Fostering - Can't Do It Alone

After being out of work for four months, I finally got a new job. I am working as a contractor at Monsanto Corp, and although I’ve been there less than a week, I’ve already started to feel comfortable. This could be because I changed the background picture on my monitor to this:

I did that just in case one of my new co-workers walks by, sees his picture, and says “what a great dog”, so I can say “he’s for adoption” and they can say “well, I’ve been looking for a deaf pit bull who loves to chew, always pushes boundaries, and wants to be an only pet”. And I’ll say “you won’t be disappointed with Ziggy” and then they’ll live happily ever after. Hey, it could happen.
The hardest part about going back to work is the amount of time it takes away from my fosters. The office is over an hour away from where I live, so I end up being gone for almost twelve hours a day, five days a week. Not only do my foster pets miss me (or at least my ability to open doors and throw tennis balls) but I also no longer have time for all the vet appointments and other errands that I did while I was out of work. Fortunately, I am only one volunteer in an organization made up of many other volunteers. When I shared the news that I was going back to work, many people have stepped forward to help. Bev took Thor to the vet for me, and offered help with future vet visits. Karen took home Salem, a foster cat who just had his leg amputated (more about him later), so she could take care of all his medical needs while he recovers. Lynsey is taking Ziggy to the vet for me tomorrow. Even the local shelter is helping out – they took in a dog that my neighbors found, and got her vet work done before she comes back to me later this week. They’re also going to take Jefferson for awhile, because he has so much energy, he needs more play-time and attention than I can give now that I’m working. At the shelter he’ll get to go outside to the play yard and play with other dogs and get attention from the volunteers. I couldn’t survive without all of these wonderful people stepping forward to help.

So now I’m gainfully employed, and no longer have to worry about how I’m going to make my house payment or afford gas for my car. I’ll soon be able to buy more chew toys for Ziggy and maybe even get a riding lawnmower someday (such lofty goals). I’m hoping to eventually hire someone to come out to the house a few days a week to play with the dogs while I’m at work. Until then, I’ll have to cut back on the number of fosters I can take in, but I’ll keep fostering. After all, with foster dogs like Bogey the Extremely Fearful and Partially Hairless Dog, Charlie the No-Longer-Hairless But Still Fearful of Men, People with Hats and People with Sunglasses Dog, and Ziggy the Waiting-For-Two-And-One-Half-Years And Still Not Adopted Dog, I am going to be fostering dogs for a very long time.

Introducing Dora

Dora is a three year old Black Lab/Border Collie mix.  She came from a rural shelter, and was heartworm positive.  She's been in another foster home while undergoing treatment for heartworms, and once her treatment was complete she came to my house so she could start going to adoption events.

Big black dogs like Dora are often difficult to place.  I expected to have her for awhile.  But at her very first adoption event last weekend, she was a big hit.  Although she didn't find a home, she did get a lot of attention.  So when we had the chance to attend another event during the week, I took Dora along with Chloe the pit bull, Jefferson the Shepherd mix, and Midnight the cat.  Again Dora was very popular, and by the end of the event she had an application for adoption!

Dora is now in her new home, and doing very well.  She was only here for a week, and it was great to find a perfect home for her so quickly.

Although Jefferson and Chloe did not have so much luck getting adopted, they will hopefully soon find new homes thanks to a photographer from Shelter Me Photography.  She took photos of both dogs at the mid-week event, and hopefully that will get them some attention when people are looking at dogs on the adoption sites online.

Chloe

Jefferson

Shelby update, and Thank You

Shelby is feeling better!!  She has not had any more seizures in the last 24 hours, and she came home from the E-clinic and is doing well.  She is still ataxic, but that is hopefully just due to the medicine she is on.  If you don't know what ataxic means, well, here's a hint:

Ziggy enjoys a beer.

Unlike Ziggy, Shelby hasn't been drinking, but she walks around like she's drunk, bumping into things and occasionally falling over.  But she's starting to act more like her old self, and hopefully within a few days will be back to normal.  She'll be on seizure medicine the rest of her life, but that is not too expensive so she should be able to be adopted without much trouble once she is recovered from her heartworm treatment.  Someday she will have her Happily Ever After!

Merlin the cat is also fully recovered from his run-in with Ziggy.  Thanks for all of your well-wishes!

Rescue is expensive, and I'm grateful to work with a rescue group that covers all foster pet medical expenses as well as providing dog food for the fosters.  Shelby's emergency vet bill was over $600, and that doesn't include the several hundred dollars it will cost for her heartworm treatment.  Her adoption fee is only $125, so as you can imagine, the rescue group relies heavily on donations from the public in order to continue to help animals.  It always amazes me how many people out there are happy to give just a few dollars to help when they can.  Without so many people giving, we couldn't save dogs like Shelby.

