Update, HHS Video

First, a quick update on my fosters. Ray, my foster Pekingese, went to another foster home, since my husband thinks four foster dogs is too many. :-( I really miss Ray, but I'm glad he's at my friends house - I know she'll take great care of him! Thanks Donna! Noah, Samantha and Vala all went to PetSmart this week, but none of them were adopted. It was a very disappointing week, since we had 10 dogs at PetSmart and NONE of them found homes on Saturday. I did have some people interested in adopting Noah, and they sound perfect for him, so I hope they call and decide to adopt him. This would be very helpful since I got some bad news recently - one of my old fosters, Selena, is being returned. You may remember her, if you ever visit PetSmart. She was a Heartland dog for a very long time before she was adopted. Her new family adopted her a few months ago but decided with a new baby that they just don't have the time to devote to her that she needs. So she'll be coming back to my house later this week and trying to find another home. I also took in one more litter of kittens, since due to the flood they were out of room and out of time at a kill shelter. They are adorable - and so small compared to my other litter of kittens. I will post more about them later. They will hereafter be referred to as my flood kittens, so I can tell them apart from the kittens I already had. The ones I already had (Taffy, Blaze and Monkee) went to PetSmart but did not get adopted either on Saturday. I hope to get them on the website this week and maybe someone will see them online and want to adopt them!

I have now been fostering for Heartland for eight months. It doesn't seem near that long. I have met some amazing people, and made many new friends in the process. Most importantly, I have found so much joy in helping animals that don't have anyone else. I've been doing this less than a year, but many of the Heartland volunteers have been doing this for years and years. Some of the people who started Heartland ten years ago are still rescuing animals today. I am amazed by their dedication. They spend their time, money and energy to save animals, and none of them get paid in any way except in doggie kisses and kitty purrs. They don't ask for recognition, but they deserve it. They've saved so many animals during the past 10 years. Click here to see a short video to recognize the contributions of the Heartland volunteers. This is only a small number of many of the animals that would not be here today if it were not for Heartland Humane Society.

This is what happens when my husband leaves town...

My husband is in the Army Reserves, and he had to go to Virginia for two weeks for military training. When he left, we had one foster - Vala. When he gets back next weekend, he's going to find seven fosters. Oops. I'm not sure how it happened really. It doesn't seem like that many, until they're all running loose around the house and I realize how outnumbered I really am! I thought Vala was getting adopted, so I took home Samantha again (see previous posts for pictures and info on her). I also brought home a little Pekingese - he was taken in from a backyard breeder, and has very poor vision, so the vet named him Ray. We're trying to get his eyes to heal a little bit, and now he's just so happy to be somewhere clean and where he's well taken care of. He is a very friendly little guy - he follows me all around the house and yard. But anyway, Vala ended up not getting adopted, so right now I have Vala, Samantha, Noah, Ray, and my own dog Remi. And I also have my cat George and my three foster kittens - Taffy, Blaze and Monkee. Overall, the house is a bit nuts when they're all running around together. But fortunately they all get along very well. The scariest part is that its starting to seem normal to me to have nine animals running around like they own the place. I guess my husband will be home soon to bring me back to reality. Because honestly, having all these animals IS a lot of work - but I LOVE it. I love holding the kittens and listening to them purr, or walking in the room and having Sam or Vala run up to me to see who can get petted first. I like going out to get the mail and having Ray follow me to the mailbox and back with this big grin on his face. I'm going to be really sad when I have to find somewhere else for any of them to go, once he gets home. I just hope one or two finds their forever home this week - and if not, maybe someone will come along and want to try fostering?! If you want to foster Ray though, keep in mind that my six-year-old niece has asked me to save him until she turns 16 - that's when her parents told her she could get a dog. Talk about a long-term foster! :-)

Introducing Noah, and new kittens

Here is a picture of Noah, the foster dog I brought home two nights ago.

He's such a sweet dog - he gets this really happy grin on his face sometimes that I just love to see. Last night I took him and Vala up to a "Party in the Park" event at Civic Park in O'Fallon. Noah wore an "Adopt Me" vest, and both dogs seemed to enjoy the park and meeting many new people. Noah is still very shy at times, especially with men. He loves to be outside, and I have to use really good dog treats to get him to come inside! He plays really well with Vala and Remi both. Last night they all three slept on the bed with me, along with my cat George. It was a little bit crowded, but I didn't mind. It's nice to foster such sweet loving dogs who are already house-trained! :-)

Here are some more pictures of Vala. She's such a loving dog - she has so much enthusiasm and just wants to be next to me all the time.

