I’ve been thinking a lot about weaning. Mostly this is because I’ve been helping Schuyler let go of her pups and reclaim her independence, but also because my 16-year-old is straining to wean herself from our cloying care. But, really, isn’t that what raising a parent is all about? Teaching them that you can make it on your own? (As long as you have a cell phone and they’re paying the bills?)
Schuyler’s much better at this weaning process than me. She began weaning her pups at 3-weeks. In dog years, what’s that? Like maybe the equivalent of four months? Kind of standard for the very beginning of weaning a baby, too, I suppose.
The puppies were just over two weeks old, when she began struggling to keep up with their demands for food and they began sharing her bowl of kibble. I wetted the food so they wouldn’t choke on it and once the puppies discovered they could eat solid food they doubled their weight in a week.
The email said, “Jen just posted a momma and 3 pups on Facebook.”
Mindy knew I was jonesing for some puppies, so I appreciated the heads up. I checked the page and there was a picture of a momma and there were five pictures of individual puppies. I examined them and decided that some of the pictures were just different angles of the same pups.
And the pups were adorable- only two weeks old, their eyes barely open. Like human newborns, unless they’re yours they all do look kind of alike.
So, the snow is ridiculous. I was gonna write about it, but I’m still too mad at its sheer presence. It’s like that crazy relative who comes for a visit and is so darn much fun, but the next day you’re hungover and tired and really in no mood to deal with his needs. Go away, you think. But he doesn’t go away. That’s where I am with this snow.
I don’t think it’s ever going away, so I’m going away instead. I expect it to be GONE when I return. (If you want to witness our Snowmaggedon, click here.)
While we are gone, we’re leaving the g-parents in charge. This means NO FOSTER DOGS. None. Not even sweet, easy, fun Lily (who just this morning I caught eating the corner off the guest room comforter in honor of the g-parents arrival!). So Lily is going back from whence she came (Chris’ house). Love my girl and we will miss her. But she’ll return to the party when we get back (and the snow is GONE).
As a treat for you while we are away, I’m arranging for a few updates from dogs-gone-by. I put the plea out to some of my foster dogs/puppies from last spring/summer and am hoping I can give you the down-low on their adventures since leaving our wonderful foster home.
Lily knows something is up, like any true dog. She’s seen the bag packing, my ramped up stress-level, and the cleaning (perhaps the most obvious giveaway of all). She is underfoot. This morning as I picked up her toys so that I could run the vacuum in the kitchen, she followed me around, retrieving each toy I put in the basket, only to drop it wherever she was to get the next toy I put away. Continue reading “A Long Time Gone”→
Big weekend here. Four out of five puppies took off for their forever homes.
It was fun to see the happy faces – especially the kids. Puppy adopters are my favorite people because they are always bubbling over with excitement. I mean, who isn’t over-the-moon happy to be taking home an adorable puppy? I’m sure some of that happy might wear off after a few days of cleaning up poo on the carpet, but for that 30 minutes or so when they are here meeting their puppy and signing the papers and taking pictures, they are THE happiest. And that’s fun to see.
Makes me smile now just thinking about it. I loved watching Sneezewort (now Cooper) jumping all over his new boys and Snap Dragon (now Rocky) giving his new mom a face bath. The grins on the faces of Foxglove’s (now Teddy) new mommy and daddy practically split their faces and seeing the dreams come true for one teenager when she snuggled Begonia (now Calypso) simply made my day.
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(I picked a really sad face pic for this just so you’d say, “awe…..”)
And that leaves Pigweed alone. It was a long, tough night for that little girl. We’ve learned she can bay like a hound when she is VERY sad. She goes home to her VERY excited forever family on Friday. This morning Ian said, “Next time we do puppies, can you make sure they ALL go home on the same day.”
Yuppers. That would be ideal.
I had tried to head off this predicament by claiming a very small foster dog. Chuggy Alabaster (and who can resist a name like that?) arrived on Saturday afternoon. He’s a pug/Chihuahua cross and weighs a little less than Pigweed, my smallest puppy. He’s got a smashed in, turn up nose which is a perfect combo of the two breeds, plus a mini-Superman build – svelte waist and broad chest. He’s about a year old and has lots of small dog energy. The perfect playmate, right? Continue reading “A Puppy and a Puppy-sized Dog”→
I’m missing her. Nick is missing her. Ian is still not happy with me for letting her go. She is a quiet dog, and I never heard her make a sound in all the time she was here, but somehow the house is quieter now.
