Month: March 2019

foster dogs, fostering, hard to adopt, Rescue Road Trip

Diary of a Rescue Week Seven: Progress!

Cara Achterberg

After what felt like no progress or only incremental progress for weeks and weeks, this week Daisy had several big breakthroughs!

She’s like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. I don’t know what kind of butterfly is spunky, mischievous, and a little bit pushy, but that’s the kind Daisy is.

She’s also LOVES attention – butt scratches, ear rubs, kisses, any and all of it., in fact she demands it. For a dog who couldn’t tolerate my touch at the start, this has been startling for me. She is one affectionate dog. She’s also playful and funny and busy. adjectives I would not have used to describe her only a month or so ago.

Today she Continue reading “Diary of a Rescue Week Seven: Progress!” →

dog rescue, Rescue Road Trip, shelters

Ready for a Road Trip!

Cara Achterberg

This Sunday I will climb in a van with seven other volunteers and head south to visit six of our partner shelters in North and South Carolina.

We have three goals – Continue reading “Ready for a Road Trip!” →

dog rescue, fosterdogs, fostering, returned dogs

Foster Dog Overload

Cara Achterberg

I’ve often wondered what my limit is.

I know other people who have four, five, even nine dogs living in their houses.

Five.

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That’s clearly my limit, judging by Continue reading “Foster Dog Overload” →

dog rescue, fosterdogs, fostering, hard to adopt

Diary of a Rescue Week Six: Change is Coming

Cara Achterberg

The coming week will mean a big change for Daisy.

I am preparing to leave on the OPH Rescue Road Trip, a weeklong trip with seven other volunteers to visit six of our partner shelters in North and South Carolina to spend our days working in the shelters. Our hope is to not only offer physical help with the dogs and the work, but to learn more about the needs of our shelters and to raise awareness of those needs.

You can follow along on our Facebook group, OPH Rescue Road Trip, where we’ll be sharing pictures, stories, and live videos all week long.

This is an exciting adventure for me, but it means that Daisy will have to leave our home which has been her safe haven for nearly seven weeks. Nick and Ian cannot be left in charge of Daisy for an entire week.

It’s not their safety I’m worried about – Daisy has shown no aggression at all towards any people (although it’s more than clear that she has suffered at the aggressive hands of people). The problem is that she goes into a blind panic if Nick or Ian approach her and I worry for her safety and emotional health if we force the issue. We have made incremental progress, but sadly, there is still so far to go in convincing her to trust them.

She has three options. One would be Continue reading “Diary of a Rescue Week Six: Change is Coming” →

dog rescue, foster dogs, fostering, Schuyler puppies, Updates

A Week in the Life of this Foster Mom

Cara Achterberg

One week later and Bugs is a part of the family.

Watching me work
Taking up a lot of room in the kitchen
Bugging Frankie
Playing in Deer Creek
watching AKC Agility finals with Frankie

Ian calls him Continue reading “A Week in the Life of this Foster Mom” →

Diary, dog rescue, foster dogs, fostering, hard to adopt

Diary of a Rescue Week Five:  It’s a Big Wide World

Cara Achterberg

Every evening when I sit down to post in this diary, I think—nothing really happened. (except on Wednesday – that was a little too exciting) And yet, when I look through the day’s pictures and start to write, there’s always something to tell.

That’s probably true of all of our lives, not just one rescue dog. So much happens every day that we take for granted and should instead be awed by in gratefulness, but I suppose it’s human nature to think it has to be exciting/tragic/titillating for it to be worthy of writing or reading about. Daisy is teaching me to slow down and appreciate the moments.

This week was made up of a lot of little moments, but her world stretched and she gave me lots of clues to her history and maybe a few that will help to unlock her heart.

I appreciate any help you can give in sharing her story. I really believe it simply she needs to reach the right heart—someone who will recognize her as family and choose to adopt her. Daisy has so much love to give and every day I see more of her huge loving, funny personality.

If you’d like to read her story in real time, you can follow along on Facebook at Cara Sue Achterberg, writer.

Here are this week’s entries: Continue reading “Diary of a Rescue Week Five:  It’s a Big Wide World” →

dog rescue, foster dogs, fosterdogs, fostering, returned dogs

Big Dog Lessons

Cara Achterberg

I hope I didn’t take on more than I can handle.

Last night it seemed overwhelming, but today in the sunshiny energy of a new morning, it seems, well, maybe not totally doable, but somewhere in the realm of possibility.

We have a new foster dog. And he’s Continue reading “Big Dog Lessons” →

dog rescue, Dogs with Issues, foster dogs, fosterdogs, fostering, hard to adopt, oph

Diary of a Rescue Week Four: Progress is an Eight-Letter Word

Cara Achterberg

I have to forewarn you that this past week hasn’t been terribly exciting. The progress with Daisy is only incremental and likely will stay that way. Again and again, I shake my head at the depth of pain this dog has endured. Her scars are deeper than any dog I’ve encountered.

It has been a month now since I picked up Daisy on a cold night at the bowling alley where she arrived on a transport from South Carolina.

And yet despite the fact, that during that first week of fevers, labor, delivery, and surgery, literally carrying her 60+ pound body in and out of cars, hospitals, and vet offices, she Continue reading “Diary of a Rescue Week Four: Progress is an Eight-Letter Word” →

dog rescue, foster dogs, fosterdogs, fostering, puppies

If I Never Fostered Dogs….

Cara Achterberg

I’ve always liked dogs.

Liked them.

I wasn’t necessarily a ‘dog person.’ We always had a dog when I was growing up. A steady stream of strays and dogs that just happened into our lives. Truly, I never gave it much thought. I liked cats better. Especially once I hit young adulthood and lived in an apartment.

But now, somehow, dogs have taken over my life. My days, really my hours, revolve around dogs. Currently, we have four here at the house. Two are permanent residents and two are foster dogs only here for a spell awaiting the moment when their forever families find them.

As I write, Continue reading “If I Never Fostered Dogs….” →

Diary, dog rescue, foster dogs, fosterdogs, fostering

Diary of a Rescue Week Three: Together We Rescue

Cara Achterberg

This past week taught me the truth of ‘Together We Rescue’.

Sometimes we forget the fact that none of us has to go through this life alone. It’s our choice.

Like most people, asking for help doesn’t always come naturally for me. I want to be that strong, independent, I-can-handle-it person, and more than that, I just don’t want to bother anyone. We’re all more than busy, right?

Thankfully, when a crisis rose up this week for Daisy, friends stepped in an offered help and for once, I was smart enough to take it. It was that help that got us through the week and helped Daisy to expand her own circle of trust, proving that she is more resilient than I thought.

Yes, she is still terrified of men and has yet to let my husband or son pet her or put on a leash, but as she watches Nick’s outstretched hand or creeps towards him and then scurries away, I know her mind is weighing it all. Risk versus reward. It likely took some time to inflict the emotional wounds she carries and it will take even longer to heal them, but this week proved that we are making progress.

If you’d like to follow this Diary of a Rescue in real time, you can do that on Facebook at Cara Sue Achterberg, writer. Here are this week’s entries: Continue reading “Diary of a Rescue Week Three: Together We Rescue” →