Uh oh... tugging my heartstrings...

Today I was shocked to see Red, a beautiful big 7 year old golden retriever, back at the shelter. He was adopted once, and I was sad to see him go, but happy he had found a home. A few days later he was returned to the shelter, much to the dismay of everyone who works there. The woman who had adopted him thought that his neuter was included in the adoption fee, which was incorrect. Although she would have gotten a discounted price for a neuter, she couldn't have afforded it. So she brought him back.

Fortunately the Humane Society has a great spay and neuter program, and most dogs and cats that are adopted get neutered/spayed before they go out. They work with a few area vets who are kind enough to take their animals in and do surgery for them. And this spring they'll actually have a vet working for the shelter, and eventually every animal will be spayed or neutered before they're adopted. Which is wonderful. At this point, one of the stipulations of adoption is that you must get the animal altered.

After Red came back, he got to be on one of the speuter transorts (what they call their spay and neuter program). So a few weeks ago he was neutered, thankfully. I wasn't surprised to hear that he was adopted a week or so ago. I was bummed that I was busy with Daisy and didn't get to see him again before he went, but I was certain this time that he was going home.

Not. Seems that the father of the family that adopted him didn't know how allergic he was to dogs. So Red came back. Again.

I saw his picture back up on the website, so I knew that I had to visit him as well as Daisy. Unfortunately, they still have Daisy in isolation, so I couldn't take her out, so I opted to take Red out. I saw him in his kennel, and he looked about as sad as a dog could possibly look. He was probably so confused. When he saw me, he pressed his entire body up to the fencing of the kennel so I could touch him. It was like he was saying, "please love me... nobody else does." This of course, made my heart break, and I got him out and we spent a good hour or so together, walking in the snow, playing inside, cuddling.

Yeah. I fell in love.



He peed and pooped outside right away. Then when we came inside, he put his ginormous head on my lap and just let me pet him. When I stopped petting him, he put one of his big paws up on my arm. He would sit, shake, and lie down. That's all I tried, but he did each command on the first try. I took him over to the kitty cages in the back and he sniffed but didn't really react much. He's like a big teddy bear, soft and cuddly and a lover and a half.

I'm taking Lyric up tomorrow to meet him. He is a really big dog, much bigger than any dog she's ever been around, and I really hope he's as gentle with her as he was with me. Because he would be the perfect dog.

Ryan is very interested in meeting him too. He loves bigger dogs, especially labs and retrievers, so once the family meets him, if we all get along, he may find his forever home. And that would be wonderful.

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