Our adventures as a foster dog family
Our yard looks like a five-year-old was turned loose with one of those mini back-end loaders you see in public park sandboxes.
Only there are no children here, just moles.
And dogs attempting to find the moles.
Continue reading “Moles Plus Dogs Equal Cats”
Now that I’m back to walking (YES! MRI revealed lots of damage, but nothing to stop me from moving forward and continuing to heal on my own!) I’ve had a chance to catch up on my thinking. So much was backlogged in my brain – ideas, worries, dreams, questions, stories. Lucy and I have increased our walk time each day this week and this morning we wandered the back roads for nearly an hour.
I’m still mulling over the book Rescue Road and pondering the enormous challenges to dog rescue in the US (and in the world). I had begun to feel the same way I did when my elementary school science teacher explained how far away Pluto was – it seemed like an insurmountable distance.
My teeny, tiny part in rescuing dogs couldn’t possibly put even the idea of a dent in the problem. Probably my thoughts were colored by my inability to move without pain. But now, the world looks different. I’m ready to get back in the game. I’m ready to save some more dogs.
I’ve had my moments of frustration with Lucy these past few weeks. She has come so far – she’s no longer scratching and her beautiful tri-colored coat is coming back in, her energy levels are rising (and rising!), and her happiness quotient somehow went even higher.
My frustration springs from the fact that she is not accustomed to living indoors. It hasn’t been an easy transition. Part of me wants to put her on a line outside. She’d probably be more comfortable. That’s what she’s known. Instead, we keep her in the kitchen and walk her frequently. We reward her when she pees outside and admonish her when she pees inside.
I think she finally understands she shouldn’t pee on our floor, but this morning when she evidently couldn’t hold it a moment longer, she peed on the Frank bed. I was so angry! Why would she do this? Why? Why? Why? I took her outside and then I closed her in her crate. Continue reading “Second Chances”
Galina’s days are numbered. Well, her days with us. We knew it was coming, I mean, that’s what this is all about, right?
I know we will be sad, but my worry is more for Galina now. I love that her potential forever mommy referred to her as a “floppy-eared princess.” Makes me think she will be treated like royalty and that warms my soul. [NOTE: Since this was posted, Galina’s potential adopters opted for a different dog and never had their audience with our little princess. Once again, she’s left alone at the ball….]
This little dollbaby deserves nothing less, except when she’s chewing up the retainer case. Then, it’s off with her head! No, I don’t mean that, but c’mon, the orthodontist is gonna start charging me for new cases. At least the retainer was in the child’s mouth and not the case at the time.
At the check-out desk at our orthodontists’ office there is a mangled, half-eaten retainer inside a shadow box with a sign that says, “Dogs love retainers!” We’re on our third set of braces, so I’ve been seeing this picture for about seven years. Every time I see it, I think – What kind of person would let their dog chew up a retainer? Hard to believe I was ever that naïve!
We are savoring our little floppy-eared princess now. Snuggling more, polishing up the house-training, teaching her to fetch (she’s all about chasing down the flying tennis ball, not so much about the bringing it back).
Here’s what I will miss most. Every day that Galina has been here, she has made me laugh. It’s been a long, hard winter and my stress-level has been reaching epic proportions between my work and our son’s college search and the mess that is my house. Daily laughter has been therapeutic.
Sometimes it’s Galina sneaking off with something she shouldn’t – like this stuffed elephant that is so big she couldn’t see where she was going and wandered in circles – Continue reading “Counting the Days and the Blessings”
I love hound dogs. Always have. I think I like them so much because they’re such dogs. They chase rabbits. They follow scents. They’re the kind of dogs that love mud and woods and food. Galina is still puppy enough to chew everything she encounters, but she’s got the hound habits in spades. My daughter says she’s a “cartoon dog” because she does all the classic things dogs do in the funny papers.
Hounds aren’t yappy, but when they do bark – it’s LOUD. That sweet, long bay is music to my ears. Galina’s bays are few and far between, which is probably a good thing. When I was younger I often fox hunted and it was exciting to follow the hounds on horseback. Their steady yips meant they were on the trail and we chased after them over fences and through the woods. But what I loved the most was the sound they made when the fox “went to ground” (went in his hole). The chorus of bays was eerie and at the same time gorgeous.
Hounds do seem to have endless energy, but on the flipside, most hound dogs also love to lounge in the sunshine. Think Rosco P Coltrane and his dog “Flash” on the Dukes of Hazzard. They can sleep for hours and when they wake up they can run for hours.
