Month: January 2016

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A Long Time Gone

Cara Achterberg

IMG_2460So, the snow is ridiculous. I was gonna write about it, but I’m still too mad at its sheer presence. It’s like that crazy relative who comes for a visit and is so darn much fun, but the next day you’re hungover and tired and really in no mood to deal with his needs. Go away, you think. But he doesn’t go away. That’s where I am with this snow.

I don’t think it’s ever going away, so I’m going away instead. I expect it to be GONE when I return. (If you want to witness our Snowmaggedon, click here.)

While we are gone, we’re leaving the g-parents in charge. This means NO FOSTER DOGS. None. Not even sweet, easy, fun Lily (who just this morning I caught eating the corner off the guest room comforter in honor of the g-parents arrival!). So Lily is going back from whence she came (Chris’ house). Love my girl and we will miss her. But she’ll return to the party when we get back (and the snow is GONE).

As a treat for you while we are away, I’m arranging for a few updates from dogs-gone-by. I put the plea out to some of my foster dogs/puppies from last spring/summer and am hoping I can give you the down-low on their adventures since leaving our wonderful foster home.

Lily knows something is up, like any true dog. She’s seen the bag packing, my ramped up stress-level, and the cleaning (perhaps the most obvious giveaway of all). She is underfoot. This morning as I picked up her toys so that I could run the vacuum in the kitchen, she followed me around, retrieving each toy I put in the basket, only to drop it wherever she was to get the next toy I put away. Continue reading “A Long Time Gone” →

LIly, oph

The Good and the Bad of Liliana

Cara Achterberg

IMG_2444So now that Lily’s been here nearly a week and demonstrated that she’s more or less housebroken, she’s been given the run of the place. This is good and bad.

Good – Lily is a BIG dog. I know she doesn’t look that large, but she’s SOLID and has a tail more like a beaver’s than a dog’s. That appendage is strong and can hurt you or anything else in its path. Plus, it’s basically set on nonstop wag due to her happy heart. Now she can run full-out through the living room, up and down the stairs, before coming to a sliding stop on the wood floor in the kitchen. (She’s getting better traction since I took her over to visit Chuggy, and Jim trimmed her nails for me! Big shout out to Four Paws Pet Shop & Grooming – thanks a million! I’m terrified to trim nails so Jim and Rosie may regret the day they said to bring my fosters in for free nail trimmings!)

Bad – Lily is like an over-sized puppy. Fun, right? Ahuh, until she gets ahold of your slipper. She’s got adult size teeth with a puppy-sized urge to chew. Bad combination. So far, besides my slippers and my gloves, she’s destroyed pretty much every dog toy we’ve given her. At first, this was a good thing since we had accumulated WAY too many worn out dog toys and needed to get rid of a few anyway. But now we’re running out of toys. All, I’ve got to give her are old sneakers and tennis balls, which are totally uninteresting after a minute or two unless someone is flinging them for you – here’s Lily in action:

Good – Lily is a whiner when left alone. Now that she can continually check-in with everyone, she whines less. That is, until she realizes that no one wants to play.

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Here’s Lily requesting a play date

Bad – Now Gracie has to deal with Lily full-time. Gracie is a grumpy, snarly, socially awkward dog who is about as tall as Lily, but 20 pounds lighter. What Lily wants more than anything is for Gracie to PLAY with her. C’mon, just one game of tear around the house? Ya wanna, Ya wanna, Ya wanna? Here’s what happens: Continue reading “The Good and the Bad of Liliana” →

Chuggy Alabaster, LIly, oph

Our Special Visitor (and news of the Chugster!)

Cara Achterberg

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We were foster dog-less for almost 24 hours.

The plan had been to be foster dog-less until after we get back from our BIG VACATION (I can’t tell you about it or you’ll be super jealous and stop reading my blogs).

But then, you know, twist my rubber arm. Plus, this isn’t just another foster dog this is a VERY SPECIAL foster dog.

Super excited to tell you that Liliana (or Lily), the puppy mama, is staying with us for two weeks!! I’ve been smitten by this gorgeous girl since the first time I laid eyes on her, which was back in November when she was giving birth to all those beautiful puppies.

And here’s the thing about Lily. Consider what she’s been through. Basically she’s a teenage mom. Her age is guessed to be between 1 and 2, but her need to play, chew, and RUN make me certain it’s closer to 1. She was impregnated, abandoned, kenneled, then shipped a day’s drive north where she gave birth to ten puppies with four birth attendants that she’d only just met.

So, considering all that, you’d think Lily might be a little shy. Maybe suspicious. You’d think she might have trust issues. Continue reading “Our Special Visitor (and news of the Chugster!)” →

Chuggy Alabaster, fosterdogs, oph, Pigweed

Meet the Real Chuggy Alabaster

Cara Achterberg

DSC_2160Fiona, the puppy formerly known as Pigweed, took off for her forever home. Chuggy (and the rest of us) are missing her. Minutes before her adopters arrived, she and Chuggy had one last King/Queen of the Frank Bed battle and I captured it for posterity. My phone is clogged with these videos because every time I witnessed them I wanted to share them with the world, but despite my best intentions and most likely, because of my limited technical abilities, they remain trapped on my phone. You’ll have to stop by if you want to watch any others.

Life got much easier this morning. As cute as they are, Pigweed and the rest of the puppies were a LOT of work. Chuggy is not. He is a delightful and gracious house guest. I’m afraid the puppies have been upstaging him during his time here, so let me properly introduce him.

First off, Chuggy Alabaster has more expressions than your average dog. Sometimes he can look at you like he knows exactly what you’re thinking, and once more, he agrees with you. Continue reading “Meet the Real Chuggy Alabaster” →

Chuggy Alabaster, fosterdogs, oph, Pigweed, puppies, Uncategorized

A Puppy and a Puppy-sized Dog

Cara Achterberg

Big weekend here. Four out of five puppies took off for their forever homes.

