Okay, you guys: I have real, honest to goodness HOUSE PROJECTS to post about this week. But not today. Today I’m going to tell you about Fergus.

First, the sad news: a little while ago, we had to say goodbye to our crazy old girl, Lucy. Lucy was nearly 15 and had been going downhill a lot the past few months, so we knew it was just a matter of time….but the house doesn’t feel the same without her.

I’ve always thought that we’d go back to fostering dogs once Lucy was gone (three dogs is my limit. My limit, I tell you! And also Lucy did not have the best doggie social skills in the world, to put it mildly, so fostering with her in the house was a bit anxiety-producing).

Remember how we tried to foster dogs a year ago and made it to dog #2 before we just had to keep one (i.e. The Beagle aka Fiesta)?

I am determined that that won’t happen this time!

But my sweet boy, Fergus, is making it pretty tough.

We’re fostering this time with the rescue group my mom is a part of, Southeast Cocker Spaniel Rescue. As you can maybe tell from that picture up there, Fergus is not a Cocker Spaniel. Cocker Rescue is branching out! To other kinds of small dogs. My plan is to be the scruffy little terrier arm of Cocker Rescue :).

I fell in love with Fergus at the shelter as soon as I saw him. He’s been here with us for a week today, and he is a completely wonderful, easy, laid-back, charming little dog. He’s great with the kids, with our other dogs, ignores the cats, loves visitors….I could go on and on about how fabulous he is.

He went up on Petfinder Thursday night, and by Sunday we’d gotten e-mails from six different people who were interested in him. A great family came over to meet him yesterday, and he’s going home with them today.

So this was all kind of a whirlwind. Scotties (or Scottie mixes who look very Scottie-esque) with no particular issues are a pretty rare find on Petfinder, it turns out. I’m very glad he’s going to his wonderful new home today, because I’m not sure I’d be able to let him go if he stayed here much longer!

Happy new life to Fergus….and on to the next scruffy little terrier!

(I will also consider beagles, corgis, non-scruffy little terriers, and poodles)

There is a wonderful poem I read awhile back, by Peter Davison: “The Passing of Thistle.”  (oh! It’s about a Scottie; I just realized!) It has a line in it about the dog’s darkness, “bringing out the hero in photographers.” Yes. Fortunately, Fergus is at least good at being still, which helped.