My third foster taught me that no matter how many times you explain things to adopters they NEVER listen - but sometimes it works out regardless.
Diva also taught me a very important lesson about Bourbon...
Diva was a dollface. She was so cute and tiny, especially compared to Lola! Diva came into rescue because her owners had allergies, which is actually one of the typical reasons we get. She had obviously been well taken care and had the most fantastic personality, particularly for her age (being a doberteen and all!). She played with Majestic and Bourbon, even though she was a bit on the pushy side - pretty typical doberman bitch :).
Diva wasn't with me for very long (just almost a month) but something scary happened with her and Bourbon while she was here. I had just bought a new bag of food and had it in the kitchen blocked off (at least I thought it was blocked off) because my food container had just broken (the hinges broke and the lid cracked). So I thought I had secured the open food bag in the kitchen away from the dogs - I was totally wrong! Never underestimate the sneakiness of a naughty dog :). Bourbon had disappeared from the living room and all was quiet in the house so I went to look for him in the kitchen. There he was, gorging himself on the open bag of food. Unfortunately, when I journeyed to the kitchen so did Diva and she ran up to Bourbon to stick her head in the food bag too. Let's just say that was a recipe for disaster!
Bourbon attacked her and it was a nightmare. I did get them separated and managed to keep Majestic out of the fray, but oh geez did I have blood everywhere! Diva had a few puncture wounds on her face and Bourbon had several on his legs and chest. I felt like such a foster failure!! I got everyone cleaned up and luckily no one was majorly hurt so there wasn't a subsequent vet run. Whew, talk about an adrenaline rush!!
I called our president and explained the situation and asked for any advice, secretly hoping I would still be able to foster!! I also quickly put the food bag behind a closed door so there would be no more mistakes and made plans to go get a new food container the very next day. I kept Bourbon and Diva separated for several days to let the resulting emotions cool off and everything turned out fine. But oh what a lesson!!
Diva's adopted drove down to Moline, IL to meet her (as I was driving up there for an agility fun match with Bourbon) and instantly fell in love. Their current dog though was not quiet sure. They had another female in the house and sometimes two females spells trouble. But they decided to give it a go and took her home for the trial period (we usually give about 2 weeks for the adopter to fully decide if they are keeping the dog or not).
Of course I told them to take it slow and keep the girls separated at home, only allowing short introductions and gradually extending the time they are together. So what did they do? They got home and let both girls into the kitchen while they went back and forth from the car hauling things inside. So not only did they let both girls loose together right away, but there was a lot of commotion with going in and out and no one was supervising. Needless to say there was a small skirmish and they contacted me right away. However, they worked through it and the two girls are now best friends. I thought for sure after that first panicked phone call that they were going to return Diva, but they finally decided to listen to directions and everything worked out. They renamed her Rajana and she has flourished in their home. She was their second dog from IDR+, we love repeat adopters!!
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