Today marks one year since my husband came home with Founder in his truck, walked back to the dog run where I was working and said "where do you want this one?" (but it's all my fault that we have so many dogs!)
Founder was found two years ago, tied to the fence outside the shelter. He was quite timid at first, hated having his collar touched and would freak out at any loud sound. He acclimated quickly, especially to the people he saw often. I liked Founder from the first time I saw him. I often went over on my lunch hour to walk him. I thought he was adoptable so we never brought him home. Then weeks stretched into months and finallly a year had passed and still no one wanted Founder.
Six weeks before he arrived, I had a long debate with the shelter staff about which dog would best fit our empty foster spot--Pacer or Founder. I took Pacer as the volunteers wouldn't walk him anymore. He was too hard to handle and impossible to catch if he got away. Shortly after, Founder started showing signs that he had been kennelled too long. He got growly with the staff, started to fight with other dogs, refused to come inside when he was out in the exercise yard, ect.
So he came to us. He fit right in. He already knew most of our dogs as they had been buddies at the shelter. He loved having some room to stretch his legs again. It was a long time before he would come in the house. He wasn't getting caught in small space ever again. He had clearly been used as a sled dog. He was delighted to see a harness again and pulls his little heart out.
We had a couple people intersted in him. One I wouldn't have let adopt a goldfish! The other couple was lovely and quite interested in him. Until they heard the Founder Howl...it's a loud, deep, howl/yowl. He has a vast vocabularly and can be heard telling his tales of woo and joy for miles. They lived in town and didn't have understanding neighbors like mine. They found an older, quiet shelter dog to love instead.
Three weeks after Hoodoo died, we officially adopted Founder. It seemed an appropriate tribute to our first rescued dog.
Happy Gotcha Day Founder.
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