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!

Lacy and Frito were adopted!

Lacy was adopted at PetSmart today! She went to a home with a very nice couple who decided they were ready for a dog. They were "cat people" before this, so hopefully Lacy will do well with their cats, and maybe she can even convert them to becoming dog people. Hey, it happened to me once I got my first dog! :-)

Frito, one of my orange kittens was also adopted. I actually visited him in his new home this evening, and he has settled in already. He was sitting with his new family watching football - apparently he's a football fan and I never knew it - but he did fall asleep on the husband's lap while watching the game. He looked so happy in his new home with people to give him lots and lots of love.

Pepsi and Ginger made their first trip up to PetSmart this week, and they did very well. Well, Sue and Lori, two of the volunteers, may not agree - they had to clean up a few messes from the puppies! Both puppies are very young and not crate trained yet, so they haven't learned to hold it while they're in crates yet. But other than that, they did very well with all the noise and new people. Pepsi found a new best friend in Donna, another one of our dog volunteers. Ginger was a little more shy with meeting people, but she did very well overall. Jester, my newest cat, also made his first appearance at PetSmart. There was an empty cage there because Buttercup, a kitten I had at my house for awhile, was adopted today! So I left Jester there so hopefully someone will see him tomorrow or sometime soon and want to adopt him.

Last night was our Trivia Night fundraiser, and it was a lot of fun. I was happy to see a few people I knew - the people who adopted Elvis were there, and Diana - the lady who rescued Lacy, and Joanne - one of my co-workers, and several others as well. Thanks to all of you who made it out to support Heartland! And a very special thank you to Angie, the Heartland President, who puts so much effort into the event every year, and does a fabulous job. It seemed like everyone had fun, and we raised a lot of money to help us keep up with our vet bills!

Today was a crazy day for me. I should have known it was going to be a rough day when I woke up at 5:00am due to my husband's alarm clock going off. He's out of town for Army this weekend, and apparently forgot to shut off the alarm before he left. Okay, no big deal, I just hit the Off button and tried to go back to sleep. But 5 minutes later, it went off again. Hmm... apparently I hit the Snooze button, not the Off button. I can't figure out where the off button is in the dark, and if I get out of bed, the dogs will get up thinking its time to go out, and I'll have a hard time going back to sleep. Okay, I can solve this - I unplug the clock. Five minutes later, guess what - yep, the alarm goes off AGAIN. Apparently the thing has a battery backup. By this time I was NOT happy. I had to get up, turn on the light, and figure out how to end the annoying beeping sound. Remi, Lacy, Linguini and Murphy are all looking around trying to figure out what I'm doing - and of course Noelle is deaf so she slept through the whole thing! But then the dogs all get up, which wakes her up, and I end up having to go outside with them all, since Murphy doesn't like to go outside by himself, and Remi barks if left outside alone. Fifteen minutes later I go back to bed - again have to fight Remi for the covers, wait for the rest of the dogs and cat to settle in around me, and finally fall back asleep. Seems like only minutes later instead of a couple hours that my alarm goes off. So the day begins. It was then a rush to get everything done as usual - get the dogs outside, inside, fed, and outside again, then back in and crated. Quick trip to the vet to drop off stool samples and make sure the orange kittens can go to adoptions. Rush back home and pack up the crates and ex-pens, and get the dogs not going to PetSmart situated with bones or toys to keep them entertained while I'm gone. Track down the cats and pack them up. Load the cats, dogs, crates and supplies into the van, and head to PetSmart. Get there, and rush the cats inside since someone was waiting to meet my orange kittens. Set up crates, unload kittens, talk to a potential adopter, rush back to the car to unload and set up more crates outside, unload dogs, unload supplies, rush back inside to do adoption for Frito (hooray!), back outside to talk to someone about Lacy, back inside to drop off paperwork, back outside to talk to some other potential adopters, and so it goes. It finally slowed down after a bit, and by the time the day ended at 4pm, it was very quiet. We loaded back up the dogs into the cars, tore down all the crates, and headed home. Fortunately I live close - some people have to drive all the way out to Troy to take home their fosters - that makes for a very long day! After I got home and once again got the car unloaded and the dogs situated (outside, then inside, fed, then back out, then inside) I headed over to Frito's new home to drop off some medicine he needs to finish that I forgot to take to PetSmart with me. Then back home, to again let the dogs out, return some phone calls from people asking about my fosters, and then finally I could rest! Don't get me wrong, I love doing this, but days like today where I had a pet adopted (two actually!) make it so much better. Its the days that I do all this and don't get anyone adopted that are hard. I'm pretty lucky that I can foster so many animals, so I have more luck getting adoptions. Some of our foster volunteers have fewer fosters, so they might do this week after week, for cats or dogs, and not have an adoption in several months. :-( I know that has to be so disappointing. Sometimes people say "thanks for caring for these animals" or something along those lines, and it really feels good to have people recognize that. I don't know if other volunteers feel the same way, but for me if I don't have adoptions in awhile, its just nice to hear that my efforts to help these animals are appreciated. So next time you see a Heartland volunteer, please make sure to thank them for the work they put into saving animals. None of us get paid anything, and we all put in our own time, money and effort just to help animals get good homes, sometimes while listening to people complain or just exhibit a total lack of compassion for animals. So knowing there are people out there who actually appreciate what we do week after week really helps. And for those of you who haven't had an adoption in months, you know your fosters are lucky to have you, and the right home will come along! :-)

