This weekend, three months after Thüle joined the family, his previous owners gave us his sister and littermate Thuya (pictured at right). Somehow, the six of us — parents, kids, dogs — feel complete together. Thüle used to get nervous (and lonely) easily, but in the company of his fearless, gregarious sister, he's already a changed dog — enterprising, energetic, and self-confident.
Our thanks go out to Will and Meg for having taken fantastic care of them for years, and for the incredible gift of permanent custody over two of the dogs with whom they have bonded as deeply as eventually we will.
Thanks also to the Nobody's Business readers whose supportive comments helped pull me through a rough stretch last year, after the SPCA of Hancock County, in Trenton, Maine, refused to let us adopt Baxter, the lovable Saint Bernhard they had advertised as "friendly" and "affectionate." If you'll recall, the fact that we have kids made us ineligible to adopt Baxter, or any dogs sheltered at the SPCA at the time. A few months later, SPCA staff killed Baxter because there'd been "no takers" for him. (I found out after the fact that the shelter actually bills itself as a no-kill. All I can say is, I hope they remember to wipe the animal blood off the fundraising letters.)
Anyway, we've had offers for help from six or seven states away — including, in just the last couple of months, two instances of people offering us a Saint Bernhard for free. Thank you. We secretly hoped that Thuya would join us and her brother, and now she has.
We're thrilled.
Those are some good looking dogs, Rogier. And I mean that in the most non-Santorum sense.
Posted by: David | Monday, March 24, 2008 at 12:23 PM