Everyone else went to see the new Star Wars on Sunday, but I stayed home to dig out my desk. My mind kept finding its way back to Hadley.
I forgot to ask the adopters what they will call her now. I couldn’t stop picturing her sweet, terrified eyes the night we brought her home only five weeks ago. I kept trying to replace that image with the playful gleam she had when she was wrestling a puppy or the way she glanced up at me so often when we walked at the park – just checking that I was still there. Maybe it’s because she was the most broken dog we had the privilege of fostering, maybe that’s why it hurt so much this time. I can’t help but worry about her.
So I’m busying myself by organizing. I’m even making a new journal because crafting homemade journals always soothes my soul. This one is dog-themed and I’ll use it to document the dogs of 2016. We fostered 25 in 2015. If we’d had one more, Pennsylvania would have required us to have a kennel license. So in 2016 we’re already signing up for a license. This journal will help me keep the details straight on the dogs for the inspector. Continue reading “Hadley Goes Home”→
Happy New Year! We celebrated in much the same way we have each year – dear friends, board games, leftover Christmas cookies, and plenty of beverages. I worried that Hadley would be completely overloaded by the presence of so many new faces, including a three-year-old, but she surprised us all by joining the party.
As we gathered around the new puzzle/coffee table (the one my AMAZING husband built for me for Christmas!!), Hadley hopped up on the couch and hung with us for the duration. Despite her crate being open and the three-year-old instructing her to get in there so she could latch the door (she’d already tucked Gracie into her crate for the night), Hadley sat gamely (so to speak) through a loud game of Telestrations and plenty of rounds of Apples to Apples.
It’s so clear to me that this dog doesn’t want to be alone. For all her fear and trembling, she loves people. My new year’s hope is that she finds her forever home quickly so she can start falling in love with the right person.
I’ve been taking her for “therapy walks” at a local park, having given up trying to walk her on our street. Cars moving fast, up close, are simply too much for her. The park is perfect because she can see the road, but the cars are not too close. The first few walks, she still hit the deck when a car passed on the road, but now she simply cringes. On the far side of the walking trail we pass by a fence that separates the park from a rest stop on the interstate. Trucks arriving or leaving, still cause her to cower, but again, she’s realizing while they may sound scary, they won’t actually hurt her. Just like with her crate, careful, contained immersion into the world of her fears seems to be the best tactic with Hadley.
So, everything I read said we should wait for Hadley to come out of her crate on her own. And I get that. She is insecure and needs to know she has a safe place to go to, but here’s the thing – some of us need to be pushed from the nest.
Personally, I’m not a huge fan of change. I like to have my little routine in my little world. Things like software updates, new technology, attending public events, even parties make me anxious. There’s no avoiding most of them, so I plunge ahead, stuffing my worries and nerves aside. And you know what? Almost always it goes well. And then I’m happily chatting with new people or marveling at how much easier my work is with this new whiz-bang system. I wasn’t going to venture out of my crate on my own, but once you force me – hey, this is pretty great!
I think Hadley and I are kindred spirits on this one.
Three days ago, I let her out of her crate in the morning and then I closed it behind her. At first, she seemed worried. She clamored up on her couch cushion cave and hunkered down. But now it’s been three days and she is boldly trotting through the kitchen, snagging a bag of cookies abandoned by some kid, and slinking back to the couch, hoping we don’t notice. Nick follows her out and retrieves the cookies and a moment later she is back, sniffing around the backpacks.
I had to shut Gracie’s crate also because Hadley would only take up residence there, so Gracie claimed the Frank bed. The first time Hadley attempted to join her there, Gracie snarled and Hadley scooted away, but an hour later, Hadley boldly claimed her portion of the bed and Gracie backed down.
Taking Hadley out this morning, she fearlessly approached one of the cats and was game to chase it if it weren’t for that silly leash. Next she grabbed a stick and carried it around with her as we toured the yard.
Who is this dog?
The puppies have also been key to Hadley’s recent blossoming. She LOVES the puppies. As Looney Tunes Abominable Snow Rabbit would say, she’d like to hug them and love them and name them George. To keep the puppies safe from Hadley’s overly enthusiastic affection, we take the same approach we did when an older sibling wanted to hold the newest baby we brought home. We get her comfortable on the couch and then we hand her the swaddled infant, or in this case the wiggling bundle of happy. Then we supervise the interaction.