Next is one of my favorite pictures - my husband was trying to help me get a good picture of Vala, but she kept running up to me, so I asked him to hold her still. That worked, except she kept her ears back and I wanted her to put them up for the picture. So my husband tried to help me out by holding her ears up in the air. I almost couldn't stop laughing long enough to snap a picture. Vala puts up with so much from us sometimes! :-)

And finally, here are some pictures of my newest foster kittens, and my own cat George. First is Monkee, a female kitten with very unique markings.

Next is Blaze - a male kitten who looks like a smaller version of my own cat George.

And last is my cat George on the chair, and my last foster kitten Taffy (female) under the chair. Taffy looks a lot like her brother Blaze, but she has peach markings on the tips of her ears, her legs and the tip of her tail.

Queeny Park, Update on Fosters

Saturday was the Adopt-A-Stray event at Queeny Park. I believe this is the biggest adoption event that we do every year – more dogs are adopted during this event than at any other time. This was my first time attending, and I was very impressed. The event was well organized, and many more people attended than I expected. We had seven dogs adopted – four puppies, and three older dogs. The puppies were from two different foster homes – Arthur and Justin were cute little guys who were the last of their litter to be adopted. Ebony and Shadow came from another foster home, and while this was my first time meeting them, I enjoyed playing with them until they were both adopted as well! The adult dogs were Checkers, Piper and Harley. Checkers was my favorite – mostly just because I named him! He is a cute little black and white Chihuahua. Piper is an adorable yorkie mix – she was so cuddly and sweet! And Harley is a blue merle Australian Shepherd – very soft, and a great dog. His new owner is hoping to turn him into a Frisbee champion! Overall, it was a great experience, and I wish we could do it every month!

We still have so many dogs that need homes! Of course, I’m always partial to my foster dogs, so here’s a quick update on them. Vala wasn’t feeling well, so she missed the Queeny Park event. She’s doing much better now though, and hopefully will be able to go back to PetSmart next week to try again to find a home. Samantha had fun at Queeny Park and I enjoyed spending much of the time with her. She’ll be staying at the main foster home for now, even though I want to bring her home, because I’m bringing home a different foster. Noah, a Heartland dog who was adopted out last year, is being returned because he keeps running away from his family. He’s going to live with me for awhile and I can see if there’s something we can do to help him want to stay home. Kiya and the puppies are back at their original foster home, and continue to grow. The puppies are getting really big!! Kiya continues to be up to her escape artist tricks. Since I returned the puppies, I decided to catnap three kittens that were at the foster home. I have to admit I missed having kittens around. Besides, Vala loves to chase them, and since they’re used to dogs, they don’t seem to mind. When they get tired they just stop running and she sniffs them and turns away to find another one to chase. It gives them all exercise, and I get some great entertainment at the same time! :-)

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary

I’m finally back from vacation, and we had a great time. We went to a few national parks out west (Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, and Canyonlands), and also had the opportunity to visit Best Friends Animal Sanctuary while we were out there. I found out we were staying 12 miles from the sanctuary while on our trip, and convinced my family to take a tour. We got to see a short film that showed what Best Friends is all about, and then took a 90 minute tour of the facilities. The place is pretty amazing – they are the largest no-kill shelter in the country – they currently have around 1,800 animals, and each of those animals is guaranteed to have a place there forever if they are not adopted. The sanctuary has a mobile adoption team that takes animals to many of the large cities out west – Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, etc. to try to find them homes. The shelter has dogs, cats, horses, birds, pot-bellied pigs, rabbits, and more. They’re located on a few thousand acres of land, and they lease 30,000 additional acres which is used as a wildlife refuge. They also do wildlife rehabilitation. For those of you who are interested, keep reading to find out more details of my trip to Best Friends. Otherwise, just skip to the end. :-)

As we drove up into Angel Canyon where the sanctuary is located, we went past several horse pastures, to the parking lot where the welcome center was. It’s a beautiful place – the welcome center is surrounded by flowers, has a pond with goldfish and many hummingbirds were buzzing around the feeders on the outdoor patio. Inside was a small gift shop and a welcome area. There was also a video room where we watched the introductory video. Then we were loaded into vans and drove down the road to begin the tour. We drove past more horse pastures as our guide began to tell us about the sanctuary and answer our many questions. We passed the animal cemetery with a walking path and wind chimes – a very peaceful place. Our first stop was at Dogtown. The dogs live in these octagonal buildings, with eight separate “rooms” in each one. Each room has between one and four dogs in it, and each room also has two separate dog doors that lead to the outside runs. The dogs all had comfortable dog beds, a lot of dog toys, and large outdoor areas to run and play. The newer buildings have overhead skylights to let the light in, ceiling fans to keep them cool, and heated floors – these dogs have it made! Senior dogs are in these newest buildings, to make sure they are as comfortable as possible. My biggest disappointment during this stop was that we were not able to actually visit or pet any of the dogs. The next stop was in the cat area. We started in one of the cat buildings that was set aside for cats who were FIV positive. Cats with feline leukemia also had their own area, as did cats with incontinence issues (they stayed in the Incontinental Suite.) After a short visit with these cats, we moved on to another building and visited the cats that were not FIV or FeLV positive. All of the cats had a great set-up – they could stay indoors, or go outside into large screened-in porches. They have approximately 10-20 cats in each room, and the cats had plenty of room to roam and toys to play with. They could even climb up into the rafters, where they had their own cat beds and litter box, and stay up there until they felt safe enough to come down. There were climbing trees and cat beds galore. The place was very clean and all of the cats were well-cared for. Although they did offer tours of the bird and rabbit houses, our schedule did not allow us time to take those tours. After completing the tour, we were taken back to the visitor center. I enjoyed it so much, that I decided I wanted to volunteer there if time allowed. So two days later I returned and signed up to volunteer in the dog area for the morning.

Volunteering gave me a great opportunity to ask even more questions, not to mention actually pet some dogs! We started off with a quick safety video, and then headed to puppy socialization class. They have a fenced-in, paved area, about the size of a basketball court, that is surrounded by gravel. They found that surrounding it with gravel allows them to combat parvo better. They were unable to bleach grass, but they can bleach gravel which kills the parvo virus – a common virus that puppies are most susceptible to. This area is right outside the puppy area, where all of the puppies are kept until they are old enough to be adopted. We went through our bleach shoe wash (stepping in a litter box with bleach water to kill any virus we may have picked up on our shoes) and stepped into the enclosed area. They brought out three puppies, two cute black scruffy ones that reminded me of Taz (one of our current Heartland dogs) and one little hound dog – white with brown spots. Their names were Cedar and Cypress (the black puppies) and the hound dog puppy was named Harvey. The employee leading the puppy class was very nice. He explained why we were having this class. He said before they started these classes, about 35% of the puppies that were adopted out of Best Friends were returned. The main reason for this high rate of return was because the puppies were not socialized – they didn’t know how to act, and didn’t understand all the new experiences they had in their new home. They would go to the groomer or the vet, and when that person tried to clip their nails or look at their ears, they’d bite! It was all new to them and they didn’t know any better, but many people didn’t want a puppy that would bite, so they returned the dogs. After starting these socialization classes two years ago, the employee said the rate of return on puppies dropped from 35% to 0% - not one puppy returned since then! He had us play with the puppies – pick them up and play with their feet and their ears, and turn them on their backs, and give them treats so they learned to associate being handled with good things like food and petting. He also brought out an umbrella, and opened it in their face – things like that, to help them get used to new experiences. We also taught them their names, by saying their name and immediately giving them a treat. Do this 10-15 times, twice a day, and within a week they will know their name and respond to it! This is good to know if you decide to adopt a dog and change his or her name – it works no matter how old the dog is.

After puppy socialization class, I was assigned to one of the dog buildings to help walk dogs. I teamed up with the dog caretaker for that building, and we started walking the dogs. This is where I learned the most – basically that they have the same problems that most rescue groups do – too many animals and not enough help. They had one caretaker for that building – I have no idea how they can manage with so few employees per dogs – and always new volunteers that have to be taught and usually hinder more than they help. Dogs are assigned and tracked by volunteer through their collar color. Dogs with a yellow collar can’t be walked for medical reasons. Green collars can be walked by all volunteers, while purple collars are for volunteers over 18 and red collars are for staff only. Many of the dogs in this building, and probably in the entire facility, had red collars. A lot of the dogs had a history of biting, which is probably how they ended up at Best Friends in the first place. They can still be adopted out, and sometimes are, as the staff works hard to try to get them to become more adoptable. However, due to the limited staff, the dogs cannot be walked every day, and often can’t be worked with at all because of time constraints. Some dogs are adopted out and returned over and over, always hoping that the next family is the right one for them. While the sanctuary is a great place, better than any shelter I can imagine, it is still not a home, and I believe almost every dog there would rather live in worse conditions if it meant having a home with a family to call their own. Its what everyone there works for, and through education and training, its what they hope to someday accomplish.
Overall, I was very impressed with the sanctuary, and hope that someday when Heartland gets their own shelter, we can emulate some of the ideas that Best Friends has put into practice.

Mastercard commercial

My morning reminded me a bit of a MasterCard commercial... you know, those "priceless" ones? Sometimes when people adopt a dog, and we suggest they crate the dog, they look at the cost of the crate, or feel sorry for leaving the dog confined, and decide not to do that. Here's what I wish they knew...

Cost of puppy medication chewed up by Kiya - $45.00
Cost of bedspread chewed up by Vala - $50.00
Cost of dog beds chewed up by Sage - $80.00
Cost of coffee table chewed up by various dogs - $125.00
Cost of cell phone chewed up by Remi - $150.00

Crate to confine dog when not watching them - PRICELESS!!

Okay, only those first two incidents are from this morning - but the rest of them have happened in the past few months. All by dogs under 2 years of age, who are still in that "puppy chewing" stage - so don't worry if you are thinking about getting a dog - they do usually outgrow it. Just get a crate and USE IT until they do! <--- I'm going to try taking my own advice in the future. :-)

Petropolis and Puppy news

We had our adoption event at Petropolis last Saturday. It was a lot of fun, but also disappointing since we didn't have any adoptions, other than two pre-arranged adoptions. There were over 30 other rescue groups there, so there were many more dogs than there were people looking to adopt. We're hoping for better results in two weeks, at the Adopt-A-Stray event at Queeny Park. The two pre-arranged adoptions were for dogs that people saw at PetSmart in the past, but weren't able to take them home that day. One was Joey, a cute black lab who's been sick and is finally well enough to go to his new home. The other was for Herman, a very sweet beagle. Another dog foster mom was at PetSmart with her dogs over the weekend, and she also had two dogs adopted - Cookie and June. And Dixie was adopted during the week - so we have had some progress. We've also had a couple of returns, and a few new abandoned dogs that came in, unfortunately.

I think I posted previously about how Kiya and the puppies are having some problems - the vet thinks it may be ringworm. Which means yesterday I got to shave all five puppies and the mom, and then give them all medicated baths. My husband deserted me in favor of a Corvette car cruise, so I was on my own. It was quite a sight - me, who's never groomed or shaved a dog before, trying to figure out how to work the shaver, and hold the puppy still, and get the hair off without damaging the dog or myself. And then trying to bathe the puppy, and make sure it kept the medicated shampoo on for 10 minutes without licking it off, and then rinse the puppy, and dry the puppy. And since I don't have that much patience, I didn't want to do only one puppy at at a time - so I did them all 5 together! It went something like this...

Put 5 puppies in the bathtub... take out the first one, and shave it in the sink. Hold the puppy's fur down to shave it, realize I'm holding the shaver backwards and try again... realize the shaver is starting to get hot, and since I didn't have any Cool-lube stuff like they use at the groomers, I used some frozen food out of the freezer to cool down the blades. :-) Get the first puppy shaved, in the worst shaving job ever, and back into the tub it goes. Continue with the other four puppies - the last one looked much better than the first one. Now, time for baths... fill up the sink, wash the puppy, lather the medicated shampoo into the puppy, put the first puppy on the floor with some puppy food to distract it, and wash the second puppy. By the time I was done washing and shampooing the second puppy, the first puppy finished the food and wandered away. Get out more puppy food, corral both puppies and show them the food, and grab the third puppy to wash it. After shampooing the third puppy, I was ready to rinse the first puppy - but that wasn't so easy in the sink. So I take the last two puppies out of the bathtub, and rinse the first puppy in the bathtub. Puppies #2 and #3 have since fallen asleep on each other, fully lathered with shampoo, and puppies #4 and #5 are enjoying the remaining puppy food. I dry off puppy #1 and wrap him in a towel on the floor. Time to wash puppies #4 and #5. Puppies #2 and #3 are ready to be rinsed, so into the bathtub they go. Somehow they finally all end up clean, dry, and sleeping in towels on the floor. That took several hours - but I had to get the mom done before I quit for the day. So I attempted to shave Kiya. Believe it or not, she was worse than the puppies. She was scared and kept running away from the shaver. I couldn't hold her and shave her, so it was a challenge, and she probably kept a lot more hair than she should have. But she finally got shaved, shampooed, and dried also. And just think - they only need these medicated shampoos twice this week. Yikes. At least I don't have to shave them again (I hope). It was quite a learning experience! Its amazing that Kiya and these puppies can survive being fostered by me - I think they deserve really really good homes after what they've gone through. Kiya is so desparate for attention - she's a really good dog, and I wish I had more time to spend with her. The puppies also need more time than I give them - but at least they have each other. They come running to see me when I come downstairs, and they like to be held and petted. They are so adorable! I took some more pictures before I shaved them, so I'll try to add those soon.

Kiya and the puppies will be going back to their foster home soon. I'm just the temporary dogsitter, remember? :-). And Vala will also be going there, since I'll be on a vacation with NO dogs. I did find out we're going to be near Best Friends Animal Society, which is the largest no-kill animal sanctuary in the country. So I talked my family into making a trip there - they give guided tours of the place - there are over 2,000 animals there! I'm more excited about that than I am about the rest of the trip. :-)