Thor the Dock-Diving Burglar

One month ago, I wrote about Thor and how he broke into my house by pushing his way through a perfectly good window screen. I thought about putting bars over all my windows to keep burglars like Thor out, but I did not take such drastic action. And now I regret it.

Thor

My house is built on a hill, and when Thor came in the house via the back window, he was level with the back yard. The windows in the front of the house are at least six or eight feet above the front yard, so there was no need to worry about burglars like Thor -- or so I thought. But when I left Thor and the other dogs in the house and went onto the front porch to change a light bulb, all of a sudden I heard a loud CRASH and then a louder rustling noise. I looked over, and there was Thor. This time, instead of breaking INTO the house, he broke OUT of the house, and ruined yet another window screen in the process. Fortunately he fell into a large evergreen bush and was not injured. In fact, he looked quite proud of himself as he walked up to me. I wonder if he thinks I’m playing hide-and-go-seek with him!

So I’ve learned two things from this. First, I believe Thor would make an excellent Dock Diving champion in the Heavyweight division. And second, I really need to stop leaving windows open when Thor is around.

Introducing Thor the Burglar

Thor was a stray found by one of my neighbors.  He had a microchip which led to the discovery that Thor's owner had passed away several months ago, and Thor was in need of a new home.  And so somehow I found myself saying "I can keep him until he's adopted".  Thor is eight years old, and he has terrible ear infections in both ears.  Have you ever had to put ear medicine into a dog's ear twice a day for two weeks?  It is a challenge - especially when the dog is in pain, which Thor is.  It helps if the dog is small, because it's easier to hold them in place.  However Thor is a 103 pound German Shepherd, so holding him in place while trying to dispense the medicine is not so easy.  I'm thinking that the whole experience burns enough calories for both of us that we don't need to exercise.  That's my excuse for this week anyway.

Today Thor decided to expend a little bit of extra energy to reach a goal.  He doesn't like to be outside unless I'm with him.  I went in to answer the phone while he and the other dogs were outside, and then a few minutes later I heard noises coming from down the hall.  I didn't think much about it, because I have two new cats in one of the rooms, and thought they were probably just playing.  But after I got off the phone, I went to check on them.

When I found both cats sleeping and no evidence of anything they'd been doing to make noise, I thought to myself it was nothing, but just to be sure I would check Ziggy's room, which is right across the hall.  Ziggy was outside in the front so the room should have been empty.  So I was more than a little surprised to open the door and find three dogs inside the room.

Scene of the crime

I had left the window open to get some fresh air into the room, and Thor decided he wasn't going to let a little thing like a brand new window screen stop him from getting back into the house.  It's true that I have no proof it was Thor.  But Ziggy wasn't in the back yard, so I can't blame him, and none of the other dogs have ever minded being outside without me.  They've also never forced their way through a screen to get inside.

So much for that window screen

What's odd is that there were six dogs in the backyard, and the three I found in Ziggy's room were all German Shepherds or Shepherd mixes.  Does this mean GSDs (German Shepherd Dogs) are more sneaky than other breeds?

Sadly, Ziggy will not be getting any fresh air into his room until I get his brand new window screen repaired.  A 103 pound dog leaves quite a big hole in a screen!

