After giving this some thought, we decided it was best for Lincoln that he find a new home...somewhere where he can get much more attention than we can give him. I always felt bad about leaving him alone all day and not being able to spend much time with him when we WERE home. Mainly, the time issue is because of the baby.
So we started asking around. The kennel people we know thought they might have a place for him in MI with a retired guy that lives on the edge of a lake in a rural area. He had a golden retreiver that died not long ago and was looking for another. We hadn't heard from him yet so this past weekend we got another potential home. This time at a nursing home. A teacher my wife works with has a sister that is the activities director at a local nursing home. She said they were looking for a good dog around 3 years old to live at the nursing home and be a friend to the residents there. Lincoln is 3.5 years old. So anyway, this young lady and her sister came over yesterday evening. Lincoln was a hit and she fell big for him. She wanted to take him that very evening. So we let her take him. He stayed overnight in her house with her 2 year old lab. Today I called and she already had him at the nursing home. She said he was doing great (they wanted to evaluate him first before making a definite decision). He's over there lying at the old folks feet as they pet him. She said he's doing really well and the folks there love him. He'll have his own room to sleep in at night. A heated floor and the works. Sounds like a nice place for him. They're going to have a trainer give him a few tests to be sure he has no agression issues (he doesn't) or anything like that...and assuming he passes that, they're keeping him. So I guess you could say Lincoln is now a working dog. Won't be like work, but you know. He'll just be a friend to 220 nursing home residents :) We'll go see him next week to see how he's doing and give him a hug.
I'll miss the big goofy boy, but I think this will work out best for everyone....
