Good Bye Cloud, Have A Great Life!

Watson is introducing himself to his daughter Cloud. She had seemed kind of depressed when she came home from Sedalia with us, and a comfy crate in the living room plus lots of walks didn't seem to cheer her up. Then it occurred to me that she had always lived with a houseful of dogs at Janey's and was lonely. I took her out to the dog yard with Watson, then added Argus to the mix, and Cloud was almost immediately her happy self again. Even though she loves people, she missed being with dogs.

Ken was scheduled to pick Cloud up at 5:00 PM and as I expected he was waiting in front of the house when I arrived. Ken has a liver boy from us, and has wanted a second dog for a long time. We think this should be a good match but told him that if for some reason Cloud did not work out, that she was to come right back to me. Cloud fits in well here, and I almost always have someone on my list looking for a good natured adoptable adult from a known background. I had assured Janey that if there were any problems, I would take responsibility for Cloud.

Although it's hard to place beloved adult dogs, when really good homes come along it's sometimes best to let one of the resident dogs go. There is a limit to how many dogs we can give proper time and attention to, and my feeling has always been that I OWE my dogs the best possible situation. Although I have had at many as 8 dogs at one time, I know that I really can't do a good job with more than 5, and that's only because Ron helps out. If I were a single person I would never try to keep more than 3, no matter how much room I had. My feeling has always been that if you do not not have time to do something with each individual dog every single day, then you have too many dogs.

As breeder-exhibitors, if we want to keep new dogs to show or breed, we may need to consider letting one the retired dogs go to a carefully selected home. Of course some of our dogs will stay forever, but not every dog can be our #1 favorite. I've placed quite a few adult dogs in the past with most satisfactory results, although it's a lot easier to make that decision before you get too attached (and sometimes that happens very quickly).

And no, Coral, Watson, Josie and Argus are NOT available!