Elvis and Reese were adopted!

It was a strange weekend, but a very good one! Both Elvis and Reese, my two hardest to place fosters, found homes on Saturday. Elvis went home to a great young couple who decided they were ready for their first pet. He should be perfect for them, since he's already such a well mannered dog. Since he is so timid, it will take him awhile to settle in, but he seemed very comfortable around the couple at PetSmart so I am hoping it will not be a difficult transition for him (or for them!) Reese also found a home, and was chosen by a young girl who saw her and fell in love. It sounds like Reese will be a happy dog in her new home. The family agreed to let me go visit her in a couple weeks just to make sure everything is working out for everyone but I am hoping that everything will work out perfectly.

None of my kittens were adopted, and Lacy was not adopted either. I took Lacy to the Juvenile Diabetes walk in Forest Park on Sunday, and she had a great time. I was afraid I was going to have to carry her on the last part of the 3 mile walk though - she got very tired! She wore her adopt-me vest, and a couple people asked about her, so it was good advertising for Heartland, in addition to being good for Lacy to go out and meet new dogs and new people. She did very well with everyone, and enjoyed the post-walk hot dog that they provided.

I'm also happy to report that Lana, another one of Kiya's puppies, found a home. Her five puppies lived at my house for a few weeks when they were very young, so I am always extra-concerned about them. We're down to just two - Cody and Scout - that still need homes! It was very surprising that Lana was chosen because we also had the nine lab/border collie puppies there, and they are so cute. I thought if anyone was looking for a puppy they'd want one of those, but surprisingly, none of them were adopted. It was kind of sad to load up all 9 puppies again and take them back to their kennel. I hope next week we have better luck getting them homes.

Poor Elvis...

Elvis, my wonderful scaredy-dog, is having a rough time at my house. He is such a wonderful foster, but I feel bad for him because he is scared of almost everything. With all of the dogs and cats at my house, plus my husband, he just doesn't seem very happy. Keep in mind, this is the dog who is scared of cute little fluffy kittens - so it doesn't take much to worry him. He spends most of his time running away from the cats, the other dogs, and mostly my husband. I have tried to ask Dave (my husband) to work with him, but he's a stereotypical male who thinks showing fear is a sign of weakness (he proudly admits this) and therefore he doesn't like Elvis. It doesn't help that Elvis howls and barks non-stop whenever Dave comes into the house. I keep telling Dave that he's supposed to be helping Elvis to be more adoptable - not making him worse!! And sometimes he tries, but that actually makes things worse instead of better. His idea of helping is to walk directly toward Elvis saying "it's okay" - following him into a corner when he runs away and then leaning over him and petting him. The reason this is so bad is because dogs see someone approaching them directly as aggressive. They also see someone following them when they try to get away as aggressive. They also see someone leaning over them and touching them when they don't want to be touched as aggressive. In other words, even though Dave THINKS he's helping, he's actually scaring Elvis even more. I've tried to explain this to him, but haven't quite gotten through to him yet.

