Dora's out. Total spaz.
Everything thought to be about Dina (Dee-na, but she has no attachment to the name, human thinks it's weird) was even more so. My buddy who knows a lot about dogs went w/me.
Negs (all stuff discovered by my friend):
She's probably 8+ years old. Has some gray hairs and also looks like maybe early cataracts. My buddy called his friend who's a vet and reported that stuff and vet also guessed 8-10 years old and would expect to live to 12-14.
She's missing a toe on her rear right foot. Doesn't seem to have any effect. Human either didn't know or pretended not to have known.
Teeth need to be cleaned and also apparently reflected the 8+ age guess.
Human claims there's no way for me to get any better info. Says the dog came from a kill shelter in San Bernardino, where dogs get turned in as strays w/no info even though they're probably being surrendered by owners that have the info but don't want to pay the surrender fee.
Pros:
Pretty much exactly the temperament I want. She came out and was fine being off leash and instantly was cool and friendly w/us but not hyper at all. She's fully house trained and could be in a crate but the human uses nothing b/c she gets along w/all the humans and dogs on this weird compound (there's an area where people are living in a tent) w/o any issues. Says a toy or 2 and she'll be fine occupying herself while I'm working or not home.
She was able to run around just fine and fetch stuff like a younger dog. Size is ideal.
She seemed to want to go w/us. She even ran over to the jeep and was seeming to want to hang out w/the giant pak head on my spare tire cover. It was pretty lol. When we had her come out a 2nd time she was walking around w/us like she was ready to go.
I'd gone in w/a mindset that I wouldn't want her to be older than 5. Turned out if I had evidence the dog was even 6 I'd have taken her today, even w/o having done any of the house prep. My buddy, while ackowledging the age concern, was astonished at how well-tempered but active the dog was and how good it would work for what I want. He kind of had a positive spin on the age in that even if I only had this dog for a few years, it's probably going to be a good experience and then I'd be more open to a wider range of dogs next time.
So I wanted a D-1 transfer. This would specifically be a 5th year grad transfer that I'd then have to let hang around even after the season.
Told her I'd think about it. Both my buddy and his vet buddy think it's appropriate that I propose to her that I take the dog but have a vet visit lined up and have the equivalent of a used car mechanic's check and agree that if there's something overwhelming that the vet finds that I can return the dog. Not sure if that's a normal thing to suggest or not.
Here's some pics from today. Advice?
