A-D-O-P-T-E-D!!

It’s the reason rescue organizations exist. To take homeless animals, care for them and love them, and then provide them with the one thing they need the most – a loving family of their very own. It’s the reason I foster. And today, it’s the reason I am celebrating, because several of my foster pets have been adopted recently. All four of them had one issue or another that made them difficult to find a home for. In some shelters, they never would have stood a chance. But today they’re all in loving homes, where I hope they will be able to spend the rest of their lives! Here are their stories:




Tank (left) and Mayzie



Mayzie – As an adult pit bull mix picked up as a stray, most places wouldn’t have given Mayzie a chance at life. Lucky for her she was found by someone who took her to a vet’s office instead of a shelter. And even more lucky, when the owners couldn’t be found, one of the employees reached out to everyone she knew to find Mayzie a place to go. The employee paid for Mayzie’s shots and spay, and then brought her to me. Mayzie is one of those dogs who loves everyone – human and animal. She makes friends wherever she goes, and she is always so happy. The daughter of one of the other foster volunteers fell in love with Mayzie, and adopted her last week. Now Mayzie (now named Mila) has a great family, and a step-brother named Tank who looks like he could be her real littermate. I was very confused when I first saw them together as to which one was Mayzie!



Shiloh in her new home



Shiloh – This Blue-tick Coonhound almost starved to death before she was rescued by my neighbors. Dogs like Shiloh – hunting dogs such as coonhounds and beagles – are often lost and end up in shelters all around the country. These dogs can go quite a long way from their home when they’re on a hunt or chasing a scent, and then not only can they not find their way back home, but their owners may not be searching for them in the right places because the dogs have gone so far from home. So shelters are full of dogs like Shiloh, and she may not have been lucky enough to make it out alive of most. Shiloh was one of the lucky ones and ended up in rescue. I was one of the people who fostered her during this time, and like her other foster mom, I just fell in love with her. She would often give very gentle hugs by standing up on her back legs and wrapping her front legs around my waist. She had long silky ears that were so much fun to play with. And her personality was extremely sweet, in spite of her lack of house manners! Shiloh had a lot of people interested in her, but she never found the right fit, until two weeks ago when a man came up to see her and decided to take her home as a foster with the plans to adopt her if everything went well. Last I heard, Shiloh is doing very well in her new foster home, and will hopefully be adopted in the next couple of weeks!

Charlie

Charlie – Also known as Charlie the Scaredy-Dog, Charlie has been waiting for a family of his own for his entire life. The first four years of his life were spent in a no-kill shelter, and while he was cared for by extremely devoted volunteers, he was just one of many homeless animals in the shelter. Then he came to me, and had to learn how to trust, and what it meant to live in a house, and go for car rides, and go out in public. And that was very traumatic for him. Even once he learned to trust me, he still was afraid of everyone else, and would huddle in the back of his crate at adoption events and bark at anyone who dared to pay him any attention. No one seemed inclined to adopt a scaredy-dog like Charlie, until Nathan and Catherine came along. This young couple met Charlie and immediately said “we want him”. Charlie is learning to trust them now, and I am hoping that within a few weeks, the adoption will be official and Charlie will get to live the rest of his life with a family who wants him.



Fawn

 Fawn – This four-year-old Italian Greyhound is another dog who spent the first four years of her life without a home. She was a puppy mill dog, kept only to produce puppies to sell, and never learned what it is like to be a part of a family. She came to us extremely frightened, and it took several months before she would come anywhere near me. Since she was a small purebred dog of a rather rare breed, Fawn got a lot of attention from potential adopters. But invariably by the time I told them that even though she had lived with me for months, she was still terrified of me and all other humans, they would realize she wasn’t what they were looking for. Until recently, when a lady contacted me and asked about Fawn, and wasn’t scared off by Fawn’s extreme shyness. She was knowledgable about Italian Greyhounds and couldn’t wait to meet her. Two days after going to her new home, I received an e-mail from the lady and expected to hear that “this isn’t working out”. Instead I heard “Fawn is fantastic!” And again I thought “this is why I foster”. The breeder who gives up Fawn and dogs like her will euthanize them if a rescue group doesn’t take them. Either these dogs aren’t producing babies anymore, or they get too old, or in Fawn’s case the breeder just decided to stop breeding Italian Greyhounds. If a rescue volunteer hadn’t stepped forward to take Fawn and the other breeder dogs, she would never have known life with someone who thinks she is fantastic.