It's amazing how much I've learned recently about dogs and body language. They respond more to how you move than they do your voice. There was a customer's dog at PetSmart that got out of his collar on Saturday and ran out into the parking lot. Six months ago if I saw that, I would have started walking toward the dog, doing exactly what Dave did, and saying "it's okay, come here puppy", and chances are, the dog would have bolted. Instead, I bent down into a crouch, turned my body away from the dog, looked back toward him but not directly at him, and called him in a high-pitched happy voice "come here puppy!" and he came right to me! I've asked Dave to do that, in conjunction with some really good treats, and I think Elvis would get over his fear of him pretty quickly. But so far I haven't convinced him. Sigh. Elvis really needs a quieter foster home. He still likes to play with Lacy, but he's back to only playing out in the backyard and hiding in the house all the time. The only time he gets excited is if I pick up a leash. I take my time before I put it on him because I love to see him all excited and bouncing around looking forward to a walk or a car ride. I want him to be like that all the time. He sleeps on the floor right next to the bed, and if the other dogs aren't around he will climb up on the bed with me. But as soon as another dog comes in the room, or a cat, or a person, he's back down in the corner next to the bed. He won't eat unless there's no one else around - he runs away from his food if another dog comes over to it, or a cat. I feed him in another room often because otherwise the other dogs get his food before he ever eats it. Even when I bring out the really good treats for training, he'll hang around in hopes of me going to him, but he won't come to me with all the other dogs around. (He has learned to sit for a treat as long as no one else gets too close to him.) I hope he finds another home soon, either a foster home or a permanent home, that will be good for him. He's such a good, well-mannered dog and he will make someone a great pet, if I can just find the right person. In the meantime, I'll keep trying new things to help him be less worried all the time, and I'll keep working on my husband too!

Slow day today...

I'm so weird - every week, around Wednesday or Thursday, I start looking forward to going to PetSmart on Saturday. By Friday night, I'm so excited that the next day is a PetSmart adoption event! And then by the end of the day on Saturday, I'm just tired and usually want nothing to do with dogs or cats! I start thinking "I really need to take a week off" - but then by Wednesday or Thursday, I can't wait for Saturday again! Weird, I know.

This week, we had two dog adoptions - one was Teddy, an adorable Pomeranian. He had an old injury that caused him to not use one of his back legs anymore, but he gets around just fine on three legs. He went to a home that sounds like it will be perfect for him. Our other dog that was adopted was Heidi, a dachshund mix puppy. Overall, it wasn't a great day for dog adoptions. Only two adoptions, and none of my fosters went home. It was Lacy's first week at PetSmart, and she did great, just as I had expected. She is happy to greet everyone, and very friendly and easy-going. Noah (oops, I mean Elvis - thanks Lisa!) was scared as usual, and hung out at the back of his crate wishing everyone would go away. Reese was her normal quiet self. She usually just naps the entire day. She seems to be saying to me "you can take me here, but you're wasting your time because I'm going home with you again at the end of the day, so I might as well ignore everyone and nap until its time to leave". Granted, she probably doesn't think in those terms - but that's definitely the impression she gives to people while she's there!

