Goodbye Anzac, you were a good dog

Just before we went to Australia I had lunch with a friend who mentioned that he was in the market for a new dog. Knowing that he'd only recently got a dog I inquired as tactfully as I could if I'd missed some email or message from him. His "new" dog had got out of his yard, and was hit by a car and killed. I asked him if he was interested in a Border Collie.

When I assured him that I was serious about finding a new home for Anzac, he told me he was interested, but he needed to have a new fence put up around his property, and this was before July 4th (which is some kind of celebration here in the USA) and my friend has a party at his house every July 4, with hundreds of people and a band usually in attendance. So my friend told me that a new home for Anzac would have to wait until after we got back from Australia.

Well we got back and I called my friend, and he said that he'd changed his mind, however, a friend of his had to put one of their two dogs down recently and the remaining dog was pining for her companion, so he was looking for a new dog.

Today, my friend took Anzac and I to his friend's house, and he and Hanako, his dog, met Anzac. They got along well, which means to say no-one tried to tear anyone else's throat out, including mine. Hanako is a female Rottweiler by the way, and she apparently doesn't like male human strangers, and there's not too many male humans stranger than me. Now Hanako doesn't attack, but she does growl a warning, which she did at me when I first arrived. I just sat down on the grass to reduce my threat level (which I realize put my face at a very convenient biting height for the Rotty) and let Hanako get used to me being there. Five minutes later my friend couldn't believe it when I was scratching Hanako behind the ears like we were old buddies.

Everyone got along well, Anzac is going to stay there for a few days, and if things work out ok, he'll be staying there for the rest of his days. They have a nice big yard there with lots of room to run around, and Hanako gets walked every evening, which is something I never did enough of with Anzac.

Anzac was whimpering for me as I walked away, and I'm a little sad now too, even though I know Anzac has a much better home now than he did with us. I don't regret taking him from the shelter, because chances are he would have eventually been euthanized, and yeah, he tore up our house and dug up our yard, but I love him a lot. Now he's with a family who will love him a lot, too, he has a lot of space to run around in, and he has a doggy friend to play with.

Goodbye, Anzac, I'm going to miss you. I know you'll be a lot happier once you get over me leaving you, but you haven't been abandoned again, you're just in a much better place for a doggy like you. You just don't realize that yet.