New Fosters

The Saturday before last was an amazing day.  The rescue group I volunteer with had eleven dogs adopted!  And even more importantly, we had two brand new foster volunteers join the group.  This means we'll be able to save more dogs! 

When we get new foster homes, we try to give them a dog that is already in one of our foster homes and ready for adoption.  This is because when we get in new dogs, we don't always know much about them.  Some of them will be heartworm positive or have other health issues that will require long-term care.  Others have issues like ear mites and worms that can be contagious to other pets so they have to be quarantined.  Plus the dogs may have behavior issues that will need to be worked with, and often new volunteers don't want to take in a dog that they quickly learn is pushy with other dogs, or doesn't like kids, or screams when unhappy.  Since we want to keep our new volunteers, we prefer to give them dogs that have already been evaluated and fully vetted and that we know will be a good fit for their home.  That way they have a good experience and keep coming back!   

Since I somehow always seem to have plenty of foster dogs around, I often end up moving one of my foster dogs to new foster homes.  Or in the case of the past few weeks, I moved three of my dogs to new foster homes!  Both Bogey the shy dog (now called Brody) and Lucky the deaf dog went to a volunteer who is new to fostering but absolutely wonderful with training and socializing dogs.  I've shared a few of their pictures on my Facebook page and they are both doing great!  Also Louie my shy but perfect foster dog went to another foster home where he is being spoiled rotten. 

There's one other thing you should know about new foster homes.  They have uncanny luck in getting their fosters adopted.  Even dogs that have been around for several months suddenly become adopted once going to a new foster home.  It is wonderful!  In this case, both Lucky and Louie have been adopted in the past week!  This means I was able to send out two more foster dogs to those foster homes!  I've also taken in several new dogs, and one new cat, so here's a quick update.

Hoppy is a three-legged cat who was turned into a shelter when his family said they no longer had time for him.  He is very sweet and loving, and he was adopted three weeks after I brought him home!

Josie is a female English Foxhound or Treeing Walker Coonhound mix (your choice).  She was left behind in the parking lot of a vet's office.  One of the vet techs rescued her and she went to another relatively new foster home.  She had a bit too much energy for them, and since they had no other pets for her to play with, we moved her to my house so she could have some other dogs to keep her busy.  My back yard is basically like a dog park with new dogs being introduced often, so she always has someone new to play with.  Right now she loves running and playing with Jax and Lacey.   

 
Since Josie's foster family was willing to take another dog, they took home Gemma the deaf pit bull mix.  And since Moose the Great Dane and all five of Lacey's puppies were adopted, that gave me room to take in a few new dogs.  So stay tuned for more new fosters, coming soon!

Introducing Moose; Puppy News

I've never been one of those people who dresses up their dogs.  Well, except Ziggy.  And an occasional puppy.  But the rest of the time?  I am lucky to dress myself, much less my dogs.  But then I got a new foster dog, and he came with his own coat.  And since it is very cold out, I got to dress him up too.  This is Moose wearing his coat on the way to the vet's office.  He prefers to sit in the front passenger seat. 

Granted, Moose is slightly larger than most dogs who wear clothes.  But even Great Danes get cold sometimes!

This is Moose standing on the snowy deck without any clothes on.  Doesn't he look cold?

Just look in his eyes - you can almost see him shivering.  Or perhaps that's a look of "what's wrong with you, crazy lady?  Put down the camera and let's go inside!" 

Moose is a two-year-old Great Dane.  He is a great dog, and lets me dress him up whenever I want to. 

In other news, Izzy the Great Pyrenees puppy was adopted after only one day at my house.  She went to a home with two other dogs, a cat, some older kids, and a mom who is a veterinarian and will be able to take her to work every day.  Eventually Izzy is going to learn to be a Therapy Dog, and next time I need therapy, I know just who to call!

In other, other news, Lacey's puppies will turn 8 weeks old tomorrow!  I've started receiving adoption applications on them, and I think some of them will be gone within the next few days!  Here are a few recent puppy pictures.  I've added thoughts for each puppy, in case you can't tell what they are thinking. 

Buster Brown

"What do you mean this bone is too big for me?"

Avia

"It's a long way down to the ground from here!"

Nike

"This is my toy, and you can't have it!"

Puma


"Who me?  I didn't do anything!"

 Teva

It's not easy being green...ish-yellow.