In happier news, one of my cats was adopted - sort of. I mentioned before that I was cat-sitting for another foster home - a kitten named GiGi. Well, she got adopted! This is a Very Good Thing, because last Saturday I also brought home her identical twin sister Buttercup. However, my husband didn't know this, and since Buttercup was shy, she spent most of her time hiding under the bed in the kitten's room, so there was really no need to tell him. The thing is, in the past few days she's become much more comfortable in the house, and has started not only coming out from under the bed, but actually coming into the rest of the house where I usually am, and the dogs are, and my husband usually is. So far I had been lucky because she looks just like GiGi, and they were never in the same place at the same time. But it was just a matter of days until my luck ran out and he realized there were actually four kittens here instead of three. He's already been complaining quite a bit about having three kittens, so I am VERY happy that GiGi got a home and he'll never need to know that Buttercup isn't actually GiGi. :-)

You may have heard me talk about Kermit in the past - he's one of the foster dogs from Heartland that I am crazy about. Believe it or not, I actually do have a few favorites other than my own foster dogs! He's been in foster care for a long time, and I really want him to get a home. So I helped him write his own web page, and I'm going to post some flyers in the area to try to reach a few more people and tell them about this great dog. I think I am drawn to him so much because I can sort of relate to him - I'm pretty clumsy myself. :-) He deserves his own home with his own family, and I just can't believe that there isn't someone out there who would be perfect for him. So please check out his web page, and pass the link on to anyone you know who may be able to give Kermit the great home that he deserves! http://www.hhsrescue.com/kermits-page.html

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.

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!

New Pictures

I took a few pictures at PetSmart last Sunday and thought I'd share them here....

This is Elvis - usually Sundays are just for cat adoptions, but he came up to be our "donation dog" since none of the cats can wear the donation vest. :-) I'm reading a very interesting book that talks about how to recognize your dog's emotions. It is called "For the Love of a Dog" by Patricia McConnell. It's amazing how much more I can understand about Elvis just from reading this book. For example, one of the signs of anxiety in dogs is if they keep their mouth closed and do "tongue licks" a lot. Elvis does this all the time - and now that I realize it, I have noticed he mostly does it when something is changing in his environment (my husband comes home from work, for example). I'm anxious to learn to "read" him better in order to help him be happier. I know some things to do for dogs who are anxious, but it doesn't do me any good if I don't know at the time that they ARE anxious! So this book is awesome. I'm definitely not a natural at reading body language and will need to work at it, and I'm glad to have a book to help me!

Here's a picture of Monkee. She is staying up at PetSmart while I'm on vacation, and I hope she finds a home while I'm gone. I'm wondering if she's going to turn out like Spock, my old cat. Spock would let my neice, or anyone else, pick him up and carry him around upside down or however they wanted, and he'd purr the entire time. Monkee has been picked up in an "uncomfortable way" by children a few times at PetSmart, and she just purrs and seems to enjoy it just like Spock!

This is Blaze - he used to be such a tiny kitten! Now he's getting to be bigger than my own cat George (and he looks a lot like him too). I keep saying one of these days I'm going to accidentally take George to PetSmart for adoption instead of Blaze. Blaze is awesome - he's stopped climbing up on people like they are trees, and is usually happy to just lay around now. Maybe he's starting to outgrow his kitten playful period? He has the most personality of all my cats - he just is this giant laid-back kitten, and nothing phases him. He doesn't seem to mind dogs, other cats, vaccum cleaners, or anything! He purrs whenever I pick him up and pet him, and likes to be held and cuddled for awhile, but then is happy just sitting back and watching the rest of the action. And not from the sidelines either - he'll lay down right in the middle of the living room floor and watch the action go on all around him! He's great. :-)

This is Tommy, another foster cat (not mine) waiting to be adopted. He's very soft and such a pretty cat. I like orange cats a lot - maybe because they remind me of Garfield (my favorite cartoon cat of all time). :-) If I ever foster an orange cat I'm going to have to name him Garfield. Hmmm... next time I foster a yellow (?!) dog I will have to name it Odie! :-)

And that's it for now! I leave tonight for the sunny shores of Florida, and maybe by the time I get back, one of my fosters will have a new home! I told them all good-bye before I left just in case.

