His Name is Seamus

First of all, a huge thank you for all the treat pouch feedback I've received so far. It has been immensely helpful, and I'm going to try to incorporate a lot of the suggestions I received. I just got back from a fabric shopping spree of new colors--bright red, hot pink, purple, black, turquoise, and olive green. I'll put up a photo after I've made them. If you haven't commented yet, there's still time to enter for the giveaway!

Last week, I shared a bit about this German shepherd mix at the animal shelter. I said he probably wouldn't even get a name since he would be adopted so quickly. Well, after being at the shelter for about 3 weeks, now he has a name--Seamus. My husband met Seamus when he came to volunteer at the shelter with me and really liked him as I figured he would, so he agreed that we could try a mini-foster with Seamus. Yay! The shelter is closed on Sundays and Mondays, so a mini-foster is when people take the dog home on Saturday, then return the dog to the shelter on Tuesday. This gives the dog a break from the kennel environment, allows us to see what their home skills are like, and hopefully makes the dog more adoptable in the long run.

So yesterday, I took Cabana to the shelter to meet Seamus. I wanted to make sure they were going to be compatible before bringing him home this weekend, and I thought that meeting away from Cabana's territory would also be a smoother transition. Of course, they got along famously, so no surprises there. Saucy Cabana has a definite "thing" for big male German shepherds.

But while I was there, the training director told me that a man was very interested in adopting Seamus! She asked me to meet him and tell him what I knew about Seamus since I had worked with him the most (which sadly, is only about 4-5 times). So we all met in the get-acquainted room, and I told the man what I knew--that Seamus is a very sweet dog who doesn't seem to have any training or know any commands. I had been there when Seamus and his German shepherd buddy were dropped off at the shelter. They were brought in by a Hispanic man who spoke no English but was able to convey that he had "found" these dogs and was just dropping them off. My suspicion is that they were really HIS dogs, but he didn't want to pay the surrender fee. If the Hispanic man really was Seamus' owner, then it could be that Seamus just doesn't understand English!

In the get-acquainted room, it was apparent that Seamus really had bonded with me. He kept coming over to me, leaning against me for affection (he loves to be massaged), and ignoring the potential adopter completely! I didn't want to get in the way of any bonding they might be experiencing, so I thought it best for me to leave the room. But hopefully, the man was encouraged that Seamus is such an affectionate dog and capable of bonding with someone so easily in such a short amount of time.

Before I left, the potential adopter, who is a big burly outdoorsy man, said his previous dog died recently but that he owned a 1,000-acre ranch where the dog could run freely. He said the dog would sleep with him on his bed and go to work with him everyday. SCORE! What more could anyone want for Seamus!

I'll find out on tomorrow if the man ended up taking Seamus. If he did, hooray! If he didn't, then we'll get a chance to foster him after all. I think I'll be both happy AND sad with either scenario.