Man's Best Friend

(I'm bringing the blog back!  I'm going to make a better effort to add more posts.  They may be shorter, but I am wanting to make sure I do more.)

Just hanging with my friend Duck.
Duck doesn't love the friendship
as much as me! ;)

It's been awhile and I have so many things to be thankful for and appreciate.  I decided to start back with something that was surprisingly rewarding over the last couple of weeks.  Some of you may know that when we moved to Washington, Pat promised to get me a dog.  Well, almost three years later we decided to give it a try.  I wouldn't say that we're huge animal activists, but we do love dogs and feel like they should be part of the family.  We have always had our eyes on a Weimaraner, so when we decided to adopt a dog, it was a very easy choice.  We arranged a meeting with the D.C. Weimaraner Rescue and found a wonderful, friendly dog named Jäger.  His owner had given him up because he was moving and didn't want him anymore.  :(  The lady told us that she was happy to allow us to foster him to make sure that he would adjust well.  So we went to Petsmart, spent hundreds of dollars, and got everything we "needed."

It was the last day of school and I went to pick up the furry guy.  It was a little challenging getting him home by myself, but we made it and we all instantly fell in love.  He was a lover and thought he was a lap dog (a 65 pound lap dog!).  The next couple of days were definitely a learning experience, but his sweetness made it very easy to look past the challenging parts.  Long story short, he had a lot of stomach issues and wasn't adjusting very well.  After a few vet appointments, we found that he had a double ear infection and thought he must have a parasite due to his very lean appearance and stomach issues.  We started a variety of antibiotics and hoped for things to get better.  Over the next week, things didn't really improve as quickly as we wanted.  We tried to still get him to the dog park and take him on long walks, but it was evident that he still wasn't feeling well.  After many more vet calls and another visit, he gave us one more antibiotic and told us that since we were fostering we needed to decide if we were going to be willing to run some expensive blood work if his conditions didn't improve.

Where's my dessert?

There was so much going on with him and we felt like we hadn't really had a nice opportunity to spend time with him without worrying about him being sick, etc.  After lots of deliberation and communication with the rescue leader, we decided it might just not be the best fit for him.  Possibly, he was a dog who needed other dogs around or needed someone who would be home all day.   So we decided to take him back to the rescue.  There were plenty of tears to go around, especially because he was such a wonderful, sweet dog.  I'm sure that some people may not think favorably of us for taking him back, but we thought it was in his best interest to give him a better home.

Yeah, I'm a lap dog... what?!

Anyone want to rub
my belly?

With the disappointment of having to take him back, I did learn a few things.  I learned how nice it is to have something so excited to see you when you come home (besides Pat).  I learned that no matter what, they really do love you unconditionally.  I learned that vets are expensive (totally worth it though).  I learned that a dog's sweet little face can make your heart melt.  I learned, after having him for only 2 1/2 weeks, it was really sad to say goodbye.  Mostly, I learned that I can't wait for a house with a backyard and another opportunity to adopt a Weimaraner.....I just hope he's as great as Jäger.