More craziness...

I talked to Patti last Wednesday night. She called to talk to me a little more about the adoption process. So here is the lowdown.

Once you have been approved your application goes to an adoption counselor. Once the adoption counselor (AC) gets the application, they will call and talk to you about what type of dog you are looking for and set you up with some matches. Next the AC will give you the contact information of the foster parents who have the dogs. Then you call the foster parents to hear more about the dogs. If you are still interested in the dog once you talk to the foster parents, you can set up a meeting to meet the dog. If you met the dog and everything goes well, then you can sign the adoption papers, pay for the puppy and you may take the dog home. There is a 7 day trial period in which you may make sure that your dog adjusts well. If the dog is not adjusting well, they may be returned to BBR and then the process starts again. If your puppy adjusts well....he is yours! =)

Patti said that she would be forwarding our application to Ann, an adoption counselor. On Saturday we got the call from Ann. =) She gave us the numbers for Duke and Dee's foster parents and told us that she would let them know that we would be calling. On Sunday, we were supposed to go to a Petco event in Oak Creek to meet some BBR people and adoptable dogs. Since the blizzard was kind of crazy, we decided it would be best to stay home, so unfortunately we didn't get to go. Instead we decided to call the foster parents and talk to them more about Duke and Dee.

We called Susan, Duke's foster mom, first. She was very sweet and told us a little about Duke and asked us if we would like to meet him. Of course we said yes we would and she asked when would be a good time for us since she worked during the week. We asked when would be good for her and she said "Well, do you still have some time today?" Shocked, we said yes!! So we picked a time to go meet Duke.

We then talked to Karen, Dee's foster mom. She sounded like a good girl but then we asked the critical question. Since we live on the second floor condo, we need a dog who is comfortable with stairs. Karen said that they lived in a ranch, so she was not sure how Dee would do with stairs, but she would test her out on a flight of stairs comparable to ours and then she would get back to us. We told her that if she did well with the stairs we would still want to meet her and Karen said that her and her husband would be more than willing to meet us halfway since they live about 2 hours from us, which was wonderful. We got off the phone with Karen and got ready to go meet Duke.

I was pretty much a nervous wreck heading out to meet him. I was so scared that I was just going to fall in love with him and want to bring him home with me. We got to Susan's house and were greeted by 3 basset hounds, Duke & Harold & Tilly, barking at the door. =D Once we got in and made our way to the couch everyone was trying to love on us. Duke sat right in between Steve and I on the floor and looked at us like "Love me". I instantly fell in love with him. He let me pet him and love him the entire time we were there. Susan told us that Duke was left outside a house with another female with a sign saying "free". One of the BBR workers picked the pair up. Three days later they were adopted but before a week was up, Duke was given back to BBR because the adopters had too many dogs and Duke was overwhelmed by them. Duke was given to Susan this year because the family who was previously fostering him was moving.

My poor heart broke for him as I sat there and pet him. How could no one want this poor little boy? All he wanted was someone to love on him and give their attention to him. He grumbled as we petted him, signaling that he was really liking the love and petting he was getting. Susan told us that we could take him on a walk to see how he did on the leash, so we took her up on it. Susan got Duke's leash and we headed outside with him. Duke definitely had the distinctive basset bound as we walked on the sidewalk outside the house and he was very good on the leash. We took him back to the house after a few minutes, since it was frigid out! After spending about a half an hour at Susan's with Duke we left. We told Susan we were still going to meet with Dee before we made a decision.

I knew this would happen, I am in love with Duke. If I could have, I would have loaded him into the car that minute and brought him home with us. He is the sweetest little thing and you can just tell how much he wants to be loved.

After we got home and started to make dinner, Karen called us back. She took Dee somewhere to try out the stairs. She said she did great with them. She ran right up and down. So we said we would love to meet her. Karen said that they could meet us at the Kenosha Petcodoggie.