Cara Achterberg

Tipping the Scales

December 10, 2015 Cara Achterberg

I keep wondering at what point the scales will tip for Hadley.

Will this treat, this snuggle, this walk, or this ear rub be the one that makes the difference? Maybe this will be the one that pushes her over the edge into a place where people are good and every sudden movement or noise doesn’t mean the sky is falling.

I figure we have to keep piling up the positive interactions, and at some point she’ll trust us. And then maybe she can begin to trust the world.

As far as I can tell, she’s had only two negative encounters since she’s been in our care. One was Gracie’s initial snarly greeting on her first night. Since then, Gracie has reigned it in. I guess even she senses that Hadley is a fragile soul. The second truly scary moment for her was when my ipad mini fell on the dog bed next to her. It confirmed for her the sky was falling rather than her foster mommy is a bit of a clutz.

At the same time, I know the bubble wrapping is nearly impossible, so there will be a few unintended and inevitable scale tips the wrong way.

It’s been nearly a week and Hadley still spends her days anxiously curled up in one of her three “safe zones”. These are the Frank bed in the kitchen, the dog bed next to my desk, and on the sofa behind the couch cushions (which are flipped down to keep Gracie off the furniture). Continue reading “Tipping the Scales” →

foster dogs, Hadley, Momma Bear, oph

A Painful Goodbye and a Difficult Hello

December 7, 2015 Cara Achterberg

If you stopped by our house, you might not notice our newest foster puppy. That’s because Hadley never moves, unless forced. She’s like a little frozen statue, curled in a ball and hoping you won’t notice her.

Watching her this weekend has been heartbreaking.

We picked her up Friday night from transport and she cowered silently in her crate the whole ride. When we got home, I coaxed her out of the cage, clipped on a leash, and set her on the ground, where she froze. I tugged on the leash and she followed me, moving close to the ground, eyes darting every direction. She’s freaked out from the long ride, I thought and picked her up.

She was filthy and smelly, so the first order of business was to bathe her. She sat still, trembling in the tub as I scrubbed her all over and the water ran brown. Finally clean, I carried her to her crate in our puppy room, turned on the nightlight, and spent a few minutes with her. She retreated to the back of the crate, burrowing under the blankets and towels, avoiding eye contact with me.

The next morning when I opened her crate she pressed herself against the back wall. I knew she had to be hungry and thirsty (she’d refused food and water the night before), so I left the crate door open and the bowls nearby and went for my run.

When I came back she hadn’t touched either. I reached in to pet her and she allowed it, but she was tense and wouldn’t look at me. We left her alone for the morning, figuring she was just shellshocked after her long journey from South Carolina. When she still hadn’t emerged from the crate by afternoon, I pulled her out and took her outside. She followed me, crouched close to the ground as if we were under sniper fire. Continue reading “A Painful Goodbye and a Difficult Hello” →

fosterdogs, Momma Bear, Nowzad dogs, oph, returned dogs, Uncategorized

When the Guest Becomes Family

December 4, 2015 Cara Achterberg

Just the other day, I was shocked to retrieve Addie’s red polka-dotted slipper shoe out of Momma Bear’s mouth. For some reason, known only to the canine world, those shoes are the best tasting ones in the house. Pretty much every foster dog has favored them. Somehow they’ve survived the onslaught, although several dogs ago, Addie had to use blue flowered duct tape to re-secure the liner to the bottom of the shoe.

Momma Bear’s paperwork says she’s between 2 and 5 years old. I’m betting she’s on the low end of that scale. As she’s finally begun to relax at our house, we’re seeing more puppy-like behavior.

Next was Brady’s forgotten croc and then Ian’s stinky sneaker. And the children thought they could stop putting their shoes away since there wasn’t a puppy in the house. Think again!

It’s not just the shoes she’s begun chewing. She’s gnawed on the directions for my new iphone, multiple ball-point pens, and yesterday she found a box of packing peanuts. That was pretty funny. They were the kind made of cornstarch which disappear when wet. She’d poke her long snout into the box in the corner of my office and fish out one peanut and then take it to her favorite spot only to discover it was gone! So she’d return to the box and grab more, repeating the process until I put the box up because I didn’t know if cornstarch was poisonous to dogs (it isn’t). Continue reading “When the Guest Becomes Family” →

foster dogs, Momma Bear, oph

Best Foster Dog Evvv-AAAAA!

November 30, 2015November 30, 2015 Cara Achterberg

And we have a winner!

Best foster dog EV-AAAAAAA!

