The Gangs All Here

Assimilating three dogs takes patience.

Once upon a time, in my early days of fostering, I would rush it. No, actually, I just wouldn’t think about it. Foster dog arrived and we let it loose in the house. I look back on that now and am amazed it didn’t result in anything worse than ruined carpets.

I have three canine guests in the cottage with me. Two are fosters and one is a previous foster puppy who is hanging out with us while his family is traveling. I rarely get to see my puppy fosters all grown up, so this is a treat.

Augie was Jack of the Pep Boys litter (2020). He’s still quite handsome (he stole the show back then) and still quite large (in his mind) and in charge. I think less than 30 pounds, so maybe he feels compelled to assert himself amongst his larger roommates.

Mostly he announces things – Cara has arrived! Dinner is being prepared! Gracie Lou just came in the dog door! There is a rumpus happening outside in the yard!

While they are all bunking in the same room (in crates), they have yet to be allowed out of crates together. I’m hopeful that Augie and Krimpet (yes, we went with that name) will be able to play together. Gracie Lou is bigger than either of them and not well socialized (READ: she hasn’t had the opportunity to play with other dogs often in her life spent on a chain. DON’T READ: she’s a dangerous dog, because she isn’t. She’s just socially inept.)

Gracie is fascinated by the new guest, and he doesn’t like to be starred at, so one or the other’s crate is normally covered to keep Augie from voicing his opinions about their potential relationship.

Introducing new dogs takes time. My normal plan is to allow them to live together communally in crates for a few days, with one loose at a time. In foster lingo, this is called, “Crate and Rotate”. Every hour, one pup is put away and another allowed out.

Once they stop reacting to the switcheroo or the presence of one of the others loose in the room, we’ll start taking leashed walks together with drive-by butt-sniffing. If that goes well, we’ll introduce two of them in the play yard, with Nick ready with the noisemaker or the hose, and me supervising the introductions. To date, the actual introductions have been uneventful.

How quickly we progress from ‘crate and rotate’ to ‘play time together’ depends on the dogs. Meanwhile, I don’t need an apple watch to tell me I’ve been sitting too long, I’m up every hour to rotate crates.

Krimpet is still not talking, so whether she is pregnant remains a mystery. She sure looks pregnant and I’m not sure how long false pregnancies last. She’s been nesting a little (chewing up her bed), but if that’s nesting, then three of my last four foster dogs were ‘nesting’ also as they’ve destroyed a combined total of six dog beds.

This weekend, we’re going to try to make more beds out of the Memory foam bed topper Addie no longer wants on her bed. We’ll start by cutting pieces to fill the Frank bed and my one extra dog bed cover. I’m going to shop Amazon for more bed covers to use up the rest. It’s a much better solution than throwing a queen-sized memory foam topper away. I suppose if I was handy with a sewing machine (or had one or could borrow one), I could whip up some bed covers, but that’s not the case and the zipper part of the challenge seems daunting.

Back to Krimpet – she has a vet appointment on Monday, so hopefully the mystery will be solved and we’ll get to work on treating her Heartworm, Erhlichia, Lymes, and Anaplasmosis (sp?) or Nick will be building a new whelping box (the last one didn’t survive the move). Stay tuned. I’ll be sure to announce it on the Another Good Dog Facebook group.

Question for experienced cat people- is it better to ignore a shy kitten or force your attentions on her? Ever since Allie and Geo left, Boots has gotten shyer.

She hides in her kitty tunnel or scurries behind the litter box when I come in. When I do catch her, she submits to my ear rubs with purrs, but I’m hopeful I’m not doing more harm than good since she isn’t improving very quickly. If she was a dog, I’d give her space and let her come to me, but since that tactic didn’t work, I’ve begun these forced attention sessions daily.

If Krimpet is pregnant, the kitties will have to move to the kitchen and I’m afraid I will lose Boots up into the exposed rafters never to be seen again. Hopefully, the Humane Society will come up with a better plan for Cinder, Boots, and Trig. Nancy was here and got some great pictures of all three:

Stay tuned for Krimpet’s status update!

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.

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Many of the pictures on my blog are taken by photographer Nancy Slattery. If you’d like to connect with Nancy to take gorgeous pictures of your pup (or your family), contact: nancyslat@gmail.com.