We call him Duke - Part III

Based on some of the feedback I have received, I am going to start out by saying, no, we ultimately did not end up keeping Duke. But before you flame me, please read about how we came to this difficult decision. Part of me regrets even writing about this for other people to see, but I think it is an important lesson, not only for us, but for anyone who finds themselves in this situation...

I came home from lunch the other day and found Duke outside, fast asleep. Near him were the remnants of an extension cord that connects to our little outdoor beer fridge. I had no idea how he chewed that cord without getting shocked. He must have been shocked a little because the outlet had been tripped. I didn't blame him, since he is a dog and dogs like to chew things. Our dog, Millie, isn't interested in chewing anything that isn't food, so we didn't really have much in the way of chew toys. He ate his plastic food bowl, and I was fine with that. I felt bad that we didn't have more for him to play with, but saw this as a foreshadow of things to come. We would have a big problem if he started chewing the furniture, or as one friend told us, chewed a hole in the wall. This wasn't good.

Our hope was that someone would adopt the little guy. He is a wonderful dog and will make a great companion for someone who has the time to spend with a puppy. Steven and I split up a list of pit bull rescues and started calling. None had room for new dogs, but several recommended that we bring him to Animal Rescue and from there he would have visibility to the rescues and hopefully he would be picked up or adopted outright. The Humane Society of Broward County is a no-kill shelter (unless the dog is sick or a danger to other dogs and humans). We have both been to the location and felt that it was OK.

The next day I left work early and put Duke in the car to bring him to the HSBC. He rides in the car so well, unlike our Millie who is a basket case the entire ride. He just hung out and looked out of the window. I tried not to think about what was going to happen as we drove there. NPR had a very interesting story about books on during the ride, so that helped, but I kept looking back at him in the rear view mirror and couldn't help but feel sad. When we arrived at the HSBC, he jumped out of the car and we walked inside. Immediately I noticed a big sign that said they do not take stray animals. All stray animals needed to go to the county Animal Control. Ugh, that's just what we didn't want. The county Animal Control is so overwhelmed with dogs, that many good dogs are put down because they aren't adopted in time. Now I was torn.

The Broward County Animal Control office in Fort Lauderdale is literally at the airport. When you pull into their parking lot there are giant jets just feet away, getting ready to taxi for takeoff. It's cool and totally weird at the same time.  From the outside it looks like a run down building, but once you get inside, it is really nice. I walked Duke into the reception area and was immediately greeted by a woman who took my information. She came around from behind the counter and scanned Duke for a micro chip. He didn't have one, of course. Next, she pulled out a camera and took some shots of him. I told her about what we had done to treat him so far, and she took hold of the leash. At that point I turned and walked away. I knew I couldn't look back or I would have walked out the door with him. I heard her say to Duke "It's OK", but I didn't want to see his little face. I hope that we had him for a short enough time that he hadn't become attached to us, like we had to him. I focused on the jets as I drove away from the shelter and continued to listen to NPR.

That was several days ago. We wonder about him and hope he is doing OK. I don't know if we could ever foster a dog again. We're just not cut out for it.