Looking Back on 2010 – Corbin

We next agreed to take in two babies. Estimated at 6 weeks old, maybe a little less, and less than 4 pounds. I’ve never had extended contact with puppies that young. I’ve never brought home a dog for myself at younger than 12 weeks.

This was also the first time I agreed to take in two fosters at once. Of course, with puppies this young, two is easier than one, but puppies are a lot more time consuming than dogs.

V showed up late at night carrying a crate. My husband was still at work (of course). V set down the crate and opened it and my daughter and I sat on the floor waiting…

First out was a trembling little black puppy, we’ll get back to that one later. Second to appear, was a little black and tan puppy. My daughter was squealing over the tiny black puppy, but my heart skipped a beat when I saw the little tan puppy. It was clear that we’d each have our favorite. The mother was a rat terrier mix and the father was a small shepherd mix. There were 8 puppies total in the litter, which were divided up in pairs to different rescue organizations because nobody could take in all 8.

The black and tan puppy was named Corbin. He took after the father more. He was bigger than his sister in body length and height. He was probably bigger around too, but she certainly was more sausage-y looking. So cute. Then he peed on my rug. Oh well. Still cute.

V gave us the feeding instructions and went on her way, and left of with the two tiny babies, and we started to get to know each other.

Corbin was the more laid back, snuggly, and cautious one. He was sweet and patient with his sister. He was very people focused. He was also growing faster. Some days, it seemed like he got noticeably bigger in one day.

After about a week, a couple came over to meet Corbin. They said very nice things about him, but I did not feel a spark. I told V that I didn’t think they were the one. I was kind of glad too. He was the easier going of the two puppies, and while I hoped both of them would go quickly, and very close to each other, if one was going to be left behind longer, I was hoping it would be him. They were still quite young, the rescue wasn’t going to let either one leave right away.

Then a young woman came to meet both of the puppies. She actually liked the little black one better upon meeting them. When she left I was pretty confident she’d be adopting one of them. Her life was well set up for taking care of a young puppy. She had a doggy daycare lined up for her longer work days. V arranged to go do a home inspection later in the week, and take both of the puppies with her. The woman shared a house with roommates, and they had a dog. So, it would give the rest of the household a chance to meet both puppies.

Corbin won that round, and she decided to adopt him. While she loved the black puppy too, the other dog in the household found the calmer Corbin to be infinitely less annoying.

I had Corbin for a few more days while she purchased her puppy needs and he got just a little bit older. Then she came to pick him up. I gave Corbin a final snuggle and sent him off with her. I’ve heard back that he is doing very well and growing like a weed. The adult dog in the house is still a bit WTF?, but all is good.

Corbin from Ms Tori on Vimeo.

He was a very sweet puppy. 🙂