The dog news

The last post on the doggie quest may have been a bit cryptic, so allow me to be blunt: the b*tch bit me.

I am actually angry at the people who originally bought her. They got her without checking the pet policy where they rent. So far they are just being impulsive and thoughtless. However, after they realize they can't keep her they don't do what they have to do to re-home her quickly. Instead they leave her in someone's screened porch while they attempt to find someone who will pay them what they paid the breeder.

What they don't realize or don't care is that every day the dog spends on that porch the further she gets from being house trained and socialized. We got a lead on another older puppy and we called about it and it was almost the same story -- they have to move and can't take him with them, so the dog is on a tie-out in someone's yard.

After some discussion we broke down and got a puppy. We were able to get a slightly older one (11 weeks) because the people who bought it from the breeder had a similar story, but this time they were working with the sort of good breeder who vastly prefers for the dog to come back to her than to be left in a porch or tied out in a yard.

Anyway, he's a Shih Tzu, adorable, and even CD likes him. I started up the pet blog again so those of you who want to laugh at my attempts to house train the little fur ball can read and mock, and those of you who find reading about someone else's pets as boring as I would, need never hear about it again.

The Saga Continues

I feel sh*tty, oh so sh*tty. I feel sh*tty, and callous and mean.

I could give you details, but I don't want to. Some of you are following the dog story and so let me just say, I'm a foster mom. A person foster mom.

I am more than that, but that is part of who and what I am. I take teenage humans who have been neglected and abandoned and abused. I am careful only to take those kids whose issues lie within my skill set and the abilities of kids already in the house to deal with. I don't send children back because they are not perfect. I expect them to make me crazy. I expect to be tired, and to cry, and to feel deeply worn out -- and rewarded -- by caring for them.

Though it is not really my theology, if you were to say that this is my calling, as my husband does, I would not argue with you. Those are not the words I would use, but close enough.

There are other people who are doggie foster parents, other people whose calling is taking dogs from people who purchased on impulse from breeders about whom they know nothing, who then neglected those dogs and later found themselves with a sometimes sweet, sometimes aggressive, always adorable unhouse-broken little pooch.

I could be one of those doggie foster parents, but I'm not.

I'll stick with the teenage humans.

Puppy visit went well

Well, I feel sort of silly posting about the puppy visit, but I actually get more comments on that than anything else I have to write recently so here's an update.

The puppy is darling, of course: ginger with dark tips. Her owner has only trimmed her fur around her eyes so it is currently about four inches long. She has a real "teddy bear" look to her. If we keep her she will get her fur cut off and kept off. I'll have to take photos of her now though. This walking dust mop is pretty cute. And she is not a barker, which I really like. I could not live with a yappy dog.

The park visit went okay, so they came home. At home the dogs are working things out. CD wants to be boss, and I think puppy is mostly okay about that. Puppy does not try to take the chewies, unless CD is out of the room, and then she takes one under the sofa. CD can't get her whole head under the sofa, much less her body, so she stands outside the sofa waiting. Puppy is a good waiter though and eventually CD gets distracted and Puppy ends up on some one's lap. Of course there are now several chewies way under the sofa. I think I may need to find some chew toys for CD that are too big or heavy for puppy to drag around. That should not be too difficult. It is frustrating for CD because she wants to be the boss and she is not allowed on the furniture and the little furball is.

Pup is not housebroken. I am making Brian take her out often and we had to successful outside eliminations, and one puddle in the hallway. I have a crate, and we have started using it. Puppy accepts it fine and CD has decided that she likes puppy in the crate too. So we will be be crate-training and puppy won't be allowed the run of the house until she proves herself trustworthy, which may be a while.

So it sounds like we are keeping her, huh? It looks like it.

The puppy was an impulse buy of the adult daughter of one of hubby's colleagues. Adult daughter's husband was laid off and they were told that they were not allowed pets in their apartment. So for a while now, puppy has been living on the colleague's screened porch. Good thing the dog was bred to live in Tibet because it has been cold recently. Unfortunately, this means that house training will be challenging. If puppy hated the crate, I don't think I would give it a try.

Anyway, Hubby has to talk to the adult daughter about the puppy tomorrow.

Brian likes the dog, and I am attached to the breed, which means that if Brian does loose interest I won't be resentful.

Puppy Visit

Hubby, Brian and Cattle Dog are off to visit the female Lhasa Apso puppy. They are going to introduce the two dogs in a neutral location, like a park, to see if they will consider tolerating each other. The puppy is just six months, so that will help. On the other hand, females of both breeds have a reputation for being intolerant of other females, so we will see.

