Knowing Where They Come From

I don’t usually know where my foster dogs come from. Well, that’s not exactly right, I know it’s a shelter or maybe another foster home, but not much about their story.

I don’t know their parents or their previous owners.

When I foster puppies (and dogs), everyone wants to know what breed they are. But that’s another detail I don’t know and can only guess.

Not so, with the dogs and puppies I have fostered so far this year. All of them have come from local hoarding/eviction situations.

At one house-trailer only a few miles from my home, HSSC pulled a mama and six puppies (Beatrix and the Potter Pups), then the sister of that mama (Delilah), and then two of her pups (Samson and Sugar). The dad of that gang was turned into the shelter (he was the only one they would take). So, while we still didn’t know breed, we did know size and appearance of the entire family.

In the latest situation, HSSC pulled the Scooby Doo gang, their parents (Scooby and Dixie Bell), and two adolescent dogs who were somehow related and living in the same poop room (Bonnie and Clyde). In this case, the parents do look to be the same ‘breed’, somewhat resembling the ‘scottish terriers’ their owner claimed them to be. But anyone who has seen the Scooby Doo gang knows, those puppies all look like they came from different litters.

What do we glean from this?

They are dogs. Or mutts (if the term doesn’t offend you).

It’s nice to have met the parents. Because I know Sugar and Sam’s mom and aunt (and cousins), I know they are likely highly trainable, sweet, submissive dogs. They learn quickly because they want to please and want people’s attention and affection.

Because I have so many dogs/puppies filling my cottage and needing my attention, I haven’t been able to do much beyond crate-train S&S, teach them to walk on a leash, sit, and come when called. We’re still working on the impulse control, but their lack of it is no different than most six-month-old puppies.

They are initially on the shy side when new people approach – cowering a little and barking, while wagging their tails. But once they get a sniff of the person (and maybe a treat), they’re your new best friend.

Sam, in particular, is smart and determined – squirming his little self under the gate when I close him in a pen separated from the others and climbing over obstacles I put in his way. He is the first to notice the approach of a new person or dog, ‘announcing’ them, as Nick likes to say. Sam can be quite the announcer. That smarts, though, comes from his clever mama (and aunt), who know how to read people and the room, making friends (human and canine) everywhere they go.

Sugar is utterly devoted to me, squealing and leaping and turning quick circles when I’m in the playyard with them. If I’m out there, she no longer wants to play chase with Clyde, instead she wants to flirt with me and show off her lovely sit-for-treats skills. Her name fits her. She is sweet as sugar and loves people. She also sometimes acts as the assistant announcer to Sam, but like him, she quiets down quickly once the pets and treats come out.

These two pups are just six months old and I really want to get them into their forever families, while they are young and need more attention and training than I can give them here in this crowded cottage.

All pups/dogs (including the Scooby gang parents who are in a different foster home) are available for adoption through the Humane Society of Shenandoah County.

I occasionally drive by the birthplace of S&S and see the two remaining dogs (including their sister) living on a chain beside the housetrailer. And while I worry for those dogs, I’m so glad that HSSC saved ten dogs from that life. I can’t imagine Beatrix or Sam or Sugar living in the crowded, filthy trailer, taking their turns on chains. Beyond being hungry and worm-riddled (as they were when we picked them up), their little hearts would be starving too.

It’s a hard truth that we can’t save them all, so we have to celebrate the ones we do save.

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.