In a previous post, I talked about Mocha a Foster/adoption that went totally wrong. At the end, I mentioned we took Mocha to the animal hospital and sadly never saw her again. The rescue group did eventually update her status. I am happy to report Mocha is well and making dog memories with her forever family.
After that bad experience, we decided just to give it some time and we are glad we did!
Take 2: my dog tail makes a new ancestry tale.
August 14th
August 14th was a normal Monday where we were out shopping. When we were about to head home, I checked my email, which showed that I had received an email from the animal shelter that we fostered Mocha. The subject said “Three-month-old puppy needs foster today”. My husband and I said there must be something going on that they wanted him fostered that day. Included in the email was a video of a sad whimpering puppy that had little strength to stand and they included his photo too.
Since they classified him as a foster, we didn’t need to commit to adoption. So, since we were about 10 minutes from the shelter, we decided we at least should see the’ puppy that they named ‘Belford.’
The Shelter
When we arrived at the shelter, they told us we can foster, but we were not allowed to meet him, which we thought of as a little unusual as before we could see the puppies in their kennels, we just couldn’t have a meet and greet time.
The reason why we couldn’t see “Belford” was the facility had an outbreak of distemper and Belford wasn’t exposed because they found him wondering the streets on August 13th and separated him on the clinic side of the shelter.
Since it was about lunchtime and the shelter just opened, we went to a fast-food restaurant to make our decision.
Heading Home With Belford
Did you really think we wouldn’t foster “Belford”. We looked at the photo and video many times while eating. He looked so pitiful and because of the situation we wanted to help. Although this was a foster situation, adoption wasn’t too far in the back of our minds.
We filled out all the foster paperwork and they asked us if we needed a kennel or dog food. We said we just need puppy food. After everything was finalized the shelter staff brought out little Belford and we headed for his new foster home.
Firsts
Our daughter loves dogs, where she pet sits in people’s homes. So I am not surprised she came over as soon as we told her about Belford. She arrived just in time to take Belford for his first walkie in the neighborhood. We recorded his first sniffie. I know very silly!
Over the next few days, Belford had many first meetings with the rest of the family. Our only concern was if our grandson would like him and of course there was nothing to worry about. His only question “When are we adopting Belford?”
Belford is a very calm puppy. I have had other people we meet on our walks telling me he is a very calm puppy. He loves to stop and sit and watch things around him. One unusual habit that we can’t seem to stop him from doing when walking: he enjoys picking up stones, paper, roots, and mud. It is now to the point that he swallows everything. Even though he has some bad habits, I fell in love with his walk and bouncy ears.
Several Decisions
Fostering was going so smoothly where our routine went something like this:
- Early morning walk with me, as I am an early riser where after his morning routine I go to the pickle patch.
- Train him with lots of little treats to potty outside and sit.
- During this time, he was getting fed 4 times a day about 1/2 cup in his ‘slow it down’ dish.
- Playing ball in the backyard.
- To finish out his day, just before sunset, my husband and I give him a good bedtime walk.
We had Belford for 10 days when we received an email from the shelter of a potential adoptee. We didn’t think this was going to happen so soon! It is a good thing fosters are given priority, and they gave us 3 days to make our decision. We used all 3 days, as we really wanted to make sure.
Back to The Shelter
So you are probably thinking with that title that we brought Belford to be adopted. Well, you are correct he was adopted, and it wasn’t to someone that emailed. After taking three days as a family we all decided to adopt Belford. So why did we need to go back to the shelter? He had to get micro-chipped and the rest of his puppy shots. While there, they gave us a dog tag we could engrave his new name upon.
When we first started fostering, we were already thinking he needed a new name. It took the family the entire time we fostered Belford to come up with a new name. Our goal was something German because we are getting back to our German roots where some of us are learning German. Wouldn’t you know all the German names just didn’t seem to fit. We finally decided on ………………..Dru! When our grandson was with us a few days later, he said Dru needed a middle name like he does. So his full name is Dru Einstein as we all think he is klug (smart)
Ancestry Tales
I know my tale is not an out of the ordinary tale. Anybody can go to a shelter and foster and adopt, and I hope you do, too. I am recounting my memory as this was an important event in our family life and if I don’t record the Belford Fostering, the details of his beginning may not be recalled exactly as they happened later.
At one time, (when young) I thought I would have perfect recall of all my memories. Just the other day One Drive showed me a memory from 2009, and I sent my daughter the photo of the two of us volunteering JDRF walkathon, with our then puppy Piper who was about the same age as Dru. My daughter texted me how she remembers how I helped with Piper. I responded that I don’t remember anything about Piper being a puppy, only these photos bring memories of what she looked like.
If you are the family genealogist, I encourage you to record “fresh/current” memories and ask other family members to submit any memories for their page in your family tree.
One other reminder is to concentrate on capturing as many memories from the older generations. Would you believe I am now considered the older generation? That switch happens when the last of your parents pass away.
Remember, ancestry is simply recording your own family history that is uniquely yours. Documents verify your tree, but it is the memories that make your tree come to life, the interesting bits will capture the next budding family genealogist.
It is nice to finally have a happy ending to my dog tail. Next up, Dru Einstein and Piper’s Ancestry Pet DNA!
