Just when I thought Ria might stay with me forever, I got an inquiry on Petfinder from someone who sounded great. She has three cats and always has several foster cats around, which would be good since Ria likes cats. We set up a meeting on Wednesday afternoon, since it was a public holiday.
Ria doesn’t trust anyone except me and will bark non-stop at anyone who comes into the house, so we went to the little park on the corner. Ria had a great time running around while we were waiting, but when the adopter (Della) came, she was not too happy. She barked and backed away. Then when she saw Della had treats, she happily snatched those, then went back to a safe distance by a bush.
If I moved closer to Della, Ria would move a little closer, but she still did not want to be touched. After getting to know Della more, I was even more convinced she’d give Ria a good home. She’s from Virgina like I am, always had dogs growing up and wanted to adopt a senior or disabled dog to give them a chance. She said she usually doesn’t even look at younger dogs on Petfinder, but she fell in love with Ria’s smile! She said she’ll visit as many times as it takes for Ria to get comfortable.
So she came back today (Saturday) and things went much better. At first, Ria had the same attitude. Della said she looked like a princess while I was carrying her and asked Ria if she could pet her. Ria shoved her with her paw.
At the park, Ria sniffed Della’s hand, then backed away and barked like, “What? No treats? Go away!” But after several treats, she started to warm up, sitting closer than before. Della pet her back and Ria was okay because she thought it was me touching her. When she realized it wasn’t she backed off again, but then came back.
Finally, she let Della pet her. No one other than me has ever been able to pet her like that. She even gave some kisses! I asked Ria if she wants a new mommy and she didn’t seem so sure about that. It would be hard to let her go. The next plan is to go visit Della’s place and see how that goes. Just a visit; then we’ll plan further!