Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I have been busy with non-fostering related Christmas activities, so I do not have a lot to share. Some happy news though - all of the Australian Shepherd puppies have now been adopted! Also, one of my favorite Heartland dogs was adopted on Christmas Eve. George, an Aussie/Shepherd mix, has been in foster care for awhile. He was very shy around new people, so even though he was very cute and a great dog, he took a little longer than most to find a home. I was very happy he found a home with a great family who had adopted from Heartland before.

I have very little to report on my current fosters. Duncan, my chocolate lab puppy, didn't go to PetSmart last weekend because we had received an application from someone who had to work last Saturday and wasn't able to meet him until Sunday. I took him over to their house on Sunday night, and Duncan did great with their dog. However we talked again about the time commitment of house-training, and the couple, both of whom work long hours, wisely opted to wait and look for an older dog. So Duncan will be making his PetSmart debut tomorrow! Noelle and Tulsa will be there too. Tulsa is doing so well at my house - she was a bit of a challenge the first time I fostered her, but her last family did a great job with her and now that she's over a year old (instead of a six-month-old puppy), she is almost perfect! We don't have to crate her anymore, so she has the run of the house with Remi, and she never has accidents or destroys anything while we're not home. It is nice to be able to leave her out and not have to worry about her while we're gone.

It was a nice Christmas present to hear from a couple of past adopters. First, the couple who adopted Coal (now named Murphy) sent me some pictures of him and their other dog Lexi. I love seeing how well they're doing. Coal was scared of everything when he came into foster care. He wouldn't go outside - he wouldn't even get off the spot on the couch where he curled up when I first brought him home. Every noise and motion scared him, and he spent most of his time in a quivering ball, looking just like a lump of coal. I worked with him a bit, and then his new adoptive family worked with him a lot more, and today he is such a happy, wonderful dog. That's Coal on the right and Lexi on the left.


I also received a nice letter from the couple who adopted Elvis, one of my previous foster dogs. Elvis was a bit like George - very shy around new people, especially men. It also took him awhile to find a home, but I'm glad to report that the perfect people came along and he is doing wonderfully with them. Here is Elvis, waiting patiently for Santa. I hope he had some extra-yummy dog treats in his stocking!

Introducing Hershe, and more kittens!

First, I'd like to introduce you to my newest foster dog. Her name is Hershe, and she's a beautiful chocolate labrador retriever. She has been in foster care for a long time, and hasn't had very many people interested in her. She reminds me of Elvis because she's a bit timid in new situations. I am "borrowing" her from her previous foster home, so we can see how she would react to a new home, and if she has any problems that we need to work on. So far, she is doing great. She will take some time to settle in, so it'll be interesting to see what she's like in another week or so, but right now she seems very happy. She is the most camera shy dog I've ever met, so getting a good picture of her will be tricky, but here is the best I could do on short notice for you to see her. I might have to get out the telescopic lens for the camera so I can get her picture when she's not aware of it. Otherwise, well, I've taken many many pictures of the side of her head, or the top of her head (when she ducks down) since she runs as soon as she sees me holding the camera. :-)


And now, to introduce my new kittens - Frito, Cheeto and Nacho. We got a call from someone who's cat had kittens again (the third litter she's had) and wasn't able to give them all away through ads in the paper or at the flea market, so she wanted to know if we could take the last three kittens she had left. They're 8 weeks old, and all adorable male orange tabbies. I talked to the person who called, and was glad to hear she was getting her cat spayed after this! All our other foster homes are full, so I'm taking them. I'm going to put them on the foster website, so if you know of anyone who might be interested in fostering kittens, please direct them to http://www.hhsrescue.com/. These little guys are so cute - I forgot how completely insane kittens can be. They chase each other and are constantly moving - it's very hard to get pictures of them all together. It's also hard to tell them apart, but here's one way. Nacho, the kitten in front in the first picture below, is what is called a classic tabby. He has a kind of bulls eye swirl on his side. Frito, the kitten in the middle, is a mackeral tabby - he has the more common vertical stripes. He could maybe be called a spotted tabby since the stripes are broken up. And then Cheeto has some tabby stripes on his front legs, but no obvious tabby pattern on his body - at least not that I can tell. SO, that's how I tell them apart! Here are some pictures of them...

