So we’ve been trying to find a new dog for the last week or two, since Gir needs a friend. It’s…not gone well.
Our first try was a lovely dog who came home and promptly went for a cat, full lunge and snarl. Back to the foster family he went.
Our second try is a marvelous Staffordshire and I loved her immediately and she needs a great home. She made it three days. Unfortunately, she thinks cats are small dogs. She wanted to play with the small orange dog (Angus) so badly. She brought him toys, she pranced alongside him, she was trying so hard…and then he got in a windowsill and she trapped him back there, and when she got a face full of claws, she lunged forward in what was probably meant to be a play-bite. I got her by the collar, Angus went over her head, across the table, and up the stairs, and that was the end of that. Play-bites from 60lb dogs to trapped cats can be fatal, so she’s going back to the foster carer tonight. (Angus is fine, I’m just glad he moved in time. It was one of those things that could very easily have been Not At All Fine.)
(And the descriptions always say that they have been around cats. I swear, I’m checking for “good with cats” on every description. I think sometimes people are so eager to find homes, they fudge a bit with “I think the one family had one outdoor cat, so he must be fine.”)
This is killing me, guys. I was always shit at dating, and dogs are generally infinitely more Good than humans, so it’s worse. I always fall in love immediately, and when it doesn’t work out, I panic that I am dooming them to a life of being unwanted and then I cry for an hour. Kevin, who is in the running for “human who is almost as Good as a dog” is very understanding, but I hate this so much.
So, um, if anybody local wants a female Staffordshire, 2.5 year old, crate-trained, an absolute dream on a leash, drop a line, I’ll forward the info. Just…not great with cats.
Ugh, I sympathize. I expect to be doing the pet dating in the more or less near future, which is challenging enough without the cat complication.
Years ago I royally chewed out a Siberian Husky club for never mentioning the breed’s tendancy toward having a high prey drive on the “about the breed” section of their website.