Our adventures as a foster dog family
We are down to just one foster.
Hard to remember when that was last the case. It leaves me wondering what I will write about on this blog. Although Mia is an incredibly interesting and entertaining dog, maybe it won’t be an issue. Just in case, I’m considering a few other ideas (and welcome yours!).
Continue reading “My Four-legged Silver Lining”
Today is the RELEASE DAY for 100 Dogs & Counting.
With all the hoopla and hope, I almost didn’t post to this blog. Continue reading “My Hope and My Thanks”
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…”
Flannery is about to enter her sixth month in OPH care which makes her a ‘long-term dog’.
Currently, up to 30% of the dogs on our site are ‘long term dogs’. There’s a reason why each dog got that label and it certainly doesn’t mean those dogs aren’t good dogs.
It’s just means Continue reading “Risk Worth the Reward: Long Term Dogs”
Without Oreo the house feels empty.
In fact, after he left on Saturday with his new family, Frankie spent the rest of the morning looking for his pal. He ran up and down the stairs and wanted to go out in the playyard to look and then back in the house to make the rounds again. It was a good thing we had Sip for a Cause on our calendar that night to distract all of us.
Some dogs are just special. Not that I haven’t loved every dog I’ve fostered, but some of them burrow a little deeper into your heart.
I saw something on Facebook about the pain you endure as a foster mom yesterday. It said – Continue reading “The Tears Are More Than Worth It”
I just dropped off Dixie for her spay surgery and 4Dx test. She stood shaking beside me on the passenger side floor for the entire drive.
I tried to explain to her that this was for the best and that it would move her a step closer to her new life – the one that won’t include puppies or horrible people who don’t take her to the vet when she breaks her leg (or who possibly broke that leg in the first place).
If her heartworm test comes back negative, Continue reading “We All Need a Sanctuary”
I don’t know where to begin.
Truly.
I guess I’ll start with the biggest news – Continue reading “Believing in Meant to Be”
This is the longest we’ve gone without a foster dog since we started fostering with OPH just over three years ago.
It’s weird.
It’s made me aware of two things – 1) I spend a lot of time fostering and 2) I don’t like being without a foster dog.
I’m amazed at how much time this has freed up. I’ve had time to work with Frankie (and even a little with Gracie) on his homework for doggie school two or three times a day. We also take a two-mile walk each morning and sometimes again in the afternoon. I’ve stayed on track with my latest manuscript and even had time to cook dinner nearly every night. I even had lunch with a friend and on one balmy day recently, I took my convertible out for a drive with no destination in mind.
Of course, just because I don’t have a foster dog in residence, doesn’t mean Continue reading “Fosterless”
Our house is very quiet sans Gala.
Not that she was necessarily a noisy dog. Without her, though, the energy level has dropped.
Or maybe it’s the unrelenting gray, rainy weather.
Or maybe it’s because Frankie is out of sorts ever since his neuter and dew claw removal on Tuesday.
Or maybe it’s just me, missing Gala.
There is no need to Continue reading “A New Normal in this Foster Home”
It is possibly Gala’s last week with us.
I say possibly, because we’ve been here before. Time and again, we’ve had a plan for Gala and it has not come to fruition. My family only rolls their eyes at me when I tell them Gala is leaving on [insert fairy-tale date].
This time she is set to move Continue reading “When Your Best Isn’t Enough”
Another Good Dog™ 