Our adventures as a foster dog family
Our girl Dipity has already found her forever home. From nearly dying in a south Texas shelter to being spoiled all the rest of the days of her life on a farm in Maryland in two weeks time. Pretty incredible rescue story thanks to X-Port Paws and their commitment to saving the ones others won’t.
Let me tell you this amazing story…
Continue reading “Was it Serendipity, Adoption Magic, or Something Else?”
We are certainly just easing back into fostering with this sweet pup. Serendipity is just about as easy as they come in terms of foster dogs.
Even after a three-day journey in a crate inside a van full of dogs, she arrived happy and friendly and pretty much ready for anything. Her enormous tail (which belongs on a lab not a petite girl like her) and her elongated body (I think she more resembles a fox than any other breed), wag ferociously at the sight or sound of any human being (and dogs too I would soon learn).
Continue reading “Easy-Peasy Foray Back Into Fostering”
I had not planned on getting a new foster dog. Our house is too small, too much under construction, and we already have three needy dogs.
We’re still getting settled here in Virginia, figuring out what’s what and where, and have no actual yard, so another dog means another four or five walks around the block a day (this would probably be good for me after a two-week vacation in Florida!). Plus, I’m too busy with Waldo and am writing to a deadline for a new book.
But then I saw the sweet face of a little dog in Texas who was scheduled to be ‘euthanized.’ The shelter was full and she’d been there too long with no interest.
Continue reading “Saving Lives with two Wonderwomen of Rescue (and a foster dog is coming!)”
Holidays are always hard on pets. At this house, it was more the after-holiday that did Otis in.
Our house was full for the holidays with grown children, my parents, and our favorite cousins. The extra people available for petting, walking, and giving treats was welcomed by Otis and Graice, but Fanny Wiggles is an overly anxious, shy dog. A house full of people means she’s off her food, on edge, and reacting at every tiny thing.
Continue reading “Lucky Dog”
Ever since moving here, I’ve been tracking the activity at the local dog park. It’s a great park. Two big areas that have built-in agilty equipment, plus shade and water and benches to sit on.
It’s a busy place.
And that’s the problem.
Continue reading “Dog Park By Reservation Only”
Cat adoptions aren’t nearly as exciting as dog adoptions.
Don’t get me wrong – it still feels great to save a cat, it’s just….different.
Cats don’t bound up to their potential adopter (or growl at them either). There’s no carefully orchestrated meeting or a walk with a potential fur-sibling or even a question, really, about the outcome.
Continue reading “Gotcha Day is VERY Different with Cats”
I know everyone says that bunnies multiply like mad, but I’m beginning to think there’s also a multiplication factor with foster cats.
We’ve been plugging along with our three foster kitties Cleo, Bonnie & Clyde, enjoying their company and helping them to accept that humans are a good thing. Cleo and Clyde are definitely firmly in our camp now, and Bonnie is edging closer every day. They are ready to start finding forever homes very soon.
Otis truly enjoyed playing with all of them, especially Bonnie through the crate walls, but as the weather has cooled off, we moved them out to our sun porch/storage unit. Someday that space will hopefully be a place to read and have morning tea or grow plants or watch the sun set on the mountains just over the top or the town, but right now it is stacked with bins of all the stuff that will go in our kitchen (if we ever have a real kitchen—cabinet delivery has now been set for December 9!). There’s a defunct gas heater out there and some decidedly out-of-date carpet, plus super cheapo windows (according to Nick) that barely open. The window issue has meant that all summer it’s been a sauna out there and we’ve kept the door firmly shut.
Continue reading “Rescue is Relative (or how I stole the neighbor’s cat)”
“Sure, and when we find a good one, we’ll keep it.”
This was Nick’s response to my question, “How about if we foster a cat?”
I didn’t point out to Nick that his response was the very same one he’d had about the possibility of fostering dogs seven years ago, and then we subsequently fostered almost 200.
Continue reading “Another Good Cat (or Three)?”
I’m out on shelter tour for Who Will Let the Dogs Out. I’d love for you to follow along….
I’m a slave to the leash. Or at least a slave to the creatures on the other end of it. While I’m not presently fostering any dogs, my days still revolve around dogs – walking them.
Living with our three dogs in ‘downtown’ Woodstock, has changed my world (and theirs) dramatically. Now instead of opening the door to let the dogs out, I leash them up, generally one at a time but sometimes two at a time.
Continue reading “Walking Dogs”
Another Good Dog™ 