CHIEF GOES BACK UP NORTH

It's taken me a while to get around to writing this blog, in part because it was such a hard decision to send Chief back up North but also because it's that busy time of year when some of your normal day to day things take a back seat.   As you may recall, I had mentioned that there was an applicant for Chief and they met with him a few times.  Our final meeting was with a behaviorist/trainer who did an assessment on Chief.  I wanted the applicants to be a part of that process so they would see the things that would be pointed out in the assessment.  They came to the conclusion that as first time dog adopters that they were in over their heads with Chief.   They know Chief is such a beautiful soft dog for so much of the time but his fear of strangers in certain settings is not to be taken lightly.  He needs a confident person to guide him past his fears and his progress won't happen overnight.  I really admire how badly these applicants wanted to help him but also appreciate that they were willing to see the whole picture and know themselves well enough to not take on more than they bargained for. 

I have had many foster dogs come and go but this is the first time I've shed a tear.  It eases my mind though that Chief is going back to familiar people and a great environment where he can be the happy relaxed playful dog he is 100% of the time without the challenge of so many new people in the city.  After his assessment, it was decided that he could benefit from more time back at Turtle Gardens. So after three months he went back up north with his favorite TG person - Dave and I've heard that he has settled back in pretty well.   I really miss him alot!!  I also want to say that I still have faith that his ideal home awaits him...it just needs to be the right person or people.

Before he left I had to catch him in his candy cane bandana from Aunty Del.



(I love sideways glances)



Checking for squirrels in the tree ...as usual



New soccer ball stuffy makes a good chin rest



'Oh....but what's that toy over there?'


The next dog run will probably be in mid-January and I'm looking forward to jumping into a new year of fostering.  Thanks for reading my blog in 2012 and catch you in the New Year.