I'm feeling slightly crowded.

I have a very large living room area.  In the living room, there is a full sized couch, a lot of open floor space with several dog beds, and a loveseat.  So why is it that right now there is no one on the couch, and no one on the floor or the dog beds, but there are six of us sitting on the loveseat?

I used the webcam on my laptop to take this picture.  I couldn't quite get the distance needed to see the whole area, but I think it shows enough for you to understand my confusion.

In case you need some help figuring out what you're looking at, I've added some labels for you.  

Molly likes to lay on top of the couch right behind my head.  That's her back leg and tail at the top of the picture.  Oscar is curled up on the left, and Roo is squeezed in between him and me.  Morgan found a comfy spot on my lap, and Charlie (best kitten ever) found a comfy spot on top of Morgan.  That's my arm reaching out between Morgan and Roo to reach the keyboard.  Ever tried typing with a dog and a cat laying on top of your arms?  It's not easy. 

I'll admit it's slightly chilly in here since I haven't yet turned on the furnace, but I don't think it's cold enough to explain the need for so much closeness.  Especially when both Oscar and Morgan are snoring rather loudly. If I didn't love them so much I'd go sit on the empty couch by myself.  Except I'd have exactly two seconds alone before they all followed me over.  At which point Morgan and Oscar would fall asleep and the snoring would begin again.  

Okay, I admit it, I am loving the closeness.  It would be a lot colder in here if I didn't have so many furry warm bodies to keep me warm!  And even the snoring is kind of cute.  

By the way, for anyone wondering where the other fosters went... Ziggy is asleep in his crate, the rest of the cats are asleep in the bedroom, Gonzo went to a temporary foster home, and Bailey and Cooper have been adopted!

It's Rescue Me Week!

For the next five days, as part of Mayzie and her mom's awesome way to honor their Grampa J, I will be participating in Rescue Me Week.  This means I'm going to pick an adoptable pet to feature each day. Since I already write about my foster pets, I thought it might be fun to find some adoptable pets who share a name with one of my fosters, and do a two-for-one feature.  So today I'm going to feature two dogs named Bailey.  

Bailey #1 is a female Golden Retreiver who was found as a stray and never claimed by her original owner.  She is very sweet and loves attention.  She lives in Missouri.  Specifically, she lives at my house, and sleeps on my couch, at least for now.

Bailey #2 is a male Golden Retriever who was turned in by his owner.  He is a senior dog who is also very sweet and loves belly rubs.  He lives in a foster home in Florida.

Both of these dogs, along with 694 other adoptable dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, horses, ferrets and guinea pigs  named Bailey, are waiting for homes!

Foster Pet Update

There have been a few changes around here lately.

Elton the Shiba Inu/Shepherd mix has been adopted!
Benny the Beagle/Corgi mix has been adopted!
Thumper the Bearded Collie mix has been adopted!
Kirby the funny looking kitten has been adopted!
Pogo the cat is on a trial adoption!
Roo the American Pit Bull Terrier mix is now being fostered by a new foster volunteer.
Cookie the Beagle mix puppy returned to her original foster home.  She came here because she was having some problems with getting along with other dogs, but now she's doing really well so she got to go back to her original foster family.

At this point perhaps you're thinking that I must be getting lonely with all of these foster pets gone.  But don't worry about me -- I'm keeping busy with these additional changes:

Morgan the escape artist Puggle is back at my house because she kept breaking out of the fence and escaping at her foster-to-adopt home.

Morgan and Gonzo

Cooper is a Black Lab mix who was turned into rescue by his owners once he became too big.  He and his littermate had lived their entire lives outside and never had any training, so when they saw their people they would jump up and knock down the kids, so the family decided to get rid of them.  I took Cooper and another foster home has his brother.  Now they're living in homes for the first time in their lives, learning manners and looking for a new family.

Cooper

Bailey is a Golden Retriever mix who was turned in to Animal Control as a stray.  She had no tags, no microchip, and no one ever came looking for her, so we pulled her, had her spayed, a bad tooth was removed, and she has been treated for ear infections in both ears.  She's doing great now and already has several adoption applications!

Bailey

I also had a very short-term foster dog - a Miniature Daschund/Beagle puppy came to stay for a few days, but then she was stolen.  Okay, she wasn't really stolen.  Another foster home offered to take her.  I knew the other foster home would be good for her because she would get more one-on-one attention.  And it would help me to have one less foster and not have to take off work to get her to the vet.  But oh how I miss that puppy!  Her name is now Paisley and she is doing very well in her new foster home.

