How it all began ...

It was autumn 2009 when I decided to get a dog. It should be one out of Vienna's animal shelter called "Tierschutzhaus". As my partner, Ine, already owns a 10 year old dog it should be the same age. I went to the homepage of the Tierschutzhaus and had a look at the dogs they give away (Hundevergabe). At the very bottom there was a picture of a dog named Orion.

 

A mix of Greyhound with German shepherd, 10 years old, castrated. As I work on shift I waited a while so I'd have time to visit the dog and called the Tierschutzhaus. I was told the the dog was just given away and so I decided to wait until spring and have a look at the available dogs again then.

I did so at the beginning of April 2010 and there at the bottom of the list he was again. I called again and asked if they forgot to take him off the list and they said that the dog was back again.

April 22nd was the day Ine and I went to the Tierschutzhaus and asked to see the dog. We went there by bike and were dressed in heavy leathers. We met Yvone, one of Orions carers and saw a large but very elegant dog kept on the lead and wearing a muzzle. We went to an area where we could see the dog and while talking to Yvonne about his past (we were informed about 2 operations to his stomach and a non funktioning pancreas that made it necessary to supply medication as addition to the special food he needs as well as that he is NOT castrated) Orion tried to pick up a toy which could not work with the muzzle on. I asked Yvonne to take the muzzle off and she wanted me to confirm my wish because the dog usually is agressive when strangers want to touch it. (Why should I touch a dog I don't know????)

Once the muzzle was off, Orion picked up the toy and went to me. So we played a while and then he turned to Ine for playing (he seems to be very democratic when it comes to playing).

After about 30 minutes of running after the toy the dog was obvously tired and taken back to his kennel. Before that we were offered some treats to feed the dog, so Yvonne would see if he accepts food from us or not. He did and I touched him the first time. He even accepted my touch.

Ine and I decided to visit the dog several times to see if he choses us as new family ...