Hounds Away!

I promised some happy stories. Last week we had the very, very rare three-fer. That's when three animals get adopted at once. And this one was special because it included three hard to place critters - two hounds and a cat. Hounds are a problem for many shelters. We get them a lot and the're often purebreds. Some are retired hunters but too many are just once cute puppies that grew up. Hound puppies are close to irresistable with those long ears and sad eyes. What people forget is that they grow up to be large dogs that need room to run. And they bark - if you can call it that. They have that distinctive, instinctive bay that makes them very unpopular in city neighborhoods. Hounds aren't golden retrievers either. The're working dogs with a somewhat independent nature. And so when little baby Blue grows up he comes to us. Our small, indoor kennels are not good for long term storage of hounds. They don't get the excercise they need and sadly, some go kennel crazy and have to be killed. But this is a happy story! Two that had been with us long enough to worry about got adopted together this week, Penny and Cooper. They went to a nice young family that has land for them to run in the country. The owner has had big noisy dogs before and knows exactly what he's getting. Even better they'll have each other to play with. And the cat was Big Mac, an orange cat that didn't hold much appeal to most folks because he was very aloof, didn't care much for handling and just preferred to be left alone. So hooray for the lucky threesome and their family!