Introducing Morgan

I walked into the animal shelter with plans to talk to one of the workers about a cat, and then get out.  I had six foster dogs at home, and no interest in adding to that number.  But of course it's very difficult, if not impossible, for a dog rescuer to enter an animal shelter and NOT look at the dogs.  So I decided to just walk through and say hi to them - nothing more.  There was a beautiful red pit bull there, appropriately named "Red".  He lay by the door, looking quietly at me.  He looked sad, and he didn't get up or bark or do anything but look at me with big eyes that looked hopeless.  I had just found out that my work was going to be laying off people at the end of the year, and I was one of the people who would be cut, so I was just as sad as he was.  His family had gone to a homeless shelter and had to turn him in to the animal shelter.  He felt even more lost than I did at that moment.  So I felt an instant connection to him.  Still, I have Ziggy and Roxy, both pit bull fosters, and it would be very tough to bring in another big dog right now, so I kept walking and greeting all the dogs.  Then I stopped back by the office and let them know that if Red ran out of time, to please contact me first.  Like most shelters and rescues in the area (and all over the country), pit bulls are very difficult to adopt out.  I don't know if I'll be able to save Red even if they contact me, but I couldn't just leave him there without doing something.  If Roxy or Ziggy (ha) gets adopted then Red will be the first pit bull I will try to save.  As it was, as I talked to the manager about Red, she told me about another dog that was out of time right then.  This dog was a puggle. Puggles are a designer mix of a Pug and a Beagle.  They're not my favorite breeds, and our group already had two Puggles available for adoption, so I immediately thought I'd be able to say no.  I wasn't looking for a new foster dog, and especially not another problem dog.  As sad as it was that this dog was out of options, I have to say no to dogs that are out of options every day, so this one would be no different.  Then she showed me the puggle.  And I sighed.  Because the puggle was so extraordinarily cute and happy to see us.  She jumped in the air, and ran in circles, and smiled a giant smile.  And she cheered me up and made me forget all my problems.  And I couldn't walk away.  I asked about the reason she was out of time, and they explained that she had separation anxiety.  Many dogs have this to some degree, including my foster dog Roxy, so I wasn't too concerned.  But the reason they weren't making her available for adoption anymore was because she'd already been adopted and returned.  And adopted again and returned.  Then a third time.  And a fourth.  After the fourth return, they said they couldn't keep doing that to her.  Obviously her separation anxiety issues were pretty severe, and not something they were able to work with in a shelter environment.  But the only complaint the last owners had made when they returned her was that she barked nonstop when they left and the neighbors had complained.  I live in the country and have no close neighbors, so I said okay, I'll take her and see what I can do.  

I took her to my mom's house and kid-tested her with my young niece and nephews.  She did great!  Then I took her home and cat tested her - passed with flying colors.  Then a slower introduction to the other dogs, and again, she was perfect.  Then after she was settled in and comfortable, we performed the first test of her separation anxiety.  I put her in a wire crate with a bed, some water, and a couple of toys.  I sat down on the couch in the next room where she could still see me, and I ignored her as she barked and cried.  This went on for awhile, and I wasn't looking at her because I didn't want to encourage the barking.  Suddenly I realized the barking sounded closer.  I looked over, and she was out of her crate and standing behind the baby gate, still trying to get to me.  So I investigated and this is what I found:

 Somehow she'd managed to bend out the wires in the top of the crate and crawl out.  I was amazed.  She then proceeded to jump over the three foot high baby gate to get to me.  I was even more amazed.  So I named her Morgan after the famous female escape artist.  Because if the human Morgan ever needs an assistant, I think puggle Morgan is the one for her!

I have had to leave Morgan a couple of times since she arrived, and have found a plastic crate that so far she has not figured out how to escape from.  She does continue to bark while I'm gone, but I've received some helpful advice from some Facebook friends and I don't think her separation anxiety is anything too serious.  We'll keep working on it and I'll try to find her a permanent home with someone who is able to also work with her, and is home most of the time to make it as easy on her as possible.  Until then, I guess she's my therapy dog, because it's hard to be sad when you have a dog who looks at you like this:

Ziggy Redecorates

I had such good intentions.  Ziggy spends most of his time in his crate, because he can't be trusted alone with other pets.  I can't leave him alone in the house even when there are no other pets, because he has a history of chewing boxes, breaking glass, counter surfing, and helping with chores.  Since Ziggy does not like to be outside alone, I decided to give him his own room in the house.  A room that had been stripped of all decorations, furniture, and even most of the baseboards.  Surely this would be a safe place for Ziggy to hang out and have a little bit more room.  I originally had used the room for foster cats, so my husband had put down a vinyl floor for easy cleaning, and I'd filled the room with cat trees, toys, litter boxes, and everything a cat could want.  Except it wasn't everything a cat could want.  I currently have four cats living in my house, and all four have migrated from the cat room into my bedroom.  No matter how many times I put them back in the cat room, they insist on jumping the baby gate and immediately returning to my bedroom.  I finally gave up and moved their stuff to the small office next to my bedroom so they no longer had to run the gauntlet of dogs in the living room/kitchen area each time I tried to relocate them.  This meant the old cat room was available to become Ziggy's room.  And to be on the safe side, I put in toys, chew bones, and even a cow hoof, one of Ziggy's favorite items to chew.  I left his crate door open and settled down in the living room with one ear tuned to any suspicious sounds coming from the room.  It didn't take long for him to finish the food in his Kong Wobbler, and soon the noises of him playing with the dog toy changed.  It took me a few minutes to realize it and go investigate.

