Teich.Net :: All In

We always sort of expected that when we got a dog, it would be some type of retriever and that, as with most labs and goldens, it would love food. It would have been appropriate.
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Note from Olivia: Matt recently posted this story of visiting gorillas and Rwanda more than ten years after the genocide on a password-protected forum. It struck a chord and I found myself wanting to recommend it to a much wider audience. He kindly agreed to repost it here.

We’d wanted to visit Mountain Gorillas for many years but a combination of backpacking, work, a desire to visit many other countries, genocide and a cost verging on prohibitive put us off until earlier last year when we realized that we had a gap in our Holiday calendar and noticed that our mortgage was no more (Woo Hoo!)

Initial attempts to keep the cost down by booking it independently were thwarted by difficulty in booking the necessary gorilla trekking so we eventually settled on Rainbow tours based in the UK who put together a short trip that would enable us to see the Gorillas twice and spend a night in Kigali before returning home. Read the rest of this entry »

Maybe you guessed from the abundance of animal photos in our gallery or the foster dog posts, but I have a serious weakness for cute animals. As extreme as my affection may be, it’s now clear that I’m not alone: Cute Overload is exactly what the name implies and I love it! In addition to ridiculously cute images from all across the Web, the commentary is amusing too: this photo (picked almost at random from the abundance of heart-melting images) is captioned “The Paws up can kill you — Don’t look!”

For anyone interested in the next chapter of Kirk’s story, here’s the good (would it be too sappy to call it heart-warming?) initial report from his new family:

… We had a great first night. Kirk and Spy continue to get along and Kirk got to meet our neighbor’s dog, Sadie. Sadie is an older golden retriever but still spunky and she and Kirk got along fine! Kirk slept in our room in a large crate that we used for Spy when we first got him. He didn’t paw at the crate door or whine and was still asleep when I left for work. He was even snoring a bit last night. I think he’s going to work out great. I revisited our dog training book on the way to work and am looking forward to working with him.

Our son, Damian, has really taken to Kirk and spent a lot of time petting him last night, which he didn’t do much with Spy when we first got him. I think they have a special bond …

… We’ve named him Angus. He and Spy were licking each other’s faces this morning. Too cute!

Yesterday I posted information about Kirk to Craigslist. 151 people have looked at his pictures and several have emailed asking to meet him. After spending time this morning watching him play with Spy (a big, beautiful 3 year-old German Shepherd/Rottweiler mix), testing him against the kids, walking him, and thinking on all that’s involved in having two large dogs, the first family into the fray have just taken Kirk home. He arguably has the best personality of any foster dog we’ve had (we’ve been lucky) and we’d have kept Kirk ourselves if it wasn’t so clear that he needs a canine companion and a bigger space to run. We are sad to see him go, but are also a little relieved not to have too much more time to get attached and truly happy to see him with such a good family. We wish them all the best.

About a week ago, the yearning to get a dog got too strong. Usually it’s kept in check by my overly developed sense of guilt about leaving a dog home alone and the lingering ambition to move to Europe, but every few months we start to wonder if we could make it work. It’s not so hard to think we could. Doggie day care isn’t so outragious and the border collie down the street couldn’t be happier than when the Smilin’ Dogs van pulls up. For many of the dogs in need of homes, certainly what we can offer is better than the alternative. For anyone struggling with the same rationalizations, we have a solution: spend some quality time with someone else’s dog. For us, that most often comes through fostering a dog in need.
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Only two days after I first wrote about Bob, he was adopted by a lovely woman who will give him a wonderful permanent home. Meg had been looking for a black lab and first saw Bob’s photo on a lab rescue site. She called Merced, who pointed her to the first of three contacts at Safe Haven, who finally referred her to me. She came to meet him Tuesday night and quickly fell in love. We miss him and we hope to see him again some day, but it’s good to know he is sure to be loved as much as he loves people.

Meet Bob.

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OK, not for sale, but just for free adoption to a loving home!

This is a wonderful dog in need of a good home if you or anyone you know if looking for a sweet and loving companion.
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