We took a walk around the Auburn University Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art.
During the weekend that Mercy passed her Canine Good Citizen test, many ESRA members met at the National English Springer Field Trial in Perry, Georgia. It was decided during that time that Alabama would join the MidSouth English Springer Rescue branch of ESRA with North and South Carolinas and Georgia. This means that Millie would no longer need to coordinate everything for Alabama, but now she becomes the post-adoption co-coordinator of MidSouth rescue, and other MidSouth volunteers can help out with many of Millie�s previous duties, such as communicating with shelters who called in about a Springer at their place and owners who want to relinquish their dogs, and phone interviewing applicants. Today Millie emailed me to say that since she hasn�t gotten anybody from Alabama interested in Mercy, she�s going to change Mercy�s contact person to Kathy, the MidSouth adoption coordinator. Because all the applicants now come through Kathy, it�s just easier to change the contact person, even though it�s during the middle of the adoption process. At first I was a little worried because I�ve been emailing Millie all Mercy�s updates, so Millie knows Mercy pretty well and knows what kind of perspective adopters would work out better for Mercy (after the applicants are approved, they first speak to the contact person to learn more about the dog and the contact person more about the lifestyle of the applicant, and if the contact person thinks there is a good match, then the contact person would give my contact information to the applicant so the applicant can contact me to see learn everything they want to know about the dog), but I�ve never talked to Kathy before, and Kathy knew nothing about Mercy except what�s on the website.
Saturday, November 27, 2004
Kathy called today to get some more information about Mercy�s personality so she can better match her with potential adopters.
I put away all paper and plastic bags in the living room also and let Mercy have the run of the apartment most of the time when I'm not at home, for the past two and half weeks, and she's been fine with it. I still keep her in the bedroom sometimes just to keep her used to being locked up while home alone.
We went to the softball field next to the elementary school this morning, and this guy had a pair of Weimaraners with him. Mercy and "Audrey" played chase with each other for several minutes and had a lot of fun. I wish they could've played together longer, but it started raining.
We went to Callaway Gardens again to see their Fantasy in Lights. Fantasy in Lights starts at 6 PM, but we got there at 4 PM so we could take a walk in the gardens. Besides, the gardens admission is included in the Fantasy in Lights admission anyways.
Today I got an email from Heather, the MidSouth foster coordinator, who lives in Atlanta. Heather said she spoke to Lori last night. Lori also lives in Atlanta, and she adopted a senior Springer from Millie about two years ago. Actually Lori and Charlotte, the Springer, went to the rescue parade that Penelope and I went to in Atlanta in January 2003. On the Sunday after Mercy passed her Canine Good Citizen test, I actually spoke to Lori myself also. Millie had told me that Charlotte died in May after battling with Cushing�s Disease, and now Lori and her family is looking to adopt a younger dog. When I spoke to Lori a month ago, she asked a lot of questions about Mercy and sounded very nice. But I hadn�t heard anything from her after that, so I thought she decided to not adopt Mercy anymore, especially after she told me that when she saw Charlotte�s picture, she just knew she had to adopt her, but she did not have the same feeling when she saw Mercy�s picture (Millie told me that Lori and her family were very attached to Charlotte), just that Mercy is a nice dog that might fit into their family. Then today Heather emailed me to say that if we haven�t promised Mercy to anybody else yet then Lori would like to go ahead and adopt Mercy. Since I will be in the Atlanta area with Anastasia and Mercy on December 12, I can bring Mercy to Lori on that date. Heather also said that Lori would like to do foster care. And since there�s a foster dog (Brenna), who needs to be in a one-dog home (please see Brenna�s pages to find out more about this), already staying at a kennel in Atlanta, Lori would take Brenna this Saturday and foster her until December 12. Millie emailed to say that she�s happy that Lori is adopting Mercy, but she worries that Lori and her family will fall in love with Brenna and keep her, and not wanting to adopt Mercy anymore on December 12. Heather said Lori would like to do foster care even after she adopts a dog, and she definitely cannot do that if she adopts Brenna, so she didn�t think Lori will adopt Brenna. However, since I know Millie knows Lori and her family well, I did not want to take the chance and decided to act on Millie�s advice. Even though Lori is planning to get a dog who gets along with other dogs so she can foster a dog later, I�m sure once she falls in love with Brenna, she will probably decide not to foster anymore, because her adopted dog will come first. I can completely understand if she decides to do this, because even though Penelope did not get along with other dogs, there was no way I was going to give her up once I fell in love with her. So I emailed Heather to tell her that I�m willing to drive Mercy to Atlanta this Saturday, and then take Brenna back with me to be fostered by me.