New Pictures

I came home tonight and found all three kittens sleeping on different levels of the cat tree, so I just had to take a picture and wake them up! :-) That's Astro on top, Buttercup in the middle, and Blaze in the hammock on the bottom.

This next picture is from about a week ago. I apologize for the poor photography, but once I get the camera out, the dogs always seem to think that means they should come stand directly on my feet to make sure I don't get a decent picture of them. So I had to take this quick, before Bailey moved. This is her and Astro curled up together in the crate. Both Astro and Blaze like to take naps in the dogs crates on a regular basis, so I think Astro was probably there first and Bailey decided to go join him for a nap. They were so cute together!

It's those cute moments, which happen several times a day, that make me put up with the not so cute moments. In this next picture, this is what I found when I got home from work one day last week. There was nothing else to do about it, so I just had to laugh!

My husband had left the animals upstairs while he went down to work in the basement, and the animals kept themselves busy deconstructing a dog bed! At first I thought it was probably Reese's doing - but then I realized the truth...

It was BLAZE!*

My friend Julie says that Blaze gets a bad rap, and that he's actually a wonderful cat. But now that you've seen the proof for yourself, can you really believe that?!

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*Of course, I joke about this, but with my luck someone will visit my blog who was thinking about adopting Blaze, and decide not to because of my idea of humor! :-O

Remi, Bailey and Smitty

A lot has happened in the past week! But the story with Remi actually goes back several months. My stepdaughter was visiting for the summer, and she had these three magnetic bouncy balls, slightly smaller than a raquetball. They were fun to play with, and Remi thought so too. He grabbed one in his mouth and ran off with it. I ran after him into the living room, and asked him to "drop it". He likes to play a game where he refuses to drop something once he gets it. But this time, he immediately opened his mouth, and had nothing in it! I was right behind him, and didn't see the ball anywhere, but it was too big for him to swallow (wasn't it?) so I figured it must have rolled away. I checked under all the furniture, and everywhere it might have disappeared but couldn't find it! I was slightly worried, and told my husband what happened. He agreed with me that it was too big for Remi to swallow and I must just be overlooking it somewhere. I was still a little worried, but I kept an eye on him and he was fine. Well, it should be no surprise what they found in his stomach when they did the surgery - the missing ball! It took a few months to make him sick, but it appears that was the cause of his being ill. So they removed it, and he went home to recover. He's had a tough recovery - he had to go back to the vet on Friday because he had an infection and still wasn't moving or eating. But I'm happy to say that he's doing much better now. He is eating and walking around and appears on his way to a full recovery.

I only went to PetSmart for a short time on Saturday since Remi wasn't feeling well, but it was long enough for Bailey to find a home. I knew she would be adopted right away - we had several applications on her as soon as she was put on the website. She's just an adorable puppy! She went home with a family that has two other dogs and some very cute kids for her to play with.

I'd also like to introduce my newest foster, who's already been adopted. Weird, isn't it? I brought him home on Wednesday night, and he was adopted on Saturday afternoon. His name is Smitty, and he's an orange and white tabby cat. He's been on our website for awhile, and I just loved him from the moment I met him. He is one of those ultra-friendly cats that likes people, other cats, dogs, and pretty much everything. I thought he'd fit in perfectly at my house, so I asked his foster mom to let me take him home for awhile. It turned out to be a very short while, since we received a phone call on Saturday asking if someone could meet him. The lady who wanted him has several dogs and another cat, and also thought Smitty would be a perfect fit. She met him on Saturday afternoon, and just like me she fell in love and adopted him right then! So I only had Smitty a few days, but I want to add him to my blog so I never forget him. This is Smitty...

He did great at my house for the short time he was there. He got along great with the other kittens and with all the dogs. And I think my husband even liked him a little bit! Or at least he didn't dislike him as much as he dislikes the kittens. :-)

Speaking of kittens, I still have Blaze, Astro and Buttercup. Blaze is always the problem kitten - although I love him anyway! Now he's into his hair pulling stage. The more experienced cat foster moms advise me that he will outgrow this - I can't wait! But still he's ultra friendly and so laid back - I love that nothing ever phases him. Astro is my perfect kitten. He has the best expressions, and is just so cute! He likes to sleep in the dog crate on the fleece pad. He also has been known to curl up with Bailey on the dog bed. He's turned into a cuddly little guy, and I adore him. Buttercup is still very shy, but she's improved so much. She'll roam the house now and not worry too much about the dogs, but she is the first to run if a noise or something else startles her. She also loves to be petted but is still insecure about being picked up. I have to let her come to me on her terms in order for her to stick around and be petted. All in all, I have three pretty great foster kittens at the moment.

