Our adventures as a foster dog family
Our yard looks like a five-year-old was turned loose with one of those mini back-end loaders you see in public park sandboxes.
Only there are no children here, just moles.
And dogs attempting to find the moles.
Continue reading “Moles Plus Dogs Equal Cats”
Billie Jean is launched.
Gosh how I hope this time it sticks. I think it is a good match, but we never really know until she goes home.
I’m still awaiting word. I haven’t heard anything since a quick text from her adopter while they were driving home (four hours to northern New Jersey). She said Billie Jean, now Piper, was sleeping in the back seat most of the time, occasionally standing up and putting her head between the seats to give a few kisses.
Continue reading “A Dog I Once Fostered…”
It’s been a quiet two weeks with Billie Jean here and me busy with book stuff, but I couldn’t let another week go by without a blog post for Another Good Dog. I’ve been writing this blog for 5 and a half years! That’s quite a habit. I promise I’ll give you the scoop on Billie J, plus an update on Daisy B, but first indulge me my musing about mutts….
It’s another quiet week at this foster house. We’re in between foster dogs, something that feels rare for us as the dogs have generally overlapped for years now.
Tito was adopted on Sunday by a couple of ‘old hippies’ (their words!). It seems like a really great fit. They are experienced pit bull people who don’t just want to adopt, but to ‘rescue.’
They understand that Tito is a work in progress and that any dog adopted into a new home will require a significant effort on their part. At the start of this pandemic, Tito had only ever lived on a logging chain 24/7. Since then he has been in two rescues, one foster home, and now a second adoptive home. They are committed to helping him feel safe and loved, while teaching him about life in his new home.
There have been so many adoptions this spring and summer. It’s a wonderful thing, but with lots and lots of adoptions come the inevitable returns.
Making a decision as momentous as adopting a dog for the rest of its life based on pictures, maybe a few videos, a foster’s notes, an adoption coordinator’s questions, and usually only a single meeting, is definitely a gamble, albeit an educated one (the same kind my brother claims he uses to win money in Vegas).
We shouldn’t be surprised or dismayed when a dog is returned. It doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with the dog or the adopter.
What’s really remarkable, I think, is Continue reading “Returned Dogs Are Inevitable”
A familiar face bounded out Katie’s jeep and wiggle-waggled her way to me. I was so happy that Mia remembered me!
We are babysitting Mama Mia this week for her foster mom, Katie. She looks so much better than the last time I saw her when Continue reading “Our Latest Babysitting Job AND Chateau Frankie is NOW Open!”
It’s been a week.
Having no foster dog feels awfully strange, and I wondered if I would even post this week. This blog, though, has become habit. Plus, there is an extra dog here beyond Fanny and Gracie.
Beau is here until July 12; he’s a former-foster we’re babysitting. Since he arrived last week, we’ve said on more than one occasion—why didn’t we adopt him? He and Fanny are the perfect playmates. He’s proving what I’ve suspected for some time: Fanny could use an emotional support dog.
Fanny is a shy dog. Anyone who has ever adopted a shy dog knows Continue reading “Living With a Shy Dog”
I’ve realized that there is a correlation between how many dogs are in our house and the amount of stress in my life.
I’m pretty sure the stress brings the dogs, not the other way around. I tend to pile on the animals when I’m feeling stressed or uncertain. Their needs, their affection, the immediacy of their presence is calming for me.
Yes, the world feels upside down right now, but Continue reading “Combatting Quarantine Stress with Foster Dogs”
What a special week it is for ten lucky families! All of the PA Pups went home to forever families last week.
It is always fun when families come to pick up their pups – so much excitement and joy! Of course, that joy is likely tempered when they get home and the whining and housetraining and teething begins in earnest, but from my end it’s always fun! Continue reading “Who Doesn’t Love a Happy Ending?”
Sometimes rescue is hard. Sometimes it doesn’t come easy.
As I put the final touches on my next book, due to the publisher December 1 (and if all goes well, released July 2020), I’ve spent a lot of time remembering one particular dog who changed my life. Gala was with us for over eleven months, but truly she has never left my heart.
The new book, One Hundred Dogs and Counting: One Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and a Journey into the Heart of Shelters and Rescues (and yes, that is a mouthful and no, it wasn’t up to me), begins with Gala. Up until Gala, fostering had been mostly fun, occasionally stressful, but ultimately a win-win for all parties involved.
Gala challenged me, not just in terms of exposing how much I don’t know about dogs, but emotionally as I wrestled Continue reading “Sometimes it Don’t Come Easy…”
Another Good Dog™ 