I kind of disappeared off the map, didn't I? Let me catch you up.
Apollo graduated from puppy class!

He graduates from Intermediate next week and then it's on to advanced! I'm working on getting his Canine Good Citizen award, which really doesn't mean a whole lot other than my dog will be cooler than yours
I also had a foster dog who got adopted a couple weeks ago, named Jessie.

She was wonderful and Apollo loved her. She went to an awesome family that had a three-year-old daughter and a huge fenced in backyard in a great neighborhood so I'm thrilled for her!

However, Apollo missed her. Which leads me too...
Introducing Phoenix!

She's my rescue red doberman pinscher. She has natural ears AND tail! Here's her story:
A woman saw an ad for doberman puppies. She went to look at them and Phoenix was the last of her litter. They were keeping her in a dirt pen with no food, no water and would not touch her (hence the natural ears and tail, which I'm still super stoked about!" She bought her on the spot. She took her into her local pet store and one of the mamangers saw this skeleton of a doberman who wouldn't even walk and offered to take her and find her a home. So there she lived with the amanger's 8.5-year-old doberman and 1.5-year-old pit bull.
I applied to adopt her months ago, but never heard anything back. There was a woman who beat me to it, but she apparently canceled on the day of the home visit. During a big adoption event several people applied to adopt her, but they all raised red flags. One guy who applied used to have a rottweiler, but gave her away! Another woman wanted her, but her boyfriend wouldn't let her because she had a tail.
Turns out this little dobie's foster mom works at another branch of the same pet store I work at!

I named her Phoenix because it means "rebirth and immortality." It's strong and different and since phoenix' were firebirds and she's red I thought it fit perfectly. She's timid and incredibly sweet. As I write this she's curled up behind my legs asleep. I wanted to do shutzhund training if I got a doberman or a german shepherd or a breed like that, but I think she would pee herself.

So I think I may do volunteer search and rescue with Apollo and turn Phoenix into a therapy dog.
And her and Apollo get along great!


Another update: I am now an accredited dog trainer! I am absolutely loving it! You may be asking yourself why I'm putting Apollo through training still if I'm a trainer and the answer is, I get something out of it as a trainer since I haven't taught the upper level classes yet and I enjoy meeting the people and the dogs! And of course Apollo gets the socialization out of it. I am so happy with my job and I'm very lucky that it worked out.

One more story and then I'll be done.
This weekend Lexington's Petsmart opened an enhanced adoption center with the Lexington Humane Society. It's really nice! It's a free standing center with a play room and a meet and greet room and bigger kennels for the dogs and cats. Anyway, I took Apollo and Phoenix with me to the grand opening. There was a woman who made comments about Phoenix that I did not hear and I wish I would have The cashier she made comments to happened to be a friend of mine. The woman said "I cannot BELIEVE they did not dock their doberman's tail! I have a dobie at home and HER tail is docked!"
Well, good for you. Cunt. Why is it any concern of hers whether my dobie's tail is docked or not?
I wish I would have heard her so I could have said "Oh, I'm sorry. This is my rescue doberman who lived in a place where the people cared so little for her that they wouldn't even feed her, let alone touch her."
I wonder if she knows that the only reason tail docking started was to let people know who was a working dog and who wasn't. And also back in the 1700s it was believed docking a tail would keep rabies away. Tail docking has no purpose whatsoever. Ignorant bitch.

Anyway! You're all caught up! Tell me what's going on with you all?