Bippity Bop is Ready to Bop On Out of Here

After ten days of quarantine and pumping her skinny body full of steroids, antibiotics, and as much food as she could eat, Bippity has joined our pack.

She quickly submitted to Fanny’s established leadership, will run and chase Otis but not wrestle with him (he is 3x her weight), and took no offense at Gracie’s warning snarls. She is undeterred; with her tail wagging and her happy energy, she trails all three other dogs all over the house.

She still has a faint cough, but her energy is back and her personality is in full force. She is curious and very smart. I catch her poking her little nose into every corner, bag, bin, and open drawer. She watches my every move and is learning a few commands like ‘come’, ‘sit’, and ‘no you can’t climb on the coffee table’.

We are at our cabin this week, spring cleaning and tackling a few projects. Bippity joins Otis in patrolling the dog yard barking at every movement in the woods and defending our fortress with her mighty little self.

It’s time to find this pup an adopter. I have listed her on How I Met My Dog, a wonderful site that matches potential adopters with dogs based on personality and lifestyle rather than supposed breed. I’d appreciate if you could spread the word and share her Facebook adoption post I’ve created that has all the pertinent information (25 pounds but underweight and should probably be closer to 30, 1 year old, housebroken, crate-trained, does well on a leash, lots of happy energy, fine with other dogs, hesitant with people but warms up easily, still has a few puppy behaviors like chewing, affectionate, loyal, and, of course, adorable).

Bippity is pretty near perfect for someone looking for a small dog, but she is food aggressive and needs to be fed separately from the other dogs. This is pretty common in a dog who has lived on the streets and nearly starved to death. She doesn’t act on that aggression, just growls at the other dogs nearby as she eats, but better safe than sorry, so we feed her in her own space.

She is very trainable and smart, but also busy and mischievous. I’ve caught her carrying off a t-shirt left on the floor, pulling ALL the bags out of the poop bag holder, unspooling the toilet paper roll, and climbing on my desk. She’ll need someone who will put the time in to teach her appropriate behavior.

And she definitely has a voice – she barks at the sight of cats, cars in the driveway, sudden noises. Thankfully, she is quiet when crated and at night.

She is up to date on shots, negative for heartworm, but positive for Ehrlichia, and still needs to be spayed. I have scheduled her spay appointment.

She is available for adoption through XPort Paws, but interested adopters should contact me to learn more about her (carasueachterberg@gmail.com).

Until Each One Has a Home,

Cara

For information on me, my writing, and books, visit CaraWrites.com.

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

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 and subscribe to our blog where we share stories of our travels to shelters, rescues, and dog pounds.

If you can’t get enough foster dog stories, check out my book: Another Good Dog: One Family and Fifty Foster Dogs. Or its follow up that takes you to the shelters in the south One Hundred Dogs & Counting: One Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and a Journey Into the Heart of Shelters and Rescues.

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