Oh, hi mom!

I've been doing some redecorating. 

Do you like it?

I'll be finished up in just another hour or two.

At that point I had to intervene and tell Ziggy that as proud as he was of his redecorating.. and even though I DID tell him it was his very own room... he still was not allowed to tear out the entire floor and remove the remaining baseboards.  So Ziggy is back to living in his crate and hoping to be adopted by someone who will appreciate his redecorating talents.

Ziggy Gets In Trouble

Ziggy was sent home early from the adoption event yesterday for misbehavior.  He decided that he didn't like being around other dogs, so since we were at a pet store filled with dogs, he had to stay in his crate.  However once he started trying to destroy his crate, he left me no option but to send him home. 

I returned to the adoption event, while Ziggy took a nice long nap.  By the time I returned home again, I was exhausted and he was full of energy.  That is how this happened:

I knew what he was doing.  I had a large Great Dane sized crate in a box in my living room.  I heard him knock over the box and start chewing on it.  But I was so tired, and he was happy, and he wasn't hurting anything except some cardboard that is easily cleaned up.  So I decided I didn't care to stop him.  I went back to the kitchen and left him alone with the box.  Then Noelle decided to get in on the act. 



What'cha doing Ziggy?  That looks like fun!

 Remi took a supervisory role:

Quite impressive for a small doggie such as yourself.



That cardboard piece is longer than me! 

And finally I found something that kept Ziggy busy for almost 20 minutes!


 True, there's still a huge mess in my living room waiting to be cleaned up.  But the peace and quiet I got while he worked on destroying the box was totally worth it!

Ziggy likes Coca-Cola

I know this, because he drank three of them yesterday morning. At a time when I mistakenly thought he was safely ensconced in his crate, happily eating breakfast, he was instead roaming the kitchen, looking for something more appetizing than his dog food. While I was in another room scooping litter boxes and giving the prisoners cats their morning rations breakfast, Ziggy was doing this.

And this.

Oh yes, and this.

Fortunately I returned in time to save many of the sodas that were originally in the case. Only three of them were actually opened, although one entire wall of the living room was covered with soda from floor to ceiling. I guess puncture holes from a dog's tooth will do that. Soda had also found its way into the carpet, onto Remi's futon, and on the couch. And quite possibly into Ziggy's stomach.

Remi checked out the spilled soda, but maybe he is a Pepsi fan like me, because he decided not to drink any of it. Although he does seem to enjoy the new Coke-scented aroma of his futon now.

Choices

Given the choice between a Nylabone, a real deer antler, and a sterilized bone, Noelle chose to chew on the plastic cup.  You'll notice that wasn't in her original list of choices - but that is probably what makes it so much fun to chew on. 

I believe this is Noelle practicing her best "who me?" look.  She may be suggesting that she has really been busy chewing the deer antler under her front leg, and the cup just happened to end up right there in front of her somehow.  

Rotating toys is one good way to keep each toy "new" and your dog interested in playing with it.  We do a lot of rotating toys around here, although I'm not sure how much it helps.  In the short 3 minutes that I've been working on this post, I've been interrupted twice three times in order to take away my cell phone, a shoe, and now the TV remote, from Ziggy.  You would think I would have this house puppy proofed by now, but at the rate Ziggy is growing, it's getting harder to find safe places to keep things!

