Tag: shelterdog

dog rescue, Dogs with Issues, foster dogs, fosterdogs, fostering, hard to adopt, oph

Diary of a Rescue Week Four: Progress is an Eight-Letter Word

Cara Sue Achterberg

I have to forewarn you that this past week hasn’t been terribly exciting. The progress with Daisy is only incremental and likely will stay that way. Again and again, I shake my head at the depth of pain this dog has endured. Her scars are deeper than any dog I’ve encountered.

It has been a month now since I picked up Daisy on a cold night at the bowling alley where she arrived on a transport from South Carolina.

And yet despite the fact, that during that first week of fevers, labor, delivery, and surgery, literally carrying her 60+ pound body in and out of cars, hospitals, and vet offices, she Continue reading “Diary of a Rescue Week Four: Progress is an Eight-Letter Word” →

dog rescue, foster dogs, fostering, oph, pregnant dog, shelters, Spay and Neuter, whelping

Diary of a Rescue: Week One

Cara Sue Achterberg

Word of Warning: If you are not following along on this Rescue Diary on Facebook, you may not know that this story is a hard one. Sadly, it is a reality of rescue that we can’t save them all and that sometimes the damage that has been done prior to the dog arriving with us is insurmountable. Still, we do all we can and while that may not be enough, it is more than many dogs would experience apart from rescue. The following are the Facebook Diary posts in their entirety: Continue reading “Diary of a Rescue: Week One” →

Diary, dog rescue, fosterdogs, fostering, pregnant dog, puppy bowl, whelping

Diary of a Rescue: Day 1

Cara Sue Achterberg

My next foster dog arrives tonight, a pregnant shepherd mix from South Carolina named Daisy.

shelter pic

I plan to chronicle her journey in realtime on my Facebook writer page. If you’re not on Facebook, I will collect those entries and publish them weekly on this blog.

Word of warning: there are no guarantees here. This is a shelter dog with no history, so while I hope there’s a happy ending coming, that may not be the case. Mama dogs who land in shelters have often not had any kind of prenatal care, may be undernourished, riddled with worms, and definitely not talking about who the baby daddy is. My most recent mama dog had a near textbook delivery, while the one before that was tragic. I want to be honest about this business of rescuing dogs and will share with you the story, no matter the outcome.

Shelter dogs arrive with Continue reading “Diary of a Rescue: Day 1” →

dog rescue, foster dogs, fosterdogs, fostering, hard to adopt, oph, training

Meet YoYoMa (and her remarkable foster mom)!

Cara Sue Achterberg

It’s a quiet house now.

Just us.

Well, and Willow, but she feels like she’s one of us.

31206368_10155506394657405_8141602090049863680_n (1)

Willow’s spay appointment is May 3, and after that she’ll be ready to go to her forever home. I’m pretty certain by then she’ll have one. She was just added to the website and there’s so much to love about this girl that I expect there to be plenty of applications.

There is rumor that we’ll have a new pup joining us on Friday night from the transport. Check in on the Another Good Dog facebook group for updates.

Since I have no dog stories to tell on my little herd, I thought I’d do something special this week. I’d like to introduce you to a very special dog who came into the rescue about the same time as my Gala but is still searching for her forever home.

YoYoMa is a foster mom herself, as you’ll soon discover. I’ve followed her story because I think it’s a special one and because she is such a funny dog! Her pictures always make me smile. She’s had a hard-luck life and more than deserves a forever home, so I appreciate anything you can do to help us find her people.

I’m also going to introduce you to her foster mom, Val, who is someone I look up to and learn from every day.

Here’s my Q&A with YoYoMa (and then the same questions posed to her foster mom Val!) Continue reading “Meet YoYoMa (and her remarkable foster mom)!” →