It's great when people donate to the rescue, which by the way is tax deductible, but recently something even more amazing happened.  A very special person read about the problems I've been having with my foster dogs escaping my fenced yard.  Living in a rural area is wonderful, except for the mindset many people have about animals.  If people see stray dogs, they are as likely to shoot them as call the owner, even when the dogs are wearing collars and tags.  So when a neighbor stopped by to warn me that my dogs were going to be shot if they got out of the yard again, I was desperate.  I was out of work and couldn't afford a better fence, but had nowhere else for the foster dogs to go.  So I bought a fence and shared my concerns about paying for it.  I love writing this blog because I get to share the good and the bad of rescue, but I never expected what happened next.  Jess from At A Glacial Pace created a wonderful fundraiser to help me buy the fence!  She spent so much time and hard work, just to help keep my foster dogs safe and me sane (well, relatively sane).  The fundraiser was a lot of fun - an online Valentine's Day Party - and many people in the blog community donated.  I am grateful to each one of you who participated and made this a successful event.  My fence is up and is working perfectly to keep the dogs in the yard!

Shelby in the back yard

Thank you Jess, and everyone who contributed!

Jefferson - trying to help build the fence!

They Come And They Go

Except for Ziggy of course.  He came and refuses to leave, no matter what I do.  But the others come in and sometimes leave sooner than I expect.  I thought Oreo the American Bulldog would be a tough one to place due to his breed and the fact that he wasn't house-trained.  But as soon as I put him on the Internet, applications started coming in.  He received three applications in one week, and last week he went on a trial adoption with his new family.  I also thought that Amber the Pointer mix would be adopted before Sox the Border Collie/Basset mix.  I was wrong again - Sox was adopted to a wonderful family last week.  Amber is still waiting, although she does have an interested family who may adopt her soon!  Lindsay the Aussie mix has also been adopted and is doing great in her new home.  This just leaves me with Chloe the often-upside-down pit bull, Bogey the feral and semi-hairless Shar Pei mix, Charlie the shy dog, Jefferson the obnoxious Shepherd mix, Amber the hopefully-soon-to-be-adopted Pointer mix, and of course Ziggy the Adoptable Dog.

Chloe will be receiving her final heartworm treatment tomorrow, and then will need four more weeks of rest and relaxation before being allowed to resume attending adoption events and running marathons.  Okay maybe not the marathons.  But she will be allowed to go to adoption events in four weeks.

Bogey is still afraid of me.  He loves to play with the other dogs, and he loves to play with toys, and he loves to collect things.  He'll go around the house and pick up any dog toys or blankets or anything else he can and hoard them in his crate.  He will not willingly come anywhere near me, and will move away if he notices that I'm looking at him.  I tell myself that he's making progress, but I'm really not so sure.

Charlie the unknown mix dog (breed guesses, anyone?) has completed his treatment for demodex manage and was given a clean bill of health at the vet.  He is doing great here, but when we go out he is still afraid of strangers - mostly males.  He loves hot dogs so we're starting "hot dog therapy" where strangers toss him small pieces of hot dog so he learns that when a man approaches him, good things are going to happen!

Jefferson is being his usual happy and obnoxious self.  He's now decided that cats are Public Enemy #1, and he feels obligated to bark non-stop whenever he sees one.  If possible, he will also chase and possibly chew on the cat.  I say possibly, because so far I've kept him from actually obtaining a cat - but in a house with five cats, he gets plenty of opportunity to observe and bark at them!

Amber is such a good girl.  She does really well with all the other dogs, and she loves to play.  She and Jefferson are a really good match - they are roughly the same size and have the same amount of energy, so they wear each other out quite well.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with Jefferson once Amber is adopted!

Ziggy is in BIG TROUBLE!  We had an incident where he decided to run across the room and down the hall in order to attack my cat Merlin, because he thought Merlin was going to go into his room.  Merlin ended up with a dislocated jaw, and Ziggy ended up with one more strike against him, since now he can no longer go to a home with cats.  In the past two years he's never attacked a cat, and typically ignores them altogether, so now that he's decided that cats are a threat who must be attacked to keep them from eating his food, it makes him even harder to adopt (and much harder to live with).  He already spends too many hours in a crate because he can't be out with other dogs - now I'll also have to rotate and make sure when he's out there are no cats around either.  Did I mention he's in Big Trouble?

