Introducing Freddie

All Paws Rescue was recently contacted about four dogs who were living in a burned out trailer.  The owner had moved away and left the dogs there.  The situation was not good. 

 All Paws pulled all four dogs from that horrible situation, and now they are no longer hungry and dirty.  The first of these four dogs, a Beagle named Freddie, has now been adopted! 

The other three dogs - Duke, Oreo and Buddy - are available for adoption and we hope they will soon find their forever homes too!  For pictures of the dogs and more info, please view their adoption listings online here. 

Introducing Kira

A couple of weeks ago, I received a message from a friend about a deaf dog at a local animal control facility.  When I arrived at the shelter, I found this dog:

I fell in love with her cute face and gigantic ears right away. After spending a few minutes with her, I knew I would be taking her home to foster.  The dog was very well behaved during the evaluation.  She didn't jump up, she wasn't mouthy or pushy, she wasn't fearful, and she tolerated being handled and held with no issues.  She was the perfect size (around 25 pounds) and she seemed to be in good health. 

At her vet visit I learned that she is believed to be a French Bulldog mix, and she is between two and three years old.  At home I learned that she is mostly deaf, although she may have limited hearing.  She is great with other dogs, fine with my cat, and she loves to cuddle.  And it didn't take long before I started thinking about adopting her myself. 

I haven't decided to keep her yet... she is still new and I need to make sure once she settles in she will be okay with all the different dogs and cats that I foster.  But so far she is doing great.  And although I originally wanted to name her something to do with her large ears or the cute paw-print shaped spots on her back, in the end my husband called her Kira, and since he agreed that we could keep her if I wanted to, I thought it only fair that I also keep the name he gave her! 

Whether she stays permanently or not, I just have to say that I love this dog!

Antlers!

Since Ziggy and many of the other dogs I foster love to chew, I am always looking for long-lasting chew bones to keep them busy.  So when I heard about a company that sold deer antlers, I decided to check it out.  I've purchased deer and elk antlers from various pet supply stores before, and for the most part the dogs all like them.  They last a very long time and are safe and don't stain carpets or smell bad like some other chewables.  The only downside is the price - antlers can be expensive.  So when I saw the prices at Indiana Antler Supply, I really thought they were too good to be true.  But I went ahead and ordered a deer antler and an elk antler, and I was even more impressed when I received them.  The customer service was great, and the antlers were gigantic.

Ziggy offered to help demonstrate the product. 

And then Juno offered too.  Unfortunately Juno was recently neutered and is wearing the Cone of Shame, so his picture didn't turn out so well. 

All the dogs enjoy chewing on these antlers, and so far the deer antler seems to be preferred three to one over the elk antler. 

I didn't receive any free product or payment for sharing these with you, I just think they're great for dogs that like to chew, and wanted to let you know too!  You can find out more at Indiana Antler Supply. 

And now, a message from Ziggy. 

For those of you who don't speak "dog", he is clearly communicating that he would like you to adopt him.  Please.   

Introducing Juno and Bear

Recently I received a Facebook message from a friend.  There was a dog at an area shelter who was believed to be deaf.  He was scheduled to be euthanized and she wanted to know if I could help.  I love helping all sorts of dogs, but deaf dogs just so happen to be my favorite to rescue.  Not only because they're most in need of saving, but also because they are so much fun to have around.  They sleep soundly, but then when they are awake they hardly miss a thing in spite of no hearing.  Someone knocking at the door?  The deaf dog sometimes barks before the hearing dog because they spotted the car headlights turning into the driveway, or the person walking up the front porch stairs.  Deaf dogs are good at noticing what is going on around them, and they are more attentive than most hearing dogs because they don't want to miss anything.  They bond more closely than hearing dogs because they have to watch you to see what is going on instead of just waiting until you call them.  They also are often easier to train because they aren't so easily distracted by the noises around them.  So while there are exceptions to every rule, in general I would always choose a deaf dog over a hearing dog.  And when I got this message from a friend, I just so happened to have room for another foster dog.  That is how Juno came to live with me.  And while checking out pictures of the other dogs at the shelter, I fell in love with Bear's picture.  And that is how Bear tagged along on Juno's rescue.

Juno was said by the shelter to be three years old.  The volunteers there knew better and guessed he was around eight years.  It turns out that our vet estimates him at at least ten years old.  This is Juno's picture from when he was at the shelter:

 He was very dirty and had double ear infections and was in a lot of pain. 

After a bath, some medicine, and a few days to relax, Juno turned into a different dog! 

I'd say that he's a completely different dog, but he's still grumpy sometimes!  He is hard of hearing, but it's most likely just due to age.  He has some arthritis in his back legs and doesn't like to be touched there or picked up (and he makes it very clear that he doesn't like it!)  So he's going to need a very patient home with no kids around.  In the meantime he's taken over the biggest dog bed in my living room and spends almost all his time there just relaxing.  I may have him for a long time, but he's the easiest dog ever and gets along with all the other dogs so it is no work at all to foster him.  He just deserves a place to live out his life in peace and quiet, somewhere warm and safe and clean. 

I was more worried about taking in Bear without being able to evaluate him first.  The facility was a couple hours away and I didn't have the chance to go meet the dogs before they were scheduled to be put down, so I had to take a chance on what the dogs would be like based on the volunteers and workers at the shelter.  The Animal Control officer said he dog-tested Bear and Bear did fine, but anytime you take in a large dog like Bear (he weighs 70 pounds) you have to be ready for anything.  Bear was very vocal and barked all the time at first.  But within a few days he settled in and started doing better.  He got along well with the other foster dogs, and it didn't take long for me to realize he was a wonderful dog. 


Bear's picture from the shelter

  Another foster volunteer took Bear home to evaluate him, and he did great with her other animals and with adjusting to a new situation.  He was already house-trained and knew some basic commands, and he quickly learned that it was much better to sit when wanting something than to bark.  This picture is from his foster home where he was staying after he was at my house. 

I sent this picture to my niece and sister because they were looking for another dog, and they quickly fell in love.  And last week, Bear was officially adopted!  He's doing great now at my sister's house.  He gets along well with her other dog, does great with the kids, and has received a new name of Truman. 

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.

Who Doesn't Love Fluffy White Puppies?

Today I brought home these two puppies:

They were part of an "oops" litter turned into rescue.  They are purebred Great Pyrenees, and at twelve weeks old, they already weigh over 30 pounds each.  That means they're likely to be well over 100 pounds when they are full grown.

Fluffy white puppies are fun.  I'm having a hard time putting them down.  They're sweet and cuddly and I love them.

The boy, who I've been calling Iggy, is the more outgoing of the two.  He's going to another foster home tomorrow morning.

The girl, who I named Izzy, is a bit more shy.  She will be staying with me until she gets adopted.  I'm pretty sure that'll be no more than one week, because so far we've received about 500 adoption applications for her.  Okay, maybe not quite that many.  But I know we have at least two that are pre-approved and it's just a matter of me finding time to meet with the potential adopters.

Given how adorable she is, I'm thinking whomever meets her is going to be adopting her immediately.  But the hardest part of