My Week

It has been a crazy week, and I haven’t had time to take any pictures or write any blog posts. Here’s what I’ve been doing instead:


Adoptions
On Saturday, I started out with eight foster dogs. By the end of the day, I was down to four foster dogs. Hope the Black Lab mix puppy was adopted. Also Dolly the deaf Shih Tzu mix puppy was adopted. Connor the Chiweenie went to his new foster home. And best of all, Thor the German Shepherd Dog went to his foster-to-adopt home. He has the best new family. They rescue and foster senior German Shepherds, and are planning to adopt Thor once he is done with his surgery!

New Fosters
Twinkie and Trixie were two of the dogs were rescued from the hoarding situation. They’ve been at another foster home until last weekend. That’s when Trixie went into heat. Since we’re not able to get the dogs spayed or neutered until the court case is resolved, we had to get Trixie away from the other male dogs that were also rescued from the property. That meant that she had to come to my house. And since we didn’t want her to be alone, I took Twinkie too.  

Trixie



Twinkie

 Coordinating Transports
I generally rescue dogs from my immediate area, but since I really enjoy working with deaf dogs, I will sometimes take in dogs from out of the area. Right now there is a deaf six-month-old Chihuahua/Dachshund mix named Axle in Ohio that needs help, and a deaf pit bull mix named Revelie in Kansas City that needs help. I’ve been trying to coordinate getting Axle here, which has been a huge headache. However another rescue group – WonderWeims Rescue – is going to be driving to Ohio to pick up another dog next weekend and they’ve very kindly offered to bring back Axle for me too. So hopefully that will all work out and Axle will arrive safely next weekend. Revelie is scheduled to arrive tomorrow sometime, although exact details are still pending.

Writing a Guest Post
I am a big fan of the Deaf Dogs Rock website, and was recently asked to write a guest post about fostering for them. I wrote this post. I left out the warnings about how foster pets may decide to eat the house. I didn’t think that would help convince anyone to foster.

Hopefully the upcoming week will be a bit calmer and I will have a chance to take pictures and tell you all about the new fosters.  As always, thanks for reading!

Introducing Grace, Hope, Sophie, Dolly and Conner

I've taken in just a few (ahem) new foster dogs recently, and decided I'd better introduce them to you before they all get adopted. 
 

Grace



First meet Hope and Grace.  Five puppies were found running loose in a county with no animal control.  All Paws Rescue took them in, and eventually the two girls ended up at my house.  Grace has already been adopted, and the other three puppies she came in with have also found homes.  This just leaves Hope, who is still Hoping to find her very own home soon! 

Hope



These puppies are extremely well behaved, considering that they are puppies.  I don't think Hope has had even one accident in the house since the day I brought her home.  And she's very smart!  Whomever adopts her is going to be very pleased - unless they're looking for a challenge in which case they will no doubt be disappointed. 


 

Sophie



Next came Sophie.  Sophie is a seven year old St. Bernard.  She was at an animal control facility for several months without being adopted, so when I had room, she came home with me.  Sophie has perfect house manners.  She never has accidents, never chews anything up, and is calm and laid back.  This is one of the advantages to adopting an older dog!  She gets along well with the other dogs and the cats, and lately she and Lucky have become good buddies.  In spite of being seven years old, she still loves to run and play!

Dolly

Then there are my two newest foster dogs that I just picked up last night.  Several weeks ago another animal rescuer named Tracee had asked if I could help with some very shy dogs.  I told her I currently had several dogs and was still working with Bogey so I wouldn't be able to take on another shy dog for awhile.  Since I had not met Tracee before, I made sure to tell her how much I loved working with deaf dogs, so if she came across any needing help she would be able to give people my contact information.  I didn't know it at the time, but Tracee had a deaf foster dog right then.  When she told me about the dog, named Dolly, and asked if I would be interested in working with her, I jumped at the chance.  Although pit bulls are my favorite breed, I absolutely love the look of scruffy dogs, and Dolly was one of the cutest I've ever seen.  So yes, you can call me shallow, but I totally wanted to foster this dog because she was the cutest deaf dog ever.  Tracee warned me she was a spitfire, but said she had no real problems like fear or aggression.  I told her that after working with Ziggy, I felt confident working with just about any dog. 



Dolly does a play bow

I suppose you can guess what happened as a result.  I meet Tracee to get Dolly, and as Tracee's husband hands her over, Dolly goes wild and starts struggling and biting at me to get away.  Oh yes, she was a spitfire.  I quickly placed her back onto her foster dad's lap and told him "why don't you just go ahead and put her in the travel crate".  I wasn't feeling so confident right then! 

Fortunately once Dolly got home, she quickly settled down and has decided to let me pet her and pick her up without feeling the need to bite me again.  Her fur is so soft, and she's extremely loving and playful.  She does great with all the other dogs, except Lucky who she's not allowed to be around because he seems to think she might be a chew toy.  Right now she's playing with my other newest foster dog. 