Ziggy did not want me to tell you about this Most Dreadful Incident because he was embarrassed that he panicked and thought Merlin was there to steal all his stuff.  He did not mean to hurt Merlin and claims is very sorry for his bad behavior.  I have not completely forgiven him yet, since Merlin is still in pain and has to stay in a crate for two weeks while he recovers.  Merlin should make a full recovery though and my guess is that he will never, ever, go down that hallway to Ziggy's room again.  As for Ziggy, plans are in the works to build him his own room in the walk-out basement and fence in an area on the side of the house with a dog door in the basement door so he can have much more freedom and the other dogs and cats will not be forced to "time-share" the house and backyard. At this point, it's still just a dream, but several wonderful people have volunteered their time and expertise to make it happen, so hopefully it will one day be a reality!

Also, for any of you familiar with the All Paws dogs, you may remember that I occasionally fostered Toby, the Shepherd/Pointer/Hound mix.  He has been in foster care for a Very Long Time, and has caused more than his share of destruction and trouble.  He has a lot in common with Jefferson, as they both have goofy and obnoxious attributes.  But it finally happened - a lady who loves big, goofy dogs saw Toby on the Internet and ended up adopting him.  She says he is doing really well and she's very happy with him.  So sometimes there are Happy Endings even for the very special fosters like Toby!

Happy Girl

I have noticed that of all the dogs, most of them spend the majority of time with four feet on the ground.  There's one exception - Chloe - and none of the other dogs can seem to figure out what's wrong with her.  Take a look...

Jefferson checks on Chloe.

Oreo tries to figure out what she's doing.

Oreo and Sarge discuss her strange behavior.

None of it bothers Chloe - she just continues to enjoy rolling in the grass!  She's a happy girl.

I'm also a happy girl because Sarge went to a foster-to-adopt home on Saturday!  

Long Overdue Foster Pet Updates

Ziggy the deaf pit bull is doing well.  He's attending Rally classes each week, and enjoys finding yet another way to earn treats.  I've also discovered that he and Jefferson are good playmates.  They love to play chase and wrestle with each other.

Chloe the pit bull is my girl.  She's like the best dog ever.  She started heartworm treatments and is now on strict rest for eight weeks.  She's pretty lazy though so she's happy to lay around on the couch all day.

Ace the deaf Dogo Argentino mix is now adopted!  He went to a home with another dog who is a therapy dog, and his new owner plans to train Ace to be a therapy dog as well.

Fanny the Basset Hound mix did really well in her beginning agility class.  She loved going to class, but had to cut her beginners class session short because she found her forever home!  She's even happier now to be in a home where she gets all the attention.

Maggie the deaf Old English Sheepdog is getting ready to get on a plane.  She has some aggression issues that need special help, so she's going to be traveling to Minnesota, to Midwest Old English Sheepdog Rescue.  Pilots 'N Paws will be helping her to get to her final destination.

Jefferson the Shepherd/Lab mix is his same silly self.  He has been to the vet twice in the past two weeks because he has caused his tail to start bleeding by wagging it so much.  He can't help it, he's just a happy guy!  He loves to play and wrestle with Maggie and with Ziggy - they are his two best friends.







And that's all the time we have for updates today!  More updates coming soon!

My Day: Guest Post by Jefferson

Hi everyone, I'm Jefferson, but everyone calls me Jeffy.  My foster mom is the lady who usually writes this blog.  She said I could tell you about my day!  Today is Saturday which means it is an Adoption Day!  Every Saturday we all get loaded up in the car and we go to PetSmart where people come to admire us.  I was so excited to go to PetSmart today, because it's the best place in the whole entire world!  In fact, I got so excited that I wagged my tail really hard and it started bleeding.  My foster mom took me over to the vet and they fixed me right up, but my foster mom told them I had better wear a lampshade on my head or else I'd take off the bandage they put on.  So now I get to wear a lampshade all week!  This is me in my stylish lampshade.

Me looking Most Handsome.

There were about 287 dogs at the adoption event today!  I'm not very good at counting, but I'm sure there were at least that many.  Only two of them found homes, but that's still better than zero (hey, maybe I am not so bad at this math thing!)  My foster mom wanted to take home this dog:

Greta

but decided that she'd have too many dogs if she did that.  Apparently Greta is very affectionate and deserves to be in a home instead of a shelter, where she is living now.  Greta didn't get adopted so hopefully she gets adopted soon before foster mom goes and gets her and brings her back here in spite of the 43 other dogs here.  Oh, wait - foster mom said that there are less than ten dogs here.  I guess I need more math practice after all.

I got to meet a dog named Breeze today!  She was at the adoption event waiting to be admired by people.  My foster brother Bogey is her real brother, which is probably why they look so much alike.  Breeze has a lot more hair than Bogey though.  And she smells better.  I'm just sayin'.

