Reese on Pitter Patter

Reese, one of my all-time favorite foster dogs, was on the Pitter Patter blog on Monday. 

This sweet dog was rescued just in time from a high-kill shelter.  She had been there long past her allotted time, and when I saw her, I almost cried.  She was covered in feces, huddled in the back of a tiny cage, and had given up hope of being rescued.  She was only five months old and already her life was ending.  I took her home, and immediately fell in love. 

Reese at the shelter

Reese has all of the pit bull qualities that I love.  She is loving, loyal, and totally devoted to her people.  She never bothered to sit on the floor, if there was a lap anywhere around that she could sit in instead.  And if there wasn't a lap nearby, she'd make do with using Remi for a cushion.  Like Noelle, Ziggy, and many other pit bulls, Reese also has a quality about her that makes her so very entertaining to have around. 

Remi, Reese and Skittles

I pulled Reese from the shelter exactly two years ago today.  Three months later, she was adopted.  I checked in with her adoptive family several months ago, and they reported she is doing great, and they sent me this picture of her with her brother Bruiser. 

Reese, two years later

She's come a long way from that dirty, scared puppy I rescued so long ago.  She gives me hope for Ziggy, who hasn't received an adoption application in the past six months. 

I can't keep Ziggy - it means the next Reese, or the next Noelle, or the next Ziggy, wouldn't have a chance.  I turned down taking in a cute little 5-month-old white pittie puppy earlier this week.  The puppy had spots around both eyes, just like Ziggy has a spot around just one eye.  I hated saying no, because the other pit bull and all-breed rescue groups in the area had already said no, and he will have to be taken to a shelter that euthanizes for space, where his future is uncertain.  But until Ziggy is adopted, I do have to say no.  So that is why as much as I wish I could keep Ziggy, since I've already adopted one deaf pit bull (Noelle), I just can't keep another.  And that is why one of you is just going to have to step up to the plate and adopt Ziggy.  In spite of his breed, and his chewing disability (can I call the fact that he chews on everything a disability?), and his deafness, and his food allergies.  Oh, did I not mention the food allergies?  Okay then, nevermind.  We'll talk about those tomorrow.

Cat-O-Lympics

In honor of the Winter Olympics, one of my blogger friends is hosting her own Cat-O-Lympics - and even better, she's allowing dogs to compete!  So of course we had to enter a few of the events.  Since some of the pets pictured here have since been adopted, we do not expect these to be official entries, but thought it would be fun to share these pictures anyway. 

For the Bare Paw Fighting event, hosted by Milo and Alfie, we have Sedna attacking Venus:

Sadly, Venus was blinded by the flash of the camera and was unable to retaliate. 

For the Competitive Napping event hosted by Huffle Mawson, we have two entries. 
First is Reese, sleeping on the couch.

She's a most serious competitor, and enjoys sleeping in odd positions just about anywhere.

Second is Bear, the Puppy Bowl star, sleeping with his foot in the water bowl, on the floor of the car.

It's not that he wasn't supposed to be there.  It's just that there was a very comfortable dog bed on the back seat above him, and a human willing to cuddle him in the front passenger seat, and yet he choose to sleep on the floor in the back.  While the car was in motion.  Perhaps my mom's driving scared him. 

Our next event is the Synchronized Snoozing event hosted by The Island Cats. 

Our first entry is submitted by three previous foster cats - I think it was Astro, GiGi and Blaze.  They awoke right before I took this photo - just in time to glare at me for disturbing their rest. 

The second entry is Pepsi and Ginger, two previous foster puppies who often performed synchronized snoozing in various locations around the house.

The following entries would more appropriately belong in an event called Synchronized Sitting.  Since as of now this is not an officially sanctioned event in the Cat-O-Lympics, and I'm too lazy busy to set it up myself, I'll just post these pictures as an idea for future organizers to consider. 

Cute puppies - who can resist?  And who can get them to all look at the camera at the same time... with no assistant... and without breaking their lineup?

I'll give you a clue how I did it...it involved a hot tub and a laundry basket.

Another example of Synchronized Sitting is exhibited by George and Taffy. 

And the final event we'd like to enter is the High Jump Event hosted by Cats in Maryland.  I'm about 5' 6", so I estimate here that Remi jumped to over 6 foot.  Of course, his back feet were only a few inches off the ground - but he did the best he could. 

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.

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.

Pictures!

My husband took these pictures one day last week while I was at work. The dogs seem to be comfortable...

Bailey sleeping.


Remi sleeping - good thing he gets the loveseat to himself - no one else would fit!


Reese sleeping?!

I'm starting to wonder if he drugs them when I'm not there! :-)

Here is a picture of my newest foster - Lacy!


And here is another picture of Bailey - she's just so cute, I can't help but love her! We think she's a boxer mix, and almost 11 weeks old now.


This is a picture of my new toy. I bought it for the cats, but I have more fun watching them play on it than they probably do actually playing! :-) It's the coolest cat tree, with hammocks and ladders and hidey-holes and dangling mice, and its almost 7 feet tall!. All the kittens seem to enjoy it too!


