 Obie
Toward the end of January I was contacted by Maria for help with
the surrender of an 8 year old female Wheaten named Obie. Obie came
to this family a year ago at the age of 7. It seemed that Obie was
dog aggressive to other dogs visiting the house and this family had
tried to give her up twice before, once at the Fourth of July and
once again before Christmas. Obie is dog aggressive and had been in
a couple of scuffles with other dogs in the year that they had her
and Obie’s family decided they just could not live any longer with
Obie and the problems that she came with.
I visited Obie at the end of January and found the sweetest well
mannered and well trained Wheaten. Maria worked very hard trying to
find a home for Obie, and it became apparent that it was not going
to be an easy task when a couple of prospective homes nearby fell
through. It seemed that everyone had other dogs that could be
visiting their house. Maria expanded her search to CT and NY.
Finally, an applicant came in through WIN from a couple in NY that
had lost their 15 year old Wheaten named Sandy in early January.
They were willing to open their hearts and home again to Obie. After
having Obie evaluated at a training facility near me for her
aggression issues (they were real) Maria and I both spoke with the
prospective new family and explained that while she was certainly
dog aggressive the trainer felt it could be manageable. Their dog
Sandy was also dog aggressive so they had experience with dealing
with that.
On Sunday I met the current owners to take Obie to her new
family. I must confess that I was not ready for the emotions that
overcame me when Obie’s current family put her in my car. It was
quite obvious that they had an attachment to Obie and that parting
with her was very difficult for them.
On to meet the new family, certainly this was going to be easier
than the surrender. They arrived from NY within 20 minutes of my
getting Obie. The smiles on their faces the minute they laid eyes on
Obie made the whole ordeal worthwhile and I knew we had found the
perfect home for Obie. We met at a park and since it was a beautiful
sunny warm day a lot of people were there with their dogs so they
saw Obie’s issue first hand and they were not at all deterred by her
aggression. Later I received an email from them that the ride home
was uneventful and that Obie had already captured the heart of their
22 year old daughter (college student) and that Obie and her were
studying together.
We know that this is the end of the journey for Obie and feel
confident that she will live the rest of her life in NY with people
who will love her for all her good qualities of which there are
many.
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