Another One

Just after I gave Bonnie the boot (ok, ok- I didn't REALLY kick her to the curb, she got a great home in AZ) another one came along. Here is something you may not know- I don't like fostering. You take in a dog of an unknown temperament, have to deal with the lack of crate training (which equals crying, whimpering or screaming) possible housebreaking or even crate accidents, inability to walk on a leash, possibly need to be separated from your dogs due to temperament incompatibility, lack of enough crates in your car, extra food bill, and also the unknown of how long they will be around before you finally find a good home. So, no, fostering is not something I like doing. But, lots of other people don't like it either, and lack of foster homes means perfectly nice dogs are killed just because I wouldn't bite the bullet and deal with it. When saying yes to fostering, I think of all the happiness Pie has brought me. Sure, I failed Fostering 101 by keeping her, but if I hadn't fostered her, no one else would have either (there was some confusion and Rescue didn't believe me that she was still there) and I think Pie would have been killed in the shelter. Most people do not adopt large adult dogs from the shelter.

A lady on the Belgian email list sent out a plea about a Malinois in a shelter only about a half hour from my house. That is probably the least far I've traveled to check out a dog, excluding the Ventura County shelter which is about 15 minutes from my house. No good excuse to not go and take a look. After I told her I'd go, she said she wanted to come to learn about evaluations. Now I was grumpy. I'm not any kind of expert at evaluating dogs.

Here is the manual I would write on How to Evaluate a Shelter Dog:

Number 1- Stand in the run with the dog.
A) If it wags its tail- it is a good dog.
B) If it rushes you and bites you it is a bad dog.

Number 2- Pet the dog.
A) See above.
B) If it bites you it is a bad dog.

That's about it. I've never brought toys or treats or done anything other than pet dogs and if it is a small dog, pick it up. Most faithful blog readers know I adopted Pie sight unseen (sent a non-dog friend to pay for her and he only eyeballed her from behind the bars and reported she was not barking, only whining) and Dottie after viewing a video- but she was a puppy so temperament issues are not as big of a deal.

Anyway, if she was willing to go anyway, why did I have to go? It didn't help that I got off work 45 minutes late and therefore was going to be late meeting the her. I ate some ice cream to help me be less grumpy and off I went. Alicia came to help out because she is not grumpy.

Of course the lady we were meeting was super nice (as I already knew since A- we've corresponded before over the email and B- anyone who is willing to help dogs must be) and I soon became ungrumpy. Also the ice cream helped. The dog's name is Diablo and we hung out with him and pet him and I expanded my evaluation to include looking in his ears, checking out his teeth and touching his feet. He didn't bite for any of it so he passed my inspection.

The shelter had toys which he played with and the other lady fed him treats which he took nicely. We learned he had been at another LA shelter for over a month and they transferred him to this on in hopes of getting him adopted. He was a stray and had a microchip from the Riverside shelter but that owner would not return phone calls. Which is how they knew his name was Diablo. I've since changed it to Charlie B, short for Charlie Brown, Charlie Bear (due to his size) or Charlie Buck if you like the literary reference of Call of the Wild.

He is very much a Malinois and has a habit of jumping and air snapping at the same time, so he was put under evaluation at the shelter. We were able to tell it is typical untrained Malinois behavior, but it would make it difficult for him to get adopted.

Since he passed my evaluation and because no one has taken him yet, I decided to foster him for AMBC. Sigh. Like I said, not something I wanted to do, but something that should be done for his sake. It's not his fault he was a stray and his owner wouldn't come for him and he was born a big dog with a genetic tendency to air snap- which is caused by excitement and not aggression but the average person would be scared of anyway.

So far no problems, although the jumping and air snapping can be disconcerting. He is very large. When first introduced to my girls (on leash) he couldn't keep his urges under control. I let him off leash with them this afternoon after several other rounds of introductions and correction for mounting attempts and he was better behaved. Both Pie and Dottie did not like him at all and Pie has kept that opinion but Dottie actually played with him. I'm glad she is playing with him now because it was very sad to see her slinking around, tail and ears and head down, scared of the big male dog who is in her yard.

Anyone want a really big boy? He'll be available through AMBC after about a week or so- I just need to make sure of his temperament before I write his profile. Because he is so large, strong and more of a "real" Mal than my girls or Bonnie, I think he will be difficult to place. He needs a knowledgeable home. I don't know if he gets along with males or not. The cool thing is he actually is trained- he even knows shake.

Introducing Charlie B.


He is very handsome.


He likes to play and does not seem to be possessive. BUT, he has no concept of the difference between toys and hands so it is up to the human to give him a good target to bite or you might loose a finger. Not sure how to "fix" that in an adult dog who is so un-careful without loosing an appendage in the process.