How To Be Beyootiful (Guest Post by Noelle)

Well finally Mom said it was my turn to post. I (Noelle) have been waiting impatiently all week (although the chew bones helped), and now I will finally get a chance to tell you about my experiment last week. My human sister Rachael was here visiting recently, and she is one of my Most Favorite People. She is also one of the prettiest human girls I have ever seen, so I decided I wanted to look beyootiful like her. So since I have watched her put on makeup, I thought if I put some on, I too could look beyootiful.

How do I look? I worked really hard on it and tried to get a little bit of the makeup everywhere.

Oops - looks like I got it on the carpet too.  Oh well, I'm sure Mom won't mind - now the carpet is even prettier. 

I asked Rachael what she thought.

She said I did a good job, and then Mom took our picture together.   

But then Mom said that doggies don't wear makeup, so I guess this might be the last time I ever look beyootiful.  Mom said she hopes it is the last time that Rachael leaves her makeup unattended too.

My Foster Brother Ziggy (Guest Post by Noelle)

Hello my furiends. Noelle here. Today was supposed to be Ziggy's turn to post, but when Mom asked him if he wanted a turn to write a blog post, he said "Huh?" "Whaa?" And then he started chewing on her shoelaces, so she said I could write the post for him. I'm still not quite clear on why the fosters get to write their own posts before Remi and I do, but whenever I ask Mom, she just gives me a chew bone instead of answering, so I really don't mind so much.
So since this post is supposed to be Ziggy's turn, let me tell you a little bit about my foster brother. He's quite a handsome fella, although Mom says that is all he has going for him.

I quite admire his ability to disregard all commands, requests, instructions, and rules, and just live his life without regard for anyone or anything around him. To me, he embodies the concept of freedom. Freedom to enjoy life as it is meant to be enjoyed. No rules to follow. No people to please. No future to be concerned with. Ziggy lives for the moment, and not only does he not worry about the consequences of his actions, but he doesn't even understand that there are consequences. That, my furiends, is freedom.

The Zigster, as he is known, loves to chew. He is a chewing machine. He shredded Mom's barstool while she was sitting on it yesterday, and she didn't even realize it.  She had sprayed it liberally with some no-chew spray, and she thought it was working.  Obviously not. 

I am in awe of his chewing talent. And Mom says he has nothing going for him other than his looks. Boy is she wrong. Not only can he chew up anything, but he does it faster than any dog I've ever met. If there is ever a chewing contest, I'd bet my entire supply of chew bones that the Zigster would win. My foster brother is amazing. I could be quite happy without the constant stream of dogs coming in and out of my house, but in Ziggy's case, I must say I'm a better dog for having known him.

Ziggy's Fan Club

A friend of mine recently suggested that if I really want to find my foster dog Ziggy a home, I should probably talk a little bit nicer about him on my blog. Well, I really do want to find him a home, but I just can't keep the Ziggy stories to myself.  He's a menace, I tell you.  Well, maybe not a menace.  But definitely a challenge.  And he's too entertaining to not talk about.  Plus his new adopters, if he ever gets any, will quickly find that out for themselves.  So I have to be honest and make sure they know what they're getting into. 

Several people on here have mentioned that they like Ziggy - a lot - so I thought maybe if I start his own fan club, he'd be the only foster dog in the area with a fan club of his own.  Surely THAT would make up for some of my Ziggy stories... wouldn't it?  Before you answer that, I have to tell you my latest Ziggy story.

The other day, instead of putting Ziggy in his crate while I was at work, I left him in an exercise pen.  It's kind of like an indoor big wire kennel without a top, and it gives him more room to move around.  However, the door was bent and while I was gone, Ziggy made his escape.  And did this to the blinds.

Yeah, I'm not sure a fan club is going to help make up for that.  But somehow sharing all the damages that my fosters do with you makes me feel better. He also got into the cats' room and ate all of their food and most of their toys. 

Ziggy doesn't mean to cause harm to anyone or anything - he just likes to chew.  Everything.  Yesterday I snapped this picture of my stepdaughter Rachael with Ziggy. 

