Blossom – The One Who Was An Escape Artist

Blossom came to the rescue in the Spring of 2016 when Kat was our foster and was quickly adopted. Just as quickly she was returned to the rescue. While we do everything we can to make sure adopters know of all of the dog’s troubles and quirks sometimes, they just don’t hear what we are telling them. In Blossom’s case, “if you leave her outside for a long time without supervision, she will run away” was one of the things the adopters didn’t hear. After the third time she scaled their fence after being left out for over an hour, they brought her back. No harm no foul in situations like that, we all want what is best for the dog, and clearly this was just not a good fit. However, seeing how hard it was on Blossom to be back in the kennel setting, I took her home. We started out in the crate at night, which we quickly realized was completely unnecessary and started letting her have free reign of the house with Ace and Ally while we were at work. Blossom was about as easy as a foster could possibly get. With our 6 foot privacy fence, there was no way she was getting out of the back yard and we took daily walks on the leash.

Blossom, being a cattle dog, had the best focus of any dog I have ever met. It was amazing how fast she learned and how eager she was to try everything. We even got her walking with Craig on the treadmill and she loved going on runs. However, this trait also caused my first “oh my God, what have I done” moment with a foster. Her laser focus clamped on to a bunny in the yard one day, it didn’t matter that when I pulled in the driveway from work, the bunny took off. She knew what direction it ran. When I opened the front door, she shot out and took off. I quickly pulled the door closed, dropped my keys and my purse and took off after her. I caught up with her about 6 blocks later when she was trying to get into a backyard where another dog was out and was able to tackle her and scoop her up (very heavy) and start the walk back home. I was about a block and a half away from the house, when I could see the police car, that I realized my mistake. I had opened the front door. And then closed it and ran after Blossom. I did not turn off the house alarm. In my 20 minute sprint after B and slow walk home, the cops had shown up. One very awkward conversation with the police officer about my level of responsibility and a call with Craig and the security company and all was well. I have never made this mistake again. I am VERY careful when going in and out of the house now. But it was part of Blossom’s stay with us that I will definitely never forget.

Blossom was with us just a little while longer after her great escape. A lovely young couple with a diabetic, partially blind smaller dog came to meet her one afternoon. They had a fenced in backyard that they were actually changing to be a privacy fence and they were an active couple, looking for dog that could keep up with them and still be a good companion for their aging dog. We had said all along, Blossom would thrive in a home where she had a job, we just never imagined that her job would be guiding her blind “dog brother” around the house. Shortly after Blossom went to her new home her mom sent me a message saying, “she was the dog we didn’t even know we needed. She pushes him in the directions he needs to go and stops him from bumping into walls. She plays so gently with him it’s just amazing”. Blossom’s foster experience was really when Craig and I decided, that while it was nice to have a puppy like Kat around, having an older dog like Blossom was really what we preferred.