This is Lady Bird, a purebred tri-color beagle. We took her in from the SPCA a week ago Sunday, and she’ll be living with us for a while, hopefully until she finds a home. She’s a sweet old girl. Though there’s no telling how old she really is, her front teeth are worn down to nubs and it takes her a few minutes of stretching to get steady on her legs. It’s fair to say that she’s in her retirement years.
The SPCA is a place for young pups — she’s at a point in life where she deserves a wood stove to lay by and some feet to curl up next to. In fact, that’s just what she likes to do. On her second day with us she’d already decided that my slippers were just the thing to rest her head on. On sunny days she likes to lay out on the porch and softly, hoarsely bay at anything that catches her eye, arching her neck back and pulling her head to the right, eyes closed and noise pointed at the sky. When something closer gets her attention she’ll freeze in place, gesture at the thing with her noise, and raise one paw, expectantly.
I’d never understood the desire to adopt older dogs — why not get a puppy? I get it now, though. No house training, no teaching tricks, no obedience lessons. Just a faithful friend who wants nothing more from you than belly rubs, the occasional treat, and a warm home to live out her golden years.
Interested in Lady Bird? Let me know.
The more I learn about you (your new eco house and now this lovely foster care of an elderly dog) the more I like you.
Thanks for sharing…Civic minded folks with civic “values” are definitely my cup of tea.
Buzz…Buzz…
Waldo, your assessment about your recently learned lesson is spot-on. I’ve never adopted a dog less than three years old. It’s always worked out very well. The puppy foolishness is gone, house-breaking has (in my cases anyway) been done, and in the example of my current dog she had already been trained as a pack-wearing long-distance hiking companion when I became her master and best friend. Perfection!
This is a very commendable thing to do Jualdo!!!
Eh, it’s selfish. We just like critters. :)
I’ve written about some of our previous fosters, including Maybelle, Dixie & Olive, the five Russian Blues, and the nameless kitten that wrapped itself around my car’s axle.
About six years ago I rescued an older dog from the side of the road. She turned out to be a great addition to our family although our time with her was relatively short. And, you are exactly right. All she wanted was a hand to pet her, a warm and safe place to sleep, and food. We were also very lucky that she was good with children when we added those to our family.
God bless you and your wife for your love of His creatures.
Waldo:
We adopted a 6-year-old dog from the SPCA. We went to the SPCA looking for a puppy, but found only half-Doberman, half-Rottweiler mixes. That didn’t seem like what we wanted. Then there was a forlorn looking half-lab, half-beagle — depressed, just lying there. The placard announced two selling points — housebroken and good with kids. We took her home, and she was ours for about 4 years before she went to the great fire hydrant in the sky. She had a few problems, but NOTHING like the challenges of housebreaking a puppy.
I recommend it too.
That’s great. :) I’m a big fan of beagle mutts, so a beagle/lab sounds about right to me.