Best Adoption Weekend Ever

At least, it's the best adoption weekend we've had in as long as I can remember, which granted, isn't all that long.  Still, we had ten dog adoptions on Saturday, which has to be some kind of record for our rescue group.  I went camping with some friends and missed the whole event, but the two foster dogs that I sent with another volunteer were both adopted.  Here's the scoop on my fosters:

Gonzo

Miley the Puggle was adopted on Saturday!  I talked to her new family today and they said they love her and she's doing great.  This is good timing, since I just brought her littermate Gonzo home on Sunday.  Gonzo was at another foster home but needed a new place to go, so since I've become Puggle Central lately, I took him home.  He's so much like Miley that it seems like there hasn't even been a change in fosters.

Einstein

The other foster dog that was adopted is Einstein.  Einstein was my newest foster - I only had him for a week.  Einstein is a two year old Pomeranian/Sheltie mix (a designer breed mix known as a Poshie).  He was the friendliest, happiest little guy.  He was rescued from a very rural animal control facility, and he loved everyone he met.  He had a few bad habits, so I'm hoping that his new owners will be patient with him and his adoption will work out.

Eight other dogs also found their new homes on Saturday!  

Highlights of the past week...

September 27th - Went to an area shelter to drop off Harry and pick up Molly and two more FIV+ cats.  Harry is a previous foster dog that wasn't doing well here with the other fosters, and since we currently have no other foster homes available to take him, he is temporarily staying at the shelter.  Molly wasn't doing well at the shelter so she became my foster dog.  And since this shelter doesn't adopt out FIV+ cats, I brought home Scotty and Charley until room opens up at another area no-kill shelter that has a free-roaming adoption room for just FIV+ cats.   

Scotty

   

Charley

 They have joined the rest of my foster cats - Kirby, Bandit, Belle, Thomas, and Pogo.  Mercury, Kona and Kimba have all been adopted! 

September 28th - Went back to the shelter and picked up Thumper, a Bearded Collie mix.  She's eight years old and very sweet.  

Thumper

September 29th - Helped set up the All Paws garage sale fundraiser.  Got to do some pre-sale shopping.  Spent  more money than I had planned.  

September 30th - Got up at 4:30 a.m. for the garage sale.  Spent most of the day trying to stay awake. Bought more items and spent even more money.  Realized I ran out of checks and had no cash.  Blamed it on lack of sleep and wrote an IOU.  

October 1st - Went to the Purina Pet Project Event.  Ziggy got to join the Purina Dog Show and pray for all the animals to find homes.  I didn't actually see anyone get adopted at the event, so I'm hoping that's not Ziggy's fault.  We had a great time and I met some wonderful people.

October 2nd - Held a small adoption event at PetSmart.  No one was adopted, and I came home completely exhausted.  Brought home Audrey, a temporary foster dog who is already scheduled to be adopted as soon as she is vetted.  

October 3rd - Got up early and dropped off Audrey and Carlos, another All Paws dog, at the vet.  Went back home and worked for several hours.  Went back to the vet with Elton and Thumper for their exams, and then took all four dogs with me to the shelter to pick up Roo, another foster dog.  Came home and got Roo introduced to everyone else.  Left and took Ziggy to Agility class.  Came home and collapsed.  Got a good night's sleep surrounded by Miley, Molly, Elton, Thumper, Roo, Audrey, Pogo and Charley.  

Ziggy Takes On A Wild Dog Pack

Ziggy is one tough dog.  He recently stood up to a pack of wild dogs, all on his own.  He wasn't scared.  He didn't need backup.  Ziggy can hold his own.  I was nearby monitoring this pack of wild dogs and was able to capture some photographs to share with you.


It all started with Ziggy just walking along, carrying a toy and minding his own business.  Then a huge, vicious wild dog approached him from behind.

The wild dog has brought along a pack of dogs, all there with one intention - to steal Ziggy's toy.  They quickly surrounded him so he had nowhere to escape.

They repeatedly tried tackling him.

One member of the wild dog pack even used a rather rude method to try to dominate and distract Ziggy, but even that didn't work.

Finally, the wild dog pack managed to get Ziggy to drop the toy, and quickly stole it from him.

That didn't last long though, because Ziggy immediately tried to steal it back, and an impromptu game of tug broke out.

In the end, the toy was not quite strong enough, and one member of the wild dog pack ended up with a headless duck for a toy, while Ziggy happily carried off a duck head as a prize.

Disclaimer: Please do not try this at home.  These dogs were closely monitored during their play session to make sure the play did not escalate into aggression.  No dogs were harmed during the making of this blog post.  One stuffed duck toy was harmed, so please send donations of dog toys to All Paws Rescue at PO Box 1274, O'Fallon MO 63366.