Ella was adopted; Noah is renamed; Training begins; Supply Drives

Ella, the first cat I ever fostered, has finally found a home! I guess as foster cats go, it really hasn't been that long, but as a relatively new person to the rescue world, four months seemed like a very long time for such a wonderful animal to be without a home. Especially since she's spent the last two months of her life in a little cage at Petsmart. I hated leaving her there all the time, but it was the best way for her to meet the most potential adopters, and she was much better off there than at my house since she wasn't crazy about all the noise and excitement and other animals. She had a lot of people, volunteers and employees alike, stop by and visit her every day, and she was well cared for. Her time there finally paid off, as she went to a wonderful new home yesterday! I am so happy for her!

I hate to do it, because my mom will get mad at me, but I'm doing it anyway. I'm changing Noah's name. My mom hates it when my foster animals names change, because she gets confused enough with all the different animals going into and out of my life - changing the names of the animals is even more confusing, she says. And generally, if we know what name the pet already had, we never change it. But Noah is a special case. Noah, my shepherd/hound foster dog, is very skittish and shy. If anyone in the house raises a voice, whether its directed at him or not, he cringes and runs away to hide. The problem is that in order to get the attention of Remi or Jade, a loud voice is usually required. One day something made me realize that I spent a lot of time saying "Remi, NO!" or "Jade, NO!", and each time, NOah acted like I was yelling at him. I thought, NO! does sound similar to NOah!, and could make it very confusing for him. I could have started saying "Remi, QUIT" or Jade, QUIT", but NO is a common English word, so I thought it'd be easier for him to just change his name. So now Noah is Elvis! It started out as a nickname, but now I'm so used to calling him that, that I keep confusing the names when I talk to people. He might take awhile to get adopted because he is so skittish and shy, so until we find the right home for him, I might as well at least change his name in my blog to match his name in real life. He answers to Elvis all the time now - and I think he's doing much better at accepting the loud voices and noises around him in the house. Although, if anyone has a nice quiet house and wants to foster one of the best dogs in the world, let me know and we'll talk. :-)

All the dogs have started obedience training, courtesy of my amateur attempts at training. We have nightly "classes", and each dog is working on a different skill. Granted, it'd be easier to teach them all the same thing at the same time - but not as interesting! Elvis is working on "sit" - he has finally figured it out, so we're in the "practicing stage". Reese can sit and is working on "down" - she almost has it figured out. And Jade can sit and is working on "stay" - this is really hard for her because she has never had to learn self-control before. But she desparately needs to be taught this because she has so much energy and enthusiasm and hasn't learned many manners yet. All in all, I'm very proud of my dogs and the progress they've made. I hope with additional training this will help them to find good homes, since all three of my fosters are likely going to be harder to place than cute puppies or small dogs. Reese is still a puppy, but she is, and looks like, a pit bull, so that scares some people away. Elvis can climb fences and is very skittish, so that limits the homes that will be right for him. And Jade is a wonderful dog, but she's big, black, and high energy, so that automatically is three strikes against her in most people's eyes. The more they can learn over time, the easier it will be to find them homes, so I will hopefully be able to keep up their new training schedule and they will learn a lot!

The girl scouts have been holding supply drives for the past couple Saturday's at PetSmart, and we have received several donations from people. Someone donated a big package of liver treats that the dogs LOVE - they work great for training - so if you made a donation of supplies - THANK YOU! You are helping to care for the dogs and cats that don't have homes, and you're also helping to prepare them to find new homes! If you are interested in sponoring a supply drive at your school or workplace, please contact me for more information at dogfostermom@aol.com. Our group is 100% volunteer run, and all of the foster homes provide their own supplies, crates, dog/cat beds, cat litter, etc - this quickly adds up and we can always use help. Our biggest needs are cat litter, canned (wet) cat and dog food, cat climbing trees/scratching posts (okay, this is my biggest need - not sure about others) ;-), and of course we can always use cat/dog treats, collars, leashes, toys, dog bones, paper towels, bleach, old blankets, cat/dog beds, and anything else that cats or dogs use! We are in a program where we are provided dry cat and dog food, so that's about the only thing we can't use - everything else would greatly help our foster homes care for their foster dogs and cats. If you have any items to donate, you don't need to wait for a supply drive - just drop them off with Heartland Humane Society volunteers at Petsmart on Highway K on any Saturday between 11am and 4pm, or contact me and we'll make other arrangements. Thanks!