Here is a new picture of Astro, my flood kitten. I love his expression in this picture!


Here is Blaze, being "king of the world".


Here is my newest kitten - GiGi! She is actually from another foster home, but they haven't had as much luck as I have getting their kittens adopted recently, and since I was down to just two, I offered to keep this one at my house until she finds a home. Isn't she pretty? She's the same age as Astro, and she's sooo friendly. She's brave enough to come out around all the dogs and cats, and just wants to lay in my lap and purr.

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!

Nothing much to share...

I'm going out of town soon, so I went up to PetSmart on Saturday and Sunday, hoping some of my fosters would find homes before I left. However, none of my dogs or cats were adopted, so I was sad about that. I guess they're stuck with me for at least a couple more weeks until they get back to PetSmart to try again! I was also sad that none of Kiya's puppies were adopted. They didn't get put up for adoption as soon as most puppies because they had to be treated for ringworm, so now they're older and bigger and I am sad that they are missing so many puppy moments without their own families. Everyone wants young puppies (don't they realize they grow up?) or little purebred dogs. Most of our dog adoptions this weekend were for purebreds -- two Pomeranians, a basset hound, and a Shih Tzu. I'm happy for those dogs that they found homes - I just feel bad for the big mixed-breed dogs. Derby, Lilly, and Jade were all at PetSmart this week (check out http://heartlandhumanemo.homestead.com/adoptions2.html if you don't know who I'm talking about) and no one even considered them for adoption. They are all three very good dogs with no issues, but they got passed over for cute little purebred dogs who are much more likely to have issues due to their history! Sorry, I'm being negative and I usually try not to be. I just feel so sorry for the dogs and cats that are so good but through no fault of their own they still don't have their own families.

I took Max to the vet this morning - turns out he has hookworms and whipworms - poor guy. His previous owners apparently didn't care much about him. The person who found him put up several "Found Dog" signs in the area - we sent his picture and a "Found Dog" flyer to the area animal shelters - I've checked all the classifieds in St. Charles, St. Louis and Lincoln County, along with websites like Craigslist and Lost/Found dog websites. If these people had been trying to find their dog, they would have - but I'm glad they didn't! Now he'll get the veterinary care that he needs, and he'll get adopted and live in a much better home. In the meantime, he's doing great at my house. He's a little cuddlebug - he likes to sleep right next to me. He sits in my lap whenever we are in the car. In fact, on the way to the vet this morning, even though my car was actually clean for once, instead of sitting in the empty back seat or the empty passenger seat, both Max and Reese sat on my lap for the entire 20 minute drive to the vet. Silly dogs! Fortunately they both sit relatively still, so it doesn't make driving difficult. Now if I could just teach Reese to stop barking at every motorcycle that goes by, I'd be set.

I'm off to Florida for 5 days - no kids, no cats, no dogs, and no husband! My aunt and uncle invited my parents and me and my sisters down, and even though our spouses were also invited, my sister and I decided that *someone* had to stay home and take care of the kids/pets. So my husband will be home to care for the dogs while I'm gone. He's afraid of kittens though (at least that's what I keep saying - he just says he doesn't like them) so the kittens are going on their own vacation to another foster mom's house. I'm really going to miss my dogs and kittens while I'm gone (and maybe even my husband), but I'm looking forward to the break.

Update on Max

Just in case you were wondering, no one has called to claim Max yet. I am going to wait through the weekend, and if no one claims him by Monday he's going to get to visit the veterinarian to get checked out. Heartland dogs get wonderful medical care - they are all dewormed, treated for fleas/ticks, tested for heartworms and treated if needed, spayed or neutered, given several vaccinations (rabies, DHLPP, bordetella), and given monthly flea/tick and heartworm preventative. And this all happens before they are made available for adoption! So I want to get Max started by making his first vet visit and getting his first round of vaccinations.

I also couldn't bear to leave him in the basement by himself for any longer, so I let him out of quarantine early. All of my other fosters and my own dog are up-to-date on their vaccinations, and it was a relatively low-risk decision. He gets along great with the other dogs - especially Reese. He and Reese are the same size, and they're both young, which might be why they play together so well. Unfortunately, this also means I once again have three foster dogs who are not yet house-trained. Sigh. In order to successfully housetrain a dog, you have to watch him every second when he's loose in the house - and that's hard enough with one dog - not to mention three at once. Its definitely a challenge! My husband is gone with his Army Reserve unit for a five-day trip to Minnesota, so that will make it harder because he won't be around to help, but I'm hoping it will make it easier to get the house cleaned while he's gone. I'm sure some of you out there can understand that. :-)

I'm looking forward to going to PetSmart tomorrow. Kiya's puppies will be there for their first adoption event, and I think altogether we're going to have 15 - 20 dogs there available for adoption! I would love it if Reese, Jade or Elvis found a home, or even one of my foster kittens. But either way, I just enjoy going up to spend time with all the dogs and cats, and helping them to find new homes of their own.

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.

Sam was adopted!

Samantha was adopted on Saturday, to a family who lives on my street! We didn't realize it beforehand, but once they filled out the application I saw that we were actually neighbors. Hopefully this means I'll get to see Samantha out in the neighborhood once in awhile.

