Our adventures as a foster dog family
Okay, I don’t really think I’m a terrible foster mom.
But I want to share the mishaps/mistakes that I made in this last week fostering. Basically, to show you that we are all learning as we go and that no matter how long you’ve been doing this, you still mess up.
And that’s okay.
My worst day saving dogs is better than someone else’s best day wishing they could save them.
Continue reading “Confessions of a Terrible Foster Mom”
Last one left is a….wonderful puppy.
I never really know why a person picks one puppy instead of another. I suppose it’s kismet or karma or whim. What I tend to believe is that there is almost always adoption magic afoot. People tend to find the dog they need (and vice versa).
I have only one foster puppy left looking for her forever family. And she is a gem. Becca is crazy smart but eager to please and VERY food motivated, so training this baby will be fun. The sky’s the limit. With her long legs and athletic body, I’d bet she’d be an ace at agility.
Continue reading “Last one left is a….wonderful puppy.”
Who is hoping to find a puppy under the Christmas tree?
I’ve got some pretty adorable puppies looking for a home of their own. The ABC pups – Alex, Becca, and Cassie – arrived this past week from Mississippi.
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.
Continue reading “A Puppy Just for You”
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.
Continue reading “Summer Puppies: The Literary Mice”
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.
Continue reading “Little Moments Equal Big Progress”
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.
Continue reading “Knowing Where They Come From”
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.
Continue reading “Puppy-palooza!”
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.
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?
Continue reading “Small Dog Puppies and Big Dog Puppies”
Another Good Dog™ 