Alfred

October 14, Tuesday

This is Alfred; we call him Alfie. He’s very gentle-natured and loves to be close and cuddling all the time. He takes naps all the time just about anywhere he can get comfortable. He loves to go on walks and run around in the backyard; and we love him! Three weeks ago now, Alfie came wandering around near our house. Most the dogs that come around are strays and they look it. But Alfie, though he looked dirty, behaved more like a lost dog. He came right up to us and was very sweet. We saw him when Ryan was leaving for work and again when I was getting the boys in the car to go run an errand. That was the first time Jared and Karl saw him and they both really liked him.

I petted Alfie one last time before closing my car door and then he followed us down the drive way, down the street, and ran to chase us around the corner. It was almost heartbreaking; he was so cute! Well, he was there when we got home and again when Ryan got home. So, Ryan and I talked about it and decided we really liked him and he’s just the kind of dog we’ve always wanted, so we decided we’d see if we could keep him. The next day we took a couple pictures of him and printed off some Found Dog flyers for our neighborhood. We posted those, and sent in some reports about him to the county Public Health & Environmental Services department and a couple other places. After a few days we even talked to a few people who had lost a dog like him, but he wasn’t it, so we were happy to still be able to keep him.

The very first night we had him I had gone out and got a bit of dog food and other supplies. We gave him a flea and tick shampoo bath and made him a spot to sleep in the garage. He was a pretty bad mess, so by the third day of having him, we decided to give him a hair-cut and get rid of all the matted, flea infested hair. That was actually a lot of work. The matted hair was thick and Alfie was always trying to get away. My job was to hold Alfie while Ryan cut. It was so hard knowing and seeing that there were still ticks crawling all over himl. :-P I ended up putting on some cleaning gloves and it was much more bearable. Ryan’s very brave and didn’t seem to worry about it. Alfie got another bath after the hair-cut. He looked and started acting like a new dog. After that he seemed like he felt like this was his home and we were his family.

Once we were sure he was clean of pests, we made him a spot inside the house near the fire place and now he gets to be inside most the time. We’ve been having a great time getting used to having a dog around. We couldn’t have asked for a better dog to come our way, and we’re very grateful for him. Karl’s excited to see him and crawl to him whenever he gets out of bed, and Jared probably spends more play-time outside than inside anymore, so he can run around with Alfie. It’s been a lot of fun having him. We’re trying to remember that what’s most important is that he has a good home, so if someone claims him we’ll give him back and be glad we helped him find his home again. But, we’re also really hoping that his good home will be with us!! J