Everyone to the vet!

At least that's the way it feels today! I took Bailey in to the vet this morning to get spayed, microchipped, vaccinated, etc. I also ended up taking my dog Remi in, because he's sick. I won't gross you out with the details, but let's just say my husband spent a lot of time cleaning carpets yesterday, because Remi couldn't make it outside in time. Lucky me, I was at work and got to miss all that! The vet fit him in even though I didn't have an appointment for him, so I'm anxiously waiting to hear what they find out. In addition to the dogs, I am taking in my own cat and one of my foster cats this afternoon to get checked out. I also might take in Lacy since she needs to get her stitches out from her spay surgery last week. I might as well get everyone in and out at once!

I finally broke down and bought a Gentle Leader head collar for Remi. I heard about these a long time ago, but wasn't too sure about them. The books I originally read about dog training and dog care had mixed reviews, and I'm not usually one to try the newest fad (even if they have been around for a few years!). Since Remi is stronger than I am, I can't walk him on a regular collar and leash, so my husband and I opted to get a prong collar for him when we first got him. Those are more of a classic training collar, and it allowed me to walk him and hold him back if he saw another dog or rabbit or something he wanted to go after. He responded well to it, and it worked so I kept putting off trying one of the head collars even though I kept hearing good things about them. Well, I finally decided it was time to at least try a friendlier method of walking Remi. I got the Gentle Leader a few days ago - along with some other very fun training supplies - and tried it out the same night. It is AMAZING! I am so happy I bought it - it works great! I've only used it on a couple of short walks so far, but so far he has been perfect - he doesn't pull me around, he seems very comfortable with it on, and when he's seen something he wants to go after, I've been able to redirect him without having to yank on the leash or cause him pain. I am a huge fan of this collar. I will stick to the flat collar on most of the dogs, but on dogs that are too strong for me to walk easily, this will be my first choice of training collars from now on. It actually makes me look forward to taking Remi for walks again!

One of my other fun training supplies I bought is called a clicker+. Clickers, just like head halters, were one of those things I felt like hadn't been around long enough to be proven. People have been training dogs for decades without needing a little box that makes a clicking noise. Besides, I have enough to worry about with a leash and treats! But once I started learning more about clicker training, I changed my mind. There are several scientific studies (those always help convince me - something measurable and proven to work) that show how much better animals respond to a consistent noise made right at the time of wanted behavior. And while I was doing the same thing with a verbal cue (saying "Good" each time the dog did the desired behavior), a mechanical noise that sounds the same each time is clearer and easier for a dog to understand. So, I started shopping for clickers. And one of the problems with training more than one dog at a time is that the click can be confusing since each dog isn't sure when its "being clicked". So since I like gadgets, and since I am usually training more than one dog at a time, I just had to buy this clicker+, which is an electronic clicker that makes four different clicking noises! It's easier to use than a typical box clicker because I don't have to worry about holding the clicker backwards or upside down and not being able to click at the right time. And its fun because I can give each dog a different kind of click. It also has different volume levels which is nice since Elvis is scared of loud clicks (surprise), but loud clicks are better for outdoors or when there is a lot of noise in the house. So I'm having a great time playing with my new dog training supplies. I've heard you can even train cats with a clicker, but I've got to figure out dog training with a clicker first.

Update on my fosters

The good news is that Leonard was adopted! The bad news is that I took 7 dogs and 3 cats (not all mine!) to PetSmart on Saturday morning, and left at the end of the day with all of them. It was rather depressing that none of them found homes. I am hoping that next week goes better. Lacy will be ready for adoption next week as long as everything goes smoothly at the vet, and I hope she will be a quick easy adoption. Right now my other fosters are turning out to be longer-term fosters for various reasons. Elvis is so scared of everything that he needs a very special home to work with him. And Reese is great except that she resource guards, which means if she gets a chew bone, she doesn't want to share, so that limits the families that can adopt her (no small children). Even Bailey, my adorable little boxer puppy, should get adopted quickly once she's ready, but she still has to wait for two more weeks before she can get her next vaccination. So at the moment I have four fosters, and another dog that I'd already offered to take as soon as I have room. Is there anyone out there who wants to foster?! We'll find the perfect dog for you - you only have to foster one - the part where you become insane and foster 3 or more at a time comes much later. :-) If interested, visit http://www.hhsrescue.com/ or e-mail me at dogfostermom@aol.com

Here are some new pictures of Lacy that I took this weekend.

