Two Dogs In Two Days

Returns Give The Best “Sad” Eyes

We know we’ve said it before, but returns are often our very favorite dogs. We love a returned dog because, just by the nature of it, a dog has been in a home before. We don’t have to go through the process of teaching the dog a new environment. Haul dogs are great, but they are also a lot of work. Returns just don’t require the same level of effort. Call us lazy. We also always feel sad knowing that, for whatever reason, a dog must give up its home. Nobody likes it when a family must return a pet – it is a tough thing for everyone involved. But we realize that sometimes it is in the best interest of both the dog and the adopters. However, this means that the dog pulls a little extra hard on our heart strings.

Maybe Noel Just Doesn’t Like Country Music!

We received notification that a newly adopted dog, Noel, wasn’t adjusting well in her new home and had to be returned to our group so we could rehome her. Seeing as how we didn’t have a foster in our home at the time, we happily agreed to foster her. We arranged to pick up Noel from her previous adopters on Friday evening. The pick-up process is, by far, the worst part of the entire return situation. Sometimes family members cry. Sometimes they blame us. Sometimes they blame themselves. All of it is bad. The situation was made even worse when Noel cried and howled the entire car ride home. We are pretty sure we’re deaf after that ride. Just kidding. Thankfully though, Noel settled down once we got home and showed us her sweet, warm personality.

Don’t Settle In Too Quickly

We knew right away that Noel wouldn’t be with us long. She was such a sweet and spunky dog. Plus, we knew that New Dog Day (NDD) was the next day. NDD is the day that we welcome newly retired racers to Indiana. We have a specialty bus that arrives at the adoption kennel in Florida, picks up multiple dogs, and then transports the retired racers to two or more adoption groups, namely our group, and usually a group in Michigan. It is also the day when approved adopters can come and meet the dogs– especially the prison dogs who won’t be available until after they graduate from the prison program.

NDD is the best opportunity for dogs to get adopted, and that’s exactly what happened. Noel met her forever family. Noel picked two little girls and their dad to be hers. And that was that. Noel was adopted.

Ha! Erin Thinks Our Home Is Quiet!

Thankfully for us, we were planning on bringing home a newly retired greyhound from the haul. The adoption kennel had previously asked if we wanted a very young, very shy boy. He was cat tolerable, which was a huge benefit. However, he needed a quiet home – one without small children or high energy pets. Our home was a perfect foster fit, so we agreed to foster Jo.

“Where’s Ryan?! This Is Jo!”

Jo was actually the first dog off the truck, which meant he was the dog that was able to spend the most time meeting potential adopters. As shy as he was, he did very well at the drop site. It helps that we only allow greyhounds and their humans at the site. The other greyhounds create a calm environment for the newly arrived dogs. He greeted everyone at the site, and then again at PetPeople for his bath, but unfortunately, he didn’t find his forever home that day. So, we took Jo home to adjust to home life with us.

We’ll Let His Forever Parents Teach Him Stairs

What we didn’t know, is that there was a family looking for Jo. They just couldn’t attend the drop site. And so, hearing that Jo was still available, they instantly scooped him up. And just like that Jo was adopted. He would get to spend just one additional night with us before his new dad came and picked him up. And then once again, we were foster dog free – but that’s how fostering goes. Sometimes we have a dog spend months in our home with no adoption in site. And sometimes we get two dogs in two days.