By Deanne PetersonFor those who know me personally, you’ll know that I have a special soft spot for black dogs. My three dogs are all black, Border Collie mixes. Lisa, our Foster Coordinator knows if she needs me to take a certain dog, she just needs to tell me its black. I did a quick tally, fifteen of my fosters in the past year have been black dogs. On my first “rez run,” of course I picked Holly, the little black pup, to come home with us.
I wasn’t aware of the “Black Dog Syndrome” until we were looking for our second dog. At that point, we realized “our thing” was black dogs and from there my fondness for black dogs grew. Having three incredible black dogs myself, it makes me sad to think others have been overlooked because of the color of their fur.
One of my personal favourite black foster dogs would have to be Sadie. MMDR actually named her June Carter (and her brother Johnny Cash), but I didn’t know she had a name when I picked her up, so we called her Sadie. I was in Regina when I read a post on Facebook requiring a foster for the girl. Someone offered to look after her for the weekend, but couldn’t keep her longer than that. When I read black border collie mix, I immediately jumped on it! Coincidentally I was fosterless at the time, so this was just perfect.
Sunday after getting home, I go to pick the girl up. She’s extremely shy, matted and covered in burrs. She was living in a horse trailer, neglected and starved. She must have broken her paw a while back as her leg healed crooked. It was love at first sight.
Sadie fit right in at our home - we actually had trouble telling her apart from our own dogs. After a week of socializing with our dogs and a trip to the groomer, she was a different dog. Friendly, playful and trusting. We’d take her everywhere - off leash at the dog park, on camping trips - she was part of the family.
I was shocked that not one person inquired about Sadie for a whole 2 ½ months. Not one. Sadie even made it out to a few events without any interest. Here’s this girl, so sweet and fun-loving, gentle with kids and amazing with other animals.
When the Morden Corn & Apple Festival came around, I was unable to attend, but Sara, one of the Directors, was able to bring Sadie for me. I was a little nervous, because honestly, we loved this girl and were tempted so many times to keep her. Sadie went out Friday night, but came back with no interested adopters. She slept over with Sara to go back to the festival Saturday.
Later that day, Sara texts me, her friend was actually interested in adopting Sadie. After getting to spend the weekend with her, they saw what an incredible girl she was and fell in love. A week later, they came by to pick up their new family member. That day was bittersweet for me. That being said, I’m so grateful for Sadie to find such a wonderful home, who coincidentally lives nearby so I can visit as often as I want! And more importantly, I’m so happy to know one more family to fall in love with a black dog.
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