Updates and Adoptions

I’m sorry that I’ve been too busy to update my blog lately! Somehow I’ve ended up with eight foster dogs and a constantly changing number of kittens and cats, which keeps me too busy to write posts or take pictures. So today I’m going to play “catch up” and give you the condensed status of my foster pets:

Scamp the Fox Terrier mix, Socks the cat, and Thor the giant German Shepherd Dog have all been adopted. I still have Charlie the unknown mixed breed who is frightened of new people and barks at them non-stop. I also still have Bogey the Mostly Hairless dog who is frightened of all people, including me. Not surprisingly, I still have Ziggy the deaf and difficult pit bull mix, although he is currently on a two week vacation at a friend’s house, where he gets to be an only dog and go for walks in the park and have a real life. I also have Aridan the German Shepherd Dog who I am dog-sitting for a friend. She used to be a well-trained dog. Now she ignores me constantly, counter surfs, jumps over baby gates to eat the cat food, and chews up metal cans full of spray cheese. Don’t tell her human mom, but I think I ruined her dog. In addition to all of these dogs, I still have Chief, the Beagle. He’s my only “highly adoptable” dog. He’s also my favorite of all my fosters, and the easiest dog I have, so I’m sure he’ll be adopted soon.

Minnie - aka "Bitey Girl"

I took in a few new dogs. It turns out they all have issues. One dog – an eight month old Chihuahua/Doxie mix - was given to me by my neighbors when a family member went to jail and the dog was left without a home. Her issue is called fear aggression. I am calling her Bitey Girl. She’s going to a new foster home tomorrow with someone who actually likes working with little aggressive dogs. I’m very grateful.



Another dog is an Italian Greyhound that was a breeder release. I named her Fawn, and she is terrified of me (it seems to be a theme with my foster dogs lately) and won’t let me touch her. She is only going to stay with me until another foster home can be found. Charlie and Bogey are enough shy dogs for me.

Fawn the Italian Greyhound

A third dog I took in is a brindle pit bull named Mayzie. Her issue is the opposite of fear. She is a typical joyful, excited, highly energetic pit bull. She really doesn’t have any issues except that she is a hard-to-adopt breed.



Mayzie the brindle pittie

And the last dog that I unexpectedly took in is Jupiter. He’s a pit bull mix, and he was given to me by a friend of my neighbors, because the original owner was planning to shoot him and the guy didn’t want to see that happen. He couldn’t keep him but didn’t want him to be shot, so he ended up in my driveway. And now he’s living in my house. And he is capturing my heart. I can write a whole post about Jupiter, if I ever find the time. He has several issues, including being heartworm positive, and having an extremely high prey drive, but I love him anyway.

Jupiter - a dog with issues

As for the cat fosters, I still have Midnight and Murphy, the two FIV+ cats. I had nine kittens and their mom, who have all moved to a shelter for adoption, but then three of them came back because they weren’t big enough to be spayed yet. I also ended up with five more kittens who will be going to the shelter in another week or two. I have sworn to never ever take in any more kittens – at least for the next month.


So that’s my story – I don’t usually do this, but today I’m begging for foster homes to help out with some of these animals. Like most rescue animals, these foster pets do not come already trained. Most of them aren’t house-trained. Most of them will climb on your furniture and try to steal food from your countertops. As foster parents, our job is to work with these animals and make them more adoptable. We work on house-training, and we work on behavior issues like counter surfing. We also work on self-control, for the highly excitable dogs, and on overcoming their fear, for the shy dogs. We truly make a difference in these dogs’ lives, because we aren’t just “warehousing” them until someone comes along and adopts them and fixes their issues themselves, we’re actually working to make them more adoptable with each interaction. Foster homes that have only one foster pet are ideal, since they have more interaction with each foster pet. Right now I have too many foster pets that need some extra help to overcome issues, and they each need someone to step forward and say “I am willing to help.” I’m not the only one with too many foster pets. Rescue groups and shelters around the country are overflowing with homeless animals. They all need help. I can honestly say that fostering is the most rewarding thing that I’ve ever done in my life. I hope that you find that is true for you too.  To find out more about fostering, please contact me. 

From Sad to Happy: Chief

This is Chief.  He was a stray, found wandering down the middle of the road.  He was hungry, and covered with ticks.  He looked very sad. 

 He's only around six months old.  He has an adorable Beagle bark. 

I did everything I could to make him happy.  He was cleaned up, had a lot of food, and had many toys to play with.     

But he still seemed very sad. 

 Until he met Aridan, the German Shepherd that I'm dog-sitting.  He suddenly became much happier. 

He was so happy to meet her, that he gave her a hug.   

At least that's what we're calling it around here. Now he's a happy boy. 

Chloe Was Adopted!

Chloe started out as a stray in a small animal control shelter.  As a five year old pit bull, she didn't have much hope of being saved.  The shelter was getting ready to close for the Thanksgiving holiday, and all the remaining dogs were going to be euthanized.  That's when the volunteers from Pound Puppies Volunteers of St. Louis jumped into action.  They posted pictures and bios of the dog on Facebook, and put out the word via e-mail to many other rescuers.  Those rescuers also shared the word via social media, and the pictures of the dogs kept showing up on my Facebook feed.  I watched the pictures of these dogs show up for days.  I picked out the one I would save if I could (a small all-white pittie girl), but I was going out of town for the holidays and knew that I wasn't going to be able to help.  The pleas for help continued, and many different rescuers stepped up to pull dogs out to safety.  My favorite was pulled, and several others, until only one was left.  For several hours I saw more posts asking for help with this final dog, but no help came.  The deadline to save her arrived, and still they'd received no offers to help. I didn't have the room for another foster, and I knew that pitties are hard to place, so if I pulled her she might be here awhile. Still, all those pleas for help had me cheering for this dog, and when no one else stepped forward, I called and said if they could find temporary foster care over the holiday, I'd take the last dog when I returned.  That is how Chloe came to stay with me. 