I told Andrew that I was not going for the first meeting. "I'm just too anxious about the whole thing -- worried about whether it will work, whether it right, what we should do. I don't want a puppy, and I'm disturbed this one is being kept on a porch when it is so cold. CD is so sensitive, my anxiety might affect they way everything goes."

Andrew grinned at me and said, "Ya think?"

So I'm staying home.

The Dog Search Continues

Still following in Gawdessness's footsteps, Brian and I continued to do research on dog breeds. We read the descriptions and talked about dogs we know. Your Pure Breed Puppy is an excellent site if you want to know not just what people who like the breed say, but what common issues exist in a breed. My take on the Australian Cattle Dog review is that he is correct. Our Cattle Dog does not have the major faults described, but if anyone asked me what the down-side of the breed was, I would give about the same information. You have to not let the site scare you off though. As the site author tries to remind people all the time, it is NOT that all dogs of this breed will have these faults, but it is the case that these are the things you should look for as you meet and consider particular dogs.

Brian has decided that his favorite breed is the Shih Tzu, or perhaps Lhasa Apso.

So now the search is on. We are taking it slow, but we have a direction. I am watching the listings for the shelters, and the newspaper. I also wrote to the AKC Shih Tzu Club and asked for a list of breeders so I can start contacting them. We are still hoping to find a young male dog. It may take us a while, or no time at all. We will see. If we get all the way to the summer without finding a young, adult male with the right temperament, I will consider a puppy. Since we are a family of educators, we are home during the summer, which would be much better for a pup.

A colleague of a my husband is trying to re-home/sell an 8-month, female Lhasa Apso. It's the wrong breed, wrong age, and wrong sex but I am considering asking if it can spend the weekend with us just so that I can see if the Cattle Dog would tolerate a female, if it were young, and to let Brian see what it is like to take care of a teething puppy. Who knows, maybe it would turn out to be the right dog. It is supposed to be a well-mannered puppy. The issues have to do with unexpected changes in the owner's life, not the with the behavior of the puppy. (I did just say that I wouldn't consider a puppy until the summer, didn't I?)

I find that this process can be as emotionally draining as considering new foster kids. I don't suppose that should be surprising, a pet can be nearly as much of presence in your life as a child, and it is necessary to make a long-term commitment to them.

The whole process is also a good illustration of my character faults. I am getting too wrapped up in this, and too willing to believe or at least hope, as Brian does, that the right dog will take away all of his loneliness. I am letting myself get distracted from things I should be doing.

And another wrinkle this has brought up:

Andrew is afraid that if Brian gets a dog, Andrew's cat will run away. His cat already lives exclusively in the "garden level" part of the house (i.e. the finished basement where the boys have their bedrooms). So we considered whether we should move Brian to the bedroom next to ours, which would mean that his room would become the room of the next kid.

Living the sur-real life that I do, I checked in with the family developer at our agency to see if they have any objections to my doing that. Would it be okay with them if the new kid's bedroom in on the same floor as a 17-year-old boy's and no parents? Given our demographic (i.e. we won't be taking any heterosexual girls), she said okay.

Don't tell Brian though. If he doesn't get a dog, we would rather he stay downstairs, especially while it is just the two of us. Hubby moves to sleep in that room sometimes. He claims that I snore.

Information about Yorkies (or perhaps Silky Terrriers) sought

When we were at the small shelter on Saturday, waiting for the woman in charge to get back into the office and give us information, a police officer came in with two stray dogs. One was a large breed, one of the ones some people find frightening, the other was a cute little thing. They had been running together -- both unneutered males with collars and no identification. We asked to hold it and we really liked it. Then they told us it was a Yorkie and I thought, "But I don't like Yorkies."

I realized I had never actually spent any time with them. I just have a mental picture of them as yappy and spoiled. The dog at the shelter was a bit larger than I thought Yorkies were, and just seemed friendly. It was sturdier than the little toy-like dogs I have periodically seen someone carrying around like a baby doll.

In any case, they let Brian put his name on it. That means that if the owner doesn't claim it in a week, Brian is first in line to adopt it, although they reserve the right to decide that someone else who puts their name on it is a better match. They also warned Brian that the chances of an owner not coming in to claim a Yorkie who was clearly well-groomed, if dirty, was next to nothing.