Hounds are not complicated. There is something so completely honest about a hound dog. And they’re smart. Okay, not poodle-smart, not let me show-you-my-tricks smart or let-me-sneak-the-bag-of-cat-food-I-just-pulled-out-of-the-cabinet-and-eat-it-behind-the-sofa smart. They’re smart enough to know basic expectations. Here’s the food. Time to eat. Here’s the door. Time to run. Here’s the sun spot on the carpet or the porch. Time to sleep. Continue reading “I’ll Take a Hound Dog Any Day”
So Galina is still here. I guess we assumed she’d have a home by now since she’s such a little sweet heart, even if she is a mischievous devil at the same time. For the past three weeks we’ve been treating her like an honored guest – feeding her as much as she wants, letting her sit on the good furniture, and fawning over her at every opportunity.
When you have a guest and they accidentally break something like your reading glasses or computer charger cord or your ottoman, you let it slide. You don’t want the guest to feel unwelcome. Maybe you joke about it, even blog about it.
And when a guest leaves a mess – like an entire deck of cards spread across your living room floor (a few half-eaten) or maybe the guest discovers an irresistible roll of wrapping paper under the bed and decides it would be a perfect snack. You let this slide also. It’s kind of funny, really. And cards are cheap and you never liked that wrapping paper anyway.
But now she’s been here long enough, she’s more like family. So we scold her and grumble at her and yesterday I snapped at her (granted she had just stolen the sock I was trying to put on my foot). It’s become evident that she’s getting awfully comfortable.
So this week it was time to instill a little order, a little discipline. Enough of the free ride. For the past few days, Galina has not been allowed free reign of the house unsupervised. She’s spent much more time in her crate. I know that seems cruel, but the crate is full of toys and she gets a treat every time she goes in and, most importantly, she goes in happily. She never even whines when she’s in her crate. And yesterday when I snapped at her about the sock, she ran in her crate for safety from the loud woman. Continue reading “Older, Wiser We Are”
This morning I took Galina for a run with me. We went without Gracie, who has proved herself to be a less than ideal running partner. G did great, keeping up with me for 3 ½ miles. I’m used to running with much larger dogs. Maybe the best thing about running with a little firecracker like Galina is that when the Asplundh trucks roared by and she set off for the hills, I simply held tight to her leash and she ran at warp speed in place like Wylie Coyote.
G has had several days of firsts recently.
On Sunday she was scheduled to attend her first OPH “Meet and Greet” in search of her forever family. It was to be held at a local pet store. I wasn’t going to be able to accompany her for big debut because I was already committed at the exact time (of course) to give a presentation on my new book about 30 minutes away. Although I’d love my fulltime job to be fostering sweet little puppies, it’s actually writing and selling books, so my event trumped Galina’s. Bummer.
All week I worried about her upcoming event. Many times when Galina meets new people, she is nervous and hangs back until the new friend either produces a treat or gets down on her level to greet her. I know G is a happy, adorable, lovable, super-smart, fun little beagle, but would strangers be able to see that in a busy pet store with lots of other dogs/people/toys/treats/activity around her? I worried she wouldn’t shine.
I was feeling like a mom who was going to miss her child’s little league debut, so we spent Saturday afternoon preparing her. Continue reading “My Little Debutante”
Peer pressure is a powerful thing not only for us humans, but for dogs, too.
One of the reasons we decided to foster was so that our dog could learn some manners. Maybe that’s not a good reason for fostering, but there it is.
Our personal dog, Gracie, is six years old. In that time we’ve been unable to teach her to come when she’s called, refrain from jumping on people, respect her invisible fence, stop chasing the cats, walk politely on a leash, or do any impressive trick whatsoever. Still, we loved her because she’s so sweet.
My vet told me when we lost our beloved dog Lucy, who was the alpha dog to Gracie’s zeta (or whatever Greek letter is last), Gracie would probably step up and behave better. Well, as my favorite college buddy from the south would say- that dog don’t hunt. In other words, it’s a nice theory, but no. If anything, she was worse.
One of the expectations that rescues might have of a foster family’s personal dog is that she might set an example for the nervous, young, unsure foster pup. This seems logical. Except in our case. In my defense, I did lay out Gracie’s issues in at least one of my pre-fostering interviews, so they knew what they were getting into. And yet they sent us this delightful young impressionable pup.
In just a few short weeks, Gracie has taught Galina…
Vacuum cleaners are dangerous and should be attacked as soon as they come to life.
Cats are for chasing.
The mail lady is a formidable threat and it’s best to launch your entire body at the door whenever she approaches.
Stink bugs are for killing
and once dead, it’s a good idea to roll on them to be sure.
All stuffed animals must be disarmed and disemboweled as quickly as possible – shaking can accomplish this. You can find these enemy fighters under the beds of the smaller two-leggeds.