Look closely and you can see he is chewing on her hand.  I didn't notice at the time or I would have stopped him.  I am finally starting to make some progress on teaching him that people are not for chewing (we've only been working on it for four months - he's very tenacious!)  Sigh.  Please check out Ziggy's Fan Page and leave a comment if you'd like to become a fan.  I promise not to let him visit. 

Puppy Withdrawal

Yesterday's post about puppies has brought me into puppy withdrawal.  I need a fix.  So I was very relieved when a friend invited me over to  take pictures of her two foster puppies.  They are four-month-old pug/poodle mixes, so I was expecting them to be tiny.  But then I found out the poodle was a Standard Poodle, not a Miniature Poodle.  They have the funniest long legs, and cute little pug-like curly tails.  My friend says they jump like grasshoppers.  I think they might need to jump their way over to my house so I can spend more time with them.  Because the short time I was there taking their pictures was just not enough.  How can you not fall in love with this?

Both my friend and I have decided that fostering puppies requires a second job to pay for all the repairs that need to be done once puppies arrive.  One of her two puppies ate her computer adapter.  And yesterday as I was writing a blog post, Ziggy ate through my wireless router Ethernet cable.  Perhaps he thought he could start his own blog by chewing on the wires. 

I have a theory.  I think if you foster puppies and they aren't destroying things now and then, you're not giving them enough freedom.  When you foster multiple animals, it's not possible to watch each one every second (it takes approximately 5 seconds for Ziggy to chew through a computer cable). And part of being a good foster parent is preparing the dog for its future adoptive home.  If the dogs don't get a chance to make a mistake, they aren't going to learn how to live in a house.  For example, Ziggy has now learned that chewing on Ethernet cables makes humans very upset.  And in my opinion, the cost of a new computer cord is a small price to pay to keep my fosters from living out their lives in crates, and to help prepare them for their future homes.  It's just an opinion, but fortunately its one my husband agrees with.  Although I haven't yet explained to him why the wireless stopped working and he can no longer use the laptop downstairs.  I wonder if "technical glitch" will hold up long enough for me to go find another Ethernet cable.   

Culprit Identified!!

Continued from A Detective Story - Part 1, and A Detective Story - Part 2...


Earlier this week, I posted about a crime that was committed in my living room.  An investigation took place, and finally yesterday came a break in the case.  I received this e-mail...

I was reading your detective blog and was wondering if there was a reward for turning in and conviction of the felon?

I was intrigued.  The e-mail came from a friend who is temporarily housing one of the suspects.  Did she have proof that the suspect she is housing was guilty?  I quickly offered a very large reward of $0.25 for any information leading to the identification of the suspect.  She went on to send the following:

I hate to be a rat but I caught Duke trying to eat my wall while I was watching TV. Luckily I heard him and caught him in the act.  I had to tell him twice to leave the wall alone. I know it will be circumstantial evidence but......if I were on a jury I would convict Duke.

Best regards,
Bev the snitch

Thank you Bev.  I know you will use the reward money wisely.  Perhaps you can put it into a fund for wall repairs. 

Now about the other suspects.  All survellience of the crime scene has been halted, and each suspect - I mean foster pet - is once again free to roam the house within the limits allowed.  As for Duke - well, I will be sure to warn anyone who wants to adopt him to watch him around walls.  And in the meantime, I think Bev's house is an excellent place for him to stay. 

Those of you who tried to blame the cats (I believe it was only dog visitors who did so) should now apologize to the cats.  Those of you who defended the cats or Ziggy have been vindicated!  Anyone who has some demolition they need done on a wall should contact Duke directly. 

Part 1 of

A Detective Story - part 1

Last week my husband called me at work to alert me to the fact that a crime had been committed in our house.  When I got home, I confirmed his initial report.  Someone had vandalized the wall/support post in our foyer.

Evidence Exhibit A:

I immediately began investigating.  I started with an interview of the reporting officer - in this case, my husband Dave.  He related his suspicions that one of the dogs or cats was to blame.  He also suggested that proper supervision of the animals was lacking on the part of the main foster caregiver.  Since I'm the main foster caregiver, I quickly dismissed that accusation and moved on to the next phase of the investigation.