She is such a great dog - very friendly and loving. She is definitely a basset mix of some sort - notice the shorter ears? She also doesn't have that typical basset hound bark - I was slightly disappointed about that, but it might actually make it easier for her to get adopted. :-) I love the zig-zag pattern on her back. She is doing well with her house-training and gets along great with all the other dogs and cats.

Pictures!

My husband took these pictures one day last week while I was at work. The dogs seem to be comfortable...

Bailey sleeping.


Remi sleeping - good thing he gets the loveseat to himself - no one else would fit!


Reese sleeping?!

I'm starting to wonder if he drugs them when I'm not there! :-)

Here is a picture of my newest foster - Lacy!


And here is another picture of Bailey - she's just so cute, I can't help but love her! We think she's a boxer mix, and almost 11 weeks old now.


This is a picture of my new toy. I bought it for the cats, but I have more fun watching them play on it than they probably do actually playing! :-) It's the coolest cat tree, with hammocks and ladders and hidey-holes and dangling mice, and its almost 7 feet tall!. All the kittens seem to enjoy it too!


Here is a new picture of Astro, my flood kitten. I love his expression in this picture!


Here is Blaze, being "king of the world".


Here is my newest kitten - GiGi! She is actually from another foster home, but they haven't had as much luck as I have getting their kittens adopted recently, and since I was down to just two, I offered to keep this one at my house until she finds a home. Isn't she pretty? She's the same age as Astro, and she's sooo friendly. She's brave enough to come out around all the dogs and cats, and just wants to lay in my lap and purr.

Introducing Lacy

Okay, I don't have a new picture yet, but I just couldn't wait to tell you about my newest foster dog. I wrote about her last week, and picked her up yesterday. Lacy's story is all too common, and yet it still makes me sad. Her owners lived in a mobile home that they rented, and they left town and left Lacy behind. She lived outside until some neighbors called the landlord and reported the dog being left. Now in most cases, a landlord would call the city to pick up the animal. Since this took place in a small town in Lincoln County, the dog would most likely have ended up at a small outdoor pound for a short time and then been euthanized. However, Lacy was lucky. This landlord cares about animals, and instead of just calling the city to deal with the problem, she started making phone calls on Lacy's behalf. She had a neighbor of the people who abandoned Lacy provide Lacy with food and water until she could be given a home, and she put out the word with rescue groups that Lacy needed help. I posted about this, trying to find someone to help her. Another foster mom read the post and said she could make room for Lacy at her house, even though she has several other dogs right now. So Lacy was going to escape the fate of so many other abandoned dogs. The landlord didn't stop there - she picked up Lacy, took her to the groomers to get her cleaned up, and then made a donation to help with Lacy's medical care. Lacy couldn't have asked for a better human to help her out - a far cry from the humans who were supposed to be caring for her but left her to fend for herself instead! Now Lacy is a Heartland dog, and she's temporarily living at my house. She'll go to the vet and get spayed, microchipped, vaccinated and all that good stuff, and then be ready for adoption. She'll go to a new home where she will never have to worry about being left again! This is the happily-ever-after that so many dogs don't get. And I love being a part of making it happen - its the best thing about fostering!