That is why I foster. And that is why I love it.

Ziggy the adoptable dog!

P.S. Ziggy wants to remind you that his birthday is coming up in seven days. Since he will be turning three years old, he asked me to tell his friends to each send him three chewbones for his birthday, but instead I convinced him that I could ask his friends to donate three dollars to a shelter or rescue in their area next time they have the opportunity. He said he’d rather have the chewbones, but that would be a nice birthday gift too. So if you’d like to make a donation in honor of Ziggy’s birthday, please drop a few dollars into the donation jar of a rescue group or shelter near you next time you have the opportunity. Thank you – from Ziggy and all the other foster dogs and shelter dogs!

Vinny was Adopted!

A great family was interested in Fawn the Italian Greyhound, but when they saw how shy she is, they realized they wouldn’t be a good fit for her. So I was excited when they decided to adopt Vinny instead. Vinny is younger, and although he’s also shy, he’s much more social than Fawn. Vinny is doing well in his new home so far, and he is going to be very loved and spoiled! 

In addition to Vinny, two other All Paws dogs were adopted this weekend. A couple people have wondered why Thor was returned.  It was not his fault, but he was adopted into a home with another dog, and that dog was young and playful.  He'd often torment Thor by bumping into him, trying to get him to play.  Thor has some arthritis in his rear legs, and he wasn't interested in playing, or in having a rambunctious dog bounce off him all the time.  So the people who adopted him opted to return him so he could go to a calmer home.  Eventually.  For now he's stuck being surrounded by rambunctious dogs, but at least they tend to play with each other and leave him alone for the most part!

I recently took this picture of my backyard.  I thought Bogey did a pretty good job of hiding in plain sight!

I also recently took this blurry picture of Jupiter trying to outrun Mayzie.  This was taken before he started treatment for heartworms, when he was still allowed to run and play!

And last but not least, this picture is also of Jupiter looking Most Handsome at an adoption event.  Have I mentioned that I LOVE this dog??

Foster Dog Update

I never say it enough, but thank you all for the comments and just for reading.  I appreciate it!

Last week Thor the German Shepherd was returned, Chief the Beagle was adopted, Mayzie the energetic pit bull went to another foster home, and Vinny the Italian Greyhound came to stay with me. So I still have eight foster dogs, but fortunately they all get along well, even though they range from only 12 pounds to 100 pounds! Here is one interesting fact about each of my current fosters that you may not already know:



Thor

This 100 pound German Shepherd used to be owned by a priest. This may explain why he is the best behaved of all the dogs. 

Charlie

Charlie does not like fireworks while he is inside the house. He barked at them constantly. Then we finally had to go outside for a final potty break before bedtime, and suddenly he just ignored the fireworks. So the sound of fireworks inside = danger, but the sound of fireworks outside = safe.

Bogey

Bogey is a hoarder dog. No, he didn’t come from a hoarder – he actually is the hoarder. He goes around and collects toys and blankets and anything else he can find and hides them in his crate.

Ziggy

Ziggy has been extremely well behaved (for him) lately. And he’s stopped chewing on everything – even on his chew bones! I think something must be wrong with him. He still loves to eat his kibble though.



Jupiter

Jupie has had to undergo a bunch of extra tests because he is anemic and may even have a weird doggie disease known as babesia. Test results are pending.  Bonus fact - he likes to sit in laps. 



Aridan

This eleven year old German Shepherd has won several Schutzhund awards, and even competed in the 2009 GSDCA-WDA Schutzhund National Championship and World Qualifier. I feel very safe with her around.

Fawn

Fawn's birthday is today – she is four years old.


Vinny

This Italian Greyhound thinks he is invisible as long as no one looks at him. He’ll approach strangers from behind and sniff them, then dart away. He’s stealthy.



Jasper

Tonight I’m bringing home Jasper. He’s staying for a week while his foster mom goes out of town. I don’t know any interesting facts about Jasper yet. 

