Tues 27th Sept: Funny quirks that mean so much

I'm still waiting for Marsha to be chosen

I'm late even starting today's post due to the huge number of applications to adopt a ten month-old golden retriever that is due to come to us soon, and even as I'm writing I know more questionnaires are arriving in my inbox. The sad thing is that many of these offers are very nice, but there is only one golden retriever puppy available and we have agreed on a home that already has a resident  HKDR dog.  There is a small chance that maybe one or two potential adopters will consider non-golden retrievers, but experience tells me that chance is really very small.   The number of applications for this one particular puppy really shows that there is no shortage of good homes for large dogs, and it's really so upsetting that they have to be golden retrievers.

Jolene and what's left of her squirrel

Lightening up, I had a request from one adopter (of a gorgeous mixed breed) asking for help in finding a replacement squirrel toy for Jolene, as her babyhood "friend" had long lost its tail, head and limbs but was still a bed time necessity.  I posted the request on Facebook and it seems that Amazon stocks this particular squirrel, but even so I'm not sure Jolene will accept anyone new.

I love these individual quirks in dogs, because apart from being very appealing they show that there is intelligent emotion present.  Not that proof is needed, but people who don't have or like dogs can't understand how deep the connection can be between animals and their humans. I'm sure we all have stories about the funny habits of our dogs, all self-developed and carefully considered.

Safari is incredibly strong in body and character

Safari and Naomi went back to Acorn today, where the veterinary staff quickly understood why I hadn't been able to clean Safari's ears by myself.  Although he doesn't look like a chow chow other than his fully black tongue, this boy has all of the stubborn behaviour associated with the breed, and then some.  He taught me the valuable lesson that asking nicely gets results whereas force or coercion fails.  Safari is so big and heavy that, for example, when he sits on the stairs and blocks anyone from going up or down, he will only move if I ask him politely to do so.  Actually he is waiting for me to get to the step where his face and mine are level so he can plant a big kiss on my nose (which I hate), so this is a routine that occurs every day.

I think it took every vet nurse in Acorn to pin Safari down, so my apologies for that, but at least the ears got a good clean, the aural haemaotoma was dealt with and a bag of blood was taken for good measure.  Naomi didn't need a transfusion as her red cell count had already started to rise thankfully, but the blood will come in handy anyway.