Good home needed!

We have to find a new home for our dogs in the States. We've made the decision to find them a new home mainly because of behavior issues stemming from our absence. The people living there while we were gone took good care of them by feeding, watering, etc. but they were never around much to play with them or make them feel like they had family there. It's been a rough 3 years for them.

They are beautiful, loving dogs who are very protective of "their" children. I remember once when a neighbor came to visit. You have to understand that this man was their friend. They would run out to greet him everytime he walked his dog or came to visit. This particular day, however, the twins were outside in their playpen. When J came walking up to the house to talk to Baba, Zoe and Bandit ran barking and growling at him. They were not threatening him in any way. They were just letting him know "their babies" were in the yard and he'd better watch himself. Like I said, he was one of their best friends, but the twins were around and they weren't taking any chances. They would also keep strange dogs (or neighbor dogs that we didn't like) away when we would take the twins out in their tandem stroller. Another dog, that they liked, was allowed to walk with us until we reached a curve that said we were nearing our home. Then they politely chased her off.

Bandit is a German Shepherd and he's about 8 years old or so. He has the most pleasant temperament and is very playful. He wouldn't hurt anyone except accidentally if that person is standing next to him while he is happy. (His tail is roughly the size of a baseball bat.) If he's standing next to a garage door while happy you hear it all over the house. LOL He's terrified of storms, fireworks, and other loud noises. He has been known to tear up our screens trying to get in the house in desperation. This is the only time I've ever known him to be at all distructive. He's not normally one to chew up things (at least not since he was a puppy) but when he's terrified, all bets are off. He used to be best friends with our barn cat (who got jealouse and ran off when we got Zoe). He hasn't been around cats for a few years so he'd probably need to be socialized with them again.

Zoe is a Black Lab. I'm thinking she's about 5 years or a bit older? She was shot by the neighbor of her former owner about 5 times. She's had numerous surgeries but until her fall (actually, jump) from our truck last summer she ran faster than Bandit. I'd hate to know how fast she was before her surgeries. She did get impatient when we came home from the groomers last summer and jumped out of the back of the pickup on the road in front of our house. She messed up her knee (or was it her hip) and the vet said they could do surgery but she'd still have arthritis in it, etc. so it wouldn't have really prevented any trouble in it anyway. So when the vet said she wouldn't do it if it were her dog, I wisely heeded her advice. To my knowledge it doesn't bother her much, except perhaps depending upon the weather. As long as you're not a rabbit, opossum, etc. you're safe around her. If you are, let's just hope you're a opossum. You have a decent chance of getting away.

Both of these dogs are excellent with children. I would have no problem letting my children outside with them while I ran in and out of the house. They are very protective of them. The twins were always hesitant about petting our cat. Half the time she wanted to bat your hand instead of being petted. Whenever a dog stuck a huge face in theirs, they always reached for them. They had no fear of these huge dogs when they were a year old. Last summer they were afraid of them because they hadn't been around dogs for 2 years. Once Bandit and Zoe realized they were afraid of them, they didn't get in their faces. They kept their distance (but they always knew where they were). Whenthey realized that the Little Prince was getting over it, both of them would come up to him and he would pet them. Bandit never got the hint about keeping his long snout out of the Prince's face, though. They knew the Diva was still scared so they didn't press it with her.

If you, or someone you know, is interested in a dog without having to train a puppy, that's already known to be good with kids, and is just a sweet dog, please let me know. If you include your e-mail address in your comment I won't publish it (an advantage to moderating my comments).

We are giving ourselves a month to find them a home or a no-kill shelter. If we can't then we'll put them down. We want to be as sure as we can that they'll find a good home or spare them the possibility of ending up in a bad one. It breaks my heart to do it, but the decision had to be made. If bringing them here was an option we'd do it in a heartbeat. Please, if you can think of anyone who'd love these dogs, let me know.