Living With Fourteen Dogs and Cats

As one of my friends recently pointed out, only in the rescue world does it seem normal to live with seven dogs and seven cats.  That's how many I have right now, although the numbers change a bit from day to day.  My house is divided by baby gates, and each room has a purpose related to the animals.  One room is currently occupied by several dog crates where Ziggy, Miley, Elton and Ellie sleep and eat their meals.  They also stay there when I'm not home.  The rest of their time is spent with me in the living room or outside.  The other three dogs - Harry, Roxy and Bunny - currently have crates in the living room.  Harry just came back from a foster-to-adopt home which didn't work out for him.  His crate is in the living room so he can get used to the other dog's presence and they can get used to him.  Bunny is in the living room because that's where I spend most of my time and I want her to get used to me.  Her crate door is never closed but she feels safe in her crate so she spends most of her time in the crate by choice.  And Roxy is only in her crate at meal times, but I've found it's convenient to leave her crate in the living room in case one of the dogs needs a short time-out when they're playing.  The living room is basically one very large room consisting of a living area, dining area, and kitchen area.  This leaves a lot of floor space for the dogs to run around and play.  There are also several good spots for the cats to hide if the dogs get a bit over exuberant.  I only foster cat-friendly dogs, but occasionally one of the dogs will think chasing a cat is a terrific idea.  Hiding behind the couch or sitting up above them on the top of a cabinet is a great relief to the cats at times.  Of course they have their own spaces too.  I have one room currently used only for a new cat to settle in and get accustomed to the house prior to introducing him to the other cats.  Then there is another room blocked off by a baby gate (so the cats can jump over and have freedom but they dogs can't get in).  That room has the cat trees, food, cat toys, and all other things that are too tempting for dogs to stay away from.  Of course the cats don't spend much time in that room - they prefer my bedroom.  Right now only Roxy has been allowed to sleep on my bed at night, plus of course the cats.  And during the day no dogs are allowed in the room but again the cats take it over. All in all, everyone seems quite happy.  At least it's much better than the alternative of a shelter while they wait for their forever homes.

Speaking of forever homes, Tulsa recently went out on a foster-to-adopt situation which is so far going very well!  And Roxy has a home visit scheduled for this weekend, so she may have her forever home soon also.  Harry also has a home visit to be scheduled, and he may only be back for a short time.  Now if only Ziggy or Bunny would find their forever homes!

Here is a short video of the dogs enjoying the nice weather:

It's Puggle Season

Okay, I'm not exactly sure Puggle Season is a real thing... but somehow I've gone four years without ever fostering a Puggle, to suddenly fostering two within the same month.  Where are all these Puggles coming from?  Puggles are a designer breed mix of a Pug and a Beagle.  The ones I have met all have the spirit of a Pug plus the affectionate nature of a Beagle plus the self-confidence of a world-class athlete.  In other words, these dogs may soon be taking over the world.

My latest Puggle is named Miley.  She's four years old, and she's almost as food motivated as Ziggy.  This means she will spend hours searching the house looking for any stray kibble.  It keeps her out of trouble, so I've started hiding kibble all around the house in order to give her something to do.

Miley had a medical condition known as 'cherry eye' so she had to have eye surgery.  This means she has to wear the cone of shame for seven days.

However I recently caught her doing some amazing world-class athletic stretching maneuvers that allowed her to use her back leg to reach around the cone and still scratch at her eye.  Fortunately her eye seems to be healing well in spite of this unauthorized behavior, so she should be ready for adoption by this weekend.  And hopefully there's someone out there who won't be able to resist this face.

Catching Up; Introducing Ellie and Elton

I have a lot of foster dogs right now.  I'm pretty much at the maximum number of fosters I can adequately care for without losing my mind.  So I was really excited on Saturday when Morgan the Puggle went to a foster-to-adopt home.  I checked in with Morgan's new mom and was so glad to hear that she's doing very well.  We talked a lot about Morgan's separation anxiety before they took her home, but I was still concerned that it would be an issue.  So it was exciting to hear that Morgan is fitting in quite well, and her new mom is willing to be patient with her and help her to adjust.  She said "I like to think of Morgan more as having really attentive bodyguard tendencies than separation anxiety".  I love that.

Teddy the Poodle also went to a foster-to-adopt home.  Usually a dog like Teddy would have just been adopted instead of being fostered first, but in this case the family who wanted him has children with dog allergies, so this is a good way for them to be sure the children are not too allergic to him.  So far everything is going well.

Kona and Kimba the kittens went up to stay at PetSmart in hopes that they will find forever homes.  Kimba had a bad habit of waking me up at 4am each morning by licking my face and purring non-stop.  When I would put the pillow over my face, she's start pulling my hair with her teeth, while still purring.  When I pushed her off the bed 15 times in a row, she just kept coming back.  I am sleeping much better at night now that the kittens are at PetSmart.

Tulsa the deaf Australian Cattle Dog and Roxy the American Pit Bull Terrier both have applications pending on them.  Both dogs are challenging to place into homes because of their breeds, so I'm trying not to get my hopes up that they'll be adopted.  The family who wants Tulsa has another ACD so they're familiar with the breed, but at the initial meeting the two dogs didn't do so well together, so we'll let them meet again this weekend and see how it goes.  Roxy gets along with everyone, but the family who wants her has a dog who is picky about his dog friends, so we'll have to see how they do together first.  So within the next week we should find out if even one of these very-hard-to-place dogs soon has a forever home!

So since many of my fosters have left or are in the process of leaving, you're probably wondering who all these dogs are that are keeping me on the edge of insanity.  Have you met Ziggy?  He alone can keep anyone on the edge...  Oh wait.  I mean, let me introduce you to Ellie and Elton.

Elton

Ellie

Elton and Ellie came from a high-kill shelter in a nearby county.  They are under a year old, and are silly, happy dogs.  They're probably going to be very quick adoptions, because they're both rather small (under 25 pounds) and so incredibly sweet.  We're not sure what breeds they're made up of, but Ellie acts a lot like Tulsa, so I'm betting there is some Australian Cattle Dog in there somewhere.  They do great with the other dogs and the cats here, and are a lot of fun to have around.