Or....do....

The day we lost Rhodey I was on his rescues website. They offered us a dog for free, at no cost, and the time to test any dog we wanted. It was a very generous and heartwarming offer.

I was on the rescues website not looking for a dog, but looking for dogs to cat test. We take our cat denzel to adoption events and use him to see how fosters do around cats. 

On the website I saw a familiar face....then two...

On the puppy page was a dog I had a fostered back in august. A dog that knew Rhodey and at three months had started responding alongside him.

Was Rhodey telling me something?

We didn't know. Well, my husband argued about the length of time it took for a dog to get to heaven...but I couldn't ignore it and asked rescue why Howard, the hound puppy was returned.

They said that he was returned for barking when left alone (8-9 hours a day) and he barked when he saw other dogs on leash.

I spoke to the foster about this and she said he hasn't barked at a dog on leash since, mostly because he now lives with other dogs. They have taken him to adoption events with 50+ dogs and not once has he barked at them. I convinced my husband that even though it hasn't been long since we lost Rhodey that I have to test this dog. He is literally the only connection I have to Rhodey, and a dog that actually responded alongside Rhodey after Rhodey alerted.  My husband of course was worried that I was thinking with my heart and not with my head. He asked how I would know if Howard was the one. I couldn't say "honey, you just know", so I showed him the Volhard test. I even got a friend (who knew Rhodey and had seen him work) who was also a service dog handler/trainer to come with me to test him and fill the test out on her own... We didn't follow the test exactly, and more used it as a guideline and data points.  Howard was truly exceptional.

He wasn't overly fearful of any of the loud noises or things being dropped. He was right in the middle for all of the restraint portions, moving a bit but not flailing over being overly submissive. He retrieved the toy I threw twice, and brought it back.He off leash heeled like a champ. In the video I know I ask him to sit after we stop walking, I won't request that when he is vested/in harness.  So after we tested him last night my husband picked me up. I could he was a bit grumpy at the driving and Black Friday, so for the first time in my life, I kept completely silent when I was bursting to tell him the good news. Instead I told the rescue and other handlers just how awesome it went. I showed them the short one minute video we took and finally... allowed myself to start thinking of names. The husband will help with the name once he meets him, but the best I did was wait until this morning to present everything to him. He had gotten a new video game from his dad so we played that all night and then this morning before breakfast I presented everything. I knew I had him won over when he said, "He's actually a good looking dog". He did ask if it would be better to look at a second dog and compare the tests. That's when I showed him the video, you can't ask for much better. This one minute video shows you how the 20 minute test went.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTGhVwgUPSY&list=UUgf9i-hBHnNmqY8M5NOxT3Q&index=1