But I would like feedback about the breed from anyone who has experience with them. What was your experience? What do they need? What would you recommend to someone who was considering adopting one?

Doggie gone home

So Brian was not sure that this was the doggie for him. DCS is a nice dog, he said. He likes him. It's just that he is just a little bit to heavy (25 lbs) to carry around. Pick up, sure, carry around, no. He asked if we could go back to the shelter in The City and turn in his request form for a male lap dog. For various reasons, it looked it was going to be more difficult than we originally anticipated to find the exact dog he wanted there.

He was crushed, which is when I realized he really wasn't bonding to DCS.

We got home and DCS did not want to come out of his crate. He did not want to eat. He just seemed so sad.

So we took the dog back to the dog rescue woman. Like I said, the dog did not want to come out of his crate, until he saw the leash. He was quite happy to be home again, and then seemed to think he was going to leave with us when we went. I am sure the dog would have got over his homesickness and bonding to Brian if Brian had been wanting to bond with him.

I am sad. I liked this dog, but the dog wasn't for me, and if what Brian really wants is a dog he can carry around, then he will need to keep looking. Part of me is hoping that Brian decides he misses DCS and wants him back. sigh.

Another doggie update

Brian has decided that we should take DCS back home while he thinks about it. He says he really likes this dog but wants to be certain.

It is such the right thing to do, and I confess I am disappointed. I like this dog. The whole mellow, not barking, and being house-trained went a long way with me. DCS has also started "asking" to jump up onto furniture with people, whoever seems to be available. He is fine with being told no and being pointed to Brian instead. I think he could easily learn that if Brian was there no one else will cuddle with him. Brian understands, at least at an intellectual level, that no dog not even a puppy, will come into the house devoted to him in particular. In order for that to happen he will have to invest.

We have learned that the Cattle Dog can accept another dog in the house, and that is really important. Just a while ago DCS got into CD's dog bed. CD looked at him for a while and then picked up her chewy and lay on DCS's rug. Both dogs seemed fine with that arrangement.

The most important thing is that Brian feel attached to the dog. I don't want to end up with yet another family pet and a boy who complains that he wants another.

Being the obsessive worrier that I am, I wonder what will happen with a new kid. I wonder if telling them they can devote themselves and make any animal in the house "theirs" EXCEPT Brian's dog will make them decide that that is the only pet they like. Sigh. I need to stop scanning the horizon for new things to worry about.

Assessing the dog

Pros:
1. Seems to have established good relationship with other animals.
2. Very tolerant of being held on lap and petted.
3. Has not barked much during the time I have known him (about 20 hours).
Barking moments: when CD was barking at him at his house; when he and CD got into a squabble (although his mouth was quickly occupied by biting back; when he was in the guest room alone and the door was shut. Even then it was a bark ... wait ... bark. When he heard Brian calling to him he remained quiet until Brian got there. He did not even bark when someone knocked on the door.
4. Has not had any accidents. He spends most of his time toddling around the house sniffing everything, but has not seemed to feel the need to smell the place up to pee.
5. Walks slowly, even his trotting run is fairly slow. This means that Brian can walk him without frustration.
6. So far has only got on furniture when Brian has picked him up to hold on his lap or sleep in the bed with him. He did not choose to use the "steps" Hubby had made for him.
7. Very mellow personality. He tends moves a lot -- he seems to be almost constantly toddling and and sniffing, but he is slow, quiet, and calm.

Con:
1. Woke Brian up in middle of night with licking. Brian assumed he needed to go out and got up to let him. I need to make certain that this dog does not regularly need to pee at 1:00am.
2. Grooming costs/commitment. I don't know how much that will be, but it is a factor. Of course it was likely to be a factor in all the breeds that Brian was considering. This dog definitely shows the influence of Cocker Spaniel in his coat. Though Cocker lovers would probably be horrified, I have no intention of having him trimmed with a fringe. I do need to find out how much it will cost to have him given a short, all-over clip. With such a clip, he should not need too much brushing.
3. Not particularly obedient. If you call him he clearly understands that you want him and then seems to decide whether he wants to come to you. About 60% of the time he does. We will need to teach him to sit and stay in order to get food at the very least. Not because he makes a pain of himself, just because I understand that to be important for him to understand his place in the pack.
4. I'm not certain that he is as affectionate as Brian really wanted. He accepts cuddling, but does not necessarily seek it out. Right now Brian is sitting in a big comfy chair watching cartoons. The dog could easily be in his lap. Instead he is lying on the carpet behind my chair. He will follow around whoever is moving, and will sometimes go lie down in the guest room alone for a while. That is the room with his crate and rug from home and where we fed him. He doesn't go into the crate, but I suspect he likes to lie next to it because it smells like home. We've brought the rug out of the crate into the living room.

