Another Day, Another discovery!!!

I've been looking at Diesel's "coke" nails for a few weeks now, with some trepidation. I have always been fairly laissez faire in regards to nails; unless of course I'm showing or campaigning one. So, once the pups are retired or in Bailee's case, adopted and never intended for show, regular nail maintenance is somewhat neglected. Everyone, from Foley down to Bailee has been decidedly DIFFICULT to pedicure.

Aaron, is not particularly helpful in assisting, so pedicures are something I have to solo...or pay the good people at petco to do. I'm not quite sure if Deese is ready to hit the streets, so I thought, I'd attempt to pedicure him myself. He's an absolute DREAM when I clean his ears, he literally flops down on his side and grunts with pleasure as I swab and wipe them out.

So I figured odds were 50/50 that he'd let me give him a pedicure. BET ON THE RESCUE DOG! Once I got him on the couch and feeling secure, he was a DREAM to pedicure. I only stopped without getting all of them down to the quick, because Bailee took it upon herself to attack the nail clippers. I'm pretty sure I heard her holler SPARTACUS!!! or maybe it was ATTICA!!!...at any rate, once again, she was a bad influence.

I am so excited about Diesel's progress. He's really starting to embody all the wonderful, loving qualities I could see glimpses of when he was known as "The Wild Man".

Short story long...

I have a certain talent for making a short story long...

Suffice it to say, we adopted Diesel and he's been making himself at home ever since. Every day his out of control behaviors are becoming more controlled. He's absolutely starving for affection and now that he gets is (almost on demand) he isn't jumping or biting nearly as much.

The girls and he are adjusting to each other and Bailee seems to be the most jealous and put out. I'm making sure to spend special time with her to help her adjust. Diesel is being allowed to sleep loose now and has not done anything destructive or unacceptable yet...though, he's got a lot to say.

It's been so hot here, sleep has been hard to come by. So I've been trying to sleep in...well BAD IDEA. Mr Diesel has a meal clock...and as I was trying to sleep past 5.30, I had a fat, little goblin woofing me to wake up...it reminded me so much of my old Foley boy it was eerie...even Aaron (mr.cranky pants himself) was laughing.

I suppose I feel Deeder's pain, he's on a diet and he's not getting fed on time? Yeah, I am a bad Mama. He's slimming down and is now getting on the couch with ease.

Babysitting Weekend...

So on July 3rd, I drove out to Diesel's foster home, (which just so happened to be the BEST Dog Boarding Spa in Western Washington...perhaps even the entire state! (www.lovingcarek9spa.com) to pick him up for his big adventure at my house.

Diesel was AMPED and excited to see me and he tried to jump in the van, before I even opened the tailgate. We stopped in Issaquah and met with Polly Klein (Tonglen Healing Arts) for a communication session, to explain to Diesel that he was going for a visit. Through it all, he behaved relatively well, until he got bored and wanted to PLAY. Of course, when Diesel wants to play he starts mouthing and grabbing any nearby appendage. I tried to re-route that energy to chewing on a nylabone, which worked pretty well.

Our weekend went really well. Diesel was a perfect gentleman; no accidents in the house, no fear or skittishness from the tons of fireworks being blown off in the neighborhood and no aggression at all to the girls...not even to Bailee, who was really trying to provoke him. If he hadn't gone into a frenzy or 5 over initiating play, he would have been a saint.

Aaron didn't say much to me about Diesel or seem to be influenced one way or the other. So when I came home on Sunday after taking Diesel back to the Spa, I was pretty surprised when he said "Give me a few days and I'll consider adopting the little meathead."

Chapter Three

After Diesel's placement in Canada failed and I blamed myself for awhile about being a crappy judge of character, I thought maybe we weren't really painting a fair and accurate picture of Diesel on our Rescue Page. So I re-wrote a detailed description of Diesel, his issues and the challenges a potential adopter may face. Because, DARN IT, I was going to help that boy find a home.

After that went up, the adoption applications stopped rolling in. Apparently, it painted too accurate a picture and was scaring people away. That was SO not the point!

So when I found out no one was even inquiring about this sweet boy, I mentioned it, in passing to Aaron. Who was fairly non-commital about voicing an opinion on the subject so I let it drop. At least until June 28th, when plied by delicious Jimmy John sandwiches and Johnny Walker Black, I got Aaron to agree to let me "babysit" Diesel at our house, over the Fourth of July weekend.

The Universe does what it's gonna do...

Even though I had convinced myself (and MAYBE Aaron) that I could not adopt Diesel or provide him the fantastic home he deserved, I felt compelled to help work with him and make him more adoptable. The girls and I made a few trips to his foster home and worked with him on basic manners. In a stroke of sheer serendipity the PERFECT home presented itself. Over Easter weekend Diesel and I took a road trip to Chilliwack, BC, where I thought, a love connection had been made. After a month or so of preparation, Diesel's adoptive mom, her housemate, a friend and the other dogs in the household came to Washington to make the adoption "official".

I was absolutely thrilled the day Diesel's new family came to pick him up. Finally, Diesel was going to have a family with people that understood him and would work with him to bring out his best.

The next morning I got a text message from Diesel's foster mom saying she had gone to pick him up. Apparently, things weren't quite meant to be and Diesel pulled out all the stops and behaved terribly. So terribly that he was sent back to rescue within 8 hours of leaving it!

This turn of events made me feel sad for Diesel. Mad at the adopter for not giving Diesel more of a chance. But mostly I felt like it was my fault, that I had somehow failed in my assessment and judgement of Diesel's perfect home. I wanted Diesel to have a "Happily Ever After" Story so badly...

Perhaps that was my fault...*I WANTED* Diesel to have this home. I wanted him to have a Happily Ever After Story...I wanted him to go to Canada, train to be a Search and Rescue Dog and be a credit to Bulldogs everywhere.

BUT, I started to think that maybe, just maybe the Universe was playing a small part in this play.

It wasn't love at first sight!

I first met Diesel in March. He was a crazed maniac, that greeted me at a hundred miles an hour, like a cruise missile aimed directly at my mid-section! To get my attention, he GRABBED me with his mouth, trying desperately to get me to pet him, while completely unaware of the proper way to get affection.

I knew I was there to evaluate him and quite possibly it was a set up, organized by my dear friend and bulldog enabler, Jewlz. His behavior was so intense and out of control, I immediately thought he needed far more than I could possibly give him. With two other dogs, a full time +++ job it just didn't seem fair to even consider bringing another dog into the mix; especially one that had so many problems and would no doubt, need so much time. Besides that, there's another humanoid in the house, who was not at all excited about the idea of another dog...especially one with "issues".

I hadn't been "hooked" and I delighted in going home and telling Aaron that I wasn't even thinking about adopting Diesel.