Tan Solo Pup

(Thank you for creating this blog post title, Dominic! I've had the song stuck in my head since your comment. THANKS!)

Alright, so on Thursday evening, one of my supervisors posted to FB that a stray dog had made its way onto her front porch. Mind you, all day Thursday was rainy and cold, and this dog appeared to have been out in it all day because he was soaked and completely exhausted. He also was injured and wouldn't put any weight down on his left front leg.

Photo taken by C. E.

Husband and I offered to foster him while the search for his family continued. We've noticed a unique perk to our crazy annoying schedules is that one of us is always home. When I'm at work, he's home. When he's at work, I'm home. So it makes for a consistent dog keeping schedule. One of us is always here to take the dogs out. Anyways, that was a long explanation to explain why we offered to foster him. 

Photo taken by C. E.

When we got to her house to pick him up, he could hardly stand on his own, much less walk, for being so exhausted (and likely in pain because of his leg injury) so Braylen carried him into and out of our car. By the time we made it back to our house, he seemed to have perked up a bit. BDR set him down in front of the basement door as we unlocked it and he waltzed right in like he owned the place once the door was open. We got him food and water and were happy to see him eat and drink a little bit before we left him for the night. He was already surprising us with how sweet and gentle he was. I'm sure he was just happy to be warm and taken care of.

The next day (Friday), I had to work, so Braylen was the one to take him to the vet. They said he was likely right around Luke's age (judging from his teeth). His leg was not broken, fortunately, but it was infected from what appeared to be some kind of bite. They prescribed antibiotics, and he's been taking them each day with breakfast. Already we've seen improvements in how much weight he bears on the leg. Also on Friday, we noticed he loves having something in his mouth, be it a bone or stick. We gave him one of Luke's new bones on Friday morning and he hardly let it out of his mouth! 

We decided from the first day we spent with him that "Solo" was a great nickname for him (since we didn't know his original name). Obviously we have a theme going on with our dogs, Luke and Leia. Solo fits him and that's what we've been calling him. I know they say not to name an animal you don't intend to keep, but what were we supposed to do, call him "Dog"? 

Anyways, today we introduced Luke to Solo for the first time. We'd kept them separate (Luke upstairs and Solo in the basement) because of Solo's leg. Luke tends to be pretty dominant and hyper when it comes to meeting new dogs and Solo is so calm and gentle, I didn't want him to be overwhelmed. They met and it went alright. Luke was a little bit of a bully (as one would expect a dominant dog to be with a new dog in the house) but no fights broke out and tails were wagging the whole time. 

I need to explain to you how sweet this dog is. He is every good quality I love about Luke and Leia rolled up into one dog. He's a big boy (I love big dogs) so he makes me feel safe. But he's also extremely gentle and calm as I've mentioned and let's me hug and kiss him as much as I want (just like Leia). It's apparent he is a loyal companion. He never wants to leave my side or Braylen's. He loves being loved. He would be the perfect dog for a family with children (le sigh...).

Meanwhile, no leads have been discovered regarding where the heck this sweet boy came from. I've posted on my town's buy/sell FB page (where missing animals are often listed and recovered because of the listing) to no avail. I've posted on my own FB page and no one recognizes him. Our veterinary clinic asked around to other vets/groomers in the area and no one has filed any missing reports. Same with the pound... No one's looking for him. It's incredible to me that a dog so unbelievably sweet doesn't have a family somewhere praying for his safe return home and searching high and low for him. 

Doesn't he look like Luke's long-lost cousin?

My heart is torn completely. He's won me over and it would break my heart to give him away. However, I know it would be illogical for us to adopt another animal right now. We have the time to care for him, just not the money that comes with that care. Paying for large breed dog food is outrageously expensive (given how much they eat) and it just seems unwise to take on another large dog. 

In other words, this story doesn't have an ending yet. He's still here with us for the time being until we decide where to go from here. We're certainly not taking him to the pound... That was never an option. But the idea of never seeing him again just breaks my heart. 

Pray for Solo Pup, please.