It is the relationship with Brian that matters most. I just need to be certain that Brian will be happy with this level of affection. It is definitely more than CD. CD would never relax. Even when she rolls to let you rub her tummy you get the feeling that she is performing a trick. DCS will settle in Brian's lap, sigh and lay his end down to accept the petting that is clearly his due. So far after about 10 minutes he wants to go exploring again and doesn't seek out Brian. In fact when he wants to stop patrolling the house he has been coming to rest behind my chair for a few minutes, not going to Brian. I'm not sure Brian is noticing. Whenever he wants to the dog he gets him and holds him.

If this is enough for Brian, then this dog appears to be as close to a perfect addition to the household as we could hope to find. Fortunately the woman's policy is that she will refund the adoption fee for one month, so we will have plenty of time to make certain they bond. I have to call her this afternoon and either make arrangements for him to go home or to sign the full adoption contract and pay the fee. (BTW, Brian is paying the fee. We will be responsible for on-going expenses, but he had to be willing to put a couple months allowance into the dog.)

Report on the first day visit

This will become a foster care blog again, someday. For the moment it looks like it is a doggie adoption blog.

So CD (the Cattle Dog) tends to be dog aggressive, but it is clear that she is not a confident alpha, pack-leader dog. It is more of an anxious aggression.

Anyway, DCS (Dauchsund/Cocker Spaniel) just doesn't seem to care much about all that stuff, although he is not going to be pushed around. I don't know what started it, but they got into a tight corner and suddenly there was snarling, then wimpering. DCS was biting CD in the butt. We got them separated and the Cattle Dog tried to make nice. DCS didn't seem all that interested -- there were still smells to be catalogued. CD finally sulked back to her doggie bed.

I actually think this is a good sign. What is appears we have on our hands is a new dog who is not interested in being bossy, doesn't object to CD "herding" him around to a certain extent, but is willing to bite her in the butt if she gets too aggressive. Otherwise the two dogs got along fine: inside and out.

Andrew is still convinced that if the dog goes downstairs (our house has a ground floor with our bedroom and the guest bedroom and a nice, finished basement where Andrew and Brian's bedrooms are along with a large rec room, a bathroom and the laundry room) his cat will get upset and run away. So tonight at least Brian is sleeping in the guest room with the dog. Hubby took the plastic box in which I keep quilt pieces to work as a step to make it easier for the dog to get on and off the bed. If we keep this dog I see a slow accumulation of foot stools in our house. As far as I can tell this dog is about as good a dog for Andrew's cat as we can hope to find. He is short and slow, doesn't jump well, and is mostly uninterested in the cats.*

Anyway, I am thinking about moving Brian upstairs to the guest room permanently. I wrote to the family developer to see if they would have any objections to the next kid being in the basement with Andrew. It is the smallest bedroom and the youth will almost certainly understand that as a status issue, though maybe less so if we explain that it was Brian's room for years.

___
*Well, except for the kitten, about whom DCS seems a bit confused. First, they are both males; second, they are both neutered; third, they are from different species. Okay, I get that it is a dominance thing, but it is a very strange dominance thing.

New doggie on a home visit

So we went to the rescue woman's house. Her son was not there, but she said he had resigned himself to the dog being up for adoption, the dog has been on their web site for 6 months. She runs a rescue for Dachsunds, and this is an apparent Dachsund/Cocker Spaniel cross. He is quite comical in appearance.

Anyway, we brought the Cattle Dog (CD) along. At first it looked like a complete disaster. They invited CD into the house, and she could not relax, which made her if not aggressive, then at least unwilling to do anything other than bark. We finally let her play in their fenced yard alone for 10 minutes and then brought the Dauchsund/Cocker Spaniel (DCS) out. They were both on leashes and did fine in the yard -- came up to say hello and sniff and then wander off and back again.

So after an hour there we asked if we could bring the dog home for the afternoon or the weekend. She made me sign a paper, but did not ask me to put down a deposit.