Whenever you hear the neighbor dog bark – bark louder.
But thankfully, Galina has also had some influence, she’s taught Gracie that ….
Treats are a good thing. (Up until Galina’s arrival, Gracie refused all treats considering them potential poison. I’ve never been able to figure out why she won’t take them. She was also a rescue dog so maybe there are skeletons in her mental closet. Whenever I told would-be dog-trainers about my inability to train Gracie to do anything, they always told me – “Give her a treat every time she does what you want.” This is a great idea if your dog doesn’t consider every treat a potential threat. In that case, it seems to actually teach your dog not to do the exact thing you ask.)
When it’s time to go outside, while waiting for the leash to be secured, jump directly up towards the ceiling, bonus points if you can make contact with the two-legged’s face.
Whenever a two legged tries to tie her shoes, lick her hands. This will help.
Eat all your food, the moment it’s served, as quickly as possible.
Follow your favorite two-legged person at all times, even when she enters a bathroom (there’s toilet paper there for the unrolling…).
I’m still not sure which dog is benefitting more from this friendship, but I am certain that they’re instilling life-long quirks in each other that may be hard to shake.
Here’s my dilemma- just how much should you love on your foster dog? Galina is such a mischievous little love muffin, that we all can’t help but return her affection. And that seems dangerous for all parties involved.
OPH offers all kinds of training for fosters, which has been super helpful, but it occurs to me that I haven’t asked the question I should probably have asked most – just how much affection should you shower on your little charge?
When Galina arrived, she was nervous and shy and we coaxed her to accept our touch. Now it’s been two weeks and she demands it. She snuggles up to us on the couch, races to greet us when we enter a room, jumps up on anyone who fails to acknowledge her enthusiasm.
Should I have withheld some of my attention, kept my distance? That seems like the smart move. But Galina has blossomed under our affection. It’s given her confidence. She stands taller; she’s napping more, and chewing a little bit less. So maybe instead of being a dangerous thing, it was the most important element of our care for her. As important as the food and probiotics and coconut oil that has brought a shine to her coat. Continue reading “Dangerous, Life-changing Love”
It’s been a big day! Not only has over a foot of snow fallen and Galina’s been doing plenty of swimming in it, but today, Galina got her first package! Of all days! Kudos to our mail lady – she’s the bomb.
Galina’s package came from a friend in Delaware, a dog named Peyton, who read about her penchant for chewing and her woefully unsup
plied (and unsuspecting) foster family and sent her three mega chew toys.
These are heavy duty. She won’t be destroying these babies any time soon. In fact, as I listen to her this very moment working on the “Jr. Ring” I worry for her little teeth. She’s giving it her best shot.
The timing couldn’t have been better since this morning Galina finished off what another dog started and condemned our worn out ottoman to the curb.
I look at it as helpful. I’ve been wanting some new furniture, and she’s just moving the process along.
Gracie was equally excited to receive the toys and shared in the spoils, claiming the shark for her own.
Just in the past few days the two dogs have become bossum buddies. They wrestle for long periods of time and then sleep it off side by side. 
A new transport of dogs is arriving tomorrow night and there’s a dog on the list I really, really want to foster, but I’m trying to apply some discipline to this endeavor. I do feel a little like a junkie, telling myself “I can handle it….just one more dog.” But we have only one crate and Galina has taught us a very important lesson about fostering – you truly don’t know what you’re in for. That said, I can’t risk my furniture or my relationship with my husband on another chewer.
Feeling very grateful this afternoon. Just made it home from Pittsburgh after having to extend what should have been a 2 day trip to a 3 ½ day trip thanks to weather.
I agonized about whether to stay safe in Pittsburgh or chance it through the mountains in a snowstorm to get home. I felt bad leaving my husband in charge of my menagerie. But good man that he is, he cleaned horse stalls, hauled buckets, took Galina for endless laps of the yard, mixed up her semi-complicated food concoctions, and vacuumed up all the exploded Beanie Babies. He said – stay there, I got this.
And still I hedged.
The kids would miss school I worried. Surprisingly, the kids were not at all concerned about missing a day of school.
Finally, I realized that the biggest reason I wanted to get home was Galina. I worried that she was confused by my lengthy absence. We’ve bonded quite well in the past week. I didn’t want to be yet another adult deserting her.
And I just plain missed her. It didn’t help that my husband was sending me adorable pictures via text all weekend while he was in charge of her….
Like her run-in with a roll of toilet paper….
And her sweet face and wagging tail blur as he talked to me on the phone…. Continue reading “Fostering is Bitter Sweet”
Another Good Dog™ 