29 July 2008

After two months, we are finally "Gizmo-less."  Ashley said she had a family interested in her, and would I mind meeting her and the family at Petco on Sunday afternoon.  So Giz and I hopped in the car and drove to Petco, where we met a family that had obviously already fallen in love with her from her pictures on Petfinder.com

(Who couldn't fall in love with that face?)  I notice that even since that picture was taken, her fur has filled in a lot more.  She's really changed a lot since she first came here.  This was the photo I took just before she left for Petco:

She's found herself a great home.  A family with two young children and 2 or 3 other dogs at home, Gizmo size.  Ashley brought up all of her foibles -- not totally housebroken, high pitched bark, need to be with you at. all. times., etc.  At everything, they nodded -- that was their dogs too.  Not a problem.

And so they wrote the check and signed the papers and I said goodbye to little Gizmo.  No tears.  I was happy to see her going with what looks to be a perfect family for her.

Scooby seemed a bit confused when I came home alone.  The two had become wonderful friends.

They played together constantly and both slept on me during the night.  But Scooby recovered quickly enough and was out chasing Lizzie and Sheila around the yard before long.

It seems strange without Gizmo around here now, but there are things I don't miss.  Mostly I don't miss her scratching at the recliner to be allowed up (see video of the day).  She could, if she wanted to, easly jump into the chair.   She'd done it with the chair empty, and she'd done it with me in the chair, but mostly she would stand on her hind legs and just paw and paw and paw and paw to be picked up.  And when you have sharp claws and it's hot so that I'm in shorts, it gets downright painful.  Half the time picking her up meant disrupting Scooby who always sleeps on the footrest.  If I lowered the footrest partway, Gizmo would just walk up the incline to the chair.  Damn dog. 

But the plus about the puppy is how loving she was.  Just one big bundle of "love me! love me! love me!  I love you too!"  She loved to curl up in the crook of my arm and would stay there all night--and all day, too, if I didn't get up out of the chair!

Of course I won't miss her looking out the back door at the dark night and then running into the living room to pee because she didn't want to deal with the black outside.

And this is the goal of the SPCA fostering program -- to give the puppies/dogs good, loving homes so they can move to forever homes with the least possible trauma.  Even Russell, who first came to live with us on March 31 and moved to another home when I hurt my back, finally found a home on Sunday. 

It makes me feel good knowing that I've had a small part in making a happy future for these little guys.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

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MILES TO NOWHERE:  61 miles