Hubby and Brian took the dogs to a park we don't normally walk to and they did fine there. Now the DCS is wandering around the house, Brian hovering. CD runs back and forth from her precious chewy bone and back to the see what the DCS is doing and then back again to the chewy. CD does not seem aggressive to me. She is on-watch and I think just acting like a herding dog. She seems to think it is her job to make certain that DCS doesn't go anywhere he shoudn't -- especially anywhere near her chewy.

We haven't give the DCS a chewy, btw, because CD has a history of claiming all chewies for herself. This is surprisingly okay with DCS. He just wanders around, waving his silky tail over his back.

Andrew is very nervous that his cat (here called Big Black) will be disturbed by the new dog. I think Big Black will be fine. He just looked at DCS from his perch on top of Brian's bunk bed. Big Black also has his own private cat walk from the laundry room kitty door, along the rec room wall, and into Andrew's bedroom. At this point, Big Black and DCS seem to be bored with each other. We went ahead and bought Big Black some canned cat food, mostly to make Andrew feel better.

While I was writing this the kitten started playing with DCS. CD was chewing her bone and watching. The kitten attacked and then ran off. DCS started to run after the kitten, but CD barked once, ran between them allowing the kitten to escape, and then went back to her chewy once they were separated.

Just in case anyone is wondering: this puts us at three cats and two dogs.

Another note: Brian just took the dog out for a walk. This is a dog that he can walk. It does not run ahead and pull on the leash. Its legs are short enough that it just toddles along at his pace.

doggie update

Having no calls regarding new kids, I guess I am "getting into" the doggie thing.

Does anyone know if the Internet photo-listings of adoptable dogs or kids came first? I know that the first anti-cruelty societies and laws were for animals. The first U.S. child cruelty case was actually handled by the then president of the ASPCA . Though most humane and anit-cruelty groups split into separate groups for animals and chidlren, the American Humane Socieity is still dedicate to the prevention of cruelty to animals and children.

Whatever the case, the current photo listings do have a certain similarity.

I had Brian take a couple of on-line quizzes to recommend dog breeds. This one is okay, but I like this one a little better. I like the second mostly because it ask more questions and gives few results. It also gives weighted results -- this breed is a 80% match, this one only 65%.

Beagles were up on top. Labs, even though they are large, made an appearance, as did Bassett Hounds, Cocker Spaniels, Dachshunds, Chihuahuas, and Miniature Schnauzers. Yorkies, which he thought he wanted because they are so cute, did not show. He read the description of the temperaments of all the different dogs and thought they were all fine.

We also searched for rescue groups and foster dogs. Looking at the photo-listings, at least for me, had certain similarities with looking at photo listings for children. You read the descriptions, look at the picture, read between the lines, fill in the missing pieces and try not to fall in love with the result. Brian seems to be fairly good at that right now. It helps that we have told him that he cannot adopt a dog for a few more weeks. Right now all he can do is research. The on-line search site is pretty good, but we have learned that, not suprisingly, the small rescue organizations do a better job of updating their listings than do the larger shelters. The larger shelters seem to update once a week which means that many dogs never make it onto the list and many leave the shelter shortly after getting onto it. Still, it does give you a sort of picture of the kids of dogs available.

There are many labs. A good number are thought to be pure-bred. Others are crosses, but most of them seem to be crossed with German or Austrailian Shepherds and Rotts.

We went to visit a small shelter in a neighboring town. A stray silky hair Yorkie came in while we were in the office. Brian really wanted to put his name on it in case it wasn't claimed, and they agreed but told him that the chances of it not being claimed are almost nil.

From the petfinder search we found a mixed-breed that is living in a foster home. It is a funny-looking thing. Sort of a Charlie Brown's Christmas tree sort of dog. The dog currently lives with dogs and cats and sleeps in a 10-year-old boy's bed. I finally got a chance to talk to the foster mom. It turns out this dog has been one of the family dogs for 3 years. The boy has been unwilling to care for it though, so Mom has listed it as adoptable. I have very mixed feelings about this situation, but we are about to go visit it anyway. I warned Brian that our visit may result in renewed promises from the young man to care for the dog and so it may not be available to us. He understands that. It's probably good that right now he is hoping that the Yorkie is not claimed.

This particular rescue group requires home visits: pre and post placement. At least they do not make me fill out monthly reports, visit the dog themselves every month, and ask me to go to court twice a year. I wonder if we told them that we had already passed a home-study for foster care if that would help at all? Probably not, they would still want to inspect our fence -- which should be secure for the size of the dog, as long as it is not a tunneler.

