9/17/00 - We took Manley and five other dogs to a meet & greet yesterday. Manley was the surprise of the day. He was a perfect gentleman! Even sharing the relatively close confines of a large x-pen, he was calm and quiet. I was VERY proud of him!

10/2/00 - Manley's brother, Romeo, and several of his pals left last weekend for their new homes. Manley has been unusually quiet since then. There are still 8 other dogs in the kennel, but I think he misses his brother. Or maybe he doesn't understand why he doesn't have his own family yet like his buddies. This big, sweet beauty is really pulling at my heart strings and the temptation to keep him is strong. But it's not the best thing for him, so we'll keep looking until his real family finds him.

10/20/00 - Manley's sadness over Romeo's departure is over. He cured himself by inventing a new game. Muzzle soccer! There is a soccer ball in the dog run, and Manley chases it all over, batting it with his front paws, and bopping it with his muzzle. It's hysterical to watch, and he adores it. He gets frantic if his ball rolls or bounces somewhere that he can't get at it. As soon as it's retrieved for him, he's back at it until he's so tired he can barely stand up. We tried letting him out by himself without his muzzle so he could play with the ball. He picked it up in his mouth and looked as us as if to say "Now what?" We put his muzzle back on and the game resumed. I've never seen any dog have more fun. Gotta get the video camera fixed! This is too good not to preserve. Of course when Manley goes home, "his" ball will go with him.

9/5/01 - The other day I tried a little basic obedience work with Manley. Will he sit on command? Nope. Will he do anything yet on command? Nope. But he focuses on me totally, so as soon as I figure out how to communicate to him what I want from him, I'm sure he'll learn. It's obvious he's paying attention and trying to please me. I think he'd make a good obedience dog for someone with better training skills than I have.

11/12/01 - Manley has been with us for over a year now. A few dozen dogs have come and gone since he's been here, but he's still patiently waiting. He has come to love us, but probably not as much as we love him. When visitors come to the kennel, he sticks his handsome head out the window in his pen and smiles his most charming smile. "Are you the one?" But because he's a big black male, he seldom gets a second look. I'm not sure whether it's worse when they don't even look at him or when they pat him and then walk away. Either way it breaks my heart that no one seems to see what a magnificent dog he is. But while he looks disappointed for a minute or so, it doesn't seem to bother the Man for long. He's happy where he is. He just deserves so much more.