The spring garden is going a little wild—in the best way. The wisteria is going to be magnificent this year, already bursting into bloom almost overnight. The camellias are still flowering, and the peonies and roses are full of buds.

I’ve finished the worst of the weeding, and we’ve completed all the vegetable beds and planted most of them. The zinnias are thriving in the greenhouse, and this weekend I’ll transplant them into individual six-cell packs. We've got the flower border to work on this upcoming week so it will ready when the zinnias are ready.

The very big news here is that we’ve decided to foster another dog, once again through Pets In Need. I get their foster opportunity emails each week, and of course they always tug at my heart.

Our last dog died over a decade ago, and since then we’ve happily filled our lives with neighbor dogs and granddogs—but we’ve resisted having a dog of our own but we miss that experience, so fostering seems like a good idea.

Long story short, we originally had our eye on two older lap dogs who were bonded and needed to be adopted together. We arranged to meet them last Saturday. But when we arrived, the foster coordinator told us about a different dog in desperate need. He had spent over a month in a shelter in San Francisco, was then transferred to Palo Alto, and had finally just shut down—he’d stopped eating and stopped socializing altogether.

Would we be willing to give him a chance?

We said yes—and we are so happy we did.

In just one week, he has revealed himself to be such a sweet, gentle and well behaved dog. Within hours he began eating again. By the next day, he was responding to our attention. Now he’s settling into our routines, loves to cuddle, wants to please, and responds beautifully to praise.

They estimate he’s about two years old, and for many reasons I suspect he may have been a street dog for at least part of his life. I’ve trained puppies and young dogs before, but working with a two-year-old is different—and in many ways, easier! He has never pulled on the leash, and after just a few days he was already heeling on my left and beginning to understand both voice commands and hand signals. We've had him a full week now and is progress is amazing.

Off leash at the school (we go after 7 PM, once the fields are empty), he stays close—rarely more than a few feet away—and keeps a watchful eye on me.

He isn’t house-trained yet, but he’s trying so hard and making real progress. The same goes for jumping on furniture—he’s learning quickly and responds so well to gentle correction.

He’s a bit skittish around other dogs and prefers to keep his distance, but he’s shown no aggression at all, toward dogs or people. We’ve taken him to the garden center twice, where he behaved like a perfect gentleman. Car rides, however, are not his favorite—no fussing, but definite reluctance to hop in.

Next week we’re planning a trip to an outdoor café to see how he does. Right now, we see our role as helping him learn the world—socializing him, building his confidence, and teaching him all the skills he needs to become a wonderful family dog. When he finds his forever home, they’re going to adore him as much as he deserves.

He doesn’t have a name yet—the shelter called him “Prince,” but we’ve been toying with “Dusty.” I’m not quite sure that’s the one…any ideas?

As for breed, we’re guessing some mix of Whippet, Chihuahua, and Rat Terrier—but whatever he is, he’s pretty special.