This is what I tell my children when they plead with me to adopt Momma Bear. I’m very clear that she is still a foster. Yes, I love her. Yes, she is the nicest mannered dog we’ve encountered. (Including our own dog.) And Yes, she is happy here. But NO, we are not adopting her. We’ve been over this. (And over this.)

Momma Bear wins the Best Foster Dog Ev-aaaa Award for many reasons.

First, she’s got perfect manners. I mean perfect. Better than most of my kids. Okay, she does chew up nerf darts, but I think that’s a plus, not a minus. (Less darts for me to pick up.)

She may be a big dog, but she is careful to stay out of your way. She’s attentive to the whereabouts of everyone and is never underfoot. She’s the first foster dog who never climbs on furniture. Never. She won’t even lie on the dog bed.

She’s quiet and saves her barking for important things like the UPS guy on the porch waiting for a signature or my 19-year-old son when he’s locked out at 2am (his father forgot he was home for Thanksgiving break). Continue reading “Best Foster Dog Evvv-AAAAA!” →

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Sally

November 24, 2015November 24, 2015 Cara Achterberg

Beautiful post written by one dear friend sharing another dear friend’s story. Inspiring and beautiful. Source: Sally

Foo Foo, fosterdogs, oph, Uncategorized

Hero Dog in my House

November 23, 2015 Cara Achterberg

This past Sunday a VERY special dog arrived to celebrate the holidays with us.

Momma Bear is from Iraq. Her story breaks my heart every time I look into her beautiful eyes or feel her lean against me with her trusting heart.

I’m sure I won’t get all the details right, but let me tell you just a piece of Momma Bear’s story.

Last winter a man and his wife living in Iraq, learned of three dogs living on the campus of a University. The dogs were in danger of being exterminated (per campus policy). This amazing couple has rescued 17 dogs through their own efforts and money. Hearing that one of the dogs was injured and in danger, the man went to the campus to help. Momma Bear was there, along with the injured dog.

When the man attempted to aid the injured dog, he was surrounded by a pack of male dogs. Momma Bear put herself between the man and the pack and defended him. He was impressed by her bravery, and experienced it again another time when he returned to the campus to help a dog who had given birth to puppies. Once again, Momma Bear accompanied him and protected him from other dogs. Continue reading “Hero Dog in my House” →

Foo Foo, oph, puppies

A Puppy in Paradise

November 20, 2015November 20, 2015 Cara Achterberg

I’m trying to prepare Foo Foo for the weekend. It’s gonna be a biggie. Especially if you’re a puppy. There will be eight (yes eight!) college students camped out all over the house for the weekend. This will be huge for the puppy on so many levels!

First, there’s the obvious food droppage. Foo Foo is the queen of food droppage. In fact, I haven’t needed my robotic vacuum since she was installed in the kitchen because she does regular and thorough sweeps of the floor gathering all crumbs and dust-particles-that-smell-like-food, and bits-of-paper-and-trash-that-could-be-food, which really just leaves dirty socks and school papers. These she chews on as after supper snacks.

I know her breed is listed on her paperwork as “lab-mix” (the catchall phrase for dog rescue I’m learning) and I’ve claimed she looks like a miniature weimeriener (spellcheck doesn’t know what to do with this word, but I know I’ve got it wrong). But I’m gonna go with hound.

This girl is some kind of hound. Nothing eats like a hound and I’ve never met a dog more devoted to food. Here’s a video of Foo-Foo eating dinner. I wish we’d gotten a better one. Sometimes she is so frantic, she shoves the bowl all over the kitchen with her excitement. This time the bowl was pretty stationery. Addie’s been timing her and so far her top time is 35 seconds start to finish, but I think she beats it on this one since she didn’t have to chase after her food bowl (I found one with rubber grip feet). Continue reading “A Puppy in Paradise” →

Foo Foo, foster dogs, fosterdogs, John Coffey, puppies

Of Miracles and Magic

November 16, 2015 Cara Achterberg

It was quite a weekend! At least in terms of dog fostering, but definitely not exciting in terms of regular clean-the-house-be-mom-drive-kids-everywhere. Pretty yucky weekend for all that, plus I made the mistake of finally getting on the scale after several months of too much wine and too many new recipes to discover I’d gained five pounds since summer. Ugh. Let’s not think about that – let me tell you about my amazing weekend instead!

