Category: Pit bull

adopters, dog rescue, foster dogs, Humane Society of Shenandoah County, Long Term Dog, Pit bull, Updates

How About a Pupdate?

Cara Sue Achterberg

How about a pupdate?I recently checked in with The Snack Cake puppies who are four months old! I was looking for pictures that the Humane Society could use for their brand new website.

The pups are living happy lives and clearly being loved enormously. Suzie Q goes to work with her mom, who is a vet tech, and is the star of the show at the vet office in Winchester. All the pups weigh around 30 pounds, so they’ve put on twenty pounds in two months! (and they are already bigger than their mother!)

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adopters, fostering dogs, Pit bull

Every Dog Deserves a Good Home

Cara Sue Achterberg

Every dog deserves a good home. I believe that. But some dogs deserve a little bit more.

Abby, for instance.

Although she can’t tell us (and certainly she doesn’t seem to hold any of it against anyone), but she has had a rough go.

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adopters, Breeds, foster dogs, foster-to-adopt, fostering, hard to adopt, Pit bull

Looking for Your Next Best Friend?

Cara Sue Achterberg

Abby is still here. And it’s just not fair.

She’s no longer living on a chain (yay), but she is confined to one room much of her day. She can see the other dogs, hang out with our foster cat, and watch the activity out her window, but she’d much prefer to be with a person.

Abby is a people-dog. She loves people – all kinds, all sizes, all attitudes. She isn’t discouraged by her predicament, but I am.

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foster dogs, Pit bull

A Dog You Can Take Everywhere

Cara Sue Achterberg

Haven’t you always dreamed of a dog you can take with you everywhere? I’ve got one for you!

Abby is the most portable foster I’ve had in recent memory. She simply loves a good outing.

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adopters, cats, dog rescue, foster cats, fosterdogs, Pit bull

The Most Adoptable Dogs

Cara Sue Achterberg

I can’t help but think that if my two foster pups were scruffy or curly or smaller or younger, or this was a year ago, they’d be snapped up by now. Instead, these two housebroken, crate-trained, people-friendly, lovely-on-a-leash dogs are spending long lonely days in their crates in my future foster cottage.

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adopters, foster dogs, fostering, house training, Pit bull

The Honeymoon is Over

Cara Sue Achterberg

Often when you first bring home a new foster dog (or two), the dog is still stunned by its new situation, maybe feeling queasy from the recent dewormings and vaccinations, so they are not themselves. It’s a mistake to assume that the compliant, easy-to-deal-with dogs you first bring home will still be that way a week or two into their stay with you.

I’ve fostered over 200 dogs now, and am wary of that honeymoon period. So, I’ve been holding my breath, wondering if Abby and Bonnie (A&B) who had been so quiet and easy their first week with me, would continue to be once they got comfortable with their surroundings…..

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Amstaff, dog rescue, foster dogs, hard to adopt, Long Term Dog, Pit bull, shelters

What ‘Shelter Shortages?’

Cara Sue Achterberg

Melissa Chan wrote in an article for Time magazine last week, “a surge in pandemic pet adoptions offers opportunities for criminals to seize on nationwide demand and shelter shortages…”

People are so desperate for French bulldogs, one small private investigator in Nebraska who specializes in missing pets says calls have increased 60-70% in the past 18 months, averaging 3-5 requests a week.

Reading the article, I could only shake my head. It seemed to me Chan was writing about another world altogether. It wasn’t the news that so many pets are being stolen—that is individually tragic—but it was how she so breezily tossed off the phrase, shelter shortages, as if it were fact.

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Breeds, dog rescue, foster dogs, fostering, Long Term Dog, Pit bull, training

Of Bite Addendums, Smart Dogs, and Transparency

Cara Sue Achterberg

Smart dogs are just harder to deal with—same goes for smart children. Mia still has no applications, but that’s not her fault. She isn’t a simple dog.

She is clever and energetic and totally in the game. She doesn’t miss a thing—my glance her way while working will bring her to her feet, she’ll nudge my hip as if to ask, “How can I help?”

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Breeds, dog books, dog rescue, fosterdogs, fostering, Pit bull, training

Member of the Pack

Cara Sue Achterberg

Normally when I bring home a new foster dog there is an extended shut-down period – a time when the new foster is kept away from the other dogs, spends a lot of time in her crate, is kept on a leash all the time even when out of the crate (and confined to the kitchen). This generally lasts one to two weeks.

We started down that path with Fanny Wiggles, but Continue reading “Member of the Pack” →

Amstaff, Behavioral Euthanasia, Breeds, euthanasia, Fankie, foster dogs, Frankie, Pit bull

I Need To Be Clear About This…Pit Bulls Are Not Dangerous Dogs

Cara Sue Achterberg

The past two weeks have been very hard. I keep expecting to wake up feeling better one day, but I don’t. There is a heavy sadness that hangs over me and weighs down my days. Grief hits me in repeated waves throughout my day. Pretty much everything in my house is a trigger. I miss my boy.

The foster dogs are keeping me busy and preventing me from hiding in my room with my grief, but I wish they would find their homes. I worry they can sense that my love right now is hollow. I am operating by rote.

Desperately searching for answers or any form of peace, I have Continue reading “I Need To Be Clear About This…Pit Bulls Are Not Dangerous Dogs” →