I felt it reasonable to believe that either a dog or cat had commited the henious crime, since as far as I know the fish are not capable of this sort of vandalism.  So my next step was to try to determine how the damage had been done.  A comparison of the crime scene was made with other similar crimes that have been committed in the past. 

Evidence Exhibit B:

I know for a fact that this vandalization of the kitchen wall was committed by one or more young canines, hereafter referred to as puppies.  The puppies were thought to be safely enclosed in an ex-pen, but the pen was placed too close to the wall, and the puppies tried to dig to freedom.  While their escape was prevented due to the ex-pen, they did manage to remove a nice round circle of drywall from the kitchen wall. 

Since said puppies have since been adopted out, they cannot be implicated in this crime.  Therefore, I next turned my attention to another similar crime scene.

Evidence Exhibit C:

This crime was committed by one or more members of the feline family.  While the guilty cat or cats have not yet been determined, due to the age of this vandalism and the fact that it has not been repeated since the original incident, I believe the guilty party has also been adopted out. 

Which brings me back to the recent crime that has taken place.  From the initial inspection, I am inclined to believe the damage was done by a puppy or dog.  There are no long scratch marks indicitive of a feline perpetrator, and the location of the damage (in the living room/foyer area) suggests a canine is most likely responsible.

However, since the dogs are supervised much more closely than the cats, I do not believe they would have had the time to get away with such a crime without being caught.  This bears further study, so the next step will be to round up the suspects.  Stay tuned this week as I make additional deductions in an attempt to determine the guilty party.

<Click here for part two of the investigation>

Challenges of Fostering

Okay, by popular demand, here are my top ten challenges of being a dog foster mom:

10. Damage. Such as a chewed up cell phone, half-eaten cowboy boots, damaged drywall and baseboards, de-stuffed pillows and comforters, countless torn socks, leaky chewed-on ink pens, spilled water vases, scratched up walls, and missing (and presumably eaten) loaves of bread, bags of chips, and occasionally hamburgers. This is mostly preventable with good supervision, but accidents do happen, and sometimes one of the foster pets (or Noelle) gets away with something while I'm not looking. And with a constant stream of new dogs and cats - many of whom are not familiar with good house manners - it's a constant challenge.

9. Compassion Fatigue. Compassion is not only having a feeling of sympathy and sorrow, but also having a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. But after seeing the need, day after day, and year after year, most people get burned out and just lose that desire. I've only been doing this for two years, and already it doesn't bother me as much to turn away a dog as it used to. I have to stay focused on the dogs that I can help, which can be a challenge in the midst of the many requests I receive that I am not able to help.

8. Cost. Pets are expensive. I'm sure most of you reading this have pets, and you already know that. Fortunately rescue groups are able to cover the big expenses - vet bills. Many rescue groups also provide dog and cat food. Which is great because I couldn't afford to foster so many pets otherwise - food is also expensive!! But there are many other expenses that come along with fostering. There are the crates, and the dog and cat beds... the dog toys and cat scratching posts and dog chew bones and cat litter. I could do without some of these (not the cat litter), and other things are donated, which is GREATLY appreciated. But it's amazing how much money I still manage to spend on my foster pets. Fortunately I have a good job and no social life, so I don't have a problem spoiling my fosters.  Or buying toys for them to get their heads stuck in.

7. Politics. When I first got into rescue I questioned why there were so many separate groups, and why they didn't all work together. I was naive, and had no idea how many differing opinions people had about a wide variety of subjects related to animal rescue. While I've been fortunate to work with two very good rescue groups, I've met many different people from many different rescues. And in the past two years I've been told more than once that I'm doing certain things wrong. And I've heard a lot of complaints about other rescue people and how they do things. I've even heard people say that people are doing rescue for the wrong reason. I still haven't figured out what the wrong reason would be. I can't imagine anyone going through all the challenges of rescue and still rescuing, for any reason other than they want to help save lives. Sometimes the politics of small organizations full of highly committed, emotional people can be a real challenge.