Skittles was adopted!

Yesterday was a great day for dog adoptions. We had several puppies and small pure-bred dogs available at PetSmart, and most of them found homes. Even a couple of our older puppies and dogs, Logan and Sage, were adopted. Skittles went home with a great family and will have an Irish Setter to play with as she grows up. Reese, Noah and Jade are still waiting for their homes. None of the cats found homes yesterday, so I hope they have some better luck today.

Pictures of Jade, Skittles & Reese

I helped my sister move to her new house yesterday so I didn't get to take any of my fosters to Petsmart this week. I heard they did very well with adoptions - at least the dogs, not sure about cats. They had several puppies that were adopted, as well as some of the adults. My fosters should all be ready to be adopted next Saturday, so hopefully we'll have another good week then. I took some pictures so I could get them on the website, and decided to share a few of them here.

Here is Noah and Samantha (taken before she was adopted) in the back yard.

Here is Jade, my newest foster. She is doing very well with the other dogs!

Here is Skittles, taking it easy on the couch.

Reese playing with her favorite squeaky toy.

Skittles and Reese - best friends! My husband wants them to be adopted together, but I said I'd just be glad for either of them to find a home. :-)

Reese is another lap dog, just like Vala was. She prefers to sit on people's laps whenever possible. Or in this case, she's using Remi as her cushion. :-)

I love Skittle's ears in this picture - so cute!

Here is an action shot of Jade, playing with one of the toys made and donated by the Girl Scouts - the dogs love them!!

Rachael (Dave's daughter) is home visiting for the summer, and lucky for me, she likes animals! She's been a huge help with all 13 cats and dogs! :-) Noah sleeps with her every night, and I think she is his favorite person in the world now. He will miss her when she goes back home to Alabama in a few weeks.

Vala and Selena were adopted!

This was a good weekend for me at Petsmart. Vala was adopted on Saturday, to a nice family with two young boys. I had a really hard time watching her go - they picked her up on Saturday evening from my house, and Vala happily jumped in the car, but when they got ready to drive away, she just kept looking out the window at me like "aren't you coming with me?". I still have this picture in my head of the car driving away with her looking back at me as long as she can. I know she'll settle in and be fine, but I hate that I can't explain to her somehow what is happening. Whenever I bring home a new dog, I give them a brief explanation on why they're there, and how its just temporary and they will find their forever home soon. Unfortunately most of them don't seem to understand, and Vala especially seemed to think we were her permanent family. I really really hope this works out, because I can't stand for her to keep leaving and coming back - its so confusing for her. She was adopted out once but returned the next day because the person's dog didn't get along with her. And then we went on vacation and she was sent to another foster home while we were gone. So she's been moved around a lot lately, and I really want this to be her forever home.

Selena was also adopted, and went to her new home yesterday. She took a very long time to get adopted at first, and when I found out she was being returned, I expected to have a hard time finding her a new home again. But she came back on Saturday, and was adopted again on Sunday! She is a great dog - no major issues at all, just very high energy. The lady who adopted her has another dog for Selena to play with, and has some experience with dog training, so I hope that it will work out for her.

I am back to only two foster dogs now - Noah and Samantha. Samantha is doing great - she's ALMOST house-trained, and she is just the sweetest dog. She follows me around and just wants to lay at my feet all the time. Now that her best friend playmate is gone (Vala), she's kind of lonely. Remi and Noah are both older and don't like to play as much. Samantha is only 7 months old. I know a lot of people only have one dog, but if its a young dog, I don't know how they do it. It is so much easier when they have another dog to play with!

