When Foster Puppies Don’t Leave

It seems these foster puppies are not going anywhere, anytime soon. Only one has an approved adopter and is scheduled to leave this afternoon.

Now the challenge for me is to keep these little darlings engaged and happy and, hopefully, learning a few things beyond how to drag their sibling around by the collar or scale the puppy pen fence.

It’s been very hot, so their outside time has been limited to early mornings. They love the time outside and because they’re so tiny, the little pen is a huge space for them. With other litters, it’s felt cramped, and we’ve eventually transitioned to the foster yard; but with this crew, the foster yard would be vast, and they are small enough to find spaces that dogs (or normal-sized puppies) couldn’t squeeze through.

There are too many of them and too little of me (or at least too little of my time available) to start leash training or house training. So I’m gathering ideas to engage their little bodies and minds. This time in life is so critical for puppies. Today they played with big sheets of crinkly paper and a giant box.

I had hoped to let them take turns in a harness each day to get them used to the feel of one, but the harnesses I have are all too small! I’m with them every day so I don’t necessarily realize how much smaller they are than any of my previous litters! The smallest puppy weighs 2 pounds 14 ounces and the largest weighs 4 pounds 13 ounces. (They will be 9 weeks old on Monday, if you want to pull out those puppy calculators and do the math.) I’m going to try to dig out the extra small cat harness we had once upon a time (and used to walk a chicken. Not kidding).

I’ve been amassing dozens of empty plastic water bottles, and plan to fill the baby pool with the bottles and put them in it. I will also try putting water in that pool and see if we have any water dogs here.

I’ve got puppy clothing to torture them with and already introduced the wobbler feeders (they have yet to figure out how to get that food out).

I’m trying to think back to puppy enrichment from the past—we’ll definitely bring in the vacuum (they’ve already experienced the dustbuster and think it might be a fun playmate), and I’ll play music for them too.

I unearthed the structure Nick built out of PVC pipes to dangle toys from when we had winter puppies in Pennsylvania. Now to figure out how to put it together again!

If you’ve got some great ideas, please share them—preferably cheap and easy since I’ve also got three foster dogs, three personal dogs, a manuscript to edit, a nonprofit to manage, and a small business to run (oh, and a husband who likes me to pay attention to him on occasion).

We have started the sit for treats exercise and so far, with the exception of Ralph and Chrysanthemum, they have not mastered it. They lose their minds when the treats come out.

If you would like to come for a visit, people are the best possible enrichment and socializing experience. So if you’re local, or you’d like to take a trip out here to visit puppies (and maybe climb a mountain, float on a river, do some antiquing, or visit a winery), message me cara@wwldo.org.

If you or anyone you know is looking to adopt a puppy who will grow to be a small-size dog (15-30pounds), you can apply at ophrescue.org.

They continue to be ridiculously cute. Here are a few pieces of evidence:

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. If you’d like to see dogs I’m connected to who are available for adoption in Shenandoah County, visit Shenandoah County Adoptable Dogs on Facebook.

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. You can support our work by donating items and/or bidding during our fall online auction.

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.