Our adventures as a foster dog family
I’ve come to realize that pictures are more powerful than words. And video is even more powerful than pictures. I can write and write and write about a subject, but seeing it in action always has a bigger impact.
This month marks one year since Mia entered our lives. It astounds me that she is still here. I remember watching her with her puppies and with the people she met and thinking, “It will be so easy to get this dog adopted.”
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.
Continue reading “Seeing Them To Safety”
The puppies have all gone home. Sigh. It was only two weeks, but it sure felt like longer.
Ian confessed to me that for the first time ever, he got attached to a puppy. Usually he views the puppies as work, knowing that more often than not, during a litter’s time with us the responsibility of caring for them will fall to him. (His mother being a busy, overcommitted woman and all.)
Continue reading “Practicing Self Control”
I’m pretty sure Mia will be here indefinitely.
It may take some time for her people to find her. She’s incredibly special and so her people are likely special too. She’s ceaseless entertainment for Fanny (and for us), so we don’t mind waiting.
Continue reading “Coming Soon to a Foster Home Near You: Puppies!”
It’s been a week.
Having no foster dog feels awfully strange, and I wondered if I would even post this week. This blog, though, has become habit. Plus, there is an extra dog here beyond Fanny and Gracie.
Beau is here until July 12; he’s a former-foster we’re babysitting. Since he arrived last week, we’ve said on more than one occasion—why didn’t we adopt him? He and Fanny are the perfect playmates. He’s proving what I’ve suspected for some time: Fanny could use an emotional support dog.
Fanny is a shy dog. Anyone who has ever adopted a shy dog knows Continue reading “Living With a Shy Dog”
I have now fostered 177 dogs, 7 cats, and 1 sheep.
No, really.
Last night, as I was putting the final touches on a pizza and the grill was heating up on the deck, my oldest son yelled, “Hey, there’s a sheep or goat or something outside.” Continue reading “Sheep Fostering”
The trip to the vet with puppies was a quite different experience this time around.
The last time I drove there with a small airline crate full of nearly lifeless puppies who didn’t make a sound. I stopped once just because I was worried that Pippin was being smothered (there was no evidence to indicate it was even a possibility but the overtired, distraught mind conjures up all kinds of scenarios on a long drive alone in silence with sick puppies).
Once at the vet’s office, we had to wait in the parking lot like everyone else – only everyone else had Continue reading “Hookworms Round Two”
I’ve realized that there is a correlation between how many dogs are in our house and the amount of stress in my life.
I’m pretty sure the stress brings the dogs, not the other way around. I tend to pile on the animals when I’m feeling stressed or uncertain. Their needs, their affection, the immediacy of their presence is calming for me.
Yes, the world feels upside down right now, but Continue reading “Combatting Quarantine Stress with Foster Dogs”
If it were for nearly any other reason, I’d probably be enjoying the ‘social distancing’ as it’s giving me plenty of time to write, read, and hang out with the dogs.
As it is, the whole situation is heartbreaking as I watch my son’s senior year disappear.
His swim relay made states and was ranked number one, only to arrive for their day of competition just as the tournament was canceled. Now his track and field season, soccer season, and musical are all at least postponed and possibly canceled. Let’s not even think about prom or graduation. UGH.
To brighten his spirits, I Continue reading “Fostering Our Way Through This Crazy Time”
Even with two of the tiny puppies still here, the house seemed much too quiet, so on Sunday Nick and I went to visit Rockee, a hound dog in a boarding facility nearby.
Rockee (formerly known as Witch Doctor) is an OPH dog who, through no fault of his own, landed in boarding because of foster’s schedules and an unexpected return. He’s had a few faithful boarding buddies who have taken him for hikes and gotten him out to adoption events, but living in a boarding facility isn’t great for any dog’s mental state, plus it costs the rescue money that could be better spent saving dogs.
Rockee was adopted and then returned (after one day) for Continue reading “Ain’t Nothin’ But a Hound Dog (and a Nice One at That)”
