Cleo's Ears

When I first saw Cleo, she looked something like this:

Then, as she became more comfortable, her ears began to rise...

more and more.

 And now, her ears look something like this:

Unless she's really happy.  Then they look something like this:

I love when she's really happy.

Great Adoption Weekend!

My foster cat Simon was adopted on Thursday evening.  He went home with a young couple who are very excited to have a new member of the family.  Then today Tiggr went to his new home!  He was adopted by a single lady who recently lost her sixteen year old cat.  Each one will be an only cat and I think they'll do great in their new homes.  As if the two cat adoptions were not exciting enough, today we had a great adoption day at PetSmart as three dogs found homes, and one more is pending adoption (after a home visit).  First is Hunter, a large black lab that was most likely going to be euthanized if his foster mom had not pulled him from animal control.  The foster family adopted him and he is doing great in his new home.  The other two adoptions were both unexpected but people who were shopping just fell in love with them when they saw them, so they were in the right place at the right time.  Bailey the Chocolate Lab puppy was adopted, and Polly my foster Chihuahua was also adopted!   Arnold the pit bull/manatee also received an application for adoption and will hopefully be adopted pending a home visit. It is wonderful to see so many pets getting into homes.  

Now that we have some more openings for cats at PetSmart, I'm going to be sending Brie, Sorbet and Belle up to PetSmart so they will have more opportunities to be seen.  That will only leave me with Cleo, Ziggy and Kira and her kittens left here at home.  For now.  

I did manage to bring home two extra puppies, just for the weekend.  I was kind of surprised that neither of these cute puppies was adopted at the event today, but I'm sure it won't take long until they too are adopted!

More Introductions

I'd like to introduce you to a few more dogs and cats, if you don't mind.  I'll try to make this quick, because there are several of them.

First is Simon.  He's a gray tabby cat that came from a city shelter where he'd been living for seven months.  He's three years old, and he really wants a home of his own. 

Next, there's Polly.  She is one of the puppy mill dogs that All Paws took in about a month ago.  She's been in another foster home, where she had taken to climbing fences and bullying the other puppy mill chihuahuas, so she was sent to rehab at my house.  Ziggy volunteered to be the drill sergeant.

As if I didn't have enough cats running around, I went to a different city shelter and pulled this girl.  I named her Belle, and even though she's a Calico, she seems very sweet.  She is six years old and was in danger of being euthanized because of her "old age", so I had to take her.  This was the glare she gave me when I called her old.

And finally, I brought home this dog and named her Pebbles.  Then I remembered that I already had a foster dog named Pebbles previously so I changed it to Freckles.  Then I checked my blog while typing this post and realized I also had a foster dog named Freckles already.  So I think I'm naming her Cleo.  For now.  

She doesn't really have laser blue eyes.  She does however love to chase cats.  Which makes it not an easy foster situation for someone with three foster cats running around (plus two staying at PetSmart and Kira and her kittens in another room).  Wow - when I put it like that, it doesn't really sound all that crowded around here. 

So for those of you keeping track, here's the latest:


Remi (my Great Dane) is visiting Noelle (my deaf pit bull) and Dave (my husband) at the old house this week.
Ziggy (deaf foster pit bull) is starting his own boot camp to keep the other dogs in line.
Polly (foster Chihuahua) is learning how to be a real dog instead of a puppy-making machine.
Cleo (foster Beagle mix) is learning the new rules of the house and enjoying life out of a shelter.
Simon (foster tabby cat) is living at PetSmart and hoping to be adopted.
Tiggr (foster tabby cat) moved to PetSmart today and is hoping to be adopted again.
Belle (foster calico cat) is living in a quarantined area (aka my bathroom) until she can be tested/vetted.
Brie (foster tabby cat) is hiding in the home office.
Sorbet (foster Siamese mix) is exploring the entire house and still bouncing off walls.
Kira (foster torbie cat) and Kona (kitten) and Kimba (kitten) are living in the "cat room".
Merlin (my cat) is enjoying the new house and all the new friends.  I'm sure of it.


Now I'm planning on no more new fosters until I get some adoptions!  

Missy was Adopted!

Missy went out on a trial adoption on Saturday.   When I first met the couple, I knew they looked familiar, but couldn't place them.  Then they reminded me that a couple of years ago they had been interested in adopting Noelle.  At the time she was my long-time foster dog (kind of like Ziggy) and I was very hopeful that this would be a good fit for her.  I did a home visit, but Noelle was a bit too much for their cats, so it was decided that it wasn't a good fit.  I think Missy will be a much better fit, and am hopeful that this will be her happily ever after!

