Shelter-dog news

The Human Assistant helped me write this last week. But he didn't have the energy to finish it. Physical or emotional energy, he said. But he had enough to make a joke. Or what he called a joke - he said he was out of inner chi. Awfully lame.

Anyway, he says that two days later, Bo and Harry had applications to be adopted. In fact, Harry's picture isn't on the website anymore. So maybe his application was accepted. But here's what we wrote plus some more to finish it up:

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The Human Assistant went to the MaxFund shelter today [October 10  - mr_ed] to see what's up with the dogs. I could tell because he came back smelling like lots of dogs. And a kitten! (He says he just petted the kitten's head.)

He took a puppy out of its crate and carried him into the lobby. Some visitors wanted to take it for a walk. The pup's name is actually Fez (he's not on the website yet) but they forgot and told him a different name. When he figured out who they wanted he said,

mr_ed:  Ahh, you didn't remember the name, but the Fez was familiar!

(Note to Amber: He didn't really say that. He thought of it just now while he was typing. But he thought you'd like it.)

It was kind of a sad afternoon at the shelter. First of all, H.A. was a little down. When he left the shelter he wanted to bring about half the doggies home so they could comfort each other. (It's a good thing he didn't!)

But also, one of the dogs there had been really sick. She died today. And while he was there, some adopters brought a dog back. Plus, he knew another dog that had been brought back a couple of days ago.

Chloe	Bo	Pearl

Chloe is the dog that came back today.

Bo - people thought he was adopted. We wrote about him before. But stupid H.A. hasn't put tags on the blog so it will take forever to find that. But it seems Bo was just in a foster home.

And he was getting training to be a tracking dog! That would have been so super! But the family's situation changed. And so Bo is back.

We've written about Pearl, too. Another place rescued her after Hurricane Katrina, and then she came to Denver. She was on the TV twice after this year's anniversary! But no worthy adopters came out of it.

BUT !!!  Pearl may be able to go back to her New Orleans family! MaxFund is pretty sure they know who it is! They're checking to see if the family is able to have their big Rottie girl back.

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Does anydoggy know about Belgian Shepherd Dogs? The people who brought Harry to MaxFund said he's a purebred longhaired German Shepherd. This seriously cracked up the Human Assistant. He thinks he knows about German Shepherd Dogs even though he's never had one.

mr_ed:  Yes, there are people who like the look of a long-haired German Shepherd. It's a reminder of the native German herding dogs of more than 100 years ago.

Yes, there are registries that will sign you up and let you say that you have a purebred longhaired German Shepherd. But world standards (like with the AKC) are supposed to follow the home country's standards. Long coats are out. (White coats ... not as completely standard.)

And flop ears? Do any registries allow that? I dunno, but I doubt it. And I was told at MaxFund that Harry's hips are shot, and he's only two years old. Really, it sounds to me like he's a purebred mutt.

But a nice mutt! He didn't bark at me like his MaxFund blurb said he would. He was very accommodating on a walk. It's just the noise and confusion of the shelter that had him nervous and upset.

So here is Nicole Howard's official MaxFund photo of Harry. And one that H.A. took in the MaxFund rehabilitation yard.

And a picture from Wikipedia. The H.A. thinks Harry looks more like a Belgian Tervuren, so here's that:

MaxFund's Harry	Harry in yard	Belgian Tervuren

mr_ed:  Harry tried to be nice and go along with his "German Shepherd" label. He struck this pose on his own. GSD or bad hips? I don't know enough to tell from his walk.

And he says, "See? Black saddle! Just like a GSD!"

But I think a peek at other Tervuren pictures shows something like black saddles there, too. And the black mask just makes me think so strongly of Malinois and Tervuren pictures I've seen.

So there you go. You may have seen this post before it was finished. And then saw that it disappeared. Well, here it is back again, finished and updated a little.

Please let me know if you or your people know lots about German or Belgian Shepherd Dogs. It would be nice to tell the Human Assistant that he's even more full of hot air than usual!

-- photo #1 of Harry and photos of Bo, Chole, and Pearl by Nicole Howard
-- photo of Belgian Tervuren from Wikipedia