For their part, the puppies LOVE Hadley, climbing over and under her, lounging on top of her, chewing her tail, and giving her all manner of kisses. We have to keep all the action up on the couch and supervised because Hadley can get overly excited and forget her size, plus Gracie is pretty much the neighborhood bully who trots by, snarling mean threats at them.
Sneezewort REALLY loves HadleyFoxglove and Pigweed playing tag overtop HadleySnap Dragon and Foxglove doubleteaming Hadley
Pigweed gets a little too wild and is subjected to the big dog smack down
It’s so awesome to see Hadley’s fun side, it makes up for the walks where I have to carry her back because she is overcome with what can only be described as a panic attack and she flattens herself against the ground and refuses to move. Fear still rules her days, but hopefully when forced to face a few of her fears, she’s learning that her fear is pretty unfounded and once more, there’s treats out there in the big bad world, plus gentle touches, cats to chase, puppies to wrestle, and ear buds to munch.
The puppies have all now been claimed by adopters, so there’s no pressure to advertise their cuteness, still I can’t resist and regularly toss out the better pics on Facebook and twitter. They have a growing number of fans all over the world
Foxglove – big handsome boyPigweed – can’t take a bad picture of this gorgeous pupBegonia and SneezewortEverybody’s sleeping but Snap Dragon – he’ll make the best watch dog.My favorite sight of all!
I keep wondering at what point the scales will tip for Hadley.
Will this treat, this snuggle, this walk, or this ear rub be the one that makes the difference? Maybe this will be the one that pushes her over the edge into a place where people are good and every sudden movement or noise doesn’t mean the sky is falling.
I figure we have to keep piling up the positive interactions, and at some point she’ll trust us. And then maybe she can begin to trust the world.
As far as I can tell, she’s had only two negative encounters since she’s been in our care. One was Gracie’s initial snarly greeting on her first night. Since then, Gracie has reigned it in. I guess even she senses that Hadley is a fragile soul. The second truly scary moment for her was when my ipad mini fell on the dog bed next to her. It confirmed for her the sky was falling rather than her foster mommy is a bit of a clutz.
At the same time, I know the bubble wrapping is nearly impossible, so there will be a few unintended and inevitable scale tips the wrong way.
It’s been nearly a week and Hadley still spends her days anxiously curled up in one of her three “safe zones”. These are the Frank bed in the kitchen, the dog bed next to my desk, and on the sofa behind the couch cushions (which are flipped down to keep Gracie off the furniture). Continue reading “Tipping the Scales”→
Just the other day, I was shocked to retrieve Addie’s red polka-dotted slipper shoe out of Momma Bear’s mouth. For some reason, known only to the canine world, those shoes are the best tasting ones in the house. Pretty much every foster dog has favored them. Somehow they’ve survived the onslaught, although several dogs ago, Addie had to use blue flowered duct tape to re-secure the liner to the bottom of the shoe.
Momma Bear’s paperwork says she’s between 2 and 5 years old. I’m betting she’s on the low end of that scale. As she’s finally begun to relax at our house, we’re seeing more puppy-like behavior.
Next was Brady’s forgotten croc and then Ian’s stinky sneaker. And the children thought they could stop putting their shoes away since there wasn’t a puppy in the house. Think again!
It’s not just the shoes she’s begun chewing. She’s gnawed on the directions for my new iphone, multiple ball-point pens, and yesterday she found a box of packing peanuts. That was pretty funny. They were the kind made of cornstarch which disappear when wet. She’d poke her long snout into the box in the corner of my office and fish out one peanut and then take it to her favorite spot only to discover it was gone! So she’d return to the box and grab more, repeating the process until I put the box up because I didn’t know if cornstarch was poisonous to dogs (it isn’t). Continue reading “When the Guest Becomes Family”→
So, the snow is ridiculous. I was gonna write about it, but I’m still too mad at its sheer presence. It’s like that crazy relative who comes for a visit and is so darn much fun, but the next day you’re hungover and tired and really in no mood to deal with his needs. Go away, you think. But he doesn’t go away. That’s where I am with this snow.
Just like that, Hadley is gone.
So, everything I read said we should wait for Hadley to come out of her crate on her own. And I get that. She is insecure and needs to know she has a safe place to go to, but here’s the thing – some of us need to be pushed from the nest.
I keep wondering at what point the scales will tip for Hadley.
Another Good Dog™ 