Our adventures as a foster dog family
I’m pretty sure my neighbors know what kind of dogs we have squirreled away in our foster cottage.
Rufus and Bug sing lovely songs periodically that make me smile. I’m not even sure what gets them started or what they are singing about. The serenades rarely last long and sometimes happen shortly after I’ve left them, but sometimes two hours later.
Rescuing animals can be is overwhelming.
I know that first hand, as does anyone in the rescue world. It’s part and parcel to the whole rescue mentality – you want to help and you can easily over-extend. You can’t bear for animals to suffer.
And sadly, lately, that proclivity to take on more and more has led to rescues turning into hoarding cases.
Two different situations came through my world this weekend that I could do nothing about, but a local wannabe rescuer’s overwhelm did spill into my world, or to be exact, my not-quite-finished foster cottage.
Continue reading “When the Rescuer Needs Rescue”
The excitement level in this house is working its way off the charts, so having four puppies and three dogs in our midst just seems appropriate.
Dear friends stopped by Sunday night for an impromptu supper and as we talked, we had to raise our voices over the excited yipping of the breakfast pups (Grits was hiding under the raised bed again – which makes his sisters go nuts. I think maybe they believe he really is gone when he does this.).
When Snoopy jumped up on one friend to assist him with his plate, he laughed and gently nudged him away. And when Frankie’s excitement veered towards the out-of-my-control level, they waited while we crated him.
I love that I have the kind of friends who don’t bat an eye at the dog chaos that has become my life.
The Breakfast pups are sweet, goofy, houndish pups who I am truly enjoying. They are affectionate (with tongues instead of teeth!) and happy and as puppies go, pretty easy to manage. Barkalona (aka Snoopy) is still a dreamboat (although he did figure out how to wiggle under the fence yesterday and had a happy runaround, cautiously checking out the horses, but thankfully, coming when I called!)
They are finding their adopters, and as soon as we get their tummies right, they will begin leaving. (Grits is still available if you’re looking for a super-sweet pup with houndish habits!) Amongst all the puppy-ness, Continue reading “A Pup You Don’t Want to Miss”
I have only five days left with these puppies.
And depending on the weather that will go by in a flash or it will seem like forever.
These babes have decidedly outgrown their tiny puppy room. We finally got them outside for some extended time and they loved it. I invited my favorite photographer to stop over and she got some amazing shots of these pups.
Before I share a few of my favorites, I need to give a shout out to Nancy Slattery! She donates extensive hours to OPH photographing pups and then uploading and editing and posting the pictures to help us get dogs adopted. My pups already have adopters, but I asked her here because a) I knew she’d love to come play with them and b) I wanted these pictures for an upcoming project and c) I haven’t gotten the chance to hang out with her in a while, so it was the perfect ruse.
Nancy brought her daughter Casey with her as assistant lighting director and Casey held a remote flash which is partly how these pictures came out so great. Mostly they came out so great because Nancy is Nancy. (AND if you are ever looking for a professional photographer for your own dogs or yourself, ask me for her contact info. Nancy took my headshot long before I discovered her gift with pet photography. She’s quick, talented, and very reasonably priced.)
Despite my grumbling about the messes they make, these five weeks have flown by and their happy energy and adorableness have gone a long way towards easing us out of the winter that never ends.
Early on, I made a few bad guesses as to their breed, after all they were fuzzy, fat, and delectable; they could have been anything. They are labeled blackmouth cur, and that seems likely—as one person commented on their pictures, they look as if their tails are dipped in chocolate.
The other breed I’m becoming more convinced we’re dealing with here, though, is bloodhound.
Here’s a photo of bloodhound puppies at four weeks from the Fishing Forum next to a photo of a few Chocolate Factory pups at four weeks: Continue reading “I’m Betting on Hound”
So here’s the story I wanted to post last week, but couldn’t because of the jinx factor.
The jinx factor is what happens when I post about a dog’s adopters before they are actually adopted. Seems like the last few times I’ve done this (Whoopi was the latest), the adoption falls through. I was SUPER excited about Lucy’s family finding her, but didn’t want to jinx her, so I held back. Now that she’s happily in her new home with a family who love her, I can share the story I wrote last week and then never posted… Continue reading “Adoption JuJu and Jinxes”
Our house is much quieter. (for now)
Rooney finally went home with her new forever mom after a long wait. They met over a week ago and fell in love, but we had to wait for Rooney to finish her antibiotics and be 100% healthy so she could go home. Which she did on Friday. And we all miss her. My little brother will be very happy to know Rooney is in the Air Force now! Her mom is one of America’s finest.
