They're Laughing At Me

I'm not being overly sensitive.  I have proof that they're laughing at me.  I try not to take it personally.  I tell myself that they're laughing with me, not at me.  But the problem is, I wasn't laughing.

You see, it all started when we were out in the backyard.  The dogs were doing their thing - sniffing around, playing, and basically just having a good time.  I was sitting on the deck and taking pictures.  I was thinking about how much I loved each and every one of them, and how much I would miss them when they were gone.  I thought about how happy they were and how hard it would be for them to leave and go somewhere new.  And I started explaining to them about how they were going to be adopted, and how they would have wonderful new lives.  And I said that I knew they would miss me... and then I saw their expressions.  The more I talked about them leaving, the happier they looked.  And by the end, when I said they would miss me, they started outright laughing at me!

Benny thought it was the funniest conversation ever.

Cooper did not seem worried about missing me.

I have such inconsiderate foster dogs.  Happy, but inconsiderate of their foster mom's feelings.  I hope they show a little more respect when they're adopted and their new families try to have a serious conversation with them.

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.

Living In Beagle World

It's a whole new world around here.  It started out with just a Puggle mix, or two.  Somehow they kept coming.  First Beagles mixed with Pugs, then a Beagle mixed with Pug and Min-Pin, then an adorable puppy that was a Beagle mixed with no-one-knows-what, and now a Beagle mixed with Corgi.  I'm currently fostering four Beagle mixes and a Ziggy, who has the same scent-obsession as a Beagle.  It's a strange experience having all of these dogs around who are all so much alike.  I enjoy fostering a variety of breeds, but it's kind of fun to have so many fosters that are at least part-Beagle right now.  Here are my current foster dogs:

Gonzo is a Puggle - a Beagle/Pug mix.  This guy will do absolutely anything for food.  He's not picky either - if it's even slightly edible, he'll eat it.  He's my old man - he's only four years old, but he's happy just eating and sleeping most of the time. He puts up with the other dogs, and even the cats sleeping on him and getting in his way, and he never does anything except a slight grumble from time to time. He is my easiest foster dog right now because he's house-trained and listens well, and never does anything wrong.  This means he'll probably not be around for very long.

Molly is a Beagle/Pug/Miniature Pinscher mix.  She is my most challenging beagle-mix.  I blame the Min-Pin in her.  Molly is easily frightened, and she's learned that the best defense is a good offense.  She will snarl, bark, growl, and become aggressive if she feels trapped.  But once she's learned to trust, it's a different story.  She's now so attached to me that she follows me everywhere.  She even sleeps in bed by burrowing under the covers so she can make sure she'll know if I move.  She is slowly learning to trust other people, and may someday find her very own home!

Cookie is a Beagle mix pup who was misbehaving in her previous foster home.  As is sometimes typical of puppies who had to fight for every piece of food that they could get, Cookie came into foster care with some resource guarding issues, where she would guard her food and her crate and anything else that she feared might be taken away from her.  So since I've had some practice with this issue (thanks to Ziggy), and since I had no other puppies for her to bully, I took her in to work with her.  She's doing very well now and will hopefully find her forever family soon.

This is Benny, my newest foster dog.  Benny is supposed to be a Beagle/Corgi mix.  He's definitely part Beagle!  Benny came in as a stray from a very rural area.  He is a little bit shy of new people, but has quickly settled in here and enjoys playing with the other dogs and Charlie the kitten.  We're now working on house-training and I'm hoping to teach him that chewing on the kitten's tail is not a good way of playing.  Charlie the kitten isn't the type to complain when a dog wants to chew on him.

Okay so he's not a Beagle.  But Ziggy has a nose that could rival any Beagle, when it comes to sniffing out food.  I took this picture of Ziggy at his agility class tonight.  If he looks happy, it's because to him agility is all about doing things to get food.  Jump over some jumps and get food.  Go through some tunnels or over some obstacles and get food.  It's all so much fun!