Mouse Race Results

A while back we had a contest to name a mouse at an All Paws Rescue mouse-racing fundraiser.  Frankie Furter was the winner of the contest, and he named his mouse "WINNER".  I thought this was a great name, so when the time came, I quickly bet all of my chips on WINNER. 

Perhaps I should have checked out the mouse before making this decision.  The mice each spent time right before their race in a small cage with a wheel so they could "warm up" for the race. 

Winner spent his time sleeping.

Still, he turned out to be quite a fast runner.  If only he hadn't had so much trouble with the hurdles.  I recorded the race on video so you could see the results yourself.  That's Winner in lane four. 

View on YouTube

Even if Winner wasn't the big winner, the important thing was that everyone had a great time and we raised money for three rescue groups at the same time! 

Introducing Brie and Sorbet; Tiggr was Returned

I didn't name these two kittens. I just kept the names they were given at the shelter. Kittens are often given weird names, especially when there are so many coming into a shelter on a regular basis.  It's a sign of a good shelter that they were given names instead of just numbers!  The shelter where I found them is trying very hard to be both open-admission and no-kill.  They're doing a great job caring for the cats, but unfortunately they don't do as many adoptions in their location as they need.  These kittens were turned in by their "owners" when they were only ten weeks old.  There were originally three kittens in the litter, and when they were turned in they were thin, dirty, had fleas, worms and coccidia.  One of the kittens later died from coccidia, and only Brie and Sorbet survived.  They've been living in cages in the shelter since October!  They're now almost nine months old, and since they were ten weeks old, other than possibly some time in the shelter's play room, they've only known life in a cage. When I saw them there last week, among the many dozens of other cats, I immediately picked them out.  It was so hard to leave behind the rest of the cats, many of whom had been waiting even longer than these two. 

I was a bit worried about them since they've never really known life in a home.  Would they be scared in my house with all the normal household noises and the dogs barking?  Would they feel scared of all the open space since they've been confined for so long?  I put them together in the office and shut the door to let them get accustomed to the room without any distractions.  Next time I went in, this is what I found:

Brie

Brie was hiding behind the chair, looking very afraid.  I talked to her, and she let me pet her, but it was obvious that she was very nervous.  I had left a crate in the room which she ignored, but she later hid under the dog bed in the room and anytime the door opened or closed, I would find her either under the bed or running for the bed to hide.  When I'm there, she gets brave enough to come out and she purrs while I pet her, but even after a week she's still very frightened. 
Then there's her sister Sorbet. 


Sorbet

She's a bit different than Brie in both looks and personality.  Her beautiful blue eyes and unique markings are what first caught my attention, but if I had known what her personality was before pulling her from the shelter, I would have been a bit more prepared.  Shortly after I put Brie and Sorbet in the office, I heard a lot of thumping.  It sounded like the cats were bouncing off the walls.  And knocking down things on shelves and destroying the room.  I'm pretty sure that's exactly what Sorbet was doing.  When I went in and found Brie huddled behind the chair, Sorbet was right there looking out the door trying to see into the rest of the house.  I sat and talked to the cats, and while Brie just looked at me with fear in her eyes, Sorbet ran up to me and climbed in my lap and began purring.  Within 2 hours of being in the office, Sorbet had finished investigating everything in the room and playing with all the toys, and was back to bouncing off the walls.  I finally gave in and let her out into the main room of the house.  She came right out, met Missy and Remi, checked out the bedroom and the living room and the kitchen, and made herself right at home. I debated  letting her stay out all night, but I was afraid the entire house would be destroyed, so I put her back in the office. This cat is going to be so much trouble for some lucky family.  Because although she has unending energy, no fear, and way too much curiosity, she's also sweet and loving and affectionate.  I adore her.

I also received a call from Tiggr's adopters last night.  Although they love him and said he is everything they hoped for, they babysit for their 18 month old granddaughter and she has allergies to cats.  They haven't had cats in many years so they didn't know it until Tiggr came to live with them.  They were very sad to give him up, and I was sad for Tiggr's sake.  But he's back home with me again and will keep waiting for just the right home to come along!

Introducing Kira, Kona and Kimba

But first, my neighbor would like to have a word:

Moo!

