Cheetah 8.4.09

Well. Where to begin. I took Friday off from work to spend the day with Cheetah. We went to the dog park and who do you think we ran into but Zibby and her owner! I happened to be filming when I first noticed Zibby, so you will be able to see that as soon as I get it uploaded. I filled the camera that day so I have a lot of material to sort through. Zibby is almost the same size as Cheetah and they are so similar in both looks and mannerisms is it downright freaky.

Then she got a bath and we had lots of cuddles. I dropped her off on Saturday and unobtrusively melted away so she wouldn't notice me going. Things have gone semi-OK since then, but she snapped at daughter a few times, and is at her herding and nipping activities like crazy. She downright refused to let them have other people into the house. I'm so bummed because we had made such progress on this front when she was with me. But the transition was too much and new owner feels it is not safe to have kids coming and going in the house. She fell in love with Cheetah and just didn't realise the extent or areas in which she was likely to backslide.

So Cheetah is coming back to us. Despite the fact that I did everything I could think of to prepare her for her new environment, I feel like I failed. The head of the rescue is going to take her for a little while to give my poor Swiffer and Lexy a break. They have been following me around and cuddling up to me like crazy since Saturday afternoon. Now that Cheetah is gone I can see the extent to which they were really surpressed with her there. Also - I went though the entire grieving process, and I just need a break before I dive back in.

I have decided that moving forward with adoption applications - no kids, period. I don't think she poses a danger to them, but the reality is that there will be a ton of friends coming and going and Cheetah is a handful to manage visitors to the house. A child is not equipped to lead Cheetah the way she needs to be led - particularly as it comes to her herding instinct. An experienced dog owner can handle it, but when you throw kids into the mix, you are just asking for trouble. I think we all saw what we wanted to see with this one. No negative comments toward the new owner please. She feels bad enough and the daughter is heartbroken. The decision to act quickly was made so that the daughter would not get further attached.

We are still figuring out timing on her return, but it will be this week. As I said I have tons of new pictures and video on her (and Zibby), so I will get that up soon.