After that excited night, the whole family would crowd around the computer screen, scrolling through page after page of rescue dogs and specially bred dogs alike.
Then, one afternoon my host mum told me that they had expressed interest in two rescued dogs and they had been flown (yes, flown) in from California for them to have a look at! So we carted the entire family down to a local animal hospital where the dogs had been transported to. There was another family there looking at some other dogs, there were about 8 dogs in total. We got to mill around the dogs, look at them, play with them, assess if they were the right dog or not. That was when we met Tyler. He was a very gentle dog, a poodle-bichon cross (very smart, no shedding, small stature). He got along well with the kids and was very calm and tolerant. He was not as cute as some of the other dogs but he had his own charm. The family decided to bring him home for a 1 week trial.
He is a good dog, likes to go on walks and sleep a lot, very low maintenance. He's the dog you have when you don't have a dog, a bit like a cat mixed with a sheep (sleeps, eats, white and woolly). He is content with being left alone in the house, he is very easy going.
Only thing is, he is not so playful with the kids, he doesn't like to play catch etc. After some discussion, the parents broke it to Luca that they would return the dog.
Luca wailed and sobbed for about 4 hours straight. Not kidding. That boy cried with so much pain and yearning we thought it never would end! He was crying in the shower, crying in his room, crying walking down the street.
Tyler is still with us at the moment, and it is up in the air as to what his future will be - Vanessa my host mum (and I) loves Tyler because he is low maintenance (who can blame her, she doesn't want a 6th child to look after!), but at the same time, Tyler is not the active playful family dog that the family dreamed of.
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