I am hoping to work with Noah more now that it is a little less hectic at home. He doesn't know any obedience commands - no one has ever even taught him to "sit" - or if they have, he's forgotten it! Shy dogs can do really well with obedience training, because it increases their confidence. Think about it this way - if you learn a new skill (say, you learn to speak French) then all of a sudden you feel more confident when you go to France. Sure, you don't catch every word - but if you can at least understand the basics of what people are saying, you are going to be a little less timid. Noah is doing well at my house, but he doesn't seem to be showing a lot of progress. I'm hoping that some basic obedience training will help him develop more confidence.

None of the kittens have been adopted yet. I am trying to talk my husband into letting me adopt Avalanche as a birthday present. He's the sweetest kitten - he just wants to be held and petted all the time. I don't expect to talk my husband into it, but I'm going to keep trying. :-)

Update, HHS Video

First, a quick update on my fosters. Ray, my foster Pekingese, went to another foster home, since my husband thinks four foster dogs is too many. :-( I really miss Ray, but I'm glad he's at my friends house - I know she'll take great care of him! Thanks Donna! Noah, Samantha and Vala all went to PetSmart this week, but none of them were adopted. It was a very disappointing week, since we had 10 dogs at PetSmart and NONE of them found homes on Saturday. I did have some people interested in adopting Noah, and they sound perfect for him, so I hope they call and decide to adopt him. This would be very helpful since I got some bad news recently - one of my old fosters, Selena, is being returned. You may remember her, if you ever visit PetSmart. She was a Heartland dog for a very long time before she was adopted. Her new family adopted her a few months ago but decided with a new baby that they just don't have the time to devote to her that she needs. So she'll be coming back to my house later this week and trying to find another home. I also took in one more litter of kittens, since due to the flood they were out of room and out of time at a kill shelter. They are adorable - and so small compared to my other litter of kittens. I will post more about them later. They will hereafter be referred to as my flood kittens, so I can tell them apart from the kittens I already had. The ones I already had (Taffy, Blaze and Monkee) went to PetSmart but did not get adopted either on Saturday. I hope to get them on the website this week and maybe someone will see them online and want to adopt them!

I have now been fostering for Heartland for eight months. It doesn't seem near that long. I have met some amazing people, and made many new friends in the process. Most importantly, I have found so much joy in helping animals that don't have anyone else. I've been doing this less than a year, but many of the Heartland volunteers have been doing this for years and years. Some of the people who started Heartland ten years ago are still rescuing animals today. I am amazed by their dedication. They spend their time, money and energy to save animals, and none of them get paid in any way except in doggie kisses and kitty purrs. They don't ask for recognition, but they deserve it. They've saved so many animals during the past 10 years. Click here to see a short video to recognize the contributions of the Heartland volunteers. This is only a small number of many of the animals that would not be here today if it were not for Heartland Humane Society.

This is what happens when my husband leaves town...

My husband is in the Army Reserves, and he had to go to Virginia for two weeks for military training. When he left, we had one foster - Vala. When he gets back next weekend, he's going to find seven fosters. Oops. I'm not sure how it happened really. It doesn't seem like that many, until they're all running loose around the house and I realize how outnumbered I really am! I thought Vala was getting adopted, so I took home Samantha again (see previous posts for pictures and info on her). I also brought home a little Pekingese - he was taken in from a backyard breeder, and has very poor vision, so the vet named him Ray. We're trying to get his eyes to heal a little bit, and now he's just so happy to be somewhere clean and where he's well taken care of. He is a very friendly little guy - he follows me all around the house and yard. But anyway, Vala ended up not getting adopted, so right now I have Vala, Samantha, Noah, Ray, and my own dog Remi. And I also have my cat George and my three foster kittens - Taffy, Blaze and Monkee. Overall, the house is a bit nuts when they're all running around together. But fortunately they all get along very well. The scariest part is that its starting to seem normal to me to have nine animals running around like they own the place. I guess my husband will be home soon to bring me back to reality. Because honestly, having all these animals IS a lot of work - but I LOVE it. I love holding the kittens and listening to them purr, or walking in the room and having Sam or Vala run up to me to see who can get petted first. I like going out to get the mail and having Ray follow me to the mailbox and back with this big grin on his face. I'm going to be really sad when I have to find somewhere else for any of them to go, once he gets home. I just hope one or two finds their forever home this week - and if not, maybe someone will come along and want to try fostering?! If you want to foster Ray though, keep in mind that my six-year-old niece has asked me to save him until she turns 16 - that's when her parents told her she could get a dog. Talk about a long-term foster! :-)

Introducing Noah, and new kittens

Here is a picture of Noah, the foster dog I brought home two nights ago.

