Hookworms & Heartworms: Lots of Healing Happening Here

I’m breathing a little easier now. I no longer walk into the puppy room holding my breath. Instead, I hold my nose!

Last Friday, the pups finally breached the side of the box, so we moved them to bigger digs and they are enjoying having plenty of room to play and poop.

The Broadway Babes are busy, happy, messy pups! Their biggest fault is that they seem incapable of using puppy pads. Instead, they deposit their poop anywhere and everywhere. I would not have guessed there was any hound in them, but they sure resemble hound dogs when it comes to their potty habits.

Little powerful personalities are emerging and I’m enjoying getting to know them. I spend a great deal of time with them, trying to make up for the fact that we had to move their mother Mia to another foster home. It was too difficult for her physically and emotionally to be in the same house with the pups. The crying reached unbearable decibels (from both parties) by Thursday and thankfully, another foster, Katie, stepped up to foster Mia.

Mia is thriving at Katie’s house. She loves the kids and is recovering quickly both physically and emotionally. Katie messaged me recently to say that Mia has already figured out how to ring the sleigh bells attached to the door to alert her when she needs to go out. It was obvious that Mia was incredibly smart from the beginning, so I wasn’t the least bit surprised. It’s been a humongous relief to know Mia is safe and happy.

I have been posting daily live streams to the Another Good Dog group and to my public Facebook page to offer some happy news each day. My loose schedule for doing LIVE streams (dictated by the pups’ activities) is early morning and early evening on Another Good Dog and lunchtime on my public page where I also post a daily Diary of a Rescue entry. I know we can all use some good news right now and I also know that ‘puppy therapy’ is good for the soul. So I hope you’re enjoying them!

A HUGE thank you to everyone who sent items from our wishlist. The pups have plenty of food, formula, treats, bowls, and toys now! I was overwhelmed by your response (as was my mail carrier!).

The pups will get another round of deworming this week and go for a follow up visit next week to be sure we’ve cleared the worms and that their blood counts are recovering. Judging by their increased energy alone, I’d say their anemia is receding daily. Pippin still tires easily, but she isn’t sleeping her days away anymore and is playing and fighting and eating just like the other pups.

Siobhan has done beautifully recovering from her heartworm treatment. She still has many months of restricted activity ahead, but so far, so good. She’ll go home with her adopter on Wednesday. I’m excited for her, even as I know it will break my children’s hearts.

She is a special girl. Her adopter is a vet tech, so she is the perfect person to supervise Siobhan’s recovery. I’ve learned a lot about Huskies from this experience and would never hesitate to foster one again. They are a special breed.

Our rescue, like many others, has seen an increase in new foster homes with this pandemic. This has allowed us to bring up more and more dogs and puppies weekly. It’s an exciting silver lining to the current situation. My hope, of course, is that when we get back to some semblance of normal, those new foster families will be hooked (or addicted as some of us know it to be) and decide to continue fostering.

We’ve also seen an increase in adoption applications which is truly exciting. Apparently, lots of people are realizing that the company and comfort of a dog makes life better. If you’ve been thinking of fostering or adopting, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’d be happy to talk you into either!

And if you need some puppy therapy to get you through your day, be sure to join the Another Good Dog group and follow the Cara Sue Achterberg, writer page!

And if you’d like to contribute to the cost of the Broadway Babes vet bill, you can donate through the fundraiser posted on the Another Good Dog page. All money goes directly to OPH to be used to pay the vet, so it is tax deductible.

In the meantime, stay safe and still and be patient, this too shall pass.

Thanks for reading!

Cara

If you’d like regular updates of all my foster dogs past and present, plus occasional dog care/training tips from OPH training, be sure to join the Facebook group, Another Good Dog.

For information on me, my writing, and books, visit CaraWrites.com. I have a new book, One Hundred Dogs and Counting: One  Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and a Journey into the Heart of Shelters and Rescues, coming out in July. If it sounds like something you’d like to read, I’d be beyond grateful if you’d consider preordering it. Preorders contribute to the success of the book, not only giving me and my publisher some peace of mind but hopefully attracting media attention.

And if you’d like to know where all these dogs come from and how you can help solve the crisis of too many unwanted dogs in our shelters, visit WhoWillLetTheDogsOut.org.

Our family fosters through the all-breed rescue, Operation Paws for Homes, a network of foster homes in Virginia, Maryland, D.C., and south-central PA.

If you can’t get enough foster dog stories, check out my book: Another Good Dog: One Family and Fifty Foster Dogs . It’s available anywhere books are sold.

I love to hear from readers and dog-hearted people! Email me at carasueachterberg@gmail.com.