I’ve been trying to write this post all week but it’s been hard.

So here are my five dogs things first, and then the story.

#1  We met a dog named Cullen.
#2  We agreed to foster Cullen.
#3  Cullen came to our house.
#4  Cullen and Cassie played wonderfully well and never a cross word between them.
#5  Cullen moved on to another foster home.

Recently we met a dog named Cullen.

He had been found on the streets in Monterey, picked up and taken to the pound and pulled from the pound by the wonderful Bob at the Northern California German Shepherd Rescue group. We met Bob and Cullen at a local park and Cassie and Cullen seemed to get along just fine. They walked nicely together, sniffed a lot, played a bit. Cullen was still a little stressed (panting/drooling) from his trip to the pound but was a real love bucket. He was about the same age as Cassie and a total goofball, all arms and legs without a lot of control.

We went home to talk about it. Then last Saturday we went to the adoption fair to take Cassie to see her amazing foster mom PJ. We also wanted to meet Shane, PJ’s current foster. Shane was a beautiful sweet boy but my heart had already been stolen by Cullen. He was a living, breathing teddy bear and I could already see him as my therapy dog.

So we agreed to foster him which would give us a week to decide if we wanted to adopt him. Bob dropped him off at our house that afternoon.

There was a bit of excitement right off the bat because the dogs were being dogs and chasing one another and we hadn’t removed everything from their path. My fault and no one was hurt and my wonderful husband cleaned up all the broken glass.

This is Cullen.
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He quickly found where all the air vents were in the house. He especially liked the one in the kitchen so he could stay cool but keep an eye out for food that magically fell from the sky.

He also found Cassie’s bed.
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But she didn’t seem to mind too much.
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It took a bit to tire him out but he finally crashed. Cassie is laying just a few feet away from him.

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It really was a case of wherever one went, the other would follow, exactly the kind of doggy friendship one would hope for. Really, the two of them were great, walking side by side, sharing and swapping bones. Cassie couldn’t quite figure out what Cullen was doing when he launched himself into the small wading pool and laid down in it but she was very happy to have him to chase around.

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Alas, while the dogs were fine it was too much for me. Cullen had no house manners yet (major counter surfing, broken dishes, etc) and was on and off the furniture. I have no doubt that a few months of training is going to turn him into the perfect dog for someone, but that someone is not me.

I thought back to when I was much younger, in my twenties with babies in diapers and 4-5 big dogs living in the house, a house much smaller than this one. I don’t recall it being so intense, where I wasn’t able to relax a minute. But then I’ve gone through a lot in the past years so I guess I just can’t do it anymore. Or maybe later, down the road, when life settles down some.

I should have posted this yesterday, I meant to, if only to be able to give thanks once again to the Northern California German Shepherd Rescue group. First for bringing sweet Cullen out of the pound and second to finding another foster family to take him in when it became apparent that I was unable to keep him. A special thank you to PJ who not only helped me hold it together over the phone but gave up her Sunday to drive over the hill and pick him up.

Cullen, I know you’ll find a forever home soon. I’m sorry it couldn’t be ours.