Sweet Valentine Goes Home!

Having Valentine with us has been a testimony to fostering. When she first arrived, she was very tentative and shy, carrying herself with a demeanor much older than expected in a dog just four or five years old. She spent the first week pretty just much watching, with an expression that made me think that she was waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop. Slowly, she came to realize that there was no other shoe. Heck, I’m usually barefoot!

As Valentine has come to realize that this is a safe place, she has slowly let go of her barriers. What we see now is a very affectionate dog, one who wants love, but will not demand it. She is not in your face, but instead waits for a signal ~ a glance, an outreached hand, a soft word ~ something that invites her closer. And then she will sit softly by your side, relaxed in the security of having someone there. If it weren’t so sweet, it would be sad.

Valentine is one of the reasons we rescue. She has a story, a past, that we will never know. It will always be part of her, but as she has come to understand love, the distance between that past and her today grows until it will only be a faint echo. There is great satisfaction in knowing that.

Valentine would be a wonderful fit for a laid back family or person. She doesn’t want or need to romp through the fields. She never met a frisbee she thought needed catching. She is content to let the sheep mind their own business. A loaf of bread, a bottle of wine, and thee,…. That’s our Valentine!

Valentine has been adopted, but as she gets comfy in her new home, she is showing a lot more playfulness than I expected! Good for Her!