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Dangerous Lunatic

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Meet Sam, Payton's new brother. He's about 10, hard of hearing [or possibly has selective hearing, I haven't completely worked that out], has cataracts that make seeing hard for him, but still has a lot of energy and playfulness for being such an old man. So far there's no hint of food aggression or much prey drive, but he hasn't met the chickens yet either, so we'll see how that goes tomorrow. He's also going to get a bath tomorrow and meet my 11 year old niece as the first test of how he does with children. So far he seems to love the idea of being a raw fed dog, and ate very politely on the towel I put down, though he wouldn't go into a kennel to eat. It's not a big deal, I was just seeing if he'd do it, since feeding in a kennel makes for easy clean up. We might try kennel games in the future, just because it's a good idea for him to like kennels, but we'll take it slow if we do. I'm also looking around for a collar that just vibrates to teach him to come when it does, that way if he's distracted and not paying attention to me I can still do something to get the attention of a partially blind/deaf dog.

I know he is not a papillon show puppy. I know that is what I have been wanting, but I also have decided that I am not quite to the point where I can make the right choice in getting the right pap, and have had the most horrible puppy envy. No, Sam is not a puppy, but I do think that working with him will destroy the puppy envy and keep me from making a poor choice when I do spend the kind of money I'm expecting to pass over when I do get the pap. Especially since the breeder in town has a litter that's almost ready to go, but I've decided I really don't want one of her dogs. I also wanted to take in an older dog no one else would want since I got my house, but held off because before my roommate moved out we had 5 dogs in the house. Now, with the addition of Sam, we have 4, 2 for me and 2 for my roommate. But mostly, I occasionally have poor impulse control and today it turned into the adorable old face I saw on the shelter's facebook feed when I woke up this afternoon.
He's a cutie and it's so awesome that you're giving an older dog the opportunity to live out the rest of his days in a good home. Personally, it's not something I'm ready for at this particular moment, even though there are times that it's tempting
Congratulations on your new fur-baby!

It's great that you are giving him a loving and forever home for the rest of his days. I always feel bad when older dogs come into the shelter, as it is rare that they will be adopted out. I've fostered several older dogs until they've either been adopted or have passed on. So trust me when I say that he will repay you ten-fold with all the love he can give! 4laugh

Dangerous Lunatic

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I do not regret adopting Sam one bit. He has been amazing! He both sees and hears better than he was letting on last night while he was nervous, though neither is perfect. He LOVES my 11 year old niece and followed her around like her shadow when we went to visit her, has no food aggression as far as I can tell, is polite to every dog he meets, though he's a little skittish with strange people at first, and didn't snark once in the bath. I don't know why his owners never looked for him, but I'm so happy I decided to give in and adopt this old man!

Here are some before, during and after photos. You can see how thin he actually is under his coat in the during picture, and how beautiful his coat is after, even with his dry skin and all.

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Dapper Werewolf

What you did was awesome. There will always be pap pups around but its very rare to find someone that would adopt a dog like Sam.

Liberal Codger

HE'SSOFLUFFY!!! heart

Dangerous Lunatic

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He really is so fluffy! However, he needs a quick brush daily, especially right behind the ears and on the tail and legs to keep him from matting up. Less than five minutes of work and it keeps him looking fluffy and beautiful!

I do think it's amazing that in less than a week Sam went from this nervous looking dog in the picture I saw on facebook to the happy, mostly confident dog he is now! He even barks at me if I take too long putting his leash on or giving him a treat! Bossy old man. I do not at all regret my impulse in getting him, as he has truly been a wonderful addition. We've got a vibrating collar in the mail so I can start working on his recall without having to worry about his poor hearing, and we'll start learning how to do nose work as soon as he's over the mild kennel cough he picked up in the shelter.

The shelter image that broke my heart and got me to go in and meet him.
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Sam on a walk with my old roommate and I only 3 days after being adopted!
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Devoted Inquisitor

He's so handsome! It's ridiculous. I want him.

Dangerous Lunatic

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Latrans
He's so handsome! It's ridiculous. I want him.

That's really too bad. Unless someone can prove to me that they're his old owner and were in a coma or something so couldn't go to the shelter to find him, he's mine and I'm not sharing!

Seriously though, why on earth would someone not go looking for such an awesome dog?! When I locked my cat in the closet I called the shelter within five minutes of not being able to find her while my roommate and I were out in a snowstorm looking for a mostly white cat. He was in the shelter at least a week before they put him up for adoption. There is no excuse for that.

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Payton Leeroy
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He's so handsome! It's ridiculous. I want him.

That's really too bad. Unless someone can prove to me that they're his old owner and were in a coma or something so couldn't go to the shelter to find him, he's mine and I'm not sharing!

Seriously though, why on earth would someone not go looking for such an awesome dog?! When I locked my cat in the closet I called the shelter within five minutes of not being able to find her while my roommate and I were out in a snowstorm looking for a mostly white cat. He was in the shelter at least a week before they put him up for adoption. There is no excuse for that.


idk it's riddik

I have to stop looking at petfinder and craigslist. It's not the time for us to get another dog, but I keep finding really great dogs out there.

Bleh.

Dangerous Lunatic

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idk it's riddik

I have to stop looking at petfinder and craigslist. It's not the time for us to get another dog, but I keep finding really great dogs out there.

Bleh.


I know! I'm always looking at them and convincing myself I don't need any of those dogs/rabbits/ferrets. Rabbits are the hardest, because sometimes I start thinking about how good rabbit is and how it's a nice sized bone for my animal, and it wouldn't be that hard to breed them...

The worst part is, I wasn't looking at either one when I found Sam. I was just reading through facebook, so I didn't have time to prepare myself! And, since it worked so well with Sam, they've turned this week into Senior dog week and all they're posting is the older dogs at their shelter, so every day I get to see another old dog who needs somewhere wonderful to live out the last of their days. It's flat out cruel, but at least I'm ready for it now!

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Payton Leeroy
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idk it's riddik

I have to stop looking at petfinder and craigslist. It's not the time for us to get another dog, but I keep finding really great dogs out there.

Bleh.


I know! I'm always looking at them and convincing myself I don't need any of those dogs/rabbits/ferrets. Rabbits are the hardest, because sometimes I start thinking about how good rabbit is and how it's a nice sized bone for my animal, and it wouldn't be that hard to breed them...

The worst part is, I wasn't looking at either one when I found Sam. I was just reading through facebook, so I didn't have time to prepare myself! And, since it worked so well with Sam, they've turned this week into Senior dog week and all they're posting is the older dogs at their shelter, so every day I get to see another old dog who needs somewhere wonderful to live out the last of their days. It's flat out cruel, but at least I'm ready for it now!


I'm pretty set on not getting any mammal pets (other than mice) until we move. I don't want to move with three dogs. I don't want to move with two dogs and a cat. There's nowhere to safely keep a rabbit with Elsie around. No no no.

Old dogs are so hard though. They're so easy peasy!
Latrans


idk it's riddik

I have to stop looking at petfinder and craigslist. It's not the time for us to get another dog, but I keep finding really great dogs out there.

Bleh.
I really don't know why you people torture yourselves looking at sites like that. I never have problems in that department, then again it seems like most critters I would be interested in would not work for me through a rescue. I mean I might be able to find a flying squirrel through a rescue if I looked hard enough, but the chances of it being what I would want in a squirrel would be next to nil.

Punching Bag

This was quite the heartwarming thread. (: I'm so glad there are people out there like you giving older animals a chance at a great life! <3 He looks so happy and full of life now. What a big change!

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