Sporadic

Let it be known to all readers! I. Am. A. Sporadic. Blogger. Oops. :-/

 Such is life, I guess. Things have sped up lately, what with our apple trees finally being ready to be picked, and that leads to making applesauce and canning. Along with that, I've been tweaking workshop plans, spinning yarn, trying to finish Joel's latest book before the week is out (as I have to return it on Sunday!), working in the barn, digging a ditch alongside the barn to try and quell the yearly, winter flooding, studying for my drivers permit (NO, I still don't have one!!!), training Heidi, trying to decide if I should breed my goats this year or not, doing my regular, daily chores, and then trying to fit in some room to "just live"! Oy.

Oh, we did have one occurrence come up, that I thought would never happen.

Our dog has finally found a new home! Hurrah!

We've had a male, Golden Retriever for about five years now (I cannot believe we managed to keep him that long...), named 'Copper', and we've been wanting to re-home him for the last 2-3 years.

We got Copper when he was about 8 weeks old, and personally, I think there was a reason why he was the very last pup to get picked, out of a litter of eight.

Copper was not the brightest bulb in the box. 

I had always wanted a dog, before we got Copper. You know, a dog that would come with you when you went on walks, or went traipsing about on the neighbor's 98 acres. One that was always ready to go when you were, and wanted to be with you. I wanted a DOG. The whole, "Man's best friend" sort of deal.

Not so with Copper. Not only was he lacking in cerebral talents, he was rather cowardly. Kittens terrified him. Day old chicks would send him running under the bed. Don't even think about taking him on a walk; that was more of a, "Put the leash over your shoulder and start hauling" sort of thing while he tried to run back home. He barked at us when we came home, and ran silently under the bed if it was a stranger walking up to the house. Good thing we weren't wanting a guard dog...

After a couple years with our "cowardly lion", I was soured on the canine race. I saw other people who had dogs like what I always dreamed about. I watched herding demos, done with unbelievably intelligent Border Collies. Yet, all I had was a bird dog who was deathly afraid of birds. That seems like a cruel irony to me.

I will admit that Copper wasn't all bad, considering everything. He never once in his life bit anyone. And with little toddlers around the place who wanted to tug on his whiskers, or accidentally stepped on his tail, that's saying something. He was obedient for the most part, was good natured with people, and would even chase his tail on command.

When Copper was about 2 or 3 years old, we found out that he needed to be on a special diet due to some skin conditions he had. That was the last straw. I told my family members I would never have a dog again. If this is what dogs were like, I wanted nothing to do with them! Cringing, fearful creatures that pulled their fur out, hid under the bed 90% of the day, and needed expensive food!? Good grief Charlie Brown! 

I've often speculated as to why he was such a fearful dog. We worked hard to socialize him properly when he was a pup, and he had a good home here. Maybe something happened back at the breeder's?? Or it could just be his nature. I guess we'll never know. 

So we started the process of finding a new home for him. But we were extremely picky about who he went to, and thus the 2+ year wait to find that family. But it was worth it in the end. He is now living with some dear friends of ours who live ten minutes away. They're on 10+ acres, have a Boxer named Max, two daughters who are wild about Copper, and plenty of room inside for him. Yesterday, they told us how Copper would sleep on their couch with their cats, and he was ecstatic to have a playmate like Max. I'm sure he's in hog heaven now. Just the fact that they're letting that huge galoot of a retriever onto the furniture amazes me. That was always a no-no in our house, so I'm sure Copper is loving it. ;) 

I suppose this is where I'm supposed to say, "And they lived happily ever after"...

Because, I'm sure they did...