This afternoon, we brought home a 2-year old yellow Lab named Mojo. We adopted him through Midwest Labrador Retriever Rescue, a wonderful non-profit organization committed to giving labs a second shot at the loving home they should have been given in the first place, but lost either because an owner's life change, or abandonment or neglect.
In Mojo's case, it appears that the issue was neglect. His history is sketchy, but the one thing that is abundantly clear is his utter discomfort around people. He spent time with a trainer and an animal behaviorist, and they believe that the issue wasn't abuse -- they don't think anyone harmed him physically -- but he appears to have had no interaction with people at all ... surely as cruel to a Lab's inherent temperament as physical blows.
And so, he was brought into foster care with a wonderful couple who took on the daunting task of trying to teach Mojo to be, well, a dog.
In their care, he learned to play with a ball (fetching one remains kind of confusing), chew on a bone, and frolick with his foster brother and sister (both Labs). In the course of the 5 weeks they fostered Mojo, he grew to trust them enough to stop hiding in the kitchen and ultimately joining them wherever they would be in the house.
The foster parents cautioned us that we are going to have to be very patient as Mojo transitions into his forever home. It's Mojo's world, and we're just hosting it, and he has to learn that we're here for him and that we're in for keeps.
This blog is going to follow Mojo's progress (as well as ours) as we all learn how to do life together.
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