Chubb and Yancy were turned in to a Humane Society in Kansas as 10 year old brothers whose owner could no longer care for them. Fortunately, someone at the Humane Society called ATRA, who took it from there.  Lacking an available foster home, the boys were moved to a kennel where they were cared for, walked, and loved by ATRA foster parents.  Having lost our beloved ATRA ‘dale Ruby the previous March, we were cruising the website looking for A suitable dog, which meant ONE who could deal with wood floors, stairs, and a cat.  After looking at Chubb and Yancy’s photos for what seemed an interminable length of time, we started to feel like we knew them. But TWO dogs?  And two Airedales, no less.  I finally called to find out more about them and was put in touch with Beth VanKirk, one of their foster moms.  Beth turned out to be a godsend, both for me and the boys.  We had long phone conversations in which I described our home situation and she described them.  My biggest concern was how they would react to our cat, Steve, and believe it or not, Beth took Chubb and Yancy to a pet store where they had agreed to let her test the boys with one of their mascot cats.  Beth and her son took a video of the visit and I was sold.  With the help of Beth and a couple other ATRA transporters, we met The Boys in southern Illinois for their final leg to Grand Rapids, Michigan.  They slept the entire way home, which Kathy Kitchen explained was a result of their all-night bachelor party at her house the night before.

Everyone is settled now, including Steve the cat, although he is not their biggest fan yet.  The boys are excellent on a leash, are perfectly behaved at the groomer and the vet, and have made some dog friends on our walks.  Although the vet agrees Chubb is all of 10 years old, she thinks Yancy is closer to six or seven.  But they are brothers by heart, and Chubb is certainly the big brother.  When he thinks it’s time for bed, Yancy had better get in his bed too or Chubb will pin him there, despite the fact that Yancy still outweighs him by a good ten pounds.  With Chubb, it’s all about attitude, because he doesn’t have very many teeth left!

I would encourage everyone to consider adopting a senior dog, or two!  These sweet old gentlemen have brought us so much joy and they’re so EASY.  No puppy antics, they don’t have to run 10 miles a day to behave themselves, and they can be trusted alone in the house.  None of us knows how long we will be blessed with the presence of even our young furkids, so we need to cherish every day and live in the moment, just like our dogs.

Another thing I encourage all adopters to do is keep in touch with your dog’s foster family.  They are the heart and soul of ATRA.  We wouldn’t know anything about the dogs we want to adopt if it weren’t for them.  They have to have incredible emotional courage to open their hearts to dogs they know they will have to part with and will probably not hear about again.  So please keep in touch, because these wonderful people loved your dog before you did, and worked harder than you might realize to bring you together.