This past weekend Amelia joined two friends and me for a girls’ weekend. I was only slightly concerned about how she would handle it. She’s been an excellent guest at the foster cottage, besides jumping the fence and digging some sizeable holes in the yard.
We’ve remediated those issues by adding electric wire to the fence and throwing in the towel on the holes. We’ve long needed to sod the foster playyard. The grass has never grown well ever since routing our septic line through the area, which was formerly a gravel parking place. Amelia made the decision for us. Once she is adopted, we’ll spend the money and buy the sod.
Taking her with me to our dog-friendly rental, Gracie’s Place, to meet my friends was an opportunity to see how she does out in the world and living inside a ‘real’ home. She was perfect. Really. I’m not making it up. I have two witnesses. She explored the house but settled on hanging out on the back patio where she chased reflections every time the door opened and searched for bugs. The sandbox was a hit, too.
Hey friends, once again I need your help. We’ve got three gems lingering too long in my company who are more than ready for families of their own.
As my fostering is a bit ‘freelance,’ it’s hard for me to reach a wide enough audience.
To a dog, every one of my dogs saved from Memphis has been a good dog, and the three I have currently are no exceptions. If you can help me spread the word about them so they find homes, you’ll enable me to save more.
Here are a few options for doing that:
Share this post with your circle of influence, especially dog-hearted people, anyone looking for a new furry family member, dog-oriented groups, social media.
The longer I spend with them, the more I learn about them precious pups…
Like how Amelia would be an excellent Parkour prospect. Her determination, smarts, focus, and extreme athleticism make her a great candidate for any kind of dog sport.
But all that said, she is also an absolute love bug who shares kisses and snuggles freely. I wish I had more time to devote to training her, but with the wild boys demanding attention, like the forgotten middle child, she just keeps herself busy. She’s an easy, easy dog.
I think she’d do really well in an apartment or condo setting, living with someone who wants a dog to have adventures with, try agility (or parkour), a running buddy, or just great company. She is beautiful and has a fun personality.
The ‘boys,’ Blarney and Toothless, became fast friends and spend their days wrestling, chasing, tackling, and competing for my attention. Toothless is only 8 months old, so he is always ends up backing away when the tug of wars between Blarney and Amelia get serious.
Toothless is 8 months old about 30 pounds (we’re going to have a weigh-in soon and get official weights on everyone). He is a sweet boy who really wants to be a lap dog (a wiggly one at this point).
He was an owner surrender at the shelter, and whoever gave him up at least raised him with a kind hand because he loves people and is affectionate and cuddly. He’s so eager to please and has a busy, distractible puppy personality. That said, he’s making progress on “don’t jump on me,” “sit,” and “go to crate” commands.
Toothless is all legs and stays skinny no matter how much I feed him. I’ll try a third dewormer this week, but I’m beginning to think this is just who he is – that gangly teenager who can ten cheeseburgers and still be rail thin.
And Blarney. This funny little guy is something special. He’s a year old now and likely weighs 28 pounds (again, we’ll get a firm number soon!). I call him a ‘party on four paws’ because the dog is always happy. His tail doesn’t know how to stop. His grin is irrepressible. Even when I’m scolding him to not jump or to get down off the back of the futon, he complies but never takes it personally.
He has a funny hoarse bark that makes me wonder if someone damaged his trachea by yanking on him. He does pull on a leash, so I use a harness. He’s so little that the pulling isn’t terrible.
The HVAC guy came to deep clean the mini-splits in the cottage (there is so much dust tracked in by dogs running in and out). Blarney charmed him. He’s got four kids at home and seemed very interested in adopting Blarney, but turns out his landlord says that the only way he can is if he can show a DNA test proving he doesn’t have any bully breeds in him. Does he? I have no idea. I’d guess he’s got a range of dogs in him, but since he was a stray in Memphis, your guess is as good as mine. I did put DNA tests on my Another Good Dog Amazon wishlist, so if anyone wants to find out and potentially help Blarney get a home, have at it.
My spring was supposed to be devoted to finding these good dogs homes. I was considering fostering puppies later in May after my travel and work settle down a bit, but as always, the fostering gods had different plans. I’ll tell you about that in my next post!
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If you’d like regular updates of all our foster dogs past and present, plus occasional dog care/training tips, be sure to join the Facebook group, Another Good Dog. And if you’re on TikTok, you can find regular videos of my current fosters, dog news/tips, and more if you follow me there.
And if you’d like to know where all these dogs come from and how you can help solve the crisis of too many unwanted dogs in our shelters, visit WhoWillLetTheDogsOut.org and subscribe to our blog where we share stories of our travels to shelters, rescues, and dog pounds, plus ideas, solutions, and resources to hep shelters save lives.
If you’d like to support the work we do (and save the rescue and me some money), shop our Amazon wishlist. We are currently in need of Denta-life chews, dog vitamins, canned pate dog and puppy food, probiotics, training treats, soft treats, and bully sticks.
If you’d like to take a vacation with your whole pack, consider visiting one of our two dog-WELCOMING vacation rentals. Visit BringDogs.com to learn more.
Have I got some dogs for you! As always, I have adoptable dogs, but the three I have now are pretty special.
Sometimes fostering can be stressful – the crate and rotate, the noise, the poop, etc. So it’s refreshing to have a pack of three (relatively) easy fosters. They get along. They are all housetrained. And now, they are all crate-trained!
I’m happy to report that my streak is alive – I have successfully crate-trained every adult dog I’ve fostered, which must be close to 200 now. I thought Amelia was going to break my streak, but with time and patience, a super comfy bed, and a whole lot of squeeze cheese, she is happy in a crate overnight and for meals and naptime during the day.
Nemo has been here with me for a few weeks, and to be honest, I’m flummoxed as to why he has lingered so long in foster care. He’s pretty darn perfect. Even if he only has three legs.
He is solidly house-trained, crate-trained, quiet, sweet, very cuddly, and friendly. He is happy to simply chew on a chewbone while I get my work done. I’m comfortable having a zoom call or even recording a podcast, because I know he won’t interrupt me.
Beyond all that, he is simply a sunny guy. Happy all the time. For the last week, since Loki left (yes! He was adopted!), he’s been all alone for long stretches, especially for the three days I was gone for Thanksgiving.
I’ve just returned from a tour of shelters with Who Will Let the Dogs Out, and this time I came home with more than stories and connections; I brought back three new fosters!
Leo went home while I was away. He was adopted by a family local to me, so I should be able to keep tabs on him!
Things are a bit busy here in the foster cottage, so here’s the rundown:
Lima Bean had her amputation surgery on Wednesday and is doing really well. She’s back to wearing toddler shirts to protect the huge incision and keep her from messing with it. When I picked her up, they recommended she wear a cone, but this poor girl is miserable, so we’re going with shirts instead. So far, so good.
Since arriving here in my foster cottage, Berry has had a pretty sheltered life. We’ve journeyed all over the back roads around me at dawn and taken dozens of turns around our back pasture, but beyond that, his world has been pretty small.
Not anymore! If there was any doubt that Berry is a dog about town, it has all been shushed. My ‘shy’ guy spent this past Saturday greeting all kinds of people at the Farmer’s Market and in downtown Woodstock.
Another Good Dog™ 