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the quest for a furry brother

gunter and john
when john was born, he came home to an awesome big brother named gunter. gunter was a 100lb+ lab mutt we adopted from a rescue agency back in 2005 in arizona. his age was never definite, but he was somewhere around 10 when his baby brother came home from the hospital. gunter was a hale and hearty old man, though, with no health problems and plenty of energy, so we had visions of john learning to walk by pulling up on the puppy. every day when john and i came home from work and school, gunter would come lick john's face and john would giggle.

unfortunately, back in early november, gunter fell suddenly drastically ill. he was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer, and eight days after he first got sick, we had to put him down. fortunately he didn't suffer much - in fact, he was in great spirits and did pretty well that week. he spent his last day on the planet laying in the backyard in the sun with his family. it was terrible to say goodbye to this furry member of our family.

a little time has passed, and while we still miss gunter every day, we're ready to welcome a new furry brother into john's family. we've been perusing the websites, talking with rescue organizations, etc. we're on the hunt for a BIG lab or retriever mutt, which is surprisingly difficult to find here in baton rouge. there are lots of great dogs up for adoption in the 40-60 lb range, but we really just want another bruiser.

today we visited the denham springs animal shelter. they're a no-kill shelter with lots of awesome dogs ... but again no big guys or gals. we've also visit east baton rouge animal control, and the yelp house. and i can tell you this: there are some beauties out there. tons of them. beautiful dogs. if you're thinking of a dog in the baton rouge area, check these shelters out. just because we haven't found OUR new baby yet, doesn't mean your baby's not there waiting for you!

but for now ... our new furry family member is still out there waiting for us. we'll know when we find him/her. and we'll keep looking. because come on ... every little boy should have a beast he can lovingly climb, who will respond to a pulled tail by licking his face. or at least, my little boy wants that.

in loving memory of john's first big brother, the amazing gunter.
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~*~*~Claire~*~*~ said…
Where the like button. hopefully a new big brother comes soon xxx
January 9, 2011 at 9:22 PM
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