First up, John Coffey went home on Saturday with a family that is perfect for him. He knew it immediately. Three boys – all for him!! And fun parents- dad’s even a runner, so score there, too. Sometimes when an adopter turns up, I have to simply trust that OPH did their due-diligence and the pup is the right match, but sometimes it’s completely clear that there is magic at hand. John Coffey was so anxious to get going with his family that he leapt in their car as soon as a door was opened. We had to bring him back out to take a picture, but you can see from the picture how happy he was – what a smile!

So, super duper awesome adoption. Now I have all my fingers and toes and anything else that can be crossed, crossed that he is not overwhelming them with his happiness and enthusiasm, and that he has NOT broken into the lego room that their youngest son told me about!

Just before John Coffey’s family arrived, I got word that the puppies were being born!

What puppies? (you sound just like my husband!) Continue reading “Of Miracles and Magic” →

Foo Foo, fosterdogs, John Coffey, puppies

Adding Chaos to the Calm

November 13, 2015November 13, 2015 Cara Achterberg

Why I keep adding chaos to an otherwise calm situation is beyond me. We’d just settled into a routine with John Coffey and Gracie (who have become great buds) and then I go and answer a plea for a foster home for a returned puppy.

Not sure what made me take this one. Maybe it’s my puppy addiction. I’m owning that now. Puppies are my crack.

Or maybe I just want to ease the heartbreak that surrounds any return. I know the puppy will be confused. I know the adopter will be in turmoil. It’s not an easy thing for any reason. I see the dogs and puppies listed as returns and I want to just swoop in and take them all. Make it better. This is my third return and the heartbreak in the eyes of the returner was evident once again. Poor people. Poor dogs. But it’s for the best and I’m just grateful a decision was made. No dog should have to stay where she isn’t ABSOLUTELY wanted and loved. And no adopter should keep a dog out of GUILT. Not healthy. Not good. For anyone.

This made me think whether or not I keep Gracie out of guilt. There may be a sliver of it there, but it’s mostly that I made a promise to this pup (and the kids that love her). She is absolutely wanted and loved by four out of the five people living here. Fostering has given me a new appreciation for her. She’s consistent. She’s trying. She’s doing the best she can.

So on Wednesday, Foo Foo (who had been named Daisy and seems to answer to it despite only being with her new adopter barely two weeks) moved in. She came with a plethora of pink – pink collars (2), pink leashes (2), pink toys (many), pink harness, pink sweater, even a puffy pink jacket. There was a hot pink crate, but I declined it as we already have three crates cluttering up our space and no pink room to match. Continue reading “Adding Chaos to the Calm” →

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The Best Side of John Coffey

November 9, 2015November 9, 2015 Cara Achterberg

John Coffey has been with us now for eight days. I thought we knew him pretty well, but yesterday I took him to an OPH event and discovered a whole new side of him.

The activity and the other dogs sent him into sensory overload. He’s a pretty intense little guy. I’ve mentioned that he’s paying attention to everything. Well, it’s tough to pay attention to everything when everything includes five or six other dogs, dozens of people, a busy parking lot, yummy food smells, and even an entire bag of tennis balls.

He was frantic, pulling at his leash and barking. The only way to calm him was to pick him up. At thirty-five pounds plus, that didn’t last long. Luckily there were several teens there who have that teenage ability to see right through bad manners and noise. They happily cruised him around the parking lot, hunkered down with him on the far edge of the event, and sat with him in the kissing booth (which he rocked, by the way. John Coffey is a first rate kisser.)

I was frustrated that all anyone was seeing was the bad side of John Coffey. I’d hardly ever heard him bark before yesterday. He’s actually a quiet dog. No one who was in Hanover yesterday would have guessed that.

He rarely pulls on the leash, but yesterday he couldn’t stop pulling and was gagging and coughing from the effort. Not pretty.

He growled and barked at most of the boy dogs. I don’t think he meant anything by it, but again, not an attractive feature. Who wants to take home the bully dog? At our house, he and Gracie have bonded and really enjoy each other. He’s a lover, not a fighter.

I couldn’t even distract him with tennis balls yesterday. When I picked one up, his gaze would lock on to it and he’d chase after it, only to drop it the moment another dog/person/food/noise/car came into his view. He was too distracted to show off his superior catching skills.

So all anybody got to see was a nervous, frantic, barking bundle of snarly nerves. That’s not John Coffey.

Here’s the lesson in this- not all dogs enjoy adoption events. And some dogs would do better to avoid them altogether. John Coffey is one of those dogs. It’s not fair to put him in a situation where his best self can’t be seen. Especially when he has such a great best self.

So, while I’ve got you here, let me tell you about his best self. Continue reading “The Best Side of John Coffey” →

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