On Labor Day, we got a call from a family that wanted to adopt Maverick, they were approved parents and had meet all the qualifications etc, to adopt him. This news was a blessing and a curse, because we loved Maverick and had taught him so much and watched him grow and become a loveable member of the family. Now we have to turn him over to a family that we have never meet. So as you can assume this was espically hard on Ashlee (my wife) becasue she had but so much work into making him the wonderful dog he is today. Intial plans were made that Mav would go on Wednesday to live with this family, they have two other dogs and two children one of which is autistic. So after all plans were made, the family called and could not meet, because the Mother (a Nurse) had to work at the huricane refugee center so they rescheduled for Friday.
Friday at about 6:45 pm we went to deliver Mav to his "forever home". Entering the Nieghborhood everything seemed fine and were pleased that there were decent sized lots that had room for Mav to play and run. We found the house, and from the outside it looked just fine the yard was well kept and the fence looked to be fairly new. As we aproached the door we saw a middle aged woman vacuming inside and asked us to wait just one second. Now this is when things started to go down hill, my wife at this pointed had already made the comment that she was not what she had expected. I had begun to notice that the house was very cluttered and that things seemed to be very disorganized, but this was the home and I was worried, but sure that everything would be fine.
After about two minuets of us standing ooutside on her porch watching her vacume she finaly opens the door and invites us in her home. Now let me state this loud and clear that we have 2 labs and Mav makes 3 so we know there temprament, and I also fully understand that no house is spick and span all the time espically not mine, but this was diffrent. As we entered the home the first thing that I noticed was the laundry room to the right that had clothing pile to the ceiling (literally!), and there was just stuff everywhere, kids toys, clothing , change....... But that was not all that was diffrent the lady was very kind, but seemed distracted the whole time we were there, we provided her with a folder of paperwork that included ceftificates of obidiance and notes on things that she might find helpful in allowing Mav to adjust. We also povided her a photo album that kept up with his progress while we have had him. None of this seemed interesting to her, she seemed uncomfortable by our presence, now I can imagine that my expression was less than extatic about the house conditions, becasue Mav is a chewer of all things great and small, and while we had been giving her the items listed above he had alread tried to eat several coins, and other small things that could cause him harm. Wanting to see the her dogs and Mav interact we asked her to let in her 5 month old black lab puppie to make sure that there would be no problems considering they are both males.
WOW, this dog had no manners what so ever, my dogs arent perfect so don't get me wrong here, but you could tell that there was no time spent with this dog and that he was very rarely allowed inside. Mav was skidish at first but adapted well and they were both playing in no time. We then went outside in the back yard to find another hazard filled area of plastic that had been chewed up by a dog as well as sticks, boards, plastic containers, kids sippie cups, and misc trash that had not been cleaned up. The adoptive parent assured us that this was not how the backyard normally looked and that they just ran out of time cleaning it up.
Mav and the puppy were playing chase running full out and the thrid 11 yr old dog was just barking and biting at Mav's flank. The yard had a large swingset fort type toy in the middle of the yard and there was a stump from a tree that they had lost in the ice storm that had grass overgrown around it. As Mav came barreling around the coner he hit the stump in a full out run, sending him head of heals, whining and yelping that something was hurt. Ashlee and I walked over to him to check him out while the adoptive parent stood and watched. We checked him over and he was not limping but very shaken by what had just happened and seemed to be very scared.
That is when it happened, Ashlee told the adoptive parent that it may be better to wait a couple of days so that they can get things cleaned up. I followed suit as tears began to build in this womens eyes, telling her that he was a very adventurous dog and can get into things in seconds and that I just knew she would feel terrible if something were to happen to Mav. We continued this line of conversation for what seemed like hours until we had worked our way back in the home, collected all of his things that we had brought and made our way back to the front door. The former adoptive parent was very upset, and said that she loved her animals and that she was a good and caring person. Talk about tearing our my heart with a wooden spoon, I really think that she was a good person and did take good care of her animals, my concern was that Mav is not your normal Lab he is wicked smart and very stubborn compounded by his past and his immune system problems. I felt terrible but knew that we were making the right deicsion, and that was not the home for Mav.
That night we before we had even made it home, we have decided that we are going to keep Mav all for oursleves. The Adoptive family was later denied for inappropriate living conditions.
