Puppy Adoption: Meeting the Puppies at FCAR

This afternoon, Husband and I drove to Rossville, TN to meet the puppies available for adoption at Fayette County Animal Shelter.

First up was Augie, a black and white spotty puppy with fluffy fur:

Husband holding Augie

As I mentioned in my last post, Augie is currently listed on Petfinder as a Catahoula Leopard Dog/Australian Cattle Dog (Blue Heeler) mix that who is destined to grow up to be A Very Large Animal. (A Catahoula can be anywhere from 40 to 90 pounds!)  But the FCAR workers weren't sure whether or not he would actually become a Very Large Animal because he was so tiny (only 3 lbs.!) when he arrived at the shelter.

Just look at that adorable face!

But after several weeks in foster care at Emily's (the adoption coordinator's) house, Augie has almost quadrupled in size--he's a little over 12 pounds now.  It seems that he's going to be a Very Large Animal after all.  And if he's actually a Catahoula mix, then not only is he going to be a Very Large Animal, but he'll very be a Very Large Animal who is Quite Stubborn, Dominant, and Won't Like Very Many People Unless He's Properly Socialized.

I confessed to Emily that I wasn't so sure about adopting a Very Large Animal, because Husband is Distinctly Unwilling to sleep on the floor in order to make enough room for the bed.  Heck, if this thing grows up to be 90 lbs., I might have to sleep on the floor as well!  Emily said that we could have Beatrice sleep on the bed and Augie sleep on the floor or in a crate, as long as we establish that routine from day one.  Then she went a step further and said that it might even be good idea because it would establish Beatrice as the dominant dog in the house and curtail Augie's (already apparent) tendency to try to dominate.  Apparently, she also advises people who are adopting a second dog to always pet their older dog before their new dog when they get home from work.  Who knew?

So soft, so fluffy, SO ADORABLE!

Emily has already had a number of applications for Augie, but she says can put him on hold for 24 hours.  The moment of truth approaches: are Husband and I ready for a Catahoula mix. Is Beatrice ready for a Catahoula mix?  We're getting this puppy for her, after all.

It's time for me to get to the point: Husband and I loved, loved, LOVED Augie, but we're not sure that adopting him is The Path of Wisdom,

Onto the next round of candidates: the Scruffy Puppies!

The Scruffy Puppies! From left to right: McFly (female), Marty (female), and Einstein (male).

Two of The Scruffy Puppies--Marty and McFly--are female.  The male is named Einstein.  They are 12 or 13 weeks old. When they arrived at FCAR, they were suffering from malnutrition to the extent that the joints in Einstein's feet weren't able to develop properly, leaving him to walk flat footed. Thanks to the better care that he's receiving, his joints have developed and he's walking properly now.

I had thought their fur would be wiry, but in actual fact it was quite soft.  They look A LOT like Cairn Terriers, but they are already about as big as an adult Cairn Terrier, and still growing.  They'll probably end up being medium sized dogs (like Beatrice).

I asked Emily if they seemed to enjoy digging, and she said that she hadn't noticed them doing any digging, but that they really hadn't had much of an opportunity. I swear that Marty overheard me, because she immediately started scratching at the ground.

Puppy pile! Just look at Einstein (the puppy sitting down in the back) in this photo--is he not just the spitting image of a Cairn terrier?

The Scruffy Puppies were very shy of humans.  They wagged their tails and looked happy to see us, but hung back.  I think they were torn between wanting to cuddle and being absolutely terrified. They would allow you to hold them, but weren't happy about it.  They are clearly very attached to each other. I'm not sure if they've ever been introduced to other dogs.

This was about as close as the puppies really wanted to get to anyone. Look at how round their bellies are--that's because of the worms. In this photo you can also see about what size they are.

The Scruffy Puppies will be available to go home to forever families in 7-10 days, after they've been spayed/neutered. (At least, I think that was what Emily said.  I might not be remembering properly.)  Hopefully they'll have settled down by that time. Considering how nervous they are around humans, and how attached they are to each other, it seems like they might be terrified to find themselves in a new situation--especially a new situation with an extremely excited new dog friend such as Beatrice will be.

Just look at those big, brown eyes!

After meeting the puppies, I took the opportunity to be nosy and take a quick look about.  The shelter facility was small, but clean, and the dogs looked like they had ample room and were quite comfortable.  FCAR seems to be a well run organization.  Here are a couple of photos of the other furry friends waiting for adoption:

Remember the photos of the yellow puppies that I posted yesterday?  We did not get to meet those cuties today because they are still living in their foster home.  But because they are old enough to be weaned, their mom, Shimmer, is now living in the shelter, and she is NOT interested in staying put in her kennel!

Shimmer makes a bid for escape!

There was a tiny space between the gate and the wall, and Shimmer was just small enough to worm her way out to freedom!

Peek-a-boo!

Shimmer loves to cuddle and snuggle with people; they describe her on FCAR's Facebook page as "100% pure love hound."  I think she was lonely in her kennel and wanted to find someone to give her belly rubs and love on her.

The lady that is fostering Shimmer's babies (of which there are four), will be back in town next week.  If we decide not to adopt Augie or a Scruffy Puppy, we have the option of meeting Shimmer's babies, BUT we probably won't get to pick which one we want because the foster mom gets to pick first, and then the two people who got their applications in ahead of us will get to pick next.  That would leave Husband and I with whichever puppy no one else wants.

So, those are our current options, and our window of time in which to decide is relatively short.  We are considering going by another animal shelter tomorrow before we decide.  The biggest problem with that is that we've already been by the local humane society, so this would be a kill shelter--potentially a high kill shelter.  I hardly need to describe the dangers of a person such as myself visiting a kill shelter.  Even my extremely sensible husband might have trouble. (FCAR is a no-kill shelter, thank God.)

Does anyone out there have wise advice to share??  We could certainly use some!