Since Sam is gone, the house is much quieter. Just kidding - its as crazy as ever. I really miss her, but the new puppies are keeping me so busy that I haven't had much time to be sad that she is gone. Just to make sure I stay busy, I'm bringing home another dog tonight. Jade is a dog that was picked up as a stray at the North County shelter. I saw her there a couple of months ago, and wanted to take her but didn't have room. Another Heartland foster mom volunteered to take her for me, and has been keeping her at her house for the past month getting her ready for adoption. She's now been vaccinated and spayed and is all ready to be adopted - she's even on the website already. I named her Jade, because one of our previous adopters kindly donated some old leashes and bandanas and collars, and one of the bandanas was monogrammed with the name Jade. So I told them we could still use it, and would just name one of our fosters Jade! So she doesn't have green eyes, but I checked and the gemstone jade actually does come in the color black, so its all okay. :-) I just have to remember to put the bandana on her at adoption events now!

Anyway, I'm going out to the other foster mom's house tonight and I plan to bring Jade home, so she has more room for some new dogs that she recently took in (she has the cutest baby beagles I've ever seen - I just want to take them home and KEEP them!) . Jade has been a little bit nervous around other dogs at her house, even though she did fine at the shelter with other dogs before we got her. I hope that she'll be okay at my house with Remi and Noah, but if she's not, it may be a very short visit and then back to her current home. Maybe I'll get the beagles instead. (just kidding, Gina... unless you like the idea.) :-) My favorite thing about Jade is that one of her ears is always straight up, and the other one is always flopped over at the very tip. It's so cute. I hope to get some better pictures of her while she's at my house - the one on the website is one I took but I don't like it very much. I'll try to get some more pictures of Reese and Skittles while I'm at it. They're done with their quarantine now, and they're both doing great. They LOVE to play together, and they are just so cute when they hop around attacking each other with puppy sneak attacks.

Introducing Skittles and Reese

This is Skittles! She is a typical puppy - just wants to play, get attention, eat, and then play some more! She has very soft fur, and is so fun to hold and cuddle.




This is Reese. She is very quiet - I've only heard her bark once. She is small - maybe around the size of a Jack Russell Terrorist, but of course she's much quieter than a JRT. :-) I'll have more information on both of these girls and how old they are when I get back from the vet today!

These puppies both came from the North County animal shelter. The shelter had over 150 animals there on Tuesday, and most of them were going to be euthanized the next morning. Most of these pets came to the shelter as strays, and the owners don't want to pay (cost of vaccinations and spay/neuter) to get the animals out, so they just get another one from a backyard breeder. The animals pay the price with their lives.

I can't save all of them, but we saved two of them. I grew up in North County, so I feel especially concerned about the animals at this shelter. Once they're picked up by animal control, they are given 6 days to be claimed. If they are not claimed during this time, and no one has shown any interest in adopting them, they are euthanized immediately. Look at Reese and Skittles - could you leave them there to be killed once you saw them? I hate that I also had to leave Oreo and Salt & Pepper and Simon and Pepsi behind. They were other ones at the shelter that I really wanted to take - they were just as cute, or even cuter than Skittles and Reese, but I couldn't save them.
A couple people have said that four foster dogs is too many. That might just be because my family is worried about me going nuts from all the dogs. :-) In my opinion, however many animals you have, if you can take good care of them, that is the important thing. And Skittles and Reese are getting very good care at my house, just like all my other foster animals. Our fosters have great medical care thanks to Heartland, they have lots of play time with each other, lots of outdoor time (dogs only of course), and lots of one-on-one time with me or my husband. Right now both puppies are quarantined to make sure they are not sick - many animals coming from the shelter have been exposed to viruses that may not show symptoms for several days. So they each have their own bedroom, and they have to stay by themselves until their quarantine time is up. Then they'll be able to join the rest of the household, and sleep in our room (in a crate until they're housetrained), and play with the other dogs. So I don't think I have too many animals - I love them, and love fostering! I admit it has become a second job - I get up an hour earlier in order to get them all fed and outside and back in before I go to work, and then I spend most of my evening with them, either feeding or playing with or cleaning up after them. I don't watch TV much anymore, or play computer games, but I enjoy being with the animals so much more. If I had less fosters, I'd have more time for "entertainment" but it would be much less entertaining than watching my puppies or kittens. :-) And one of the awesome things about fostering is that I can always take in less when I need a break! I just wish we had more foster homes and adopters - there are so many more cute puppies and kittens, and dogs and cats, at North County and other shelters that are being euthanized every day just because there aren't enough animal lovers out there that are willing (or know how) to foster. If its something you'd be interested in, check out http://www.hhsrescue.com/ for more information. You can even foster Skittles or Reese once their quarantine time is up, and I'll go get another one. ;-)

For those of you who have adopted a dog or cat from Heartland or another shelter/rescue group - thank you for being part of the solution! It does no good to foster these animals if they can't find good homes to adopt them, so without you, these animals wouldn't have a chance! And if your adopted dog or cat needs a playmate, consider adopting or fostering another one. ;-)