6. Unwanted Foster. Many times I offer to take a dog or a cat without ever meeting them, or even seeing a picture of them. This is always scary, because I don't know what I will end up with. A pet with long-term health issues? A foster that I just don't feel a connection with? It happens occasionally, as much as I hate to admit it. And when that same dog or cat is not very adoptable, I'm stuck with them. For months, or longer. Again, I've been fortunate to work with groups who are great about helping out in that situation. But there are never any easy answers for pets like that. So it's one more challenge to fostering.  And by the way, this photo is of Noelle, our long-term foster who we loved so much we finally adopted.

5. Mud and Worse. I bought a new carpet cleaner yesterday. My last one lasted less than a year. It got a lot of use because of my foster pets. I've learned that dog vomit has some amazing adhesive properties, and that if I could identify them, I could probably invent a new type of glue and make a ton of money.  Until then, it just adheres to my carpet and gives me a lot of opportunity to use my carpet cleaner.  Many dogs have a reaction to the anesthetic used during spay and neuter surgeries and they end up vomiting after the surgery.   So I see more dog vomit than most people.  I also clean up accidents from un-housetrained dogs on a regular basis.  And of course there's the occasional cat who forgets to use the litterbox.  All in all, I spend a lot of my time just cleaning up after my pets.  Which is the excuse I use on a regular basis to justify to my husband why I don't have time to cook dinner for him. 

4.  People.  People can be on the best and worst list of fostering challenges.  Because as much as we do this to save animals, this is truly a people-oriented job.  We can't save more animals until we adopt them out, which requires good people skills.  We can't function without donations, which come from people.  And we wouldn't be needed at all if people would care for their pets properly.  If we could teach everyone to spay/neuter their pets to prevent unwanted litters, and to make a lifelong committment to their pets, we would put ourselves out of a job - which is what every true rescue person wants.  But if we only save animals and don't want to deal with "the public", we hurt our own cause.  Still, dealing with people is one of the biggest challenges for many rescue people.  And its totally understandable when we hear things like "come get this dog today or i'm gonna shoot him".  And "my cat has kittens, can you take them again? Yes its her fourth litter, and we got the voucher for her spay surgery you sent us last time, but we haven't had time to get her spayed yet."  Many people still see animals as throw-away possessions, not living beings.  So we have to continue working to change that. 

3.  Saying Good-bye.  Did you expect that to be the number one challenge?  It's definitely one of the hardest parts of fostering.  My most recent temporary foster - the Min-Pin/Pug puppy - was adopted tonight.  And I miss her.  But I know she's in a wonderful home - one of those homes that I feel really good about - and I'm happy about that.  I take in each new foster knowing that I can't keep them, so that makes giving them up a bit easier.  But still it is never easy.

2. Returns.  Everyone who adopts from me signs an adoption agreement that requires them to return the pet to me if they ever can't keep it.  When I take in a foster pet, I am committed to that pet for life, and I always want them back if their adoptive family can't keep them.  But returns are also a challenge because they are one more pet that you weren't expecting right then.  They also sometimes come back due to a problem - perhaps the dog snapped at a child, or the cat stopped using the litterbox.  So that's one more thing to have to resolve in order to be able to place that pet up for adoption again.  Some returns are understandable, and I wouldn't hesitate to adopt to the same person again if their situation changed.  But others are very frustrating because the new owners didn't take the time to try to resolve an issue, or simply decided the pet was inconvenient and wanted to give it back. 

1.  Losing a Pet.  This doesn't mean losing them like they run away - although I worry that will happen!  But when you do rescue, you will eventually face this challenge.  I have not faced this with any of my own fosters yet, and I dread the day I do.  But I have faced this with a dog that another rescue volunteer fostered.  The dog was taken in as a puppy, and as he grew he showed more and more behavior issues.  At her request, I also evaluated the dog and agreed with her that he was unadoptable, and together, along with the vet's recommendation, we made the decision to have him euthanized.  And I still think of him often.  Because that is never a decision that is made lightly, and it is an awful decision to have to make.  I think for me its the greatest challenge of fostering. 

Wow - that was depressing.  So okay, I'm getting to work on the flip side - the top ten joys of fostering - coming tomorrow!