It was fun to see the happy faces – especially the kids. Puppy adopters are my favorite people because they are always bubbling over with excitement. I mean, who isn’t over-the-moon happy to be taking home an adorable puppy? I’m sure some of that happy might wear off after a few days of cleaning up poo on the carpet, but for that 30 minutes or so when they are here meeting their puppy and signing the papers and taking pictures, they are THE happiest. And that’s fun to see.

Makes me smile now just thinking about it. I loved watching Sneezewort (now Cooper) jumping all over his new boys and Snap Dragon (now Rocky) giving his new mom a face bath. The grins on the faces of Foxglove’s (now Teddy) new mommy and daddy practically split their faces and seeing the dreams come true for one teenager when she snuggled Begonia (now Calypso) simply made my day.

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(I picked a really sad face pic for this just so you’d say, “awe…..”)

And that leaves Pigweed alone. It was a long, tough night for that little girl. We’ve learned she can bay like a hound when she is VERY sad. She goes home to her VERY excited forever family on Friday. This morning Ian said, “Next time we do puppies, can you make sure they ALL go home on the same day.”

Yuppers. That would be ideal.

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I had tried to head off this predicament by claiming a very small foster dog. Chuggy Alabaster (and who can resist a name like that?) arrived on Saturday afternoon. He’s a pug/Chihuahua cross and weighs a little less than Pigweed, my smallest puppy.  He’s got a smashed in, turn up nose which is a perfect combo of the two breeds, plus a mini-Superman build – svelte waist and broad chest. He’s about a year old and has lots of small dog energy. The perfect playmate, right? Continue reading “A Puppy and a Puppy-sized Dog” →

Begonia, fosterdogs, Foxglove, Lilliana's puppies, oph, Pigweed, puppies, Snapdragon, Sneezewort

Carpe Diem Because There’s No Such Thing as a Perfect Puppy

Cara Achterberg

DSC_1959Never a dull moment. That’s what I can say about fostering. Especially puppies.

Two of my puppies have been playing musical chairs in terms of adopters the entire time I’ve had them. First they have an adopter, then they don’t. I’m always extra nice to the currently unadopted puppy- as if they know it – more snuggles, extra treats.

There’s been one puppy available for adoption pretty much the entire time I’ve had the bunch, but which puppy it is has changed too many times to count. First it was Begonia, then Snap Dragon, then Pigweed, then back to Snap Dragon, and now we’re back to Pigweed. But Pigweed may be available just a wee bit longer. She’s going to need a special adopter.

Let me back up. Continue reading “Carpe Diem Because There’s No Such Thing as a Perfect Puppy” →

foster dogs, fosterdogs, Hadley, oph, Uncategorized

Hadley Goes Home

Cara Achterberg

IMG_2317Just like that, Hadley is gone.

I’m missing her. Nick is missing her. Ian is still not happy with me for letting her go. She is a quiet dog, and I never heard her make a sound in all the time she was here, but somehow the house is quieter now.

Everyone else went to see the new Star Wars on Sunday, but I stayed home to dig out my desk. My mind kept finding its way back to Hadley.

I forgot to ask the adopters what they will call her now. I couldn’t stop picturing her sweet, terrified eyes the night we brought her home only five weeks ago. I kept trying to replace that image with the playful gleam she had when she was wrestling a puppy or the way she glanced up at me so often when we walked at the park – just checking that I was still there. Maybe it’s because she was the most broken dog we had the privilege of fostering, maybe that’s why it hurt so much this time. I can’t help but worry about her.

So I’m busying myself by organizing. I’m even making a new journal because crafting homemade journals always soothes my soul. This one is dog-themed and I’ll use it to document the dogs of 2016. We fostered 25 in 2015. If we’d had one more, Pennsylvania would have required us to have a kennel license. So in 2016 we’re already signing up for a license. This journal will help me keep the details straight on the dogs for the inspector. Continue reading “Hadley Goes Home” →

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Happy New Year – Puppies for Everyone!

Cara Achterberg

Happy New Year! We celebrated in much the same way we have each year – dear friends, board games, leftover Christmas cookies, and plenty of beverages. I worried that Hadley would be completely overloaded by the presence of so many new faces, including a three-year-old, but she surprised us all by joining the party.

As we gathered around the new puzzle/coffee table (the one my AMAZING husband built for me for Christmas!!), Hadley hopped up on the couch and hung with us for the duration. Despite her crate being open and the three-year-old instructing her to get in there so she could latch the door (she’d already tucked Gracie into her crate for the night), Hadley sat gamely (so to speak) through a loud game of Telestrations and plenty of rounds of Apples to Apples.

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It’s so clear to me that this dog doesn’t want to be alone. For all her fear and trembling, she loves people. My new year’s hope is that she finds her forever home quickly so she can start falling in love with the right person.

I’ve been taking her for “therapy walks” at a local park, having given up trying to walk her on our street. Cars moving fast, up close, are simply too much for her. The park is perfect because she can see the road, but the cars are not too close. The first few walks, she still hit the deck when a car passed on the road, but now she simply cringes. On the far side of the walking trail we pass by a fence that separates the park from a rest stop on the interstate. Trucks arriving or leaving, still cause her to cower, but again, she’s realizing while they may sound scary, they won’t actually hurt her. Just like with her crate, careful, contained immersion into the world of her fears seems to be the best tactic with Hadley.

She still enjoys the puppies. Here’s a video of her playing with Snap Dragon. Continue reading “Happy New Year – Puppies for Everyone!” →