New Foster Dog

Two weeks ago, just before all hell broke loose, we got a new foster dog. In his picture on the agency website his eyes looked very intense. When he came in person his eyes reminded me of my beloved Canela. He has the same uncanny ability to look into my soul in a a loving way, just as Canela had done. Our new foster dog is a two year old beagle named Sherlock. When he came into our home, he reminded me of some of the foster children on their first night. He was scared and confused and cried a lot. Being a beagle, his bayed in a pitiful howl, crying for his lost family. He slept in my bed because it was the only way he could be comforted. I woke up to him army crawling up my chest to stick his nose in my face. In the two weeks since he has been with us we have all grown to love him. And I think the feeling is mutual, since he howls when we leave him and sometimes can’t even go outside alone. He is much more laidback than our first foster, the crazy chocolate lab and he just has an old soul feeling about him. We are total smitten and have already professed our desire to keep him, which as his foster family we get first dibs. He gets along with everyone in the house; he is gentle with the kids, indifferent towards the cats (he does bark at them when they fight, which Canela used to do and I’d joke she was yelling at them), and mostly tolerant of our dog Prancer. He is very loud when he barks, usually because that leads to the infamous beagle howl, but he stops when I tell him to, usually. He’s a very good dog, with a little separation anxiety, and his gentleness is a balm to our aching souls at the moment.