Category: fosterdogs

dog rescue, fosterdogs, fostering, hookworms, puppies, returned dogs

Hookworms Round Two

Cara Achterberg

The trip to the vet with puppies was a quite different experience this time around.

The last time I drove there with a small airline crate full of nearly lifeless puppies who didn’t make a sound. I stopped once just because I was worried that Pippin was being smothered (there was no evidence to indicate it was even a possibility but the overtired, distraught mind conjures up all kinds of scenarios on a long drive alone in silence with sick puppies).

Once at the vet’s office, we had to wait in the parking lot like everyone else – only everyone else had Continue reading “Hookworms Round Two” →

fosterdogs, fostering, heartworms, puppies

Quarantined with Puppies: Saving Lives in Uncertain Times

Cara Achterberg

If you have to stay in your home for a month, it’s not a bad thing to be stuck home with puppies.

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Caring for this little family is a wonderful distraction; it gives me a purpose and is defining the days that have begun to blur together – is it Tuesday or Friday?

Mia, for her part, is Continue reading “Quarantined with Puppies: Saving Lives in Uncertain Times” →

Diary, dog rescue, former foster dogs, fosterdogs, fostering, litters, oph, puppies, rescue flight, Updates

Combatting Quarantine Stress with Foster Dogs

Cara Achterberg

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” →

dog rescue, emergency transport, fosterdogs, fostering, shelters

There’s Never Been a Better Time to Foster

Cara Achterberg

Are you feeling as unsettled as I am?

I waffle between let’s-just-get-through-this-and-it’ll-all-be-fine-(different-but-fine) to OMG-what-if-what-if-what-if. It really depends on how much news I’ve been reading.

Last Thursday, Nick and I took Fanny and our foster pup, Shenanigans, and Continue reading “There’s Never Been a Better Time to Foster” →

dog rescue, fosterdogs, fostering, puppies, transport, Who Will Let the Dogs Out

Meet the Pep Boys- Manny, Mo, and Jack!

Cara Achterberg

I’m not a night owl, so when I saw the transport time to pick up my puppies, I joined the chorus of grumbling that came from pretty much everyone whose new foster dog was on the last stop scheduled to arrive at 11:30pm Friday. Normally, transport arrives around 9:30 (although one recent transport didn’t arrive until closer to 1am thanks to traffic on 95). I am generally sound asleep by 9:30, so that was already pushing it, but 11:30?

I registered my unhappiness but accepted that it wasn’t within my realm of control. I’ve long ago come to grips with the fact that fostering can be a lot of things and one of those is inconvenient.

Friday night, we had a nice send-off dinner for my oldest who was moving to Phoenix the next day for a job and then I settled in to binge watch Pitbulls and Paroles until it was time to go. In the end, transport arrived at 10:45; somehow like the pilots flying east, they made up time in the air. Continue reading “Meet the Pep Boys- Manny, Mo, and Jack!” →

Barkalona, dog rescue, Edith Wharton, Flannery Oconnor, fosterdogs, fostering, Frankie, Volunteering

Fostering Can Be Fun and Easy

Cara Achterberg

One of my semi-permanent foster kitties, Luna, seems to enjoy smacking our new foster dog, Bo (he is Bowflex on the OPH website and was Tick at the shelter).

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Bo is like one of those overly eager to please, see-only-the-sunny-side dogs who pokes his nose into everything, including Luna’s face. He chases the reflections from the prism that hangs in my window as they waver and wander over the walls, and he quickly changes course, no hard-feelings, when Continue reading “Fostering Can Be Fun and Easy” →

adopters, Dixieland, dog rescue, Fanny, former foster dogs, fosterdogs, fostering, Gracie, puppies

Who Doesn’t Love a Happy Ending?

Cara Achterberg

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?” →

booktour, dog books, dog rescue, fosterdogs, fostering, poop, puppies, writing

A Day in the Life of a Puppy Foster

Cara Achterberg

I’ve mentioned before that puppies are a lot of work. So I thought I’d give you a peek into a typical day of caring for ten large puppies.

5:15-5:45am

Someone, somewhere in the house flushes a toilet and the puppies wake up. The pipes run through the wall in the puppy room which is our converted mudroom. It is somewhat miraculous that they don’t seem to waken if the flush happens earlier than five. Puppies commence yipping for breakfast, pooping, fighting, and zooming through poop while yipping for breakfast and fighting.

5:45am

Nick gets up and has breakfast, completely ignoring the puppies, and more amazingly, the smell of the puppies.

6am

I accept the fact that the puppies are not going back to sleep and Continue reading “A Day in the Life of a Puppy Foster” →

dog rescue, foster dogs, fosterdogs, fostering, litters, puppies

It’s the Cuteness That Saves Them

Cara Achterberg

What can I say about the puppies? They are adorable, but a ton of work. Every time I get to this point (six weeks), I wonder why I do this and swear I will never do it again.

Like small children, I suppose, it’s the cuteness that keeps us from tossing them out on their ears. This bunch is especially cute, with something for every taste. Only four puppies are officially spoken for, so if you’re considering a puppy in your lives (and you’re ready for the work that involves), let me tell you who is still available… Continue reading “It’s the Cuteness That Saves Them” →

dog rescue, Dogs with Issues, Flannery Oconnor, former foster dogs, foster dogs, fostering, Gala, hard to adopt, Long Term Dog

Sometimes it Don’t Come Easy…

Cara Achterberg

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.

Gala-7
photo by Nancy Slattery

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…” →