Thank you everyone for your kind words and thoughts about our dog. They’re coming tomorrow afternoon. I don’t think he could get into a car, and trying to force him would even make it worse.
We weren’t ready to take him as our dog in 2012. We had just gone through 4 years of agony with our first dog who developed diabetes and Cushing’s, but was so attached to us due to us adopting her and not giving her back, which had happened three times, that she wouldn’t leave us naturally. Our daughter was 4, we had to wait until she was at her grandparents. Day before we had to go to Tampa, we brought her in. That bothered us, but after 4 years of doing all we could for her, it was a relief in some ways.
We emergency rescued this one. His owner suddenly passed (he was over 70) and nobody in his circle wanted the dog. One of our neighbors who did rescues all but guilted us into meeting him. Our daughter immediately fell in love, but we weren’t so sure. He was untrained and we later found out his exercise was running a mile between houses. He was 3, and we also discovered he’s part Australian Cattle Dog, even though he’s the size of a larger German Shepherd. He never learned how to be a dog as a puppy. Never played with toys, balls, and would only eat sticks, no matter how much we tried. We’re used to playing in the back (fetch, balls), taking a dog for walks, going to a park, etc. He just loved to try to herd things. It took about 5-6 years before he truly became a pet. He then would like to curl up on the couch when we’d watch Ranger games.
Last night after I fell asleep and my wife went to work, he somehow made it upstairs. When I woke up, he was sleeping at the foot of the bed. He hasn’t moved much since, even after I laid there with him.
This is the absolute worst part of loving dogs. I like dogs more than most people too.
Trying to get any work done is a losing effort.
