Our adventures as a foster dog family
Love is not enough. At least when it comes to puppies (maybe when it comes to anything…).
Raising a good dog means putting in the work when they are puppies. The genes and individuality of your puppy are out of your control, but there’s lots more that is within your control.
Continue reading “Love is Not Enough When It Comes to Puppies”
The Snack Cake Pups were born November 2, so they were five weeks old on Thursday. They are weighing in at between six to seven pounds. The question everyone asks (right after they ask what kind of puppies they are) is—how big will they be?
The answer to that question depends largely on the answer to the first question. And the only one who has the answer to that question is Krimpet, and she’s not been forthcoming with the information.
Continue reading “How Big Will the Puppies Be?”
Let me (finally) introduce you to the cuter-by-the-day pups who keep me from getting anything done these days. They were four weeks old on Thursday and all weigh about five pounds. Caitlin will be back to take some portraits of these cuties, but here are a few pictures taken with my iphone.
Ring Ding has probably the most dramatic brindle coloring of all. He is also the largest puppy. He is friendly and sweet, and seems fairly confident. He is often found lounging on his back and sleeps soundly (he’s not one to jump up if I come in the pen unexpectedly). The others love to pile on him, so perhaps he is the ‘popular guy’.
Continue reading “Introducing the Snack Cake Pups”
And then there were puppies…despite the best guesses of vets and my assessment of Krimpet’s size/activity, she sure fooled me. Which just goes to show, it’s pretty much impossible to predict an outcome when it involves animals. (I spent a few summers working on a racetrack, so I should have known that already.)
Last Thursday, I was writing at my desk and Krimpet was having her turn being loose to wander in/out the dog door between the dog yard and my office. I was mildly concerned because instead of periodically trying to steal my planner off my desk, which had been her habit, she was stretched out full length on the futon.
When I ducked out to do something, forgetting it was Krimpet and not Gracie Lou I’d left out, I raced back expecting to find my planner in bits on the floor (like happened to one of my notebooks, several important notes on my desk, and a dozen of the rack cards I give out a book signings), my planner sat where I left it and Krimpet thumped her tail from where she still lay on the futon. But now, she looked different and it sounded like her teeth were chattering.
Continue reading “And Then There Were Puppies”
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”
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”
It really came down to the wire on this one. Rainer’s adopter had vanished and adoption day was imminent. Would I be left with one puppy after everyone else went home?
I warned the family that we would all be taking turns carrying Ranier everywhere with us in the puppy sling, and mentally prepared myself for the crying.
Meanwhile, adoption coordinator extraordinaire, Chelsea, got to work hustling and shaking down all the potential adoption applications to see if there was someone out there who deserved this darling pup.
Continue reading “Adoption Swaparoo”
Puppies.
What can I write that I haven’t written before?
This bunch is unique only in that they are all boys. I’ve never had a litter of all one sex. I came close with Edith’s litter of eleven girls and one boy.
Continue reading “Puppies!”
Today is the first day of Stela’s real life. The life in which she will never have puppies again. She will never be thrown away again. Now we can find her a real family—one that will value this special dog.
And I mean it when I say special.
I keep telling people that she’s really special. And they all say, “But you think every dog is really special.”
Which I do.
But Stela?
Continue reading “One Special Dog.”
Traveling to shelters is hard. But it’s harder for me to sit at home and not do it. The silver lining of this trip was that as I walked through overcrowded shelters in three states, I knew that on our last visit to Huntington-Cabell-Wayne Regional Shelter in West Virginia, I would be taking a mama and five puppies out of that situation and giving them their freedom ride.
Continue reading “Freedom Ride”
Another Good Dog™ 