Sometimes thing work out for a reason

Before I get to all about Bob, I wanted to mention King. Sometimes things happen for a reason. King was a dog at the same shelter that Steve came from. The shelter was filling up, and Summer contacted the rescue about King. He was a young dog and needed out fast. Wasn't doing well in the shelter environment.

GSR-SP requires evaluations by two people - gives a better perspective - so some volunteers in the area took a look. I had seen his online post, he was a great looking guy. Appeared that he would be an easy adoption. I was all ready to leave work early to go pick him up, we had a transport arranged to get him close to me. I'm about 2 hours from the shelter he was at. And then I got the call.

The volunteers that looked at him had concerns about his getting along with other dogs. It was my call, but he showed some aggression towards others. It could be from the environment, but it could be the dog as well. SERIOUS DILEMMA! After a lengthy conversation, with the evaluating volunteers, I decided to pass. It was an agonizing decision. I potentially just condemned this dog to death. But, the words to live by -- you have to do what's best for YOU and YOUR DOGS.

I couldn't look at the shelter website for weeks. I was so afraid King wouldn't be on it. And I was afraid he would be. Being on it could mean he wasn't getting adopted and possibly deteriorating emotionally in the shelter environment. Which would mean death. Not being on it could mean that he was adopted, but it could also mean that he was put down. I couldn't bring myself to look.

We finally heard that another rescue's volunteers had looked at him and pulled him. He was placed in their kennel. Not the best outcome, but certainly better than the alternative. One of the rules of rescue is YOU CAN'T SAVE THEM ALL. It totally sucks. In this instance, I guess he wasn't the dog meant for me to foster. If I had had him, I wouldn't have been able to take Bob, an older dog who probably would have been put down fairly quickly if GSR-SP hadn't pulled him. So, because of the way things worked out two dogs were saved. Sadly it doesn't always happen that way.

As for King, he got bounced around. He finally ended up with a GSR volunteer that also fosters for another rescue. She, like me is far from the main GSR-SP group, so we try to act locally as well as for the breed. King is doing well. He has a few issues but who doesn't! If you are interested in King, let me know and I'll update his status here.