I'm also excited to report that Hunter, Murphy and Lexi are coming to visit! Hunter is one of my previous foster dogs, a Great Dane/Pointer/Lab mix, or something like that. :-) He's a great dog and I'm getting the chance to dogsit for his family while they're gone - I can't wait to see him again. He is a friendly easy-going dog and I have missed him! Also, later this month I get to see another one of my old fosters. Murphy, who used to be named Coal, was one of my first foster dogs that I fell in love with - he was shy and afraid of almost everything. These days he is a much more confident happy dog, and I am lucky to get to see him at PetSmart sometimes. His family knows how much I still miss him and everytime I run into them at PetSmart I beg to dogsit him again, so I was happy to find out they were going on a trip and letting Murphy stay with me. Murphy also has a new puppy sister named Lexi - she's adorable, and I can't wait to play with her! So I am really looking forward to having two of my old fosters back for a visit later this month, and a new puppy in addition!

Don't forget Trivia Night is coming up quickly - October 17th! This is Heartland's biggest fundraiser, and we could really use your support. You can click here: http://heartlandhumanemo.homestead.com/TriviaNight.html to find out all the details. If you can't attend, there are other ways you can help - click the link above for details. You don't have to be good at trivia - its just a fun way to spend the evening with friends, helping out the animals. And the silent auction and raffles are also a lot of fun! I hope to see you there!

Introducing Daisy, and other news

It's been a busy few days! Saturday was a bit slow for dog adoptions, and once again neither Vala or Sam were picked. There was one dog returned due to her owner having medical issues. Daisy is a German Shepherd/Husky mix who was adopted out last December (she was named Elkie then). She's only about 7 months old now, and is a beautiful dog. I haven't had a chance to take her picture yet, so hopefully I'll get that and post it in the next day or two. She was very shy and overwhelmed by the other dogs, so I offered to take her to my house and help her get used to her new surroundings. To keep from having too many fosters, I let Sam go back to the main foster home. It was hard to let her go, but I went and visited on Sunday and saw that she was very happy and settled in immediately. Sam loves to play and isn't shy at all, so she loves having other new dogs to play with now. Daisy has quickly become a model dog - anyone thinking about fostering should sign up for her - she's practically perfect! :-) She likes to play with Vala, although she's still not sure about Remi. She's quiet and obedient and house-trained and affectionate. I am really enjoying having her around.

In other news, its been a long week with Kiya and the puppies. One of the puppies has an ear infection, but other than that they're all doing great. They've started sitting up, and walking around a little bit. They're very wobbly and fall over sometimes, or they'll nudge each other and knock each other over. It's so cute to watch. Kiya has been a bit of a challenge, as she needs to eat a lot to feed her puppies, and therefore needs to be taken outside a lot more often than other dogs. Since this isn't always possible to take her out every few hours, she has become an escape artist at getting out of her kennel to go as far away as possible. I can't blame her, I would want the smell as far from me as possible too! But instead of using the puppy pads that I've strategically placed around the basement in case she does get out, she prefers to find more interesting places to do her business. My husband's working on finishing our basement, so there's a lot of tools and construction items lying around. The tools are a favorite spot of hers. Also in boxes of spooled wire, inside a bookshelf that he built into the wall, and even on top of the extra-large container of Nature's Miracle stain/odor remover that was sitting on the floor (guess she told me!). It's been a losing battle on my part to keep her in her exercise-pen where she's staying with the puppies. First, she squeezed between the door and the side of the kennel. I blocked that off, and she managed to get under the kennel by pushing it into a corner and squeezing underneath. I blocked it in so she couldn't move it around, and she somehow lifted the whole thing straight into the air and got out underneath. I tied it down with bungee cords, and she started climbing over the top. I tried a blanket over the top yesterday, which didn't work, and this morning I tried a fitted sheet which will hold better than the blanket. If that fails, my husband offered to find me a piece of plywood to try next. Hopefully that will work!! It'd be funny if she didn't make such a big mess everytime she got out. :-)

In happier news, Murphy is coming back! Murphy, who used to be called Coal, is my favorite previous foster dog. Every now and then I get to dog-sit for him while his owners are gone, and this weekend is one of those times. I am so glad that his owners kept in touch and let me be his honorary aunt. I generally don't have favorite fosters - or actually, I tend to think of each one as my favorite whenever I'm around them. But Coal somehow snuck in and stole favorite dog forever spot in my heart. So I'm really looking forward to seeing him again.

And finally, there's Ella. She's the mother of the kittens that I fostered, and she's finally almost ready to be put up for adoption. She goes in to the vet tomorrow to get her vaccinations and be spayed, and then on Saturday she'll be moving up to PetSmart to find a home. There are some cats that live at Petsmart 24/7, and volunteers come in during the week to care for them. Ella will become one of those cats, and hopefully someone will see her during the week and fall in love with her and adopt her. She's a great cat, and I hope she finds a home quickly, although I hear it will be challenging during "kitten season".