And I know a couple of you feel strongly about the need for puppies. Yeah. I am hoping that if we are careful we can do as Gawdessness has done and find an adult dog who will fit.

Advice from doggie-lovers sought

So here's the deal.

Brian tends to be a lonely kid. He is not very active. When he was a pre-schooler he was the most friendly child I had ever met. He was sweet to little kids. When Hubby's parents took everyone to a dude ranch for a week to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, Brian was three and after just a couple of days everyone there knew him. I anticipated him going to school and making friends with everyone.

But something happened, I know not what. He never made a lot of friends. He makes a few, but they don't seem to hang a lot. He tends to be sad.

A couple of years ago he asked for a dog and I finally decided that it might be a good idea. We are a cat family, but he really wanted a dog. I understood -- a dog will come when you call and will give you attention when you want it. Though I have always preferred cats, and we always had cats, I confess that the dog that I had as a child (it was either a Lhasa or a Shih-Tzu) was my best pet ever.

So we looked for dogs at the shelter. We got a dog. She is a Good Dog. Hubby thinks she is fantastic. She is smart, wanting to please, and obedient. She understands and quickly follows the commands: sit; stay; down; off; drop it; come; "where's your ball?"; go to bed; and go away (used mostly in the kitchen). She is learning "bring your ball" (meaning pick it up and leave it by the back door so we can find it next time). She understands "wanna go out?"; and "walk? do you want to go for a walk?" She however is not cuddly. If you are a boy feeling sad and you call her she will sit in front of you, trembling with anticipation, waiting to be told what you want her to do. If you pet her, she will continue to wait to find out what's going to happen. You can tell her "down" and she will lie down, but she won't cuddle. She will continue to look at you waiting to find out if you are just drilling her on her skills or if you are about to ask her to round up a herd of cattle.

So, it was the wrong dog for Brian. He told us he wanted a lap dog, a cuddly dog. I remember when we visited found her in the shelter that she did not seem to be very affectionate and that I was not certain this was really the right one. He was though and I let myself believe that he knew what he wanted. I took a dog obedience class with him. I did most of the work outside of the class, but he took turns during the class. At the end of the class she could heal off leash -- unless a squirrel ran across her path. (After Hubby started walking her that is gone.) Brian bonded to her a fair amount that summer, but she was never really meeting his needs.

So, now, two years later, he is asking for another dog.

Here's my issue. On one hand I am willing to get him a dog. However, I am concerned that I won't be able to find the dog that he wants. I am not worried that the dog won't get fed, because I am prepared to feed it. I have very realistic expectations about his skills in that area. The dog will get plenty of attention, and we have a decent-sized back yard. My concern is that the dog won't attach to Brian the way he wants. I am afraid that Brian's feelings will be hurt if the dog doesn't think that he is the most wonderful person in the house. I am nervous that the sort of devotion he wants is the sort of thing that exists only in dog movies.

There is of course the additional consideration of the needs of the current dog and cats. The cats already get along with the dog, so we just need one who will return the favor. The Cattle Dog can be quite aggressive to other dogs she has met when walking on a leash, but has got along very well well with male dogs she has been able to play with loose in yards. Female dogs however are another story. Our dog once spent two weeks of our summer vacation at a doggie kennel that had private kennels (10x10' rooms with 10x15' runs) and a large common kennel. The owner reported that our dog did fine in the common area, although she and the other female Cattle Dog had to take turns because they would not get along with each other.

Every cat or dog we have ever had has been a rescue. The shelter for this county and the one near The City are both pretty good. The local shelter now has some sort of animal behaviorist. Before you can even visit the dogs you have to fill out a questionnaire and they are very good at telling you that they don't think any of their current dogs fit your needs. (This Hubby and Brian learned last week. Whether they are equally good at telling you that some dog WILL fit your needs is yet to be seen). The shelter at The City will let you fill out a special request sheet. Brian has filled one out that I have not yet mailed in requesting a male, cuddly lap dog of any breed or mixed-breed.

I've done some on-line research and found this article on testing the temperament of dogs in shelters. The author is controversial but I am wondering if the testing method would be helpful in our case. The Cattle Dog would not have passed the test, and she is a wonderful dog. I am thinking though that a dog who would pass the test would be a good dog for Brian.

So...those of you who have had lots of experience with dogs, what do you think? Is the test in that article a good one? Is there a better way to test dogs? Is it likely that if we are careful we can find the lap-dog that Brian wants so very much or are we going to end up with another family dog and a boy who still wants us to find the right dog?