Tag: dog

Ehrlichia, foster cats, foster dogs, fostering, Humane Society of Shenandoah County, mama dogs, oph, puppies

A Puppy Just for You

Cara Achterberg

It’s been a week with these little mice puppies, and while they have gotten bigger, they’re still tiny.

At seven weeks, the smallest (Chrystanthemum) is 2 pounds, four ounces and the largest (Gus Gus and Norman) are 3 pounds, 13 ounces. Which, if you trust a puppy growth calculator means they will grow to be 16 pounds and 27 pounds.

So, they’ll be small dogs when they grow up, which is why I’m kind of surprised, and not, that they don’t have adopters yet. This is typically a slow time of year for adoptions. But because these puppies will grow to be small dogs, I did think they’d have a better chance than most of finding a family quickly.

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Humane Society of Shenandoah County, litters, mama dogs, oph, puppies

Summer Puppies: The Literary Mice

Cara Achterberg

I hadn’t planned on taking any puppies this summer. I wanted to be able to do some camping, kayaking, traveling…but then the heat/drought arrived and my youngest got a promotion that has him moving back to the east coast in August (2.5 hours from us).

I don’t think the temperatures will come down anytime soon if the Weather Channel is to be trusted, and Ian will need us (or at least our truck) for his big move. The water levels are so low that kayaking is out of the question, and frankly, I couldn’t justify staying on the sidelines while shelters are completely overwhelmed and the ‘euthanasia’ numbers continue to climb.

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Little Moments Equal Big Progress

Cara Achterberg

It’s the little moments that feel like big progress with Bonnie and Clyde. Having spent their entire life until now in a small, poop-covered room, they are like giant, bewildered puppies most of the time.

In the early days, we worked on eye contact and impulse control (sit before being let out of crate or out the door or having dinner served). I improved my ability to be patient and learned to respond to the tiniest improvement. Now, over a month later, they’ve both more or less mastered those big asks.

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adopters, Dogs with Issues

Bonnie and Clyde

Cara 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

Cara 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!

Cara 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, foster dogs, foster fail, fostering, Humane Society of Shenandoah County, oph, puppies

Adoption magic

Cara Achterberg

I was really counting on that adoption magic to prevail this week, but I’m an overly optimistic person.

I was able to see four of my puppies into the arms of their new families.

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fosterdogs, Humane Society of Shenandoah County, Long Term Dog, mama dogs, puppies

Small Dog Puppies and Big Dog Puppies

Cara Achterberg

Oh my gosh, small dog puppies are SO much easier than big dog puppies. At least in large quantities.

Clean up takes a fraction of the time and the correlating stink is also much lighter!

Maybe the best part is that I can hold three of four of them on my lap at a time (which still leaves two yelling for my attentions).

And talk about cuteness – why are small things so much cuter than large things?

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Bring on the Little Dog People!

Cara Achterberg

Who is looking for a little dog?

Nearly all the puppies I foster are large breed puppies, but for a change I’ve got some littles!

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adopters, dog rescue, foster dogs, Humane Society of Shenandoah County, Long Term Dog, Pit bull, Updates

How About a Pupdate?

Cara Achterberg

How about a pupdate?I recently checked in with The Snack Cake puppies who are four months old! I was looking for pictures that the Humane Society could use for their brand new website.

The pups are living happy lives and clearly being loved enormously. Suzie Q goes to work with her mom, who is a vet tech, and is the star of the show at the vet office in Winchester. All the pups weigh around 30 pounds, so they’ve put on twenty pounds in two months! (and they are already bigger than their mother!)

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