Category: Long Term Dog

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 Sue 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.

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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…” →

dog rescue, Dogs with Issues, Flannery Oconnor, fosterdogs, fostering, hard to adopt, Long Term Dog, oph, returned dogs, training

A Designer Dog Looking for his Designer Family

Cara Sue Achterberg

There was a time when we had two, even three new fosters each month, but for the last few years, it’s been one long-term foster after another (Gala, Flannery, Daisy…) and a few puppy litters. This weekend we had planned to welcome a much anticipated foster dog from Alabama – Houdini, whom I met while visiting Walker County Animal Shelter where OPH partners with RUFF to support the shelter and rescue dogs.

That reunion has been postponed because transport for Houdini and the other RUFF dogs fell through at the last moment. Hopefully, he will catch his freedom ride at the end of this month and we’ll welcome him then.

Meanwhile, Fanny was in need of a playmate as Flannery and Gracie easily tire of her endless puppy-like energy, so I Continue reading “A Designer Dog Looking for his Designer Family” →

dog rescue, Dogs with Issues, foster dogs, Long Term Dog

We’re All ‘Complicated’

Cara Sue Achterberg

I’ve wondered what I will write about now that we are holding steady with the same two foster dogs. I could tell you more about Flannery and how entertaining she is—how she chases her tail on a near daily basis, how her enthusiasm for her supper knows no bounds, how she zips around outside like an oversize hummingbird and comes the moment she is called. (And don’t worry, in that second video she totally takes out my husband but he is fine). Continue reading “We’re All ‘Complicated’” →

dog rescue, Dogs with Issues, foster dogs, fostering, hard to adopt, Long Term Dog

Back to the Dogs

Cara Sue Achterberg

This morning as I began to reorient myself to life in the real world after three wonderful weeks in the mountains, I started by cleaning up and putting away the detritus of summer. School starts on Thursday. It will be the last ‘first day’ for us as our baby starts his senior year in high school.

While I was away, Thelma Continue reading “Back to the Dogs” →

Destruction, dog rescue, Dogs with Issues, foster dogs, fostering, hard to adopt, Long Term Dog, oph, training, writing

Our Trifecta of Foster Dogs

Cara Sue Achterberg

It’s felt like we have been in a holding pattern for many, many weeks here. Flannery, Daisy, and Thelma have become permanent fixtures. Our whole family has adapted to life with them.

Don’t leave the kitchen gate open or ANYTHING on the floor or Continue reading “Our Trifecta of Foster Dogs” →

Diary, dog rescue, foster dogs, fosterdogs, fostering, hard to adopt, Long Term Dog, oph, Updates

Diary of a Rescue: Month Six

Cara Sue Achterberg

This is a long-overdue post to catch you up on Daisy’s Diary of a Rescue.

Truly, I did not imagine I would still be writing this Diary almost six months later. But maybe that’s the piece of rescue that is hardest – they are all good dogs, but some require a little more of us than others.

Sometimes you rescue a dog from a shelter, imagining it’s shiny new future now that it is ‘out’, but Continue reading “Diary of a Rescue: Month Six” →

dog rescue, foster dogs, fosterdogs, fostering, Long Term Dog, Rescue Road Trip

The State of Our Pack

Cara Sue Achterberg

I owe you an update.

From my perspective, I’ve been to the moon and back this past month emotionally. Between losing my precious pup Frankie and witnessing all that I saw in Tennessee, our foster dogs have been an afterthought, at least in terms of writing. Yet they’ve been here all along demanding care and attention, an anchor preventing me from being washed away by the sadness. So here’s what’s happening with all of them. Continue reading “The State of Our Pack” →

dog books, Flannery Oconnor, foster dogs, foster fail, fosterdogs, fostering, hard to adopt, Long Term Dog, returned dogs

Flannery, Flannery, Flannery—what will we do with Flannery?

Cara Sue Achterberg

It would be very easy to keep Flannery. I’d love to foster fail and make her a permanent part of our pack.

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Undoubtably, she fits in here just fine. Continue reading “Flannery, Flannery, Flannery—what will we do with Flannery?” →

Diary, dog rescue, Dogs with Issues, foster dogs, fosterdogs, fostering, hard to adopt, Long Term Dog, oph

Diary of a Rescue Week Ten: Frightened Dog Getting Braver

Cara Sue Achterberg

Daisy continues to surprise us as she gains her confidence and health. Thelma had her puppies on Tuesday and I watched Daisy, wondering if she would be bothered by the sounds in the next room, but she seemed unfazed.

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The only notable thing that happened Continue reading “Diary of a Rescue Week Ten: Frightened Dog Getting Braver” →

Diary, dog rescue, Dogs with Issues, foster dogs, fosterdogs, fostering, hard to adopt, Long Term Dog

Diary of a Rescue Weeks Eight and Nine: Separation Sometimes Makes You Stronger

Cara Sue Achterberg

I really hope I won’t be writing, Diary of a Rescue Week Fifty-Two, some day.

Daisy is still here, but she is ready to go. She is healthy and happy, and while she still needs a slow introduction to women and won’t go near men, I think she is ready.

Whatever happened to this dog to create such a deeply-rooted fear of men is not something she will simply get over. I don’t know if she ever will, but I do think she will make a wonderful best friend and awesome canine companion for some lucky woman.

As she has gained her confidence, her Continue reading “Diary of a Rescue Weeks Eight and Nine: Separation Sometimes Makes You Stronger” →