Tulsa, Selena and Ernie!

First, the good news - Tulsa was adopted! She went to a great new home with a family who already has two Australian Cattle Dogs, so they are very familiar with her breed. I am very happy that she found her new home!

I also had my first return on Saturday. Anyone who adopts from Heartland must agree that if they cannot keep their pet, they will return it to us. We definitely want to get the animal back, but at the same time, I've been dreading my first return. In most cases, there are circumstances that we could not have known or prevented - a death in the family, allergies, a pet that couldn't get along with the other pets in the home. But the ones we hate are when we get a call about an animal we adopted out that has obviously been abused or neglected. The animals we save place their lives in our hands - and while we all do our best to make sure that our foster animals are going to good homes, the times when we fail are so difficult. This is why I've been dreading my first return. Ironically, my first return was quite possibly the shortest adoption we've ever had. Selena was adopted on Saturday around 4pm, and returned Saturday evening, just a few hours later! In this case, its more humorous than sad - my first return turned out to be not so bad after all. Selena was adopted by some very nice people who were just overwhelmed by bringing a new dog into the home - especially one as strong as she is. They had trouble walking her - she was apparently too excited to walk politely next to them as she's been learning. And she was also a bit too excited about meeting the cats at the new home, so the cats were scared and the people were worried about the cats. They decided to return Selena and try to find a smaller dog that would fit into their home a bit better. So Selena had a "field trip" and is now back at my house, enjoying the new toy she got out of the deal. ;-)

While I was at PetSmart Saturday for the adoption event, I fell in love with another dog that was there. His name is Ernie, and he is adorable. It was his first Saturday at PetSmart trying to find a family, and I was very surprised that he wasn't adopted. Since I thought Selena had a new home, I couldn't resist bringing Ernie home with me. For me, he is the cutest, softest, most loveable dog I've had since Coal(Murphy). While I love all of my foster dogs, I try not to get too attached since I know they'll be leaving me. Some of them I just can't avoid getting attached - I think its usually the shy and scared ones! So Ernie came home with me, and I've had him less than 48 hours and already I don't want to let him go. He is six-month-old puppy, probably Australian Shepherd/Rottweiler mix, very very soft fur, and so sweet. He is enjoying playing with Selena, and is very well behaved.

Sage couldn't go to PetSmart this week since she had a medical issue. She has a small mass on her jaw that the vet is going to remove later this week. Since she has to go back to the vet, and since my house is getting a bit crowded with the return of Selena, Sage went back to stay at another foster mom's house for now. I hope she'll be fine and back up at PetSmart on Saturday to find her new home.

Here is a picture of Ernie:

Hunter was adopted!

Hunter has a new family! He was adopted on PetSmart on Saturday, and he'll be going to his new home tomorrow. He's also going to be cousins with Murphy (previously Coal)! It turns out that the family who adopted him is related to the family who adopted Murphy a few months ago. And since we're dog-sitting for Murphy this week at our house, Murphy and Hunter got to spend a few days together getting to know each other before Hunter goes to his new house. I'm very happy for Hunter, and I think he'll be a very spoiled dog.

Baby Expo, Foster Dog Update

Selena and I attended the baby expo on Saturday, and it went very well. I was hoping someone would want to adopt Selena, and several people did, but they all either had too many dogs already, or a husband or wife who wouldn't allow it. SO, Selena didn't find a home this week. However we met several nice people, made some new contacts for Heartland, and hopefully someone who picked up one of our cards will be looking for a dog or cat very soon.

Next week, Murphy is going to return to our house for a short visit. Murphy (previously named Coal) was one of my earlier foster dogs. I've stayed in touch with his new family, and they're going to let him stay with us while they go on vacation. I'm so excited - I fell in love with Murphy the first time I saw him, and I still miss him. I can't wait to see him again.

Hunter, Selena and Koda are all doing great. We haven't had any accidents from any of them in awhile, and they aren't being crated anymore except when we aren't home. They've chosen new sleeping arrangements at home. Remi sleeps on the love seat in the living room, Koda sleeps in between my husband and I in our bed, and Hunter sleeps on the other side of me in our bed. He likes to burrow under the covers until you can't even tell that he's there! We aren't sure where Selena sleeps - or IF she sleeps. :-) Actually she seems to prefer to start off on a dog bed in our room, and then move to a dog bed in the living room later in the night. Once my alarm goes off in the morning, she's right there next to me ready to jump on the bed and give me a lot of licks to get me up. The dogs are all settling in nicely and I'm going to be sad when one of them gets adopted. They'll all three be up at PetSmart this weekend to try to find a home, and I hope for their sake that they do find their own permanent family. In the meantime, I feel lucky to get to spend a small part of life with each one of them.

