WBD seeks SFD

(Widowed black dog seeks single female dog)

     Every morning for the past few weeks, Chewbacca has awakened us in the pre-dawn with piteous whimpers and cries at the bottom of the staircase that leads upstairs to our bedroom.

     At first, we thought his high anxiety was a reaction to the prednisone he has been taking as part of the treatment for his cancer (in remission, thankfully). So, with the vet’s blessing, we tried discontinuing it to see if that would help.

     It didn’t.

     Then we realized that what he was doing was pining. Mourning for his companion of 12 or so years, Liberty, our little dog daughter who was put to sleep roughly a month ago.

     We thought perhaps it was time to consider another housemate for him.

     So, yesterday, I went to a place where I had never been, the Salem Animal Rescue League in Salem, N.H., to check out the possibilities. Today, I brought Rick and Chewbacca there to meet a dog new to all of us, Mandy, a 4-year-old coonhound mix.

     We took the two of them on a walk, with leashes (Chewbacca and Mandy, that is, not Rick). They sniffed each other’s rumps, pulled apart to do independent sniffing, then came back and sniffed each other some more, before we put them in a chain-link pen where they could explore one another off the leash.

     Mandy was a War Horse, glad to be out of her kennel and running like the wind. Chewbacca was… awestruck, maybe? She was a lot of woman for him. Slightly taller, several years younger and with a heckuva lot more energy. They pawed each other playfully, then went off to do their own things.

     Was it a match? We weren’t sure, so we brought them into the office for additional evaluation. Mandy, we learned, has some training to do before she could sit, lie down or stop climbing onto laps or furniture. Chewbacca, we learned, doesn’t care about anything else in life so much as his next treat.

     We almost took Mandy home with us, then decided we needed a little more time. We are scheduled to go back later in the coming week for another possible match-making visit.

     Here’s a video of the two of them. If you watch it and have some thoughts you’d like to share, please do.

     We’d love to see both of them live happily ever after.