rescuing animals is a lot like breast feeding mothers..if you are going to do it, you have to do it on demand and you cannot do it half assed, like just whenever it happens to be convenient. the difference is babies will eventually develop their own personal sleep schedules. in rescue, with always taking in new old and wrecked animals, eventual schedules just never become part of the plan. the new ones are discombobulated, the old ones always get sick or seizure or hit some kind of crises in the middle of the night.
in rescue the norm is screwed up sleep at night, you accept it as part of the job and it is not a big deal. I rarely sleep more than 2-3 hours in a row without having to get up for some reason. sometimes I have trouble getting back to sleep like when a 15 pound hairless thing gloms onto me and sits on my chest because he is upset that I left him to tend to bru.
Fernando is a super nice dog, he is my newest best friend and he wants to be with me. I need to find this incredibly sweet dog a home of his own so he can always be with them!
his issues are few...unfortunately they involve housetraining which in most adoptive homes, is an insurmountable issue. apparently he was rescued off of the reserve 4 years ago and never did manage to master the housetraining rules which is why he lost that rescue home. sucks to be him.
the four biggest no go to animals finding a new home are advanced age, separation anxiety, biting and poor house training...oh and being big, black and hairy..i guess that is 5.
well he is little and hairless and does not bite...I do not think he is that old (but quite frankly I have not a clue because I forgot to ask)...the separation anxiety is most likely just temporary cuz his life turned upside down (again) but the peeing and pooping regularly in house is a problem as big as the empire state building.
what a shame cuz he is a really cool dog..there cannot be a lot of Mexican hairless dogs for adoption here I think.
oh well you never know what will come down the pike. the futures of these guys is no more set in stone than how many hours I get to sleep every night. except...I know from experience that sleep deprivation is a normal and regular part of rescue and I also know that dogs who have poor house training skills or are incontinent have really hard times finding new homes.
to me...it is really not all that big of a deal....but to the real non rescue world... it is.
busy early morning today...I have to have orion and Passad at the mission vets by 815...then I pick up Martha and bring her home after her spay. I am meeting the fencing guy at 9 to sign the contract and pay the deposit and I have to be in maple ridge to meet renny and her foster mom at the vets by 0940. hah..i will have put in a full day before some folks have even finished their first coffee. good thing I did diddly squat yesterday!
best guess on fernando's age is approx 8yrs