Foster Dog Update

I never say it enough, but thank you all for the comments and just for reading.  I appreciate it!

Last week Thor the German Shepherd was returned, Chief the Beagle was adopted, Mayzie the energetic pit bull went to another foster home, and Vinny the Italian Greyhound came to stay with me. So I still have eight foster dogs, but fortunately they all get along well, even though they range from only 12 pounds to 100 pounds! Here is one interesting fact about each of my current fosters that you may not already know:



Thor

This 100 pound German Shepherd used to be owned by a priest. This may explain why he is the best behaved of all the dogs. 

Charlie

Charlie does not like fireworks while he is inside the house. He barked at them constantly. Then we finally had to go outside for a final potty break before bedtime, and suddenly he just ignored the fireworks. So the sound of fireworks inside = danger, but the sound of fireworks outside = safe.

Bogey

Bogey is a hoarder dog. No, he didn’t come from a hoarder – he actually is the hoarder. He goes around and collects toys and blankets and anything else he can find and hides them in his crate.

Ziggy

Ziggy has been extremely well behaved (for him) lately. And he’s stopped chewing on everything – even on his chew bones! I think something must be wrong with him. He still loves to eat his kibble though.



Jupiter

Jupie has had to undergo a bunch of extra tests because he is anemic and may even have a weird doggie disease known as babesia. Test results are pending.  Bonus fact - he likes to sit in laps. 



Aridan

This eleven year old German Shepherd has won several Schutzhund awards, and even competed in the 2009 GSDCA-WDA Schutzhund National Championship and World Qualifier. I feel very safe with her around.

Fawn

Fawn's birthday is today – she is four years old.


Vinny

This Italian Greyhound thinks he is invisible as long as no one looks at him. He’ll approach strangers from behind and sniff them, then dart away. He’s stealthy.



Jasper

Tonight I’m bringing home Jasper. He’s staying for a week while his foster mom goes out of town. I don’t know any interesting facts about Jasper yet. 

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.