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. 

Introducing Scamp

Koko's picture on CraigsList

]scamp: noun

1. an unscrupulous and often mischievous person; rascal; rogue; scalawag.

2. a playful, mischievous, or naughty young person; upstart.

Her name used to be Koko. When I saw her picture on Craigslist, I fell in love with her cute scruffy face and her big smile. I immediately contacted the owner and offered to take her as a foster dog. I expected that the owner would have several offers for this adorable dog, so I prepared myself for disappointment. But instead, I got a call from the owner, and she had only had a couple of people contact her about Koko, and those people had not followed through, so I was the lucky winner! At least that was how I thought of it at the time. I immediately shared her picture with anyone who would look, and anxiously waited for several hours before I was able to get her. I had not even met her yet, and I was in love.

Koko’s owner had a large family and due to losing their home, they had to move into a small rental property with no options to keep their dog. They loved her and wanted what was best for her, and I assured them I would take great care of her and find her the perfect home. I had no idea how she would do with other dogs – she had lived with an older dog and was said to be good with dogs but an “alpha”. I also had no idea how she would do with cats. I did know she was good with small children, which would help her get adopted. I figured between her perfect size (28 pounds) and cute looks, she’d be a very quick adoption. I should have known better.

Koko’s name was changed to Scamp for a reason. When I first brought her home, everything went great. She was already house-trained and crate-trained. She loved all the other dogs. She did chase the cats, but at least she didn’t try to eat them. More than once I considered keeping her. But I knew that once she settled in, I would start to see more bad habits appear. And appear they did.

I’ve found that Scamp has a very serious behavior problem. It’s found in dogs of all breeds – especially puppies -- but the Terrier breeds in particular seem to have this problem. It’s known as enthusiasm. It can cause uncontrolled joy, and outbursts of energy resulting in running, jumping, or otherwise acting out. I fear it will take months to teach Scamp to stop jumping on me and every other person she meets.

As an experienced dog foster mom and an amateur trainer, I’ve worked with various behavior problems ranging from extremely shy dogs to resource guarders to separation anxiety issues. But no behavior problem is harder for me to work with than enthusiasm. I just can’t bring myself to be stern with dogs who are so darn happy! I know it’s for their own good – most people don’t like dogs who can’t control themselves – but when I see them running and jumping and enjoying life, I just melt. I try not to let them walk all over me (too much) but it’s a constant battle. I see Scamp and I just want to let her throw herself into my arms and lick my face! In fact I admit to teaching her to jump into my arms on cue (with the excuse that I can then teach her to ONLY do it on cue) even though the only reason I did it was because it’s so much fun to have her jump into my arms.

So Scamp may never be well-trained, at least while she’s with me, but I don’t mind. I love her enthusiasm. And when I found that she can jump my six-foot-privacy-fence, a small part of me was relieved that it would make her that much harder to adopt out. Most people don’t want very high energy dogs, and those who do, don’t want a high-energy dog that can escape pretty much any fence out there. So I’ll be taking Scamp to the adoption event this weekend, but if anyone inquires about her, I’m going to be sure to let them know about her fence jumping and other bad habits. Because the truth is, looking back at when I considered myself lucky for getting Koko, I realize now that I wasn’t just the lucky winner, I was the Luckiest Winner There Ever Was. She brightens my days, and although I still haven’t decided that I can keep her forever, I’m going to enjoy every second of fostering her while she is here.