Thursday, December 2, 2004
Heather emailed back to say that it�s a good idea for Lori to adopt Mercy and then I take Brenna this Saturday, because if Brenna gets fostered by Lori and doesn�t get adopted by next Saturday, December 12, then they would have to look for another foster home for Brenna. But if I foster Brenna, then she can stay at the same place until I leave for my California trip, but I can foster her again after I come back and keep her until she gets adopted. Millie has agreed to keep Mercy at her house while I�m in California in case Lori decided not to adopt Mercy on Saturday or if she returns Mercy after Saturday.
Saturday, December 4, 2004
The plan today is for Heather to pick up Brenna from the kennel, and then drive to Alabama to meet Dugan�s foster parents, and then drive back to Atlanta to meet me at Lori�s house around 2 PM. Dugan is going to another foster home in South Carolina. Heather was supposed to call me last night to give me the direction to Lori�s house. This morning I woke up early to take Mercy on a long walk on campus, and when I hadn�t heard from Heather by 8 AM, I got a little worried. I left a message on her cell phone, but she did not return the call. Then at around 9AM, Dugan�s foster mom called to find out if I had heard anything from Lori, because they hadn�t. Then around 10 AM, Lori called to find out what they need to get for Mercy before she comes (I told her Mercy came with everything except water and food bowls, which they already got). That�s when I got direction to Lori�s house. Thirty minutes later, I still haven�t heard from Heather, so I told Lori that Mercy and I would just start driving now, since it would take us about two and half hours to get to her house anyways. Then right before I was about to start my car, Heather called. She said everything�s okay, just that her battery ran out so she couldn�t call us before, but she would meet us at Lori�s house later. Lori�s house is in a nice neighborhood, with lots of sidewalks for walking and jogging. And there are several families with kids playing in the yard. When we got into Lori�s house, at first Mercy was a little intimidated by Lori�s kids (eight year old Erin and four year old Ethan). Usually Mercy is reserved around small kids, because they usually rush up to her, chattering loudly wanting to pet her, and Mercy is more used to adults who are more calm and let her go up to sniff them first. But I was a little surprised when Mercy ate the cookies that Erin and Ethan gave her just five minutes after we arrived. When I was bringing Mercy�s stuff from my car, Mercy was standing right next to the front door, like she wanted to leave. She actually ran out of the house at one point, and Ron, Lori�s husband, had to chase to get Mercy back. Even though Mercy runs pretty fast, she stopped right next to my car, and Ron brought her back. Mercy sniffed around the house a little bit, but she pretty much stayed near me. I think she knew something�s going to happen. Then I went through the foster dog profile with Lori for the next thirty minutes. As we were doing so, Erin and Ethan kept bringing Scooby Doo biscuits for Mercy, and she ate all of them. Ethan put the leash on Mercy and took her to the water bowl and Mercy followed him after he said �Come�. Lori said she couldn�t tell which of Mercy�s eye had entropion. She also said Mercy will not have to deviate much from her potty schedule she had established with me, since she works part time. She also said that Mercy would get plenty of exercise because she likes to walk with her dog, which she couldn�t do with Charlotte (who had arthritis) or their previous Springer (who had hip dysplasia). Lori also grew up with two Springers, but Ron did not grow up with any pets. I also learned that both Erin and Ethan play soccer and Erin karate also, so I think they are active kids and will help a little bit with exercising Mercy also. I told them that Mercy is not an alpha female yet she�s not totally submissive either, but somewhere in the middle, and Ron said that Mercy is an omega then, and that Ethan is the alpha male of the house. Mercy is not allowed on the furniture at my apartment, but Lori said they would like the dog on their sofa, and maybe even on their bed. When Mercy jumped onto their sofa and jumped off, and then walked up and down their stairs, they were so impressed because they were more used to dogs who couldn�t do not. In fact, they had to carry one of their dogs up and down the stairs everyday. Lori asked me when I take Mercy out potty in the morning, was I the one who woke up first or was it Mercy, because their previous Springer would wake up at three in the morning. I told her that Mercy wakes up after I do. And Lori thinks Mercy is a smart dog when I told her that Mercy knows how to open cabinet doors. Lori also talked me a little bit about her plan to do foster care. She said they are inspired by Millie, and they want to foster a senior dog because they are thinking about eventually adopting the foster dog, because she doesn�t think she will be able to let a dog go after she has cared for him/her, especially senior dogs have a special place in their hearts (at that point I thought to myself that I made the right decision to foster Brenna so they could adopt Mercy without fostering Brenna first). When we finished going through Mercy�s stuff, Ron and Lori signed the adoption agreement. Near the end of the one-hour visit, Mercy was getting tired and started spending a lot of time in her bed, which Lori has placed in the living room. Then Heather came to check on things (Lori had submitted a foster home application also) and she took this picture for me. Then we all went outside. Ron took Mercy potty then went back inside (so she wouldn�t see me leave), and Heather gave me Brenna and we drove back to Auburn.