Introducing Hunter

Selena and Tulsa spent the day at PetSmart again on Saturday, but neither found homes yet. One thing I've read over and over about deaf dogs is they are always a dog first, the breed second, and deaf last. I've definitely found this to be true with Tulsa, and I'm sad to say that I've decided I'm not the right foster home for her right now. Tulsa is only six months old, and she's very high energy, and as sweet as she is with people, she still needs a home with someone that can work with her. Since my husband and I both work full-time, and have three other dogs to take care of, we weren't able to spend the time with her that she needed. She liked to nip at other dogs during playtime, and that's a natural thing for her breed to do, but it was beginning to hurt Remi and since we couldn't spend enough time training her, I thought it was best if she went back to her original foster home for now. I feel really bad about sending her back, but I know she will be well taken care of, and it will make the situation better for our other foster dogs as well as my husband and I.



While our eventual goal is to get back down to only two foster dogs (plus our own dog and cat), I did not want to give Tulsa back to her first foster home without taking another dog to make space for her. So I talked to the Heartland volunteers in charge of dog fostering and we decided that Hunter might be a good choice. Hunter was taken in by Heartland from a kill shelter when he ran out of time. He is a pointer/great-dane mix, and he's about 1 1/2 years old. He was unhappy at his first foster home, because its more of a kennel environment and since he'd been in another animal shelter before that, I'm sure he was anxious to get back to having carpet and couches and a few more "creature comforts". I think he's a typical Dane in that respect. Hunter reminds me of Remi in so many ways. He has the same face (on a much smaller body), and he even acts the same as Remi in many ways. He is goofy and funny, and loves to play with Selena, Remi and Koda. He drips water everywhere after he drinks, which we're used to because Remi does the same thing. He behaves really well so far. My goal with him is to teach him to stop jumping on people, and my #2 goal is to teach him to sit. He is already housebroken which is a big plus. He is VERY skinny and looks like he's been starved, although I think that might just be his body type. But I'll keep feeding him a lot (he was eating 8 cups a day at his last foster home!) and see if we can get his weight up some. In the meantime, if I take him anywhere I will have to make sure to take one of our other dogs so people know that I'm not really starving him. :-) In fact, Koda is starting to gain a little TOO much weight. My husband says she looks like a piglet, and I have to agree. She's pretty good at cleaning up any stray pieces of dog food that the other dogs leave behind, and I will need to start cutting back on her food pretty soon. She always acts so hungry, but I do want her to stay healthy and not get too overweight. I'll try to post some new pictures of her soon - I think she's growing quickly! She goes to the vet this week to get spayed and another round of shots, and then she'll be ready for adoption on Saturday if she's feeling well enough!



Here is a picture of Hunter: