Update on my fosters... part 2

In addition to the foster pets in yesterday's post, I also have the following:


Molly

 Molly is a Puggle/Min-Pin mix that I've been fostering for three months now.  She's very talented at jumping, she furiously tries to scare away the vacuum cleaner every time it's turned on, and she loves to bark ferociously at Ziggy - but only when he's walking away from her.  Molly has become very attached to me, and she will not look at anyone else during adoption events.  This makes it challenging to find her a home.  I also can't leave her alone during the events because she gets snippy with people (imagine a three year old child throwing a tantrum and screaming "Where's my MOM?  I WANT MY MOM!")  That's Molly.  I'm taking her to training classes and we continue to work on socialization (other people are nice too, Molly!) as well as basic obedience.  She's a very smart dog, and one of these days I'm sure she's going to figure out that the vacuum cleaner really won't hurt her. 




Ziggy, the deaf and slightly famous pit bull, is continuing to work hard at agility classes, and was recently promoted to the Intermediate-Advanced class!  Okay actually he's still in the intermediate class because there is no intermediate-advanced class, but when I asked his trainer when we'd be ready for the advanced class, she said he was at an Intermediate-Advanced level now, so I'm considering that a promotion.  Ziggy is proof that pretty much any dog can do agility.  Not because he's deaf, but because he's slow and not very athletic.  Other dogs get all excited in class and jump around and run - Ziggy just patiently waits for the treats to appear, and does the agility routines solely because it gets him food.  Oh every once in awhile he jumps over an extra jump when he doesn't have to - but even then I doubt he's doing it for fun - I think it's because it's the shortest way to get to me and the treats.  We still have a lot of fun together though, and it's good exercise and good mental stimulation. 

Allie

A rescue friend recently invited me to go with her to a shelter.  She wanted to pull a young dog as a friend for another young puppy she had recently rescued.  Of course I said yes.  I know some rescuers who hate visiting shelters because it makes them so sad, but I enjoy going there as long as I can take at least one of the animals home with me.  It's great to take them from their small steel cage where they are scared and alone, facing an uncertain future, and take them home where they can live in a house and get all the affection and attention that they want.  I know that their uncertain future just became a whole lot more certain of a happy ending, and although it's hard to leave the others behind, I always focus on the joy of the one I can save.  In this case, I knew my friend was going to pull a puppy, and I decided I had enough dogs at the moment but could take in a cat.  So off we went to pull a dog and a cat.  We looked at the dogs first.  It didn't take long until she found the puppy she wanted, but we finished looking at the few other dogs that we had not seen yet and quickly saw a second one that we both fell in love with.  I agonized over the decision for several minutes (okay actually it was more like 10 seconds) and then said she should take the first pup and I'd take the second one.  She quickly agreed that sounded like a fantastic idea, and I said "at least it will keep me from pulling a cat".  The idea being since I was pulling a new dog, I really didn't need to pull a cat as well.  But even as I said those words, I felt sad about leaving without a cat.  So while the paperwork was done for the two puppies, I headed over to look at the cats.  And I guess you aren't surprised to learn that I came home with both Allie the puppy and Theo the kitten. 

Unfortunately both Allie and another puppy who had been pulled previously came down with pneumonia.  They both ended up at the emergency clinic overnight, but are doing better and are both back at their respective foster homes now.  Allie is getting two different kinds of medicine, and she's having to get a nebulizer treatment three times a day, but she's feeling much better.  I'll have her for at least a few more weeks while she fully recovers, then she'll be able to go to the vet to get her vaccinations and be spayed, and then she'll be ready for a home of her own. 

  

Allie


So those are my seven foster dogs currently.  I was going to give a status update on my two foster cats as well (Theo and Charlie) but Charlie really needs a whole post of his own, so I'll share that another day.