This photo was taken in June of 2007 in Grand Junction, Colorado. I had just driven four hours with this sweet little elkhound puppy in order to meet her new forever family. She was left in the "night drop" at a shelter in the Denver area, and for the short time I knew her, I couldn't imagine why. She was perfectly behaved in the car, slept in my lap most of the way and didn't make a peep. Her only fault was her great need for a bath after sleeping on a concrete kennel floor. Her pungent odor prompted me to call her Stinkahontas for our journey, though she was also known as Sasha.
My mom drove to meet me and make a little getaway weekend of it, and it was so hot that we decided to take the puppy inside a shopping mall to wait in the comfort of air conditioning. She got so much attention, everyone wanting to know what breed she was, and every time someone came up to her she would sit and wag her tail. I desperately wanted to puppy-nap her, and even my mom who had not yet been won over by the breed admitted that she was smitten. I received updates and photos from her new people for some time afterward - she was adopted into a small family with another older female elkhound and fit in wonderfully.
I loved being involved in one chapter of this darling's happy story, and not-so-secretly hope I can be so lucky as to find a similar Norwegian elkhound puppy to rescue someday! I highly recommend "driving for life" - volunteer transport - as a way to contribute to rescue efforts, getting dogs in need to foster and forever homes. My own Ruby was brought all the way from Arkansas to Colorado by way of volunteers and I'm so thankful that there is such a network.
She was a cute puppy. A friend of mine frequently volunteers her weekends to transport dogs for Echo and IGPR throughout the state and the midwest. It is awesome, and I have volunteered, but have never been needed.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of people can't handle the demands of even a "good" puppy. Silas was great as a puppy. Hindsight sees that he was a little timid, but he was easy to house train, not a bad chewer, and learned to sit on cue by the time he was seven weeks old. And I could still, as a person with little patience and no dog skills, barely handle him without having a temper tantrum.
ReplyDeletePuppies are hard, no doubt. I won't even consider one until I'm working less or retired. I can't see how anyone does it who works full time away from home.
Delete