I waited in the lobby while the kennel attendant went back to retrieve the dog I was here to pick up. His name was Baxter and he had recently been rescued from a high kill shelter in Ohio. I was to be his new foster. His background was unknown but I was told he was a friendly, overgrown puppy. When the attendant brought him out to me he ran immediately to me for attention. He pulled on the leash all the way to my car and willingly jumped in. Once in the car he sat nicely in the back seat and watched with interest out the windows on the drive home. I think that’s when I fell in love with Baxter. He was just as obliging when we got home. He got along with my other foster dog and was very well behaved in the house. Then something terrible happened in my life. My other foster, Suzie 07-255, escaped. It was a very intensive week of searching for her. Baxter was a great comfort to me during that period. When I received a "Suzie sighting", Baxter and I would walk from the house to the area she had been spotted and then back home. At times we would go and sit at the local park she was often spotted at. He seemed to know he had a job to do and well, it worked! Suzie ended up coming home on her own after a week on the lam. I am sure that she picked up Baxter and my scents and followed them home. It was sometime during that week that I knew Baxter had found his forever home. I suspect Baxter knew it the first time he met me at the kennel. Yes, I have become the dreaded foster failure. While it’s true I have fallen in love with all the dogs I have fostered, I have still been able to keep my behavior ‘professional’ and find good, loving, forever homes for them. But with Baxter, I have failed - I have adopted him.
Baxter will do anything for a treat. He has learned Sit, Down, Inside, Come, Fetch, etc. While still unreliable on many of these commands, he is after all just a puppy. He still pulls when we go on walks and we have switched to a Gentle Leader. For a dog his age, he does well in the house. As long as he has toys and something to chew on he is content. I have made one concession. I do not leave shoes out. He loves shoes and I want to keep mine in one piece. He seems to understand that dog play takes place outside and rarely gets rambunctious with Suzie in the house. He also gets along well with my two cats. Mrs. Bigglesworth has already claimed him as belonging to her. I have noticed something subtle in Baxter’s behavior. While he does not need to be with me at all times, he does want to know where I am. Whether he is in our backyard or playing with one of his new playmates in the yard of a friend, he periodically checks to see where I am. Then he happily goes back to what he was doing.
I have attached a couple pictures of Baxter. In them he is waiting for me by my favorite sitting place in the backyard. Isn’t he a handsome boy?