Breeze

I also saw my pal Toby again.  Toby has been in foster care almost as long as Ziggy (like, forever!).  He is real good at getting attention from people by doing crazy stunts like trying to chew his way out of his crate.  He is my role model!

My role model.

My foster mom says I should try to get attention by being cute, like this puppy:

Macy

The puppy slept like this for hours!  I told my foster mom that first of all, since the puppy didn't get adopted, this tactic was obviously no better than Toby's brilliant method of getting attention.  And second of all, how could I possibly sleep for one second while at the most exciting place in the world??  My foster mom just isn't too smart sometimes.

Thanks for listening about my day, and I hope you had a GREAT day too!

Update on my Fosters... part 1

Currently I have seven foster dogs and two foster cats.  King, the extremely smart pit bull puppy, has gone to a foster-to-adopt home where he's doing really well.  And Bandit the previously semi-feral kitten has finally found a home just in time for Christmas! 

You may remember me claiming that I could handle Jefferson, the incredibly energetic and challenging Shepherd mix.  Well, I was wrong.  Fortunately one of my friends gave me the best Christmas present ever when she took Jefferson to work with him some more.  She's a professional trainer and if anyone can get through to him, it's her. 



Oscar



This is Oscar, the deaf Boston Terrier.  He's doing really well with house-training and is finally allowed to sleep in bed with me and the other dogs at night (all the dogs except Ziggy, who would likely eat the bed while we slept).  Oscar has such a funny personality - I've learned from a friend who often sends me Youtube videos that many Boston Terriers have this same "silly gene".  He loves attention, likes to play with the other dogs, likes to be held, and thinks that he is Mr. Tough Guy.  He always makes me laugh.

Chloe, my brown and white cow-dog, tested positive for heartworms. This means she will have to undergo a painful, expensive and dangerous treatment to get rid of them.  If left untreated, they will eventually cause congestive heart failure.  I'm talking to more and more people who don't have their dogs on heartworm preventative.  They often want to adopt one of our rescue's dogs, but we don't adopt to people who don't use heartworm preventative, because we've seen the devestating effects firsthand.  If you don't use heartworm preventative, please talk to your vet and see if it is recommended in your area. 




Roo

Roo the red pittie mix with the large ears, is doing very well with her Canine Good Citizen training classes.  She has passed her first level (where she learned sit and down) and is now working on stay and come when called.  She's also learned she can jump four foot tall baby gates and fences.  This is why the new fence will be a six foot privacy fence.  In the meantime, she's having to stay on a tie-out or leash while in the yard, which makes her sad.  I call her my squeaky girl, because she she whines/squeaks when she is sad or nervous.  And lately, I've needed some WD-40 to stop all the squeaking! In case you were wondering... yes she was squeaking when we made her wear a Santa hat.  But she looks so cute!

I'll update the status of the rest of my current foster pets tomorrow!

Introducing Jefferson

Usually when you foster, you get an average dog.  A dog who is good, and maybe has a few problems but nothing that can't be overcome with a bit of basic training.  But every once in awhile, you get a great dog.  A dog who is so easy that you don't have to do a thing except give them love and affection while they wait for a home.

This is my newest foster dog Jefferson.  He's not just an average dog.  

"Who, me?"

 Unfortunately he's also not one of those "perfect" dogs that come along every so often.  Jefferson is full of energy.  He's rambunctious.  He's boisterous.  Rowdy.  Tumultuous.  Unruly.  Raucous.   There are many words to describe Jefferson.  Easy is not one of them.  

 Oh, he's a good dog.  He is loving and affectionate, and he gets along great with the other dogs and the cats.  He just has a lot of energy and a very short attention span.  And no self-control to speak of.  Jefferson is going to be a challenge.  

"But I'm a lot of fun!"

 Originally when Jefferson came to us with his brother Cooper, he was going to stay at another foster home, while I took Cooper.  I knew right away I got the easy end of the deal - for awhile.  Then Cooper got adopted.  And Jefferson decided he didn't want to get along with the other dogs in his foster home.  So I offered to take him.  For the past three weeks he's actually been living at a trainer's house, while she worked with him on his issues of mouthiness and jumping on people.  He's doing better, but he still has a lot of growing up to do.  Cooper had some of the same issues, so I did not expect him to be adopted so quickly.  I can only hope that another perfect family will come along that wants to work with Jefferson in spite of his issues.  And in the meantime, at least Ziggy has prepared me for the challenge of training Jefferson.  Now that I've fostered Ziggy for so long, Jefferson doesn't scare me at all.   

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