Update on my previous fosters

 Tripoli has been adopted!  It took a lot longer than anyone expected, but finally after over a year in foster care, Tripoli has his permanent home!

Poky and Panda Bear have also both been adopted.  Both puppies are doing great in their new homes.  Also their four littermates have now also been adopted! 

And then there is Ziggy.  Ziggy has started attending a beginning agility class.  He does very well because a) he has no fear of anything, b) he is very intelligent, c) he is very food motivated, and d) he has a very good instructor.  I was concerned about Ziggy being evicted from class due to his chewing problems, and sure enough during the very first class he tried several times to chew the instructor.  But she is very patient with him and has invited him to come back again next week.

Puppy Insights

As a dog foster parent, I've taken care of hundreds of puppies. Well, that may be a slight exaggeration... okay fine, a huge exaggeration. But I do feel that I have enough experience with puppies to share with you the following insights.

1. All puppies are cute. And as a general rule, the cuter the puppy, the more trouble they are.

2. A puppy needs to drink and eat often. And what goes in, must come out, just as often. Be prepared to do a lot of cleaning up when you have a puppy.

3. The only thing cuter than one puppy is two puppies. However, refer to rule #1 and rule #2 above.

4. Even a typical "tough guy" can be brought to his knees by puppy love.

5. Puppies love to chew. No matter how cute they are, don't let them get away with chewing on things that you don't want to be destroyed. If you never really liked that pair of shoes though, just let them keep chewing while you take pictures.

6. Don't let them fool you. Puppies can be tough too.

7. Puppy teeth are some of the sharpest teeth in the world. They have been proven to be sharper than knives. Really.    Okay not really.

8. When they are just six weeks old, most puppies haven't completely mastered running or walking. And this makes them fun to watch. But be warned - by seven weeks old, they may have mastered the art of escaping from their pen. So when you get home from work, you could find them wandering around the house, doing whatever they want (refer to rule #2 and rule #5 above).

I just have to say....

Fostering puppies can be very draining.

Puppy News

Before I talk about my puppies, I wanted to let you know of another foster blog that I recently discovered. 
From Shelter 2 Home is the blog of a teenage foster volunteer for Jacksonville Humane Society.  She currently is fostering three adorable puppies, and is doing a great job helping to save lives.  Please stop by and thank her for the work she is doing! 

Poky

Now on to news of my puppies.  Panda Bear and Poky are part of a litter of six pups. They came from southern Oklahoma, but I am working hard to turn them into proper Missouri dogs. The puppies were born and lived under an empty beach house. When the puppies were rescued they were covered with fleas and had many spots of missing hair due to the flea bites. Their rescuer got them needed medical care and then brought them to us so we could help them find homes. They should be ready to be spayed/neutered in a few weeks and then will be ready for adoption. Since there were six puppies, we found two other rescue volunteers who agreed to each take two puppies as fosters. As young as they are, it's not good for the puppies to be alone, so by keeping them with at least one sibling in foster care they can still learn proper dog behavior from each other. I'll share some updates/pictures on the other puppies soon. In fact, I should warn you now that you will probably see nothing except puppy pictures and puppy stories on my blog for the foreseeable future. I apologize in advance. If you get tired of puppies, please return in a few weeks when I will maybe have taken a picture of something or someone other than another puppy. Maybe.

Panda Bear

I took these pictures when I took them to my mom's house to meet my neices and nephew. It is very important for young puppies between 6 and 16 weeks of age to meet as many new and different people and situations as they can. This is true, but it is also a good excuse to take the puppies places to show them off. By the way, I didn't tell my husband I was bringing these puppies home. I waited until he noticed them and asked me about them. Then I said "what puppies? I don't know what you're talking about." But he didn't believe me. So I changed tactics and said "they aren't puppies, they are guinea pigs." They are about the same size as guinea pigs, so I thought it was worth a try. He didn't fall for that either. But incidentally, my three year old nephew did, and when his parents said something about the puppy he was holding, he informed them that it wasn't a puppy, it was a guinea pig! Or maybe he was trying the same trick in hopes that his parents would let him keep a guinea pig.

And now I'd like to share with you a brief compilation of playful Poky puppy pictures.

Introducing Poky and Panda Bear

I received some bad news about the house I was purchasing.  To make a long story short, during the appraisal it was discovered that the house was a different type than was originally thought, and that caused a change in the type of financing I could get and therefore I am not going to be purchasing that house after all.  I was very disappointed, so when I received an e-mail less than an hour later asking if I could help with some puppies, I decided to just say yes!  A "puppy fix" was exactly what I needed to make me feel better - and to give me the motivation to keep searching for another home.

So yesterday I brought home Poky and Panda Bear.  They are only six weeks old.  Poky looks a bit like the puppy in the famous children's book The Poky Little Puppy.  He acts like him too - compared to his sister, he is a lot slower, more laid back, and likes to go off on his own to explore.  Panda Bear is more outgoing, friendly and playful.  They are both wonderful, and have definitely cheered me up.