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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.
Called her vet’s office and got a good review; all her animals were in for shots less than 1 month ago and Flynn is scheduled to be neutered before December. They are located in Tallahassee.
8/21/13 I tried to call Alice this afternoon and left a voice mail. If I don’t hear, I call again tomorrow.