Before she left, she, Lucy, and Obie had a fun week.
Here’s Obie and Lucy sharing a stick:
And here’s Rooney and Obie not sharing a pumpkin: Continue reading “50th Times the Charm”
Many of my foster dogs have come and gone quickly. So quickly, that we barely got to scratch the surface of their personalities. This is not the case with my two current dogs whom I think may still be with us at Christmas.
Not because they are bad dogs – quite the contrary, but here’s the complications involved with either of them finding a forever family quickly….
First, take Whoopi.
She’s a hit at events. Even a non-dog lover easily proclaims, “Look at the bloodhound!” They’ve all seen them on TV and in the movies, because what screams redneck, hillbilly, sidekick as loud as a bloodhound?
I took Whoopi to the Petapalooza on Sunday and she was wonderful.
Here she is posing with the Mary Kay lady in the next booth (“Mary Kay is so powerful it can even take on these kinds of wrinkles!”) Continue reading “Last Ones Picked…”
I keep wondering at what point the scales will tip for Hadley.
Will this treat, this snuggle, this walk, or this ear rub be the one that makes the difference? Maybe this will be the one that pushes her over the edge into a place where people are good and every sudden movement or noise doesn’t mean the sky is falling.
I figure we have to keep piling up the positive interactions, and at some point she’ll trust us. And then maybe she can begin to trust the world.
As far as I can tell, she’s had only two negative encounters since she’s been in our care. One was Gracie’s initial snarly greeting on her first night. Since then, Gracie has reigned it in. I guess even she senses that Hadley is a fragile soul. The second truly scary moment for her was when my ipad mini fell on the dog bed next to her. It confirmed for her the sky was falling rather than her foster mommy is a bit of a clutz.
At the same time, I know the bubble wrapping is nearly impossible, so there will be a few unintended and inevitable scale tips the wrong way.
It’s been nearly a week and Hadley still spends her days anxiously curled up in one of her three “safe zones”. These are the Frank bed in the kitchen, the dog bed next to my desk, and on the sofa behind the couch cushions (which are flipped down to keep Gracie off the furniture). Continue reading “Tipping the Scales”
I’m trying to prepare Foo Foo for the weekend. It’s gonna be a biggie. Especially if you’re a puppy. There will be eight (yes eight!) college students camped out all over the house for the weekend. This will be huge for the puppy on so many levels!
First, there’s the obvious food droppage. Foo Foo is the queen of food droppage. In fact, I haven’t needed my robotic vacuum since she was installed in the kitchen because she does regular and thorough sweeps of the floor gathering all crumbs and dust-particles-that-smell-like-food, and bits-of-paper-and-trash-that-could-be-food, which really just leaves dirty socks and school papers. These she chews on as after supper snacks.
I know her breed is listed on her paperwork as “lab-mix” (the catchall phrase for dog rescue I’m learning) and I’ve claimed she looks like a miniature weimeriener (spellcheck doesn’t know what to do with this word, but I know I’ve got it wrong). But I’m gonna go with hound.
This girl is some kind of hound. Nothing eats like a hound and I’ve never met a dog more devoted to food. Here’s a video of Foo-Foo eating dinner. I wish we’d gotten a better one. Sometimes she is so frantic, she shoves the bowl all over the kitchen with her excitement. This time the bowl was pretty stationery. Addie’s been timing her and so far her top time is 35 seconds start to finish, but I think she beats it on this one since she didn’t have to chase after her food bowl (I found one with rubber grip feet). Continue reading “A Puppy in Paradise”
A very wise horse-whisperer friend of mine, a cowboy named Brad, once told me that when training any animal you need to make the right choice the easy choice. This concept was a great help to me while training my independently minded horse and even applied nicely to teenage children. I’ve recently discovered it is an excellent strategy with Carla as well.
Carla has earned the nickname Goldilocks at our house because she likes to try out all the chairs, sofas, and beds in search of the best spot.
In my office….
On a kid bed…
In the playroom… (amidst the noise)
In the living room…
On my bed! (this picture gives you a point of reference as to her size – this is a queen size bed) Continue reading “When the Easy Choice is the Right Choice”
Another Good Dog™ 