I have a new little sister! Her name is Denali and she appears to be an Italian Greyhound mix... maybe. My parents just adopted her from a serviceman in the Air Force who has been deployed to Iraq. My parents had been searching for a second small, house/lap dog and had thought about an Italian Greyhound. I had let my friend Kristen from IG rescue know that they were possibly interested and to keep them in mind if she heard of an available IG that needed a home. Well, on Tuesday she forwarded me the email that Kamran had sent to her asking for help. He was leaving Atlanta on January 5th and was feeling pretty desperate to find her a home before he left for Iraq.My parents are very patriotic and very supportive of the troops, so I thought this match might be perfect. Help a dog and help someone in the military at the same time. I spoke to him on the phone to find out more about Denali and if she might fit in with my parents and their little mixed breed, Poly. The first thing he said to me was that he was losing sleep over this. That this little dog was his little princess. Unfortunately, he was recently divorced and I guess the ex-wife was unable or wouldn't take the dogs. All in all, she sounded like she might work and I felt that Kamran was being very honest about the good and the bad. She is a shy with strangers and can be a barker, but we can work on that. He obviously loved this pup very much and found her quite amusing. He had adopted her from a pet rescue 2 years prior. My parents offered to simply foster her if he would eventually like to have her back. He loved that idea. And my parents promised to send him pictures and updates of her. I think most likely she will end up staying with my parents since he will be returning to Portland, OR when he comes back from Iraq, but its nice to send him off to war with at least a little peace of mind that his "little princess" is safe and has a wonderful home.
He brought her to my parents today. She handled his departure very well, but she's still very guarded with my parents. I told them to make sure she had a leash on when he left and to not take it off until they were comfortable with handling her and she was comfortable with them. Luckily she is food motivated so she is eating the treats that are being tossed to her and I suggested that they hand feed her for a few days to build up her confidence and to bond. But otherwise they just need to ignore her and let her approach when she's ready. My parents are great students so they are of course doing great.
So wish them luck with Denali.