Catching Up

Between the holidays and recovering from a cold, I have fallen way behind. So here's a quick update on everyone, and going forward I will do my best to keep up with new pictures and stories!

When I last posted, I had ten dogs at my house. As of right now, I still have ten, but not the same ten! I still have Lacey and her five puppies, now named Nike (chocolate female), Puma (smallest black female), Buster Brown (black male), Teva (yellow female), and Avia (largest black female). The puppies continue to be brilliant and extremely advanced for their age of less than five weeks old! They already have distinct personalities. Nike is the most vocal and demanding - she's like the big sister to the rest. Puma is the quiet one, content to sit back and watch what is going on. Buster Brown is the sweet one who is the most affectionate of the bunch. Teva is the adorable one who likes to be in the middle of whatever is going on, and Avia is the hungry one who is always first to the food bowl! The pups are growing quickly and new pictures will be coming soon.

Ziggy is still at my house. He's almost completely destroyed his bachelor pad, including destuffing the dog bed, finding and eating several dewormer pills (20 times the dose he should have had - of course it had no effect on him), and managing to burn out every lightbulb except one. I'm not sure how he pulled that last one off, but I'm sure it was something he did. He received a wonderful Christmas gift from Blueberry's human, and I'll tell you all about it as soon as I download the pictures off of my camera.

Lucky the deaf dog is also still at my house. He actually went out on a trial adoption. It lasted a week, which is seven days longer than I expected. He was returned for wanting to eat the bird, among other things. Poor Lucky isn't having the best luck. Fortunately the bird was uninjured.

Allie the extremely energetic Akita mix was also adopted. She's currently on day 5 of the trial period. This is 5 days longer than I expected! If there is any dog out there that needs a home (besides Ziggy), Allie is the one. So I am praying that this trial adoption works out... and I'm considering changing my phone number just to be sure. Just kidding.

Natasha the extremely-obsessed-with-me Poodle mix also is out on a trial adoption. She has a lot better chance of success, but being that she's in a home where I don't live, there's no guarantee. This is the dog that has gone to two different homes for at least three weeks each, then come back to me and never even looked back at her previous caretaker. And yet if I take two steps away from her at an adoption event, she goes nuts. It's kind of scary.

On the other hand, Libby the deaf JRT sees me at an adoption event and looks right through me.  She's still at another foster home, where her foster mom reports she gets the same treatment.  This does not make it easy for Libby to get adopted since she ignores anyone and everyone equally, but at least it makes me feel better that it isn't just me that she treats this way.  And it sort of balances out Natasha's behavior. 

Trooper the Black Lab I found on the side of the road is back at my house now too.  He's recovered from his broken spine due to being hit by a car, and he is now available for adoption.  Trooper is a good dog and gets along with everyone except Lucky, so currently I have to keep Ziggy, Lucky, and Trooper apart from each other at all times. 

The only other dog that Trooper didn't get along with was another deaf white dog named Ozzie.  I temporarily fostered him for a few days, and Trooper and Ozzie became mortal enemies during this time.  Ozzie is a Westie mix we think, and he's the cutest little dog who is a typical terrier and willing to take on dogs three times his size.  He is now back in his original foster home and I have to admit I miss the little guy!  He is available for adoption and hopefully will find a forever home soon! 

I also have another male foster dog named Jax.  Jax was adopted out as a puppy and recently returned because he didn't do well with children.  Since Ozzie also didn't like Jax, Jax came to my house instead of going back to his original foster home.  I really like Jax - he's friendly and well-behaved and happy and easygoing and smart.  He gets along with all the other dogs too.  I'm going to take his picture one of these days and get him up on the website so he can get adopted.  Sometime soon. 

As if these five adults and five puppies weren't enough, I recently received some sad news that two of my previous foster dogs are being returned.  The first is Nosey, the blind Beagle puppy I fostered in October.  The family who adopted him have to move out of state into an apartment that doesn't allow dogs, so Nosey, now named Radar, will be coming back to me sometime soon.  The other return is Bogey, the very shy dog.  He has been in a foster-to-adopt situation for two months but the foster family finally decided that another dog would be a better fit for their home. So Bogey returns on Saturday.  In an ironic twist, I just realized that the same blog post where I introduced Bogey last February, I also announced Allie's original adoption.  Now I'm announcing Bogey's return and Allie's second potential adoption almost one year after that original post. 

If you've managed to read this far, thanks for hanging in there, and I promise to provide shorter posts in the future, along with more pictures.  You're welcome.