Wednesday, July 18, 2007

this is Cole


Where do I even begin with this story? Because it's going to cover the past, present and future. Guess it's best to start with the past.

Meet Cole.... he was a foster dog that we had two years ago, in fact, he was the dog we had before Charlie (Kas and Nate's dog) came into our lives. His story went something like this... Cole was turned into cocker rescue when he was two years old, I don't know why, but he was soon adopted by a lady, who lived alone and wanted a dog. For nine years the two of them lived together and from what I know, had a very happy life. Then the lady got married, and bottom line, her new husband did not like Cole for some odd reason. When they moved into their new home and re-did everything, it was decided that Cole was not welcomed into the house, so he lived in the basement and/or on unheated porch. After a bit, the lady couldn't stand having him like that, so she called rescue and said (mind you after nine years) that she needed to return him. Because he wasn't far away from me, rescue asked if we would foster him, and I said yes.

I remember the day I went to pick him up.... the lady was at work, so I "dealt" with the husband, who can I say.... did not strike a good note with me. There were a number of things, but the one that I best remember was when he saw my truck, he said that Cole would be fine riding in the back of it (he meant the bed of the truck!!!) Well, not only is that illegal in the state of Maine, but never would I put any dog... much less a cocker...loose in the back of a truck. I told him.. I would handle it. I noticed too, that he didn't have a collar and asked about that, the guy didn't have much to say, so I quickly popped this wonderful old dog (because at this time he was 11) into a nice warm truck and headed for home.... (it was February!!).

From the moment he came into the house, he was perfect!!! Got along well with everyone... even Trevor!!!and was just this delightful old dog. The one thing he wasn't great about was going outside.. not that he "did" anything in the house, just that he would run out and get back in as fast as possible. I think he really feared being left out in the cold and just wanted to be in a cozy house. I sort of began to think that I might just keep him (can you imagine that???) but, about that same time, rescue called and said they had just the home for him. A couple without children who lived up in Southwest Harbor and wanted an older dog.... (wait til you hear about Southwest Harbor in a future blog!!!) Now, I didn't' need five dogs, so I thought it was probably best to let him go on his way. Ed and I took a drive to Southwest.

Cole's new people were very nice, and I couldn't find one fault with them, except that I really did not want to let him go. I cried the whole way there, and Cole, sitting between Ed and I, kept licking the tears off my cheeks!!!! I came very close to changing my mind, even after we had driven the four hours up there. But, we left him and headed for home. For weeks, I emailed the new owners and after a bit, knew I was just being a pain in their lives, so I finally quit.... then Charlie came into our life and Cole moved to the back of my mind.

Until....... this past April, when I got a call from the lady in Southwest Harbor, telling me that shortly after she took Cole, she got divorced. And then re-married, and had (unexpectedly) a new baby!!!! She said that Cole (now 13) wasn't adjusting very well to the baby and she was worried that she might have to give him up. She wanted to know if I would take him back... but mind you, we currently have seven spaniels in the house, and this just seemed impossible. So, I went into my "instructor's mode" and gave her all kinds of ideas of how this might be handled, and told her to call anytime and I would be more than happy to "work" with her. WELL...... three weeks ago, she called rescue and said that Cole has to go, it's not working for him, her or the baby and she wants him to be happy. Who did rescue call???? US!!!! you got, (probably had it from the start) Ed and I are heading to Southwest Harbor to retrieve Cole!!!! and as far as we are concerned right now.... this will be Cole's last home. At 13, I just can't ask him to do this again.

I wonder if he will remember us, guess I will know soon enough, I hope he comes in and does as well as he did the first time, again time will tell..... but one thing will be MORE than certain... that new house in Acton... will certainly be built with "dogs" in mind... because one way or another, I seem to draw them in.......