Conner the Chiweenie



Conner is my unexpected, and very temporary foster.  When I talked to Tracee to arrange to get Dolly, she told me about a Chiweenie (Chihuahua/Dashchund mix) puppy who needed rescue.  The puppy was only eight weeks old, and had been given away on the side of a road.  The person who took the puppy was over the pet limit allowed by their area so had to give it away again.  So I told her if she could pick up the dog on her way to meet me, I would take that one too.  Chiweenie puppies are pretty easy to find homes for - small breed dogs are always popular, especially when they're puppies.  So as Tracee approached me with the puppy, I expected to see an eight-week-old Chiweenie.  Instead, Tracee and I both thought that Conner seemed to resemble another, less popular breed of dog.  Those are NOT so easy to place.  We laughed about it, and then I named him Conner (because calling him a Chiweenie seems to be a total con).  But no matter what breed or mix of breeds he is, Conner is absolutely adorable.  He's only staying a couple of days and then he'll be going on to another foster home.  He should be ready for adoption in another couple of weeks!

Dolly is gone

Dolly went to her new home yesterday. I am very happy for her, but very sad for me. It’s hard to let her go, especially after fostering her for such a long time. I hope to get another foster dog soon, since it reminds me of why I’m doing this. Every dog I can foster makes room to save another dog from being put to sleep. If I kept Dolly, I wouldn’t be able to foster another dog, since my husband imposed a two-dog limit on our house. And I love being able to save them, so that makes it easier to let her go to her new home.

Choosing the Right Home

Today we received another application for Dolly, and this one sounds very promising. The lady had seen her on our website, and has been looking for a border collie mix to give her 5-month-old border collie puppy a playmate. I will hate to see Dolly leave, but I’m excited that she may find her forever home. It’s scary to be the one responsible for deciding if this home is right for the dog you’ve been fostering. What if I approve someone to adopt one of my foster dogs, and then they don’t take care of him or her? Or they abuse the dog, or give it away to someone else who won’t take care of it? What if they leave it chained up outside? I invest so much time and energy and love, and I want to make sure that whomever adopts my foster dog is going to love her as much as I do.

Update on Dolly

When I decided to foster for Heartland, I was asked to be willing to bring the foster dog up to PetSmart for their adoption days at least once a month. The more time the dogs spend at PetSmart, the better their chances of getting adopted. While the dogs bio and picture are posted on the website, that can’t compare with the actual impact meeting the dog can have on a potential adopter. So although its been a busy time of year, I’ve been trying to get up to PetSmart at least every other week to help Dolly find a home. There have been several applications submitted for her, but so far none of them has been the right home. Every time I go to PetSmart, employees and regular customers come over and say “She’s still here?! I can’t believe she hasn’t been adopted yet!” It’s an interesting puzzle, trying to figure out why some dogs get adopted immediately and others never do. In Dolly’s case, she has a lot going for her. She’s a very cute dog with a great temperament. She’s not completely house-broken, and she does have the ability to jump tall fences in a single bound, so that may hamper her in finding a home. But she gets along great with all people, with all other animals, and has no serious issues. So what is she still doing in a foster home? My theory is that because she takes awhile to warm up to people, she loses that instant bond that so many people feel with homeless animals. If you meet two dogs that need a home, and one looks at you longingly and licks your face, while the other doesn’t even seem to notice you’re there, who would you want to adopt? But what I tell people is what she’s like after she gets to know you. She follows me from room to room, always wanting to be with me. She is eager to please me and wants nothing more than to be by my side and shower me with affection. This didn’t happen until after I’d taken her home and spent some time with her. But for people considering adopting her, they don’t have that luxury so I think this hurts her chances of finding a home.

Dolly's first week

Dolly is doing great at our house. We took her and Remi to the Florissant Fall Festival yesterday. Of course Remi got a lot of attention, as most 125+ pound dogs do! But Dolly also got attention, and with her “adopt me” vest on, there were several people who were interested in her. I hope one of them works out, but I really love her already so I’m happy if she stays with us for a bit longer too.

First Adoption Event

Today I attended my first adoption event at PetSmart. The Heartland volunteers go up to PetSmart every Saturday with dogs that need to find homes. Their dedication is amazing. I attended my first full adoption event, and tried to learn how everything worked. There were many more people at the store than I expected. A lot of people had questions about the dogs, and a few of the dogs even got adopted!

We brought home Dolly today. Actually I almost brought home a basset hound named Jesse instead. Jesse would not have made a good playmate for Remi, but she was having a hard time at the main dog foster mom’s house, and we thought she’d be much happier in a quieter home. I spent several hours planning on taking Jesse home, and enjoying petting her very long soft ears. However, then some people came in who decided to adopt Jesse, so once again I was back to fostering Dolly. Not that I minded! Dolly seems to be a very sweet, very good dog. She met Remi up at PetSmart and they got to play together to make sure they’d get along okay. They did GREAT together. I hope they get along this well at home.

My First Foster

The people from Heartland have been amazing. They made me feel welcome and have patiently been answering my many questions about fostering. I’m very excited to bring home my first foster dog on Saturday. Her name is Dolly, and she is a border-collie/terrier mix. Here is a picture of her:

I am also going to be volunteering for my first dog transport Saturday. Dog transport is another type of volunteer work that I came across while reading about dogs on the Internet. There are many dogs and cats out there that are in kill shelters, and if they can’t find a home or rescue group to take them, they will be put to sleep. Sometimes there are rescue groups or foster homes that have room for them, but they are several cities, or even several states away. So volunteers work together to transport the dogs and cats from their current shelter to the rescue organization. One person organizes the whole thing, and divides the trip into small sections, usually just 60 miles or so. Then they post that transport list, and anyone who is available to help transport signs up for a section. This Saturday I’ll be traveling to Columbia, MO to pick up a Shih Tzu and deliver it back to O’Fallon MO. From there it will be continuing, via several different volunteers, all the way to Tennessee!