I believe what she's trying to say is "Please, for the love of cows, stop taking my picture!"  I'm sorry, I can't help myself. 

What do you call a grumpy cow? 
Moo-dy. 

Okay, on to the introductions.  First is Kira.   Kira was found as a pregnant stray by a family who couldn't keep her, but they let her stay until she had her two kittens and we could make space for them in a foster home. The kittens are around six weeks old now. 

Kira is a beautiful cat who couldn't decide if she wanted to be a tabby or a tortoiseshell, so she picked both.  Her coloring is called "torbie" - a mix of the tabby pattern and the tortoiseshell markings.  She is small and quite young, although I'll have to wait until she goes to the vet to get a good estimate of her age. 

Kira is very friendly with people, but after one unfortunate encounter where Ziggy decided to break into her room, I quickly learned that Kira does NOT like dogs. 

The kittens are another story.  They aren't really afraid of anything, and see themselves as mighty hunters.  I'm pretty sure they would have gladly taken down Ziggy if Kira had not done such an excellent job of telling Ziggy to get out of their room in no uncertain terms.  Instead they had to settle for taking down my tennis shoes.  And each other.  And the collapsible cat cube.  And anything else they could get their paws on. 

The kittens and Kira are sharing an empty room in my house that I have specifically designated as a "cat room".  Since it'll still be another few weeks before the kittens are old enough to get vetted for adoption, I wanted to give them as much room as possible to run and play.

These kittens were very lucky - they've never known life in a cage.  Even so, I feel sorry for them being relegated to only one room of the house, with very little interaction with me and no interaction with any other pets or people.  It causes me to buy them lots and lots of cat toys to keep them entertained.  And to say, if you haven't considered it, think about fostering!  One momma cat and two kittens isn't very much work, and the entertainment they provide is well worth it!

This is Kona.

 And this is Kimba.

They're both girls, and they'll hopefully be ready for adoption in about three weeks! 

Not So Wordless Wednesday

This is Bailey.  She is a Chocolate Lab puppy that was at the adoption event on Saturday, also looking for a home.  

Peek-A-Boo!

For some reason, I look at this cute puppy and I am reminded of a puppy that I fostered many years ago.



I See You!

There's a certain similarity in their facial expressions, don't you think?  And okay fine, it hasn't been many years since I fostered this oh-so-goofy puppy.  It's only been a year since this picture was taken. But somehow, with Ziggy, hours can seem like days, and days can seem like weeks, and it's hard to remember when he was this little! 

All About Arnold

This is Arnold:

 He's an American Pit Bull Terrier.  Possibly mixed with manatee. 

Can you see the resemblance?

 Here are some other reasons that I believe Arnold may be part manatee.


1. Manatees are quite gentle. So is Arnold.

2. Manatees are agile. Arnold has taken some Agility classes.

3. Manatees often have scars due to boat collisions. Arnold has scars too.

4. Manatees like to eat plants. Arnold does too.

5. Manatees spend most of their time feeding, resting or traveling. So does Arnold.



All in all, I think it's safe to say that Arnold is definitely part manatee. He's being fostered by the trainer who is working with Ziggy and me. She claims he is 100% pure American Pit Bull Terrier. Her dog, Jack, is Arnold's littermate, which is how she ended up fostering Arnold when his family had to move to Ohio -to a city that doesn't allow pit bulls.  I haven't seen Jack yet, so I'm not sure if he looks like Arnold. But if he does, I might have to give her the bad news that her dog is also part manatee.


In spite of his dubious heritage, Arnold has done quite well for himself so far. He has been Temperament tested and certified through the American Temperament Test Society. He knows basic obedience (both on and off leash) and is currently enrolled in class and working towards his AKC Canine Good Citizenship. Now if he can just find a home with a family who doesn't mind his mixed-species heritage, he'll be all set!

Tiggr Was Adopted!

I did not expect it to happen so quickly. But the perfect family came along at just the right time, and now Tiggr is happily living his new life with a retired couple. Of course there are no shortage of cats needing help, so I quickly filled up Tiggr's spot with a momma cat and two kittens. And then I went to a shelter and pulled three more cats from there. This is part of the reason I've been too busy to update my blog! I've also been too busy to take their pictures or name them, so I'll be officially introducing them shortly. In the meantime, here are some pictures from Saturday's adoption event. We had many dogs available, and two of them found homes. All dogs featured in this post are currently available for adoption.