Updates and Adoptions

I’m sorry that I’ve been too busy to update my blog lately! Somehow I’ve ended up with eight foster dogs and a constantly changing number of kittens and cats, which keeps me too busy to write posts or take pictures. So today I’m going to play “catch up” and give you the condensed status of my foster pets:

Scamp the Fox Terrier mix, Socks the cat, and Thor the giant German Shepherd Dog have all been adopted. I still have Charlie the unknown mixed breed who is frightened of new people and barks at them non-stop. I also still have Bogey the Mostly Hairless dog who is frightened of all people, including me. Not surprisingly, I still have Ziggy the deaf and difficult pit bull mix, although he is currently on a two week vacation at a friend’s house, where he gets to be an only dog and go for walks in the park and have a real life. I also have Aridan the German Shepherd Dog who I am dog-sitting for a friend. She used to be a well-trained dog. Now she ignores me constantly, counter surfs, jumps over baby gates to eat the cat food, and chews up metal cans full of spray cheese. Don’t tell her human mom, but I think I ruined her dog. In addition to all of these dogs, I still have Chief, the Beagle. He’s my only “highly adoptable” dog. He’s also my favorite of all my fosters, and the easiest dog I have, so I’m sure he’ll be adopted soon.

Minnie - aka "Bitey Girl"

I took in a few new dogs. It turns out they all have issues. One dog – an eight month old Chihuahua/Doxie mix - was given to me by my neighbors when a family member went to jail and the dog was left without a home. Her issue is called fear aggression. I am calling her Bitey Girl. She’s going to a new foster home tomorrow with someone who actually likes working with little aggressive dogs. I’m very grateful.



Another dog is an Italian Greyhound that was a breeder release. I named her Fawn, and she is terrified of me (it seems to be a theme with my foster dogs lately) and won’t let me touch her. She is only going to stay with me until another foster home can be found. Charlie and Bogey are enough shy dogs for me.

Fawn the Italian Greyhound

A third dog I took in is a brindle pit bull named Mayzie. Her issue is the opposite of fear. She is a typical joyful, excited, highly energetic pit bull. She really doesn’t have any issues except that she is a hard-to-adopt breed.



Mayzie the brindle pittie

And the last dog that I unexpectedly took in is Jupiter. He’s a pit bull mix, and he was given to me by a friend of my neighbors, because the original owner was planning to shoot him and the guy didn’t want to see that happen. He couldn’t keep him but didn’t want him to be shot, so he ended up in my driveway. And now he’s living in my house. And he is capturing my heart. I can write a whole post about Jupiter, if I ever find the time. He has several issues, including being heartworm positive, and having an extremely high prey drive, but I love him anyway.

Jupiter - a dog with issues

As for the cat fosters, I still have Midnight and Murphy, the two FIV+ cats. I had nine kittens and their mom, who have all moved to a shelter for adoption, but then three of them came back because they weren’t big enough to be spayed yet. I also ended up with five more kittens who will be going to the shelter in another week or two. I have sworn to never ever take in any more kittens – at least for the next month.


So that’s my story – I don’t usually do this, but today I’m begging for foster homes to help out with some of these animals. Like most rescue animals, these foster pets do not come already trained. Most of them aren’t house-trained. Most of them will climb on your furniture and try to steal food from your countertops. As foster parents, our job is to work with these animals and make them more adoptable. We work on house-training, and we work on behavior issues like counter surfing. We also work on self-control, for the highly excitable dogs, and on overcoming their fear, for the shy dogs. We truly make a difference in these dogs’ lives, because we aren’t just “warehousing” them until someone comes along and adopts them and fixes their issues themselves, we’re actually working to make them more adoptable with each interaction. Foster homes that have only one foster pet are ideal, since they have more interaction with each foster pet. Right now I have too many foster pets that need some extra help to overcome issues, and they each need someone to step forward and say “I am willing to help.” I’m not the only one with too many foster pets. Rescue groups and shelters around the country are overflowing with homeless animals. They all need help. I can honestly say that fostering is the most rewarding thing that I’ve ever done in my life. I hope that you find that is true for you too.  To find out more about fostering, please contact me.