Special Dog - Special Home

There has been a bit of a fuss about one particular dog in our kennel so I want to share a story with you. Blue dogs are very rare and many greyhound people prize them. We received a small, genteel blue boy named “I Got Bottom”, nicknamed Al. Word spread quickly when his picture and bio went up on Petfinder. I was getting emails and calls from all over. I assured people that we did not generally adopt out of the area. Some were accepting of that and some were persistent. Don’t get me wrong, I knew they would all love and treasure the dog but I wanted a chance to know him better and see what opportunities were out there before I considered bending the rules.

On Sunday, a family of women arrived. Mom, sister, grandmom, and a 9-year old daughter named Meilani who wanted a “big dog”. Meilani has Downs Syndrome. If you’ve ever had contact with a person with Downs, you know them to be the most sincere, trusting and loving people on earth. Especially the children. They don’t know suspicion or jealousy - much like some of our greyhounds. They told me she liked to sit on the couch for hours just brushing the dog they used to have. This was going to require a sweet and gentle dog with enough spunk to play in the yard and enough patience to be brushed and brushed. We decided a boy would work best for them and they started looking.
Some of the guys kissed Meilani. Some nuzzled. Some jumped on mom. All were wonderful in their own way. Al just leaned. He nuzzled on occasion. He hung out with Meilani while the adults continued to show her other dogs. Another group of adopters came into the kennel and started looking at the same dogs. Out of courtesy, we had to let Al go over there for a while. The second group wanted him – BADLY. We got Al back over but that exerted it’s own pressures on them to decide. Meilani and her family knew nothing about blue dogs. They thought he was a funny looking black dog and accepted that about him. Little did they know the lady in the other group was doing back flips trying to get first dibs on Al.

It took a little time, as important decisions should, but Al and Meilani had pretty much chosen each other right away and they were just waiting for the adults to catch up. It truly was the only match there. We took a couple of finalists over to the office to make a decision and do the paperwork. The other family was not happy with us at all. But FoG wants wonderful, loving homes for their dogs regardless of “racing, creed or colors” (pardon the paraphrase) and that’s the criteria we used this time.

Al (who has been renamed “Bloo”) will be neutered this week and delivered soon. Congratulations, Al, I think you got a great home - and for all the right reasons!