50th Times the Charm

Our house is much quieter. (for now)

Rooney finally went home with her new forever mom after a long wait. They met over a week ago and fell in love, but we had to wait for Rooney to finish her antibiotics and be 100% healthy so she could go home. Which she did on Friday. And we all miss her. My little brother will be very happy to know Rooney is in the Air Force now! Her mom is one of America’s finest.

Before she left, she, Lucy, and Obie had a fun week.

Here’s Obie and Lucy sharing a stick:

And here’s Rooney and Obie not sharing a pumpkin:

In fact, pretty much everything is fun with Obie. He has the ability to put a smile on every face he encounters. His new forever daddy showed up to meet him on Monday and fell hard very quickly. I have a feeling that Obie is headed for a long and spoiled life, well deserved.

Before Obie took off, though, he made a very special visit to a woman I met through another friend last year. She is battling a vicious cancer and doing it with serious style and attitude. I met this amazing woman last year and a few months later she came for ‘puppy therapy’ with the Hamilton puppies. Now, though, she is not getting out nearly as much, so when our mutual friend contacted me to see if Obie might be available for a little puppy therapy, we offered to visit.

Let me tell you this is a special puppy. He happily climbed right up on his patient’s lap and sat there for a good 20 minutes, nibbling on her fingers and kissing her face and generally making everyone who came in the room smile. It is an honor to be a teeny, tiny part of Jen’s journey and I’m grateful that I had the right puppy for the job.

This only made saying good-bye to Obie harder. You’d think as a foster, I’d get used to this lump-in-the-throat, tears in the back of your eyes feeling, but I don’t. None of us do, but some of us are better at hiding it.

The night before Obie left, I hosted a gathering of other OPH fosters and volunteers. Obie basked in the attention. I handed off my camera to a teen in attendance and when I looked at the pictures the next day more than half were of Obie.

It was fun to see everybody in a relaxed setting where none of us were having to ‘work.’ Usually I see these people at adoption events or transports or occasionally in my driveway or theirs when we are handing off dogs or supplies. So seeing them for the simple purpose of being together was a treat.

We talked about our lives and of course, we talked about these dogs that we love so very much. I wasn’t the only one who said good-bye this past weekend. There was a general consensus that the pain of a pup leaving is always lessened when an adopter takes the time to update us on how things are going.

I can’t tell you how much I LOVE when an adopter posts on Another Good Dog facebook page or the Hamilton Puppy Facebook page or the new page for Lily’s litter. I know I’ve hinted at it plenty of times, but here’s me telling YOU- if you adopt a dog through OPH or any rescue, be sure to let your fosters know how it’s going. Knowing we saved a dog is a wonderful feeling, knowing that dog is still safe and happy is even better.

Speaking of saving a dog! I have big news. I’m about to save my 50^th dog!

I can’t quite believe it, but number 50 is due THIS SATURDAY. And she’s a doozy. In fact, she’s not just number 50, but number 50 + who knows how many more! Yup, she’s pregnant. So, stay tuned for updates and if you really want to follow the action, be sure to join the Another Good Dog Facebook group, where I’ll be updating often and sharing the whole adventure.

And just in case, you’re keeping track, Number 47 is still with us for a few more days. Lucy will be moving in with another foster later this week. She’s been with us six weeks, and still has no applications. This breaks my heart and I’m chalking it up to the fact that Lucy is every inch a hound dog and hounds require special people.

But lucky for Lucy she’s moving in with Juanita who has a dog paradise going at her place, so she won’t miss us for long. Ginger and Whoopi vacationed at Juanita’s place this summer and loved it there, so I have no doubt that Lucy will, too. Meanwhile, I’ll keep reminding all of you that there is an AWESOME and BEAUTIFUL hound dog awaiting her forever family right now! We did a little photo shoot this weekend so that we could spruce up her adoption page. Here’s a few of the pictures, plus a couple fairwell shots of the amazing Obie.