dog training – Another Good Dog™

Bonnie and Clyde

May 16, 2024 Cara Sue Achterberg

I’ve been waiting to tell you this story. The puppies were much too distracting, but now that five of six puppies have been adopted (and the sixth will go home on Sunday), I can tell you about Bonnie and Clyde.

The other reason I’ve waited is because I wanted to give them time. Their minds were so completely blown when I first brought them home and I didn’t think it was fair to assess them until they had the opportunity to settle in and be treated like the good dogs they are.

Bonnie and Clyde were born in a house rented by an elderly woman. She kept all of the dogs in a small ten by ten room off her kitchen closed in with a piece of plywood. She had illusions of breeding ‘Scotch Terriers’ to make money. Her story is not unusual. In fact, it’s the reason so many shelters are overwhelmed by the number of puppies coming in.

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adopters, foster dogs, puppies

Knowing Where They Come From

May 10, 2024 Cara Sue Achterberg

I don’t usually know where my foster dogs come from. Well, that’s not exactly right, I know it’s a shelter or maybe another foster home, but not much about their story.

I don’t know their parents or their previous owners.

When I foster puppies (and dogs), everyone wants to know what breed they are. But that’s another detail I don’t know and can only guess.

Not so, with the dogs and puppies I have fostered so far this year. All of them have come from local hoarding/eviction situations.

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adopters, dog rescue, fostering dogs, puppies

Puppy-palooza!

May 3, 2024 Cara Sue Achterberg

It’s a regular puppy-palooza at this foster cottage. I was home from the latest shelter tour only a few hours when the deluge began.

Nancy and I picked up Sampson from the house of a new HSSC foster where he’d been with his mom for the last ten days. Tina told us that he’s a doll but he was driving her older dog a little nuts. She would continue to foster Sampson’s mama (Beatrix’s sister!) because she’s so easy and good, but would be grateful if I could take the youngster off her hands.

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adopters, dog rescue, fostering, Humane Society of Shenandoah County, puppies, training

Love is Not Enough When It Comes to Puppies

December 15, 2023 Cara Sue Achterberg

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.

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cats, dog rescue, foster dogs, fostering, hard to adopt, kittens, training

Seeing Them To Safety

November 17, 2020 Cara Sue Achterberg

What’s a girl to do when her puppy room is empty, the same foster dog has been here for months, her foster cats finally left (after more than a year with us!) and she’s itching to save animals?

Why take in a few foster kittens, of course!

Fostering kittens is a new venture. I know nothing about kittens this tiny. Lucky for me OPH has supplied me with everything I need, and their rescuer gave me lots of excellent advice. Ian is doing the bulk of the work—putting drops in their eyes, giving them their daily meds, feeding them, hanging out with them.

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dog rescue, Flannery Oconnor, fostering, Gala, hard to adopt, training

Risk Worth the Reward: Long Term Dogs

February 19, 2019 Cara Sue Achterberg

Flannery is about to enter her sixth month in OPH care which makes her a ‘long-term dog’.

Currently, up to 30% of the dogs on our site are ‘long term dogs’. There’s a reason why each dog got that label and it certainly doesn’t mean those dogs aren’t good dogs.

It’s just means Continue reading “Risk Worth the Reward: Long Term Dogs” →

Dogs with Issues, Flannery Oconnor, fosterdogs, fostering, hard to adopt, returned dogs, training

A Dog’s Eye View

January 22, 2019 Cara Sue Achterberg

Flannery is such an interesting dog.

The puppies are cute and Hula Hoop is a sweetheart, but Flannery is complicated and funny and just so not-your-average-dog. I adore her. Even though she is nothing like any dog I’ve ever wanted.

She’s little. Only 30 pounds.

She’s a busy-body – always in the middle of whatever is happening and worming her way onto the couch or dog bed, even if there is clearly no room for her.

She is the first dog up at the slightest noise. And weirdly, Continue reading “A Dog’s Eye View” →

Dogs with Issues, Flannery Oconnor, fostering, Hula Hoop, puppies, returned dogs, training

Returning an Adopted Dog (Flannery, Flannery, Flannery…)

January 8, 2019 Cara Sue Achterberg

All four dogs like to lounge in my office after their early morning romp in the play yard. Having four that get along so nicely is refreshing. Between that fact and the three quiet, sweet, not-quite-so-messy puppies, fostering has never been so easy.

Flannery finished her week shut-down and emerged a different dog. When she arrived she was snappy and tense, having proven to all that she will not do well in a home with young children. That wasn’t something I expected when she was adopted a few months ago by a family with five children.

Flannery is such a busy, fun, happy pup, so I was surprised to learn that Continue reading “Returning an Adopted Dog (Flannery, Flannery, Flannery…)” →

Amstaff, dog rescue, foster fail, fostering, Frankie, Pit bull, training

Beware of Dog/s?

October 9, 2018October 9, 2018 Cara Sue Achterberg

Over the weekend, Nick posted a Beware of Dog sign on our driveway.

He did it in response to the fact that two of our neighbors were burglarized, but he also did it because legally it’s a good idea. You should be aware of my dogs.

It’s a sign we should have posted long ago since Lucy bit the UPS guy and Gracie tried to bite the Fed Ex man (and bit me instead when I stepped between them). And now Frankie Continue reading “Beware of Dog/s?” →