Our adventures as a foster dog family
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.
Continue reading “When Foster Puppies Don’t Leave”
It’s been a week with these little mice puppies, and while they have gotten bigger, they’re still tiny.
At seven weeks, the smallest (Chrystanthemum) is 2 pounds, four ounces and the largest (Gus Gus and Norman) are 3 pounds, 13 ounces. Which, if you trust a puppy growth calculator means they will grow to be 16 pounds and 27 pounds.
So, they’ll be small dogs when they grow up, which is why I’m kind of surprised, and not, that they don’t have adopters yet. This is typically a slow time of year for adoptions. But because these puppies will grow to be small dogs, I did think they’d have a better chance than most of finding a family quickly.
Continue reading “A Puppy Just for You”
Last week I told you about Cherry, so this week I want to introduce you to the other lovely lady sharing the foster cottage and my office with me.
Gracie Lou is what I call a Miniature Land Hippo. She’s a bulldog mix with a stout, sturdy, roundish frame, much like a hippopotamus. She weighs about 50 pounds and is simply adorable.
Current Foster Roll: 7 kittens, 5 puppies, 3 dogs
Yesterday morning, I met the 6am vet transport and delivered my seven kittens to be spayed/neutered at Anicira in Harrisonburg. I waited all day to find out if Addie and I were correct in our designation of who is a boy and who is a girl. I know it should be obvious, but I’m here to tell you, when you’re looking at a tiny, fuzzy, squirming kitten, it isn’t so clear. Thankfully, we were correct!
(Finally, I got something right with these kittens! I’ve managed to screw up the deworming schedule, the vaccine schedule, and the dosage for meds to treat their Upper Respiratory Infection. No real harm was done, except to my belief that I know what I’m doing. The HSSC may never ask me to foster kittens again. Nick doesn’t think that’s a bad thing.)
Continue reading “One Out, One In”
Fostering is a lot of work.
I won’t lie or paint a warm fuzzy picture of it being all unicorns and happy endings and lovely dogs who don’t poop indoors.
This past week has been one of those weeks. Nothing terrible happened and everyone is fine and on-their-way-to-being-healthy.
They are happy and engaged and exercised and gaining weight. (Pretty much every animal in this cottage except me, needs to gain weight.)
But I am pretty wiped out. It’s been non-stop.
Continue reading “One of Those Weeks”
Being surrounded by kittens and puppies while you work is good and bad.
Good…aren’t they adorable? And they’re right here anytime I need some inspiration or snuggle.
And bad…aren’t they adorable? And they’re right here anytime I need a distraction or a snuggle.
Nick knows he should brace himself whenever I’m in a tough place emotionally.
It always means more animals.
This past week I pushed my IT band too far and now am paying for it with restricted activity and an aching hip.
Plus, the latest news on my latest manuscript was not good. My agent is once again asking for massive changes and my heart just isn’t in it. So physically and mentally, I’m feeling a little defeated.
Which is always a great time for puppies.
Continue reading “Puppies are the Perfect Panacea”
It’s all coming back to me now.
Fostering is unpredictable, rewarding, frustrating, entertaining, and so worth it, but nearly always stresses my marriage.
It’s been nearly two years since we were fostering regularly, and somehow, like the rosy memory of childbirth, I’d forgotten.
As we jump back into this passion of ours mine, I was reminded of how unpredictable fostering is….
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.
It was clear that Abby was ready for a new life. I met her two months ago, living on chain tied to a dog house in the hot sun in Cowen, West Virginia. She’d been saved from euthanasia at the local dog pound, but life laying in the mud, chained to her house, made me ponder the word ‘saved.’
When I returned last week, Abby was still there, chained to the dog house. Still greeting every person who approached with joy, her tail wagging, leaning in with pleading eyes that said, ‘love me.’ This time, I had made arrangements to pull her for the Humane Society of Shenandoah County and bring her home to foster.
Continue reading “Off the Chain and Into a Foster Home”
Another Good Dog™ 