Obie

Toward the end of January, I was contacted by Maria for help with the surrender of an 8 year old female Wheaten named Obie. Obie came to this family a year ago at the age of 7. It seemed that Obie was dog aggressive to other dogs visiting the house and this family had tried to give her up twice before, once at the Fourth of July and once again before Christmas. Obie is dog aggressive and had been in a couple of scuffles with other dogs in the year that they had her and Obie’s family decided they just could not live any longer with Obie and the problems that she came with.

I visited Obie at the end of January and found the sweetest well mannered and well trained Wheaten. Maria worked very hard trying to find a home for Obie, and it became apparent that it was not going to be an easy task when a couple of prospective homes nearby fell through. It seemed that everyone had other dogs that could be visiting their house. Maria expanded her search to CT and NY. Finally, an applicant came in through WIN from a couple in NY that had lost their 15 year old Wheaten named Sandy in early January. They were willing to open their hearts and home again to Obie. After having Obie evaluated at a training facility near me for her aggression issues (they were real) Maria and I both spoke with the prospective new family and explained that while she was certainly dog aggressive the trainer felt it could be manageable. Their dog Sandy was also dog aggressive so they had experience with dealing with that.

On Sunday I met the current owners to take Obie to her new family. I must confess that I was not ready for the emotions that overcame me when Obie’s current family put her in my car. It was quite obvious that they had an attachment to Obie and that parting with her was very difficult for them. On to meet the new family, certainly this was going to be easier than the surrender. They arrived from NY within 20 minutes of my getting Obie. The smiles on their faces the minute they laid eyes on Obie made the whole ordeal worthwhile and I knew we had found the perfect home for Obie. We met at a park and since it was a beautiful sunny warm day a lot of people were there with their dogs so they saw Obie’s issue first hand and they were not at all deterred by her aggression.

Later I received an email from them that the ride home was uneventful and that Obie had already captured the heart of their 22 year old daughter (college student) and that Obie and her were studying together. We know that this is the end of the journey for Obie and feel confident that she will live the rest of her life in NY with people who will love her for all her good qualities of which there are many.