[Dailydrool] new homes, PEOPLE, and what just happened

[Pat Dill]

Bambi,

I've been volunteering with rescue for a number of years now, and although I 
am less involved with potential adopters now than previously, it has never 
ceased to amaze me what PEOPLE can do.  They are an enigmatic breed, capable 
of atrocious cruelty and unbelievable kindness, great wisdom and 
unbelievable stupidity.

If I look back over the many applicants and adopters I've met or spoken 
with, it is humbling at just how poor my judgment has been.  I've had 
applicants I interviewed to adopt my very own foster hound.  I was just SURE 
they'd be a great home, and yet less than a week after adopting Candy they 
were on the phone saying that the dog was "vicious" and had to be returned 
immediately.  This, a foster I'd had for eight weeks and whom I'd never even 
seen pull her lip back.  Turns out that they had provided no soft place AT 
ALL for this girl to sleep, and when she climbed up on the sofa, they yelled 
at her and pulled her off the furniture.  Her response was a growl (which 
equals "vicious").  Now, they knew she had arthritis; I'd told them so. 
They'd had dogs before (they had another at the time); why would they 
suddenly shout at her and yank her off the sofa, knowing that she was brand 
new to their household, had not yet developed a bond with the humans, had no 
soft place to rest her achy bones, and knew nothing of her nature?  PEOPLE! 
On the other hand, I've seen adopters about whom I'd had doubts.  Maybe they 
had very young children, or no previous dog experience, or lived in a tiny 
apartment in the city, and I had my doubts in seeing a dog go there.  Years 
later, they'd adopted time after time, spent endless hours volunteering for 
rescue and attending basset events, turned their life savings over to the 
vet for needed medical care for their houndies, etc.  How could this be? 
PEOPLE.

I have often thought that when Barbara Wicklund adopted our first basset out 
to Carol and me that she must have crossed her fingers.  We had never had a 
dog before; our only experience was with house rabbits, and our stipulation 
in adopting Murphy was that she had to get along with the rabbits or we 
would have to return her.  No fence, worked all day, lived by a busy 
intersection.

But that was 1995, 11 adopted hounds later.

So you just never know.  Sigh, move on, and keep looking.  Somewhere out 
there is the right home for AhroooBa, and it will probably be with the 
adopters you would have least expected.

Pat