Chloe

Chloe turned out to be a wonderful dog.  She was house-trained and was great with other dogs and with the cats.  She immediately became my shadow, and spent every moment either on the couch next to me, or rolling on her back in the grass.  She slept near my feet every night, and made a funny "woo-woo" sound whenever she was excited.  Unfortunately Chloe tested positive for heartworms, so she had to undergo some painful treatment over several months before she could be adopted.  But then her treatment was completed, she started going to adoption events, and last week a family saw her at PetSmart and fell in love.  Chloe is now adopted and is doing great in her new home.  She's come a long way from being the stray running out of time at a shelter.  She finally has the Happy Ever After that she deserves!

My Ziggy Rant

As most of you know, I’ve been fostering Ziggy for two and a half years now. It is more due to a feeling of responsibility (I chose to pull him from the shelter where he was going to be euthanized as a puppy, so I am responsible for his life) than it is because I like having him here. In fact, most people know I would gladly give Ziggy to anyone who would take care of him. I’ve even been known to offer cash rewards to people to take him. Everyone thinks that I love him and I do, but many people also think I’m happy that he’s with me. I’m not. I try so hard to get him a home because he doesn’t fit here and it’s not fair to him or to me that he’s been here for two years. So today, I’m going to not worry about who might read this or what they might think; I’m just going to take this opportunity to whine and feel sorry for myself. I try not to do that often, but after the news from the vet a few days ago, I just can’t help myself.

Puppy Ziggy

For the past two years, I’ve tried to do what the experts suggest when it comes to getting a dog adopted. I’ve promoted Ziggy at every turn, even creating and maintaining his website and Facebook page, and buying him business cards to advertise around town. I’ve tried to stay positive and share all the good things about Ziggy. I’ve tried to make him more adoptable through basic training, working with various professional trainers, earning his CGC, learning tricks, and participating in dog sports. I’ve been honest with potential adopters about his issues, but I haven’t dwelt on them excessively. I know this is true because I constantly hear “I can’t believe he’s not adopted yet” – mostly from people who don’t know him well. I just want to shout “Then you take him!!” But I know they have other dogs, or cats, or children, or breed restrictions, like most of the rest of the world. The truth is, as much as I want him to be, Ziggy is not really adoptable. And since I’m tired of always talking about the good side of Ziggy, today I’m going to break all the rules and tell you about the bad side of Ziggy, and about the reasons that he isn’t adopted yet, and probably never will be.

Basic Hurdles

1. Ziggy is a pit bull – the breed is banned many places.

2. Ziggy is deaf – this makes it more challenging to communicate with him.

3. Ziggy needs to be only pet – most experienced owners have other pets.

4. Ziggy needs an experienced owner due to his behavior issues (see below).

5. Ziggy needs a home with no children – he is not child friendly.

Behavior Issues

1. Ziggy guards food, water, bones, and toys from others. With training, he no longer guards from me, but still guards from all dogs and cats.

2. Ziggy is mouthy, especially when excited. He knows better with me, but sometimes with new people he forgets and tries to grab their hands.

3. Ziggy is a counter surfer. No matter how much we work on this, he still steals food off of countertops whenever he can.

4. Ziggy is demanding. He barks loudly in an attempt to get his way.

5. Ziggy is chewy. He has to stay crated to keep him from chewing furniture, shoes, boxes, TV remotes, or whatever else he can get his mouth on.



Not to mention his drinking problems.



Medical Issues

1. Ziggy has food allergies – he is allergic to almost everything under the sun (and probably a few things in outer space too).

2. Ziggy has grass allergies – he gets red and itchy after lying in the grass, walking on grass, or looking at grass.



"Where's my benadryl?"

And this week at the vet I found out that Ziggy also has a bad knee joint which has ended his agility classes. And when the vet told me that he should avoid stairs and that he needed to be on a glucosamine supplement for the rest of his life, she was really confused when I started laughing hysterically. Because glucosamine supplements aren’t expensive, but it was just one more thing that Ziggy had wrong with him – one more thing that would make him harder to adopt.

My options have not changed. I can keep trying to find him a home, or I can have him euthanized. Please don’t judge me for whatever I decide unless you take Ziggy yourself! Some of you, especially those who rescue, will see the wisdom in giving up and having him euthanized, not only for my own sanity, but also so I can save many, many other dogs in his place. I have other dogs, and I have cats, and he lives in a crate most of his life because he can’t be out around the other animals. It’s not much of a life, and with such a slim chance of him ever being adopted, it’s not much of a future. But those of you who love Ziggy, don’t worry, I’m not at that point yet. I think of that option almost every time I think of Ziggy, which is often, but the truth is I do love him, and I don’t think he is suffering, so I’m not ready or willing to make that decision. I’ll keep doing what I can to make his life happy, and even if he can no longer go on bike rides with me or do agility, we’ll find other ways to spend time together. In the past I’ve contacted many sanctuaries about Ziggy, with no luck, and no other foster home or rescue group has been able or willing to take Ziggy either. So for now I’ll keep trying to find him a home, and keep sharing all the positive things about Ziggy. But I’ll let you in on an inside joke (is it an inside joke if the only person who knows it is me?) Every time I see “Ziggy-the-adoptable-dog” on Facebook, my mind always changes it to “Ziggy-the-unadoptable-dog”. For some reason, that makes me smile.


Please pray harder, Ziggy!