Goodbye to Gilford

Well, after struggling with the most difficult decision we returned Gilford to his rescue. I took him to the vet and then to training. At both places the trainer and the vet expressed concerns about his "prey drive". Meaning he wants to hunt and attack animals that are smaller than him. The girls could not walk him because he was always after a bird or rabbit and he was too strong for them to control. We found out that he was rescued from Mississippi and there was a good chance that he was a trained hunting dog and not raised as a pet at all. We were told that we may never be able to have him and Gipple in the home safely together. As well as his reaction to other small dogs we meet on walks or at the pet store. We really struggled with this decision as we already had become extremely attached to him but inside I knew we were doing the right thing. The organization that we adopted him through has acres of land where they run, they are not housed in crates or cages and they are a no-kill shelter. These people really care for these animals and were very willing to accept him back. They now will try try place him in a home with out small animals.

Yesterday was a tough day for all of us, especially Keith. Gilford had attached himself most to him and Keith has a lot of guilt about this. So we shall see when and where our next dog comes from. We have learned a lot about dogs in the last 2 weeks, I think we will be a bit more informed the next time we decide to adopt a dog.