Fresco the Fantastic

I feel terrible that we've had Fresco for a month now and I've barely blogged about him at all! In fact, I haven't done a very good job marketing our little visitor either. Normally when we have a foster dog, within a week or so of his or her arrival I've created a promotional flier with a description, pictures and contact information. I send it out to just about everyone I know, hoping that people will send it on to their coworkers and friends until ultimately someone who is actually looking to adopt a dog will see our precious little pooch. Despite these efforts, I'm pretty sure that 5 of our 7 previous foster dogs were adopted because of their Petfinder ad and not because of my personal marketing efforts. So with Fresco, I got lazy and assumed we'd have lots of inquiries from his Petfinder page, which just hasn't happened. We've had two meetings with prospective adopters, but neither were a very good match for our lanky little guy. The first meeting was with a group of students who lived in an apartment, and the second was with a family who had a rather aggressive 5-year-old and no fenced backyard. Neither ended up submitting an application for Fresco anyway, but I was glad since I didn't feel too great about either situation!

So the funny little Fresco remains in our care, and thankfully, he's settled in very well and is getting to be less and less extra work. He didn't adapt to being kenneled while home alone very well, but the good news is that he is doing well roaming free in the house while we're gone! To us, this is a huge accomplishment considering he's barely one year old, since our boys were still destroying lots of pillows at that age!

Fresco hasn't had an accident since the day after we returned from Ohio, so we're confident that he's completely housebroken at this point as well. Although he did get into one fight with Hope over a toy during his first week here (which she pretty much instigated), since then they've done a lot of wrestling and playing and he's even letting her steal his toys. They've been so much fun to watch. As you can see from the picture I snuck through the window, they enjoy each other's company (by the way, our lawn in the backyard isn't always that out of control).

Many of our friends have gotten to meet this sweet little boy, and most everyone has loved his super friendly and affectionate nature. He plops right down into the laps of anyone who will give him the time of day, and even some people who have no interest in him at all. Fresco doesn't discriminate against non-dog people. :) He is so incredibly sweet. I'm sure we would keep him if Celtic seemed happier with the situation. Celtic does enjoy the daily game of chasing Hope who's chasing Fresco, but overall he just seems so dejected and depressed about having to share so much attention with a young whippersnapper!

So project "find Fresco a home" continues. The first step in my plan of action will be to change his profile on Petfinder so that it doesn't talk so much about the fight which landed him at the shelter in the first place. Not that we won't be completely honest with anyone who comes to visit him, but we first need people to actually show some interest! Once they meet him, they won't be able to resist this adorable little guy!