Hans and Lars
posted on:
Feb '09
17
1:09pm
featuring:
Hans and Lars are a pair of senior poodle and either shih tzu or lhasa apso mixes who came to AHS via local animal control. We knew at the time that they "had cherry eye", which turned out to be secret code for "mostly blind and very crotchety with other dogs".
Lars is 10, and he may very well be Hans' father. I personally find him the more easy going of the pair despite the fact that he's missing one eye and has a huge cataract in the remaining one. We all expected him to be dependent on Hans, but it honestly seems to be the other way around.
Hans is around seven years old, and he does have cherry eye in both eyes as well as possible early stage cataracts. I don't know if it's his limited eyesight or just natural disposition, but he's extremely reactive to other dogs and generally makes a nuisance of himself out in the runs by barking and growling furiously. Hans can also be temperamental about being handled although he tolerates grooming fairly well.
The pair went into foster care for six weeks with some wonderful volunteers who were willing to manage the reactivity with their own small dogs. We'd hoped to adopt the boys out directly from foster, but the requirement that they go as a pair on top of their health issues probably discouraged some people. We've dropped them going together, and they have separate kennels in adoption. Some of the volunteers worry that they miss each other, but Hans would beat up Lars over food.
I have a strong suspicion that Lars thinks the new situation is great since he has a controlled environment that he doesn't have to share with the equivalent of his 40 year old son living in the basement who beats him up when he doesn't fork over spending money fast enough!
As for Hans, he does seem a little depressed to not have Lars (he's the more dependent of the two), but if he'd just try to be friendlier to other dogs, we could find him some friends outside the family.
Lars is 10, and he may very well be Hans' father. I personally find him the more easy going of the pair despite the fact that he's missing one eye and has a huge cataract in the remaining one. We all expected him to be dependent on Hans, but it honestly seems to be the other way around.
Hans is around seven years old, and he does have cherry eye in both eyes as well as possible early stage cataracts. I don't know if it's his limited eyesight or just natural disposition, but he's extremely reactive to other dogs and generally makes a nuisance of himself out in the runs by barking and growling furiously. Hans can also be temperamental about being handled although he tolerates grooming fairly well.
The pair went into foster care for six weeks with some wonderful volunteers who were willing to manage the reactivity with their own small dogs. We'd hoped to adopt the boys out directly from foster, but the requirement that they go as a pair on top of their health issues probably discouraged some people. We've dropped them going together, and they have separate kennels in adoption. Some of the volunteers worry that they miss each other, but Hans would beat up Lars over food.
I have a strong suspicion that Lars thinks the new situation is great since he has a controlled environment that he doesn't have to share with the equivalent of his 40 year old son living in the basement who beats him up when he doesn't fork over spending money fast enough!
As for Hans, he does seem a little depressed to not have Lars (he's the more dependent of the two), but if he'd just try to be friendlier to other dogs, we could find him some friends outside the family.
