Isn't that the way it goes? The first gets all the pictures taken, one or three albums dedicated exclusively to their special moments. They're the focus of post after post daily on half a dozen social networking outlets. Heck, entire blog entries go on and on about the nature of their poop, for cryin' out loud!
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| Charlie Beagle |
Then the second comes along, maybe even a third, and...well...the bloom tends to fade from the lily, so to speak.
Lord, don't we treat our pets just like our children, often in more ways than we are comfortable owning up to!
By accident of birth, I happen to be the first born of four. I would be the last one to suggest that our mom loved any one of us more than any other, for her love was unconditional across the board. Yet, everyone knew; Mom liked me best.
So it goes with foster dogs, as well. If it hasn't happened to you yet, I dare say that it will, sooner or later.
Our first foster, Opal Hound, was...is...special to us. We came within a breath of adopting her ourselves, and it purely was knowing that we could not give her the physical space and exercise a hound her size needs that prevented us from keeping her. So off Opal went to Helping Hounds in New York where someone would give her a home to fit her particular needs.
With Opal, it truly was a case of love at first sight on my part. She had me from the moment I laid eyes on her face in a Facebook posting.
Now comes Charlie Beagle; an older, calmer, smaller addition to our family of two humans, a house dog, four cats and a bird. Love at first sight with Charlie? Mmmm, not so much.
I beg to differ. Beano and I are smitten.
Please understand, I like Charlie. I like Charlie a lot, in fact. I just do not love Charlie with an intensity to match my love for Opal.
Charlie will make some family an outstanding, loving pet. He is bright, attentive when he wants to be, house trained, well mannered, maybe a little sloppy with his dining habits, well behaved on a leash, comfortable in a crate (except at night, alone in a strange room) and is not excessively vocal.
He is a Beagle after all, so his bark is quite distinctive and when he bays, the Beagle hound in Beano perks right up!
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| Beano and Charlie take a break between wrestling bouts. |
Moreover, he is a great companion for our beagle/Boston, Beano, as they share some common breed traits, are well matched in size and are about the same age. Charlie is curious concerning the cats, but he does not chase nor otherwise antagonize them. As for the bird, he's is fairly ambivalent.
Beano seems to have taken to Charlie and vice versa. I think Opal, as much as Jim and I were infatuated with her, intimidated our older pup. She was taller and livelier than he was used to, and could easily wrest away his favorite toys. He can be quite selfish! Charlie, so far, has shown absolutely NO interest in cow, Beano's best inanimate buddy. That makes Charlie A-OK in Beano's books!
And while we have not had an opportunity to introduce Charlie to small children, we have no reason to believe he would be tempted to eat one, even if they did deserve it.
Charlie is a great dog. If it were not so, I would tell you, because that's my job. But when it comes to puppy love, the chemistry simply isn't there this time around. And I can tell you, this is a much more comfortable place from which to foster a deserving dog along the Road to Forever.
Charlie had my heart from our first meeting, several days before we picked him up. I too, think he will be a wonderful addition as some family's forever dog. Beano and I intend to enjoy the heck out of him while he visits with us.
So it is that while Charlie is our second foster, he certainly does not rate second-best!
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