The Search for the Perfect Pet

Ahhh. Finn.

What's not to like? He's a lover. He sticks close by. He loves to be petted and long walks. He refused the crate, but has slept in the bedroom on his doggy bed all night without interruption. He's not a barker. He doesn't "surf" the kitchen counters. He listens pretty well. In fact, he is very well behaved.

How did we get so lucky? Finding a good pet is a bit of a crap shoot.

Getting Finn through an on-line service called Petfinder.com reminded me of the stories I'd heard of adults finding each other through Match.com and eharmony.com.

There are photos posted with a fetching description of the great qualities and interests of the pet. There is the obvious attempts at capturing the best sides of an animal, trying to get the animal to smile or look cute with scarfs or a pretty collar.

I have to say I was totally smitten by those Great Pyrenees. Gorgeous, big-boned dogs with beautiful expressive eyes. I couldn't get enough of them.

But alas, meeting Pyr pups and their parents in a barn near Lancaster, PA and talking to the owner, I realized that these dogs were not a good fit. It was like going on a first date and meeting the family all at once - in their home environment. I got to see for myself what I was inviting into my life.

So back to the Petfinder.com lists of dogs. Somehow I found myself looking at a Bernese Mountain dog who was blind. I was captured by it's warm, friendly looks with a built in smile. Up until then, I hadn't considered a dog with different abilities.

There was a video on the website to see how this beauty got around. Basically, the rescue group wanted to make sure people saw how the dog handled taking a few steps in his foster home. It stumbled down a step, but caught itself, too. The dog had arthritis in the front legs - probably from knocking those front legs around so much.

This sensitized me to the challenges a blind dog might experience and of something Bill Thomas, a geratrician doctor, talks about -that aging isn't so much about a gradual, predictable loss as much as it is the inevitable dings (basic human level & cellular) in life we get that build up over time. The more dings that build up, the more damage occurs, the more chance we will hurt ourselves some more - and at the cellular level, the more likely we will get disease. These dogs were taking some dings!

Searching for a pet got me to thinking about lifespan. One animal on the Collie Rescue site was listed as outliving her owner and was rescued from an estate decision to put her in a shelter and possibly be euthanized. I'm guessing she wasn't young herself, but still. Thankfully, they were fostering her until she could find her "forever home" - a new term I was learning.

Now I was planning on what would I do if something happened to me and I didn't even have a dog yet. I'd like to think that I have family or friends who would take my pets in. Perhaps I need to make more specific plans. Just looking at the various photos and reading the bios got me to thinking about things I hadn't thought of.

I had put in applications for various rescue and foster dogs through organizations. Some called. I even considered getting an older female Pyr who was incontinent. We didn't have the fencing needed for an active Pyr with 5 or 6 foot fencing suggested, so I figured this was my way of getting a Pyrenees. I had this fantasy of having a dog assisted-living home briefly. Thankfully, my family reined me in on that one.

My daughter talked me into putting in an application for a rescued greyhound that she was interested in. She printed up the bio on the dog and almost had me. This dog was a black and lithe. But I knew in my heart of hearts that a greyhound wasn't my type. I needed some fluff. She could get her own dog.

And then Finn's bio showed up and I applied. This was the second dog I'd applied for through the Collie Rescue folks. After a telephone interviewed, we passed the initial stage, and moved to the in-home visit. Before bringing Finn home, I just had to meet him and see him eye-to-eye and get furr to skin hugs.

And, I am glad I did. He was everything his publicists said and is more. To see Finn's profile cut and paste into your browser http://www.savecollies.org/adopted.html Type in "Finn" to bring up his information.

I just hope I never have to go through this looking for a human. It makes me even more grateful for being in a relationship with Partner these past 30 years!