Our adventures as a foster dog family
Someone famous wrote–the waiting is the hardest part.
But actually, for some it is and for others, it isn’t.
With Krimpet, it’s not hard at all. I’m hoping to wait at least another week. The longer those puppies stay in Krimpet’s belly, the healthier she and they will be.
Continue reading “The Waiting is the Hardest Part”
One mystery is solved – Krimpet is definitely pregnant. The mystery now is when is she due?
At her vet check that confirmed the pregnancy, the vet put her at about 45 days along (gestation period for a dog is between 57-65 days). Counting backwards that means she either got pregnant the day she entered the shelter (almost seven weeks ago or got pregnant at the shelter. I’m going to hope the vet’s off by a few days and she got pregnant shortly before entering the shelter.
Continue reading “Mystery Solved”
Assimilating three dogs takes patience.
Once upon a time, in my early days of fostering, I would rush it. No, actually, I just wouldn’t think about it. Foster dog arrived and we let it loose in the house. I look back on that now and am amazed it didn’t result in anything worse than ruined carpets.
I have three canine guests in the cottage with me. Two are fosters and one is a previous foster puppy who is hanging out with us while his family is traveling. I rarely get to see my puppy fosters all grown up, so this is a treat.
Continue reading “The Gangs All Here”
This cottage can’t stay dogless for long. It lasted all of five days, and then Melisa from the Humane Society messaged me- Could you foster a pregnant dog? She needs to get out of the shelter.
It’s not the best timing. We leave on shelter tour tomorrow. But how could I say no to helping a dog in my own community? So, of course, I said yes.
Continue reading “So Much for My Dogless Cottage”We survived our record-setting weekend.
Now we just have fourteen dogs. Which we’ve had before.
Gosh, this makes me sound like a dog-raving lunatic. Which maybe I am. Or at least I feel like one after this weekend.
Saying we fostered fifteen dogs this weekend is somewhat misleading since Continue reading “Fifteen Dogs in My House”
The natural instincts of animals are remarkable. Spending so many of my hours with animals in the course of a lifetime, I’ve come to respect this, but I’ve also come to wonder at length about human instinct and whether we are compelled to follow it the way animals do, but that is decidedly a topic for another post.
A week ago today, I had just finished a post about Thelma’s arrival and the happenings in this foster house, when Continue reading “A Mama’s Instinct”
Puppy watch has begun in earnest. After a week of her temperature holding steady at a consistent 100 degrees, this morning Thelma’s temp dropped to 98.7. She is still happy to see me and thumps her tail, but she doesn’t get up and climb over the side of the whelping box to greet me. More tellingly, Continue reading “Time for some Puppies!”
All along this journey, I have been buoyed by an outpouring of support online and by friends who have come by and brought food and company or emailed to ask what they can do. I even got a lovely gift from Arkansas!
As we lost the puppies last week, people kept saying, “I could never do that,” but somehow, I think you could and more than that, I could never do it without the support of family and friends.
If last week taught me anything, it’s that I am stronger than I know. All during that long, long night when Daisy’s labor began and it became clear that it was too soon for puppies to be born Continue reading “Diary of a Rescue Week Two”
Word of Warning: If you are not following along on this Rescue Diary on Facebook, you may not know that this story is a hard one. Sadly, it is a reality of rescue that we can’t save them all and that sometimes the damage that has been done prior to the dog arriving with us is insurmountable. Still, we do all we can and while that may not be enough, it is more than many dogs would experience apart from rescue. The following are the Facebook Diary posts in their entirety: Continue reading “Diary of a Rescue: Week One”
I sat down at my computer to write on Monday morning and a text popped up from Hula Hoop’s adopter. She is in love with Hula, now Willow, and sent a picture of her sporting a pretty new collar and surveying her new stash of toys.
“Working from home today with my little love bug! But hardly working because I can’t stop watching her! She is such a good girl and we are blessed to have her!”
These are the messages that make it all worthwhile.
It reminds me of moments like when Hula was a nursing mom and had exploding diarrhea for nearly three weeks. That mess? Continue reading “The Price We Pay to Save a Dog”
Another Good Dog™ 