Mixed breed puppy pulled from a high-kill shelter

Two year old beagle pulled from rural shelter

My foster dog Missy - came from city animal control

Mixed breed dog from an area shelter

Tucker - waiting for a home for several months now!

Chihuahua from puppy mill

Arnold - turned in when family moved to state with BSL

Kimmy - mixed breed dog from an area shelter

Another Chihuahua from puppy mill

Yet another chihuahua from a puppy mill

And still another chihuahua from puppy mill

Sparkle - transfer from another rescue

Ziggy, praying for a new home (or a snack).

I'm A Country Girl

I grew up in the suburbs.  I've moved around a lot, but always stayed within the suburbs of St. Louis or Atlanta.  Now that I've moved to a rural area, I recently realized something.  I LOVE living in the country.  I've always been the girl afraid of spiders and bugs and snakes and horses.  That hasn't changed, but the list is increasing.  Now I can add field mice and cows and guinea pigs to the list.  Okay, I'm not really afraid of guinea pigs.  I just wanted to distract you from the fact that I'm afraid of cows.  But in spite of all the scary creatures that live in the country, it feels like a place that I belong. 

I belong here.

I look out my windows and see nothing but fields and trees. Last night I saw an owl and although it was too dark and far away for a good picture, I took one anyway, because it was an OWL!

 There are logs for Ziggy to chew.

There's a small country church to visit.

And of course, there are the cows. Ziggy laid down to observe them while I tried to apologize (from a distance) for scaring them the other day. Then one of the cows proceeded to chase us down the road from the other side of his fence.
 

I've heard instructions on what to do when a bear chases you, or a mountain lion chases you. How come there are no instructions on what to do when a cow chases you? And what about when you're driving home from work and one of the cows is standing in the middle of the road? What then? Do you honk? Wait until he moves? Go notify the owner? Moving to the country should really come with an instruction manual. I have a lot to learn, but one thing I'm sure of. All the stress and challenge of buying this place was totally worth it. I am finally home.

Introducing Tiggr: Cat Extraordinaire

Tiggr, my newest foster cat, is not just another cat.  He's remarkable for two reasons.  First, Tiggr is extremely adaptable.  That says adaptable, not adoptable.  Tiggr is seven years old, so he might be stuck with me for awhile.  That's why it is so good that he is adaptable.  Most cats would make their displeasure known if they were taken from their home and brought to a strange house where they were expected to get along with strange dogs and strange people.  Not Tiggr - within 24 hours he was already sleeping in my bed, following me around, and making himself right at home.  He even let my niece carry him around without complaining.

And second, Tiggr is... well... there's no other way to say this. He's perfect. He never does anything wrong. I don't know what to do with such a perfect cat. I'm used to cats that meow loudly and demand things. Cats that try to escape out the door every chance they get. Cats that scratch up furniture and jump on countertops. It's been so long since I've had a perfect foster cat that I forgot what it was like. But don't worry - Merlin will be moving back in next week (I had to wait until my nieces and nephews could have his going away party) and once he's back, I'm sure Merlin will be glad to teach Tiggr all sorts of ways to misbehave. Tiggr will be acting like a normal cat in no time. So for now, I'll just have to deal with his impeccable manners, calm demeanor, and undemanding attitude.

Remi and Ziggy Meet the Neighbors

Yesterday evening I took Remi and Ziggy for a walk together. I felt this would be a good way to reintroduce them and let them get comfortable with each other again after their six weeks apart. We had a few strange looks from people as they drove by - I'm relatively sure they've never seen anyone actually walk their dogs on a leash on our dead-end gravel road. But I was glad they were on leashes when when we got to our neighbor's property, because otherwise, I'm quite sure that Ziggy would have been injured!

Ziggy and Remi walking down the street.

 Sadly, the neighbors do not like Ziggy.  They didn't exactly come right out and say so, but it was clear from the look in their eyes that they were not happy with him.  And although Ziggy was interested in the neighbors, he wasn't threatening toward them.  Remi, on the other hand, was acting very aggressive - barking and even lunging at them.  I think he felt safe because the neighbor's property is fenced, but there were a couple of times when Ziggy tried to go through the fence to get into the neighbor's yard.  All in all, I was a bit nervous about the entire situation.  The neighbors (I haven't yet learned their names) haven't done anything overtly aggressive, but from what little I could discern, they were clearly not happy that we were walking down the road.

