Stanley's Homecoming

After long discussions about adding a new dog to our family, my husband and I had settled on attending the Pawsitive Alliance Designer Mutt Match on June 28, 2009. But Stanley had something else in mind.

I first saw Stanley's pic on the Homeward Pet Rescue on June 19th. We knew he was overweight and older, but after a call to the shelter, my husband and I decided to meet Stanley (then known as Sabor), the next day. Something about him just spoke to both of us, and knowing how rare that could be, we knew we had to meet him.

From the pictures on line, I thought Stanley was maybe 80lbs or so, with a good 30 to lose. When we met him, our adoption counselor gave us the scary news - Stanley was tipping the scales at 122 lbs - about 70 lbs overweight for a Norwegian Elkhound! But we could see that he had a strong spirit and a sweet disposition and he won us over!

Now that Stanley is home, we have some work ahead of us to get our 10 yr old senior dog into shape! That first weekend, I found JNMRF and saw some pictures of other Elkies who had faced similar challenges. The Moosedog List was incredibly helpful in those first few days - it's hard to imagine how things might have gone before the internet! The help and support I've received there was the inspiration for taking Stanley's transformation to the blogosphere - hopefully his story will help others who have (or are considering) adopting a wonderful special needs senior dogs into their lives.

He's a special dog who in two short weeks has already brought so much joy to our family! (Well, the cat's still skeptical, but his lack of interest in chasing/annoying her is definitely helping!)

-Loeb