Shelter Animals

Riley & I spent a little over 2 hours walking dogs on Saturday. There are some great dogs out at our shelter & some truley wonderful dogs. We walked this one dog, male, collie & something mix that is an utter sweetheart...he was available for adoption 05/11/10, and there were people looking at him, so I imagine he got adopted already, because not only was he sweet, but an absolutely beautful animal. Then there's Daisy & the the girl we call Maisy, who is Daisy's best buddy. These two girls look almost identical & they're both lab mixes, possibly w/pit, but they're just goofballs & get along with everyone. Then there's Sophie. I gotta admit she's a favorite of mine. She looks like a lab, acts like a lab, but is brindle! So, they think she's got some pit in her too because of that...of course other breeds have brindle too ie Boxer, Great Dane, Chihuahua, you get the idea. They won't take her at Oregon Humane Society because they think there's pit in the mix. Then there's Cody. Cody is Rott & Pit mix & has some aggression issues with male dogs, but does fine w/the ladies. He's also huge. This is the fourth shelter he's been to. I'm hoping he gets neutered, I think that will improve his adoption chances & might mellow him out a little. I really like Cody & Cody just loves Riley. We also walked this Pitt/Lab mix that is chocolate brown, so we call him Hershey. He's just a love & very well behaved, but again has some aggression issues w/the boys...this is pretty common among all the boys really, but some are worse than others.

Then there's the kitties...Riley has a hard time with the kitties, she'd take them all home & there are some real dolls. My favs are Corey & Desi. Corey just has the most awesome face...I've never seen a cat with such an expressive face before. Desi is just a little ball of sweetness, with just a hint of attitude that you gotta love.

Here's a funny story from the shelter we found out about on Saturday. The weekend before the Oregon Humane Society took a bunch of dogs and cats from our shelter. I can stalk them online at their website and see when they get adopted. My perennial favorite, Penny the Red Heeler, got adopted the first day she was there. Another favorite, Sonny the lab/collie mix, got adopted within the week. I kept looking for Griffin, the Boxer/Lab mix, that is Penny's best bud & another favorite of ours. He's a big brute, but gentle as could be & Riley used to walk him, even though he probably out weighed her by 10lbs. Griffin wasn't showing up on their site, so I asked Nicole-the wonderful shelter employee, who arranges all the wonderful transfers & adoptions-why Griffin wasn't showing up on the website. Here's the story I got:Nicole got a call from OHS on Sunday saying to come get Griffin, that he was bullying the employees/volunteers at the shelter. So Nicole had to drive all the way to Portland that night & pick him up. They even had the poor guy quarantined & said she'd have to go in & get him, they were afraid of him. Griffin was quite thrilled to see her & after much loves, loaded up in her car, got some Arby's for the trip home & spent the night at her house with her & her herd of small dogs. Griffin is still available for adoption, but currently at a foster home & might be adopted by his foster mom. Riley & I both thought she was kidding, but apparently not. Riley even said, "But I walked him all the time." We'd start out with her walking Penny, but Penny pulled & so I'd have to trade her for Griffin who didn't. A little back story is that Griffin was a little shy when he got to the shelter. My theory is, he was a little shy & perhaps slightly defensive at the new facility & because of his size, they were intimidated & didn't give him a chance, cuz he really is a sweetheart of a dog.