He's such a sweet dog - he gets this really happy grin on his face sometimes that I just love to see. Last night I took him and Vala up to a "Party in the Park" event at Civic Park in O'Fallon. Noah wore an "Adopt Me" vest, and both dogs seemed to enjoy the park and meeting many new people. Noah is still very shy at times, especially with men. He loves to be outside, and I have to use really good dog treats to get him to come inside! He plays really well with Vala and Remi both. Last night they all three slept on the bed with me, along with my cat George. It was a little bit crowded, but I didn't mind. It's nice to foster such sweet loving dogs who are already house-trained! :-)

Here are some more pictures of Vala. She's such a loving dog - she has so much enthusiasm and just wants to be next to me all the time.

Next is one of my favorite pictures - my husband was trying to help me get a good picture of Vala, but she kept running up to me, so I asked him to hold her still. That worked, except she kept her ears back and I wanted her to put them up for the picture. So my husband tried to help me out by holding her ears up in the air. I almost couldn't stop laughing long enough to snap a picture. Vala puts up with so much from us sometimes! :-)

And finally, here are some pictures of my newest foster kittens, and my own cat George. First is Monkee, a female kitten with very unique markings.

Next is Blaze - a male kitten who looks like a smaller version of my own cat George.

And last is my cat George on the chair, and my last foster kitten Taffy (female) under the chair. Taffy looks a lot like her brother Blaze, but she has peach markings on the tips of her ears, her legs and the tip of her tail.

Queeny Park, Update on Fosters

Saturday was the Adopt-A-Stray event at Queeny Park. I believe this is the biggest adoption event that we do every year – more dogs are adopted during this event than at any other time. This was my first time attending, and I was very impressed. The event was well organized, and many more people attended than I expected. We had seven dogs adopted – four puppies, and three older dogs. The puppies were from two different foster homes – Arthur and Justin were cute little guys who were the last of their litter to be adopted. Ebony and Shadow came from another foster home, and while this was my first time meeting them, I enjoyed playing with them until they were both adopted as well! The adult dogs were Checkers, Piper and Harley. Checkers was my favorite – mostly just because I named him! He is a cute little black and white Chihuahua. Piper is an adorable yorkie mix – she was so cuddly and sweet! And Harley is a blue merle Australian Shepherd – very soft, and a great dog. His new owner is hoping to turn him into a Frisbee champion! Overall, it was a great experience, and I wish we could do it every month!

We still have so many dogs that need homes! Of course, I’m always partial to my foster dogs, so here’s a quick update on them. Vala wasn’t feeling well, so she missed the Queeny Park event. She’s doing much better now though, and hopefully will be able to go back to PetSmart next week to try again to find a home. Samantha had fun at Queeny Park and I enjoyed spending much of the time with her. She’ll be staying at the main foster home for now, even though I want to bring her home, because I’m bringing home a different foster. Noah, a Heartland dog who was adopted out last year, is being returned because he keeps running away from his family. He’s going to live with me for awhile and I can see if there’s something we can do to help him want to stay home. Kiya and the puppies are back at their original foster home, and continue to grow. The puppies are getting really big!! Kiya continues to be up to her escape artist tricks. Since I returned the puppies, I decided to catnap three kittens that were at the foster home. I have to admit I missed having kittens around. Besides, Vala loves to chase them, and since they’re used to dogs, they don’t seem to mind. When they get tired they just stop running and she sniffs them and turns away to find another one to chase. It gives them all exercise, and I get some great entertainment at the same time! :-)