One interesting thing about Lacy is the effect she's had on Elvis. It's always a little bit scary to bring home a new dog, because I never know how they will react to my other dogs, or how my other dogs will react to them. The "correct" way to do it, according to some dog training experts, is to take several weeks to introduce the dogs gradually. Let them be aware of each other but never close together to start off. This is fine when introducing a new dog to your own family, but it doesn't work so well for fosters. I might only have a dog for a couple of weeks, and if I keep them separated from my own "pack" the whole time, they might not get any attention at all! So I think, even though it is stressful on the dog to just join in the pack right away, it is more stressful to be left alone for so much time. Dogs are pack animals, and while they crave social contact, they especially crave contact with humans. We've bred this into them, and I think the worst thing you can do to a dog is to lock it away and ignore it. This is what many people do when they have "outside" dogs. I'm not against dogs being outdoors, but if you spend your life inside, your dog is most likely going to want to be inside too! Anyway, for most dogs, the one thing they want is to be with people. I think this is especially true of the dogs I've brought home because they've been locked away in shelters or cages or left outdoors alone in most cases. So I just introduce them to my pack right away, and so far its been fine. I'd like to claim it is because I'm a strong "pack leader" but actually its probably just because I've had all good well-socialized dogs so far! Besides, my dog Remi wouldn't hurt anyone, but he is very intimidating to other dogs because he's so big, so that usually puts a stop to most dogs thinking they want to start trouble. Anyway, back to Elvis. I introduced Lacy to Bailey first, because she's small and definitely not threatening. Of course, Bailey is a 10 week old puppy, so the one thing she IS, is annoying! :-) Immediately she started jumping all over Lacy and trying to lick her face, and Lacy didn't like that! She growled at her to warn her off. So, with that introduction not going quite as smoothly as I hoped, I put Bailey back in the house and brought out Remi and Elvis. It went surprisingly well - within about 5 minutes she was running around the yard with Elvis playing! The VERY surprising part, is that when they all went inside, Elvis still wanted to play -- he even picked up a toy!! I know this sounds silly, but he has never ever touched any of the dog toys since he came to my house. He'll go outside and play chase/tag with the other dogs in the back yard, but he doesn't touch the toys out there, and he doesn't want to play or touch the dog toys inside either. Until Lacy - now he's running around inside, barking, smiling, playing with a ball, and generally acting like a fool - I think he's in love! Lacy seems equally taken with him - its great to watch!

Oh, Reese hasn't met Lacy yet because she got adopted on Wednesday, but she's being returned tomorrow because it turns out the guy who adopted her lives in a condo and they changed their rules recently to not allow pit bulls. Sigh - it was such a good match, so I'm sorry for both Reese and the guy that it didn't work out. Anyway, she'll get to meet Lacy tomorrow night I guess. Tomorrow I'm leaving Elvis home from PetSmart because he doesn't like it there, and I'm going to take some dogs from one of the other foster homes. Their foster mom just had a baby so she is quite busy at the moment! Hopefully we can get a few of those dogs adopted and maybe even a few of my kittens!

Introducing Gidget and Bailey

Gidget has been a Heartland dog for awhile now - she came in from a breeder who had to give up some of their dogs, and she's now ready for adoption. It's a long story why I have her, but the short version is that she's adorable and ultra-loving and being at my house is good for her to practice living in a sort-of normal home. She can work on her house-training some more and I can hopefully help to identify what she needs in a home to make sure she finds a perfect home for her. Here are pictures of Gidget:








I don't imagine that I will have her for long - she'll probably be adopted by this weekend! But I am definitely enjoying whatever little time I have with her. She follows me everywhere, and wants to be held all the time. She smiles at me whenever she sees me too!





The other dog I brought home last night is the puppy I talked about before. The people who have been keeping her called her Angel, but since I already fostered an Angel this year, I am calling her Bailey instead. She'll most likely be renamed again by her new owners, but for now I'll teach her to answer to Bailey. She is a very smart little puppy - and as I said before, soooo cute!!



The people who had been keeping her were so sad to give her up - they are even thinking about moving to another place so they can keep her. I promised them she'd go to a great home though if they can't keep her. She's already settled in very quickly, and slept in our bed with us and Reese last night. She looks a bit like Reese - sort of a mini-Reese. I thought about calling her Reese's Pieces. ;-) They are having a great time playing together!




And finally, I couldn't take pictures of all my foster dogs this morning and not include Elvis!

Fundraiser at Applebee's, New puppy!

Don't forget, this Wednesday (August 27th) is our Applebee's fundraiser. Just print out this flyer: http://heartlandhumanemo.homestead.com/DiningToDonate.html and enjoy a meal at Applebee's anytime between 5pm and 9pm. Give the flyer to your server, and 15% of the bill will be donated to Heartland. It's a great way to donate just by enjoying a family dinner at a restaurant!

Also, one more piece of news I can't wait to share.... I am going to be fostering a new puppy! A very nice lady found a puppy stuck in a fence near her home, and so she rescued it and took it to the vet. I talked to her while I was at PetSmart yesterday and she said her landlord wouldn't allow them to keep the dog, so of course I volunteered to take it. If you meet this puppy, you'll understand why. For me it was love at first sight. I will post pictures and more details of the new puppy soon.