Landon Scored!

Landon was finally able to go to his first adoption show this past Saturday after being under house arrest for the last three weeks.  It took him three rounds of antibiotics to get over his kennel cough - apparently there's a nasty strain of it going around right now.  But midweek last week you could tell that he was suddenly feeling so much better.  Instead of having to be coaxed to eat watered down wet food he would scarf down his kibble, and I didn't even have to hide his medicine in anything because he'd eat it right along with the dry food!  In the yard he began running around more and wanted to play fetch, when before trotting more than a few steps would have thrown him into a coughing fit.

It was great to see his personality peeking through.  Although one thing that didn't change was his desire to be close to you.  Not just I'm-going-to-follow-you-from-room-to-room close, but if-I-could-surgically-attach-myself-to-you-I-would close.  We knew with how sweet and cute he was it would be no time at all before Landon got adopted and pretty much figured he'd be a one show dog.

So I wasn't terribly surprised when less than an hour after dropping Landon off at the adoption show I received a call from one of the adoption coordinators saying someone had put in an application on him and asked me to talk to them on the phone for a few minutes.  Everything sounded great; a woman and her boyfriend who live with her mother as well as her two children, 10 and 12 years old, so someone would be home almost 100% of the time.  With having so many people to love on and rarely being alone, I knew Landon would love it.

The home check went well, everyone seemed excited about the new addition to the family and Landon was completely obsessed with the kids.  They decided to name him Bufflin Joe, after former Chicago Blackhawk (and now Atlanta Thrasher) hockey player Dustin Byfuglien (through the magic of the Norgwegian language Byfuglien is pronounced Bufflin).

Congrats, Landon!

Meet Landon!

I picked Landon up Wednesday afternoon.  He came to us from Chicago Animal Care and Control (just like Talia did).  He's about a year and a half old and we think some sort of Sheltie mix. 

Maybe a little Chow?  Or Shepherd?  Hard to say, but no matter what there's no denying he's cute!  He weighs about 40 pounds and is getting along quite well with Dash and the cats. 

He hasn't been allowed to hang out with them much though because the poor little dude is sick with a wicked cough.  This isn't uncommon in rescue dogs as they often are not up to date on vaccines when they arrive initially at a shelter and then of course there are so many animals in such a small space, any kind of illness can spread quite easily (think kindergartners who pass the same cold around all year).  But hopefully his antibiotics will do the trick and he'll be good as new in a week.

Oh, and did I mention Landon's not neutered yet?  Yeah, Landon's not neutered.  But you can bet I'm getting his cute little butt to the vet as soon as he's recovered from his cough, because this adorable little guy seems to think it's okay to mark things in the house.  And chasing after a dog to clean up his, um, scent, all evening is not my idea of fun, so for the time being Landon is going to be spending a lot of time in the kitchen, where apparently nothing is worth marking (and the floor is easy to clean just in case he changes his mind!).

In any event, he's a total sweetheart and gives great hugs.  He's also fabulous at posing for pictures.  He held all these poses, on his own, for nearly a minute!  Much easier to photograph than the usual milliseconds most dogs give me before they get distracted!

Welcome, Landon!