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8/28/2013 Will Smith will do the home visit. I’ve told him it is not a rush since Alice doesn’t want a dog till close to the end of the year, after she gets her prosthesis.
From Deb Hadaway 08-26-13:
Wanted you to know that Flora and I had a WONDERFUL visit with Mitzi this afternoon. As exuberant as Flora is, Mitzi handled her like a pro and Flora absolutely loved her [NO, Mitzi, she is NOT up for adoption]!!! Her backyard is easily accessible through a back door just off the den that leads directly to a double-fenced in yard [totally 5′ wood fenced with a 3-4′ chicken wire fencing attached to the bottom of the wooden fence. Flora had quite a fun time running around the fence [I think she was on a scavenger hunt]. She has a double chain-link gate which needs to be secured [and she assured me that is going to happen–it, too, is 5′ tall–just needs a more secure gate latch]. Her house is VERY DOG-Friendly and Mitzi is very comfortable with the dog having the “run” of the house and her neighborhood is GREAT for WALKING DOGS]!!!!! I think her preference is to adopt a large Airedale as she lives alone. She is HOME most of the day [she paints doggie portraits]. She and I plan to get our dogs together when her dog is settled [she lives less than 5 miles from my house and I use to live in her neighborhood]. she has offered [as have I] to keep each others’ dog if we need to leave town for any reason.
I hope this satisfies your qualifications for a home visit. If you need me to complete the form you sent, just let me know. I will save it to my documents, complete it, and send it back to you. Just let me know.
Debbi Hadaway
August 26, 2013
8/28/13 This is the message string between Tessa and me about Rose from last night:
Tessa: They were getting along pretty well but I just had to break up a fight. They went outside and I followed and she instantly jumped on Murphy for some reason and attacked him. She bit him but it doesn’t look like it broke skin, I think her teeth are too worn down luckily. She seems to be ok with Flynn although shes been challenging him but she wants to hurt Murphy.
JC: I’m so sorry, Tessa. We don’t want Murphy to get hurt or stressed. If you think you should take her back, please do. Do you have any other observations about her that will help us place her? You will receive a check within a week from our treasurer, Barbara Lawson. Key me know how you plan to proceed. Thank you. Jackie
Tessa: I can keep her and just try to keep them apart. So far she hasn’t attacked Flynn so ill just keep a closer eye on them.
Umm. She’s very sweet otherwise but I don’t think she’s trained at all. She hasn’t gone potty in my dog room but I let her out often. She did pee on the carpet the other night though, so I’m not sure if she’s house trained. I would say a house without small dogs for sure and I’m not sure about a big dog or not yet. I could try taking her to the dog park and see how she acts and keep her on a leash just incase
JC: I appreciate your tenacity, Tessa. As for the dog park, please be very careful. Choose a time that is not likely to be very crowded. If there are two many dogs, don’t go in. I’d rather see her meet 1 or 2 dogs at a time on neutral territory. Is she looking to you for signals, for assurance, that you can tell? Does she play w Flynn? What are you calling her?
Tessa: No, not looking or really listening to me at all. I really think she’s older than what was originally thought. The girls at pets art took a look and said based on her teeth at least 7 but they suspected older. She moves stiffly I’ve noticed. She was trying to play with him but it looked slightly dominant. She kept trying to get up on him but he’s too tall and she is not flexible at all.
I was going to call her Bailey but she doesn’t seem to respond to any thing…in fact I am thinking about testing to see if she might be deaf. Could be her ear infection though too.
JC: She does have yeasty ears. Hope she’s not deaf, but that should be pretty easy to determine. When you take her back to the vet for the delicate haircut, see if they can help you determine. I like Bailey. Maybe she’ll warm to it. Does she seem to be afraid of you or anything like loud noises, trucks, men? When you can manage it, I’d like to know how she responds to different people. But we don’t want to rush her. How does she react when you come in the house after being gone? How does she respond to people coming to your door? As you can imagine, the more we know, the better. I’m about to call it a night. Hope you did well on your pract today. TTYL Jackie
(The reference to the delicate haircut was from an earlier message: The groomer left matted hair around her crotch because it was bleeding and they didn’t want to risk hurting her. So Tessa is going to take her back to the vet and have them cut that out/do whatever needs to be done.)
