Dog of the Week: Hagrid

This week's Dog of the Week is a little different.  Hagrid has already been adopted.  However, this dog truly moved me in the time I was able to spend with him.  So, let's meet Hagrid!

Louie and I have a thing for gigantic, fluffy animals.  If you haven't already caught on to this, please take a moment to study example A: Morganna and example B: Auggie

As you can see, we enjoy a good amount of fluff in our day-to-day lives.  When I first saw Hagrid in dog-holding, my heart melted and immediately began scheming to make him mine.  However, we are at our maximum for pets in our tiny, one-bedroom apartment, and Hagrid needed a home without cats.  So, I had to get ginormous dog fix by visiting with him at the shelter.

I will admit, I was pretty intimidated by his size!  Hagrid weighs 157 lbs.  I was uncertain if I would be able to manage him on a walk.  However, all the dog-walker notes stated that he actually had trouble walking.  He would mostly just stand.  Apparently, in his former home, he was an outside dog that got very little human/dog interaction.  He didn't know how to walk.

So, I braved it!  We made it to the sidewalk, and he stopped.  I coaxed him a little further, and he stopped.  We stood there.  Stuck.  Now, I hadn't really considered what would happen if I couldn't get him to walk!  Yikes!  Luckily, another dog-walker, Frank, was around, and he joined me and Hagrid.  We thought since Hagrid wasn't much of a walker, it would be good to get him in the play-yard so he could get some exercise.  Alas, we didn't quite make it.  Instead, we stood 10 ft. from the play-yard gate playing a low-key game of "pick the ball up with your mouth" and "eat snow".  At least he was out and about.  It was a big deal that he made it this far!

On the way back to the kennel, Hagrid decided the best thing to do would be to lay down.  So, he did.  He laid on the sidewalk a good 5 minutes before I could manage to get him moving again!  Our 20 minute walk turned into 45 minutes of bribing a gigantic fur-ball to move.  It was a blast :-)

I worried about Hagrid constantly.  He wasn't getting enough exercise.  He seemed sad in his kennel.  I wanted to give him more love.  I wanted someone who would understand him to take him and give him the life he deserved.

Well, folks, someone did!!!  I am completely over-joyed that Hagrid is happy and thriving!  This dog touched my heart in a way it hasn't been touched in a while.  Read Hagrid's Happy Tail!