Anne, Andrew and Scout

After 2+ years of plotting, planning, manipulating and anguish, it’s done, finished. Scout has been with Andrew and me since 8/22/07. It was not easy.

First came the acknowledgment that Andrew was aging. The signs were not obvious; after all he didn’t have a physically taxing job. His work was simple bracing, carrying a basket up and down stairs, carrying an empty trash can from the front door to the kitchen, picking up things and accompanying me.

First to go was carrying the basket. Just shy of his 10th birthday I noticed him getting a little wobbly in his back end. Also I could hear the sound his nails made as he dragged his back paws. A visit to the neurologist confirmed he was loosing feeling in his hindquarters. The diagnosis was narrowing of the spinal column that compressed nerves going down to his back paws. A progressive but not a deadly problem, exercise should help.

It was time to begin the search for Andrew’s successor. So many  options, which would be the least stressful and best for me? Would I get a program dog and if so where? Or would I get a dog first and have him/her trained? If I choose this option where would the dog come from and who would do the training.

Because of Andrew I longed another German Shepherd. Programs usually stick with more amiable and easier to train dogs like Goldens and Labs. GSD’s are rarely available. So I would have find the dog and then someone to do the training. So much to think about and so much to decide…

About this time our Assistance Dog Club program had a panel of representatives from 3 programs speak at a meeting. Sue Meinzinger of Summit Assistance Dogs in Anacortes especially impressed me.

Eventually I sent in my application to Summit. No small task since their process is extraordinarily meticulous. A few weeks later I got a call from Elizabeth, their applications coordinator. We made and appointment for her to come for an in-home interview. The interview took and hour and again I was impressed with the level of professionalism I saw. At every step of the way they stressed the wait for a dog can be years.

After a few months I was called to come to Anacortes for an   assessment. Tess was asked to come too, Andrew as well; they want all family members included in the assessment. Seemed like all the Summit staff and even a couple of volunteers were present.

At the assessment I was asked to work with a series of 4 dogs of different temperament. As I interacted with the dogs I could see people furiously filling out forms, they were at it again. It was obvious that the high energy, high intensity dogs were too much for me.

It was quite a relief to think about a calm, quiet dog that would not need hours of exercise every day, have an opinion on every little detail, think through all possible permutations of anything until the best possible solution became obvious. Andrew is wonderful, but at times he is a bit much.

I wish I could have just let the process with Summit evolve, but I  had too many complexities in my life. Inca, the black GSD pup being fostered by Leana, triggered my longing for a Shepherd. After months of going back and forth, Yes, Inca would be perfect, No, this is ridiculous, and getting sick for 3 months it finally became abundantly clear Inca was not for me. I simply do not have the strength and stamina to cope with anything but the mildest of dogs.

Then another call from Summit came, “Come for another assessment”. This time it was 3 quiet, calm dogs, a little brown one, a Shepherd mix and a black Collie/Lab mix. I barely noticed the little guy, after all, my dog is supposed to black and/or a shepherd, not brown. But he did have a very subtle charm. And if you disregarded his color he had Shepherd outline and POINTY EARS! Scout.

A few weeks later I got the phone call from Debbie Craig telling me that sweet, gentle, little brown dog named Scout would be mine.  A new chapter in my life began at that point in time.

Anne, Andrew and Scout