8/26/13 Tessa Steffen picked up Rose today for fostering, but first for a really necessary full grooming/shaving.
8/25/13 I liked Lee. Very straightforward, personable young man. He does have a sense of humor. He plans to take his Airedale to work with him; he is in IT for Pull-A-Part and can do that. Until he is confident that the Airedale will not destroy his house, the Airedale will be confined to the lower level of his house – a bedroom and bath that can be closed off from the rest of the house. But when he is home, the Airedale will be with him and his 5-y-o daughter, Kalli, when she is there. She is there every Thursday night and every other weekend. She is knowledgeable about dogs and knows how to approach them and not to approach without asking permission. His mother got a new WFT and it was initially hostile and aggressive to Kalli, but he worked with the dog and his mother worked with the dog to get it used to Kalli and now they are friends.
She will not be present during the home visit, once it is scheduled, because he wants the Airedale to be a surprise. I told him we’d play that by ear, because it is important that they be compatible. We would only place an Airedale we knew to be child-friendly with him, but I think they should meet initially. We’ll work on that.
All in all, I liked him and think he’s ready for a home visit.
8/23/13 Spoke to Alice Heath. Very nice woman. She said all the right things about her dogs and about wanting an Airedale. She and her husband are both home – he is retired, she just had a foot amputated below the knee – but will be getting a prosthesis and will be able to do anything she wants to except run. She would never walk the dog alone; her husband would always be with her. They have the means to care for a dog and actually want 2 eventually. I asked about her answer for the spot reserved for Airedale – Kitchen, but the dog will have the run of the house. They never left their dogs outside when they were gone; would never do that. They often cared for a neighbor’s Norwegian Elkhound who was kept chained in the front yard and Alice would go get him and take him on walks with her and her Callie or just let him sit on her front porch with her.
She will not be ready to adopt until probably the END OF THE YEAR after she has her prosthesis and it’s working properly. I told her we’d go ahead with a home visit and get her approved and then we’d find the right ‘dale (or 2) for them. I liked her a lot. She is a talker, but she’s very pleasant.
8/19/13: Interviewed Mitzi.She got the Briard and he was fine for a couple of days, but they were out walking with a trainer who she hired to help her with the B, and a “cherry-picker” vehicle (like used for construction, etc.) drove down the street toward them. The B was going crazy barking and jumping and trying to ‘get’ it and when Mitzi pulled on the leash to pull him back, he turned and bit her on the arm. The day before, she had been walking him and a car with several people drove close to where they were and the people had their arms hanging out the windows and he wanted to go get them too. They drove off and he calmed down. She returned him to the breeder. He had been returned to the breeder by the original owners as too much for them to handle. The breeder supposedly worked with him and socialized him around children and others but they lived in the country so he probably had not been exposed to a lot of vehicles. She had also allowed her daughter to take him home with her the 2nd day she had him and give him a bath.
I talked to Mitzi about how confused the Briard must have been and how confusing and stressful it may be for any rescue who has lost his home, maybe fostered somewhere, and is now in a new situation. I cautioned her about exposing him to too many new situations at once and suggested that the first few days you have your rescue, you try to just keep him/her calm and get them used to their surroundings. Confine walks in the neighborhood to short walks and back home, so s/he will know that they’re going home every time they go out. She was concerned that she had “done everything wrong” with the dog and would that disqualify her from adopting from us. I told her no on both counts.
She has a good history with her dogs – except the greyhound – and it sounds like she did the right thing by it. She even converted her daughter’s 2 outside dogs to inside dogs when they were 9 years old. She’s home most all day, as she paints portraits and is doing one of an Airedale now. She has known several Airedales.
Overall, I liked her. I would like someone to home visit who we trust and who has an Airedale to see how they react to her and vice versa.
I’d appreciate any suggestions for a HV person.
