spending her nights outside from now on.  If I want to get up that often I'd rather it be for a baby.  Is that mean?  The growling has continued from both of them.  I can't imagine what it's like to be Abby to be in a new house where you can't see and hear very well.  There's another dog growling at you and you're nervous.  She's attached herself to The Man.  Hopefully she'll do okay with just me while he's at work.  I think we're going to give this a little time to see if it will work out-for all of us!

Molly & Abby eating dinner

 Update, 09.29.10
So it hasn't been going that well.  There's been A LOT of growling and a few dog fights.  We've broken up the fights.  They are about the same size and weight and we are afraid one of the would become seriously hurt if we let them fight it out.  Abby has been doing a lot more growling and she's started to show her teeth to Molly, me and The Man.  I let her in the house this morning (she wanted to sleep outside last night) and the first thing she did was growl and bark at Molly.  After talking about it for several hours and going back and forth, The Man and I have decided that Abby isn't going to work out.  We have contacted her previous family and we will be taking her back tonight.  This was not an easy decision for us as she is a sweet puppy and we would love to give her a home.  We hope that she can find a wonderful forever home.