Here's a new picture of Koda - she went from 16 pounds when we got her, to 31 pounds and still growing!

Coal meets his new family

The people who want to adopt Coal met him last night, and even though the meeting didn’t go as well as I would have liked, they’re still interested in adopting him. Coal was playing with Remi as usual, until the doorbell rang. Then he ran under the kitchen table, and wouldn’t come out. Eventually I brought him out on his leash, but he just lay in my lap and wouldn’t move. Still, the people still want him and if everything is approved they will get him on Saturday! I have tried to sufficiently prepare them for Coal’s special needs – I hope they’re ready for him, and that he does really well with them.

Applications for Adoption

We’ve received applications on both Coal and Angel in the past two days! Angel’s application doesn’t surprise me – someone saw her at the vet’s office where she was staying before she came to Heartland, and fell in love with her there. She still has to be spayed this week, but as long as that goes okay, it sounds like she may be going home this weekend. Coal’s application was more surprising. The people met him at PetSmart on Saturday, and even though he was so scared they still were interested in him. I’ve invited them over to my house in hopes that they can see Coal when he’s more comfortable, so they can get to know him a bit better.

Introducing Angel

I took Coal to the adoption event at PetSmart today. He was terrified, and tried to make himself invisible in his crate the entire time. He was very relieved to get back home where he felt safe. I felt so bad putting him through that, but I want him to find a forever home, and I feel like he’s doing well enough at my house now to start looking for that home.

Heartland recently got a beautiful golden-retriever named Angel. She’s a great dog, with no issues – she’s housebroken, and gets along with all people and all other animals. She was a stray, but she must have been someone’s pet, yet no one came forward to claim her. We’re sure she will get adopted by someone right away, so I talked my husband into letting me keep her at our house for a week. I’m sure she’ll be adopted by next Saturday, but if not, I’ll just have to talk him into letting her stay another week! She came home with me tonight, and is a beautiful, perfectly well behaved dog.

Latest Update on Coal

I’ve continued working with Coal, and he’s showing real improvement. He was afraid of stairs, but now he’s going up and down them with no problem. He now loves to play with Remi, and loves squeaky toys! Of course, he’s still terrified of strangers, loud noises and the outdoors. I think that’s hurting his housebreaking, since he will never voluntarily go outdoors. I don’t think he’ll ever be a watchdog – if he sees or hears someone coming to the door, the only way you get any notice is if you see him quietly sneaking out of the room to find a quiet corner to hide in. He’s still the quietest dog I’ve ever met – I think I’ve only heard him bark twice since I met him. And he’s still really sweet and huggable. I always think of him as my real-life teddy bear.

Update on Coal

Coal is doing much better than when we first brought him home. I had to pick him up to get him to move out of the car, and then when we got inside, he jumped on the couch and wouldn’t move the rest of the evening. I have to pick him up to carry him outside, because he is so afraid of being outdoors. Also, he is not housetrained, so I’m doing a lot of carpet cleaning. He is a really sweet dog though. He never barks, and is very loving. He is getting braver every day, and has started running around the house and even playing with a dog toy! Its great to see him start to feel comfortable. Now if I could just get him to not be so afraid outdoors!

Introducing Coal

We went from a two-dog, two-cat household last week to only one cat and one dog this week. The house is much quieter. It’s time to liven things up and get another foster dog! I took Remi and my step-daughter Rachael out to meet the rest of the Heartland dogs that are waiting to be adopted. It was fun to get to meet several Heartland dogs that I had not met before, and interesting to see how they interacted with Remi. We were hoping to find Remi another playmate, since he had so much fun playing with Dolly. However, when I met Coal, I just couldn’t leave without him. Coal had no interest whatsoever in playing with Remi. I decided I would compromise by spending more time playing with Remi myself, and took Coal home with us. Coal is the most terrified dog I have ever met. He is very sweet and very cute, and reminds me of a big shaggy teddy bear. He is scared of anything he hasn’t met before, scared of loud noises, and very scared of the outdoors. The poor dog doesn’t appear to have been socialized at all. For those of you who aren’t familiar with that phrase, socializing an animal means taking it new places and around new people and other animals, so it can learn to get along with everyone. Commercial breeders often don’t socialize the dogs they breed – they leave them in small crates, with no interaction - sometimes for their entire lives. We think Coal is a golden-doodle, and its possible that he came from a breeder. But as with most rescue dogs, we don’t really know his exact breed or his exact age or what he’s encountered in his past that makes him so afraid.