Flashback Friday

THEN:

In February 2008, I fostered Benny - a senior hound mix.  He loved being petted and just relaxing on the couch.  I expected to foster him for awhile since he was an older, large dog.  But someone came into PetSmart the very first week I took him there, and they fell in love with him and adopted him. 

NOW

It's been two years since I've seen or heard from Benny, so I recently checked in with Benny's family to see how he is doing.  His mom says he is doing well, and is still a very big baby who likes to spend most of his day sprawled out on the sofa and most of the evening going in and out.  He sounds a lot like Remi.  I wonder if Benny likes to bark at school buses. 

Benny's mom says he "definitely has his forever home." Thank you, JoAnn, for giving him so much love and a great home!

One dog gone...

Since both Benny and Tulsa are expected to be harder to place dogs (Benny because of his age, and Tulsa because of her deafness), I didn’t expect to go to PetSmart with two dogs and come home with only one this week! But that’s what happened! Shortly after I got there, some people came in and looked at all our dogs, and then they decided that they liked Benny! They decided to adopt him, and he was the first dog to go home today! I will miss having him around, and my husband will too, but I did decide that having three dogs is a bit much until we get our fence put in. Once that’s done – hopefully in another two weeks – I’ll be pushing my husband to let me take 2 foster dogs again! I already know the ones I want to bring home next – unless of course we’re lucky and they get adopted first!

Introducing Benny

Today, Benny came to stay with us too. I couldn’t believe my husband said okay when I asked him, but I wasn’t about to argue. I think he’d been looking forward to getting Benny, so that’s why he said yes. Whatever the reason, I now have Benny and Tulsa! Tulsa is turning out to be at least partially house-trained, so that’s a nice discovery. Also, both Remi and Benny are a bit scared of Tulsa – she likes to nip at them, and they’re not crazy about that. It’s funny to watch Tulsa and Remi play – Tulsa definitely “wins” their play battles. But Remi always keeps coming back for more! Benny is content to just watch and have his ears scratched every so often.

Introducing Tulsa

It was not much of a surprise, since she was such a good dog, but Mandy was adopted at PetSmart today. I’m happy that she found a new home so quickly, and I hope she continues to do as well at her new home as she did with us. Last week before we decided to foster Mandy, we were thinking about fostering Benny. Benny is a bloodhound mix, and he’s a little older than many of the dogs we rescue (6 or 7 years old I think), which means he’ll be a little harder to place. Benny is a large dog (70 lbs) so knowing how much my husband likes large dogs, I had planned to take Benny home last week. However, since Mandy needed a home environment more, I took her instead. Now that Mandy has found her forever home, I had planned to get Benny today. At least, I planned on that until I got to PetSmart and was told about Tulsa. I had met Tulsa at PetSmart last week, and thought she was a cute little dog. However, I didn’t consider fostering her for several reasons. First, she is a puppy (6 months old), second, she’s not house-trained, and third, she’s only 25 pounds. I am always afraid the Remi is going to play with a smaller dog and squish it. Especially with his propensity to begin playing with another dog by taking his huge paw and putting it on the other dog’s back, then shoving that dog down onto the ground. Since Remi outweighed Tulsa by 100+ pounds, I didn’t even consider bringing her home. But then they told me that they just found out that Tulsa is deaf. They knew I’ve wanted to foster a deaf dog since I first volunteered with Heartland. When I first started reading about dogs before we adopted Remi, I found out the huge numbers of dogs that are put to death each year simply for being deaf. I started doing more investigating, and what I found convinced me that deaf dogs are just as good as hearing dogs, and in some ways, they’re better! I joined some yahoo groups for deaf dogs, and began learning to how communicate with them and what special needs they had. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to foster a deaf dog. So, when they told me about Tulsa, I had to take her home. I am very excited at the opportunity to work with her, and so far, Remi and she are getting along just fine.