Ziggy and Remi show a bit too much interest in the neighbors.



 Although I'm no expert on cows, I think this is definitely one unhappy neighbor.



Moo!

I'm thinking about baking some cookies to bring to them to help smooth over the situation. Do cows eat cookies? Maybe apples? Dog food? Someone help me out here - what can I do to make sure the cows forgive me for moving in next door with some very obnoxious dogs?

Ziggy's Rehab Worked - Or Did It?

Ziggy has now been back with me for over 36 hours.  In that time, he's been to an adoption event, been re-introduced to my dogs and met my newest foster dog Missy.  Everyone at the adoption event quickly saw that Ziggy came back a different dog.  He wasn't as mouthy or as pushy with others.  He still sometimes forgot his manners, but then with a quick reminder, he was back to behaving himself.  He was more relaxed and calm during the event.  Unfortunately, it appears that rehab did not work for Ziggy's biggest problem.  This is Ziggy before rehab:

And this picture was taken of Ziggy on a walk earlier today (after the completion of his six week rehab stay):

He may have changed brands, but it's obvious that Ziggy's rehab did not completely cure his alcohol problem.  That's okay though, because I'm not giving up on him.

The rehab facility where Ziggy stayed came very highly recommended, and although they obviously got results, I wasn't comfortable with continuing their style of training with Ziggy (similar to Cesar Milan's methods).  I have always thought that different dogs respond best to different training styles, but now I realize that different owners or foster parents also respond best to different training styles as well, and I am just not comfortable with the level of corrections that Ziggy requires to follow the training that he's been getting in rehab.  I can't deny it worked for him, but I needed to find something that would also work for me, since all attempts to pawn him off on other foster homes or rescues have continued to fail (although I'm not giving up!)  Ziggy's rehab trainers have graciously offered to take Ziggy if he gets worse and gets to the point where I feel he has no other options except to be euthanized, and I am very appreciative of that.  But I am hoping that I can modify my own behavior and continue to build on his progress while following a more positive approach to training.  

During the adoption event Saturday, one of the PetSmart trainers spent several hours with me and Ziggy, and it was encouraging to see how he responded to her and to learn a few tips that I could use to control his behavior during future adoption events.  You will see in many of his pictures taken when he is on leash, that he is wearing a Halti.  This is not a muzzle, it's a head collar and it allows Ziggy to open his mouth fully, bark, eat, whatever, unless the leash tightens up, in which case the Halti tightens and forces his mouth closed.  This means I have more control over his nipping and am able to refocus him easily when needed.  I have used a Gentle Leader before with Remi, and the Halti is very similar.  So far it is working very well with Ziggy.

I also am going to be working with another trainer in my area who uses all positive training methods.  She spent a few hours with me and Ziggy and taught me some tips for teaching him that I am the one in charge, not him.  I still have a lot to learn, but Ziggy and I will start weekly classes with her soon so I can build on what I've learned so far.

All in all, I think his rehab was a very good thing, and I am very grateful for everyone who made it possible.  Now if I can just find someone who can help me with this:

April Featured Blogs

Here are the featured blogs for April!

Pitter Patter - One of my favorite humor blogs - this blog takes pictures of pit bulls submitted by readers, and adds funny captions.  It shows how wonderful and silly this breed really is.  And occasionally, they feature a picture of Ziggy, like this one:

Pei Days - This blog is written by Lola, a Chinese Shar Pei.  She is a wonderful rescue dog with a very busy life.  She keeps track of her big family, and especially of her brother Franklin.  A fun blog written by a most wonderful doggie (with some help from her Blog Mom).

Lucky Dog Rescue Blog - A blog written by Ashley, an animal rescuer in Mississippi.  In addition to running a rescue, she's involved in several other pet rescue groups, and writes a guest column for her local paper.  I like Ashley's blog because not only is it well written, but it gives a very honest look at rescue and what it really means to save a life.

Evolution of Darwin - This blog was another result of my search for Great Dane blogs.  Darwin is a most beautiful blue Great Dane and she gets to go to doggie day care and do all sorts of fun things that Remi only dreams about.  This is probably why this is Remi's favorite blog!

Mango & Dexter's Great Adventures - I think everyone knows Mango, but just in case you don't, definitely check out his blog.  Mango is a doggie of incredible size.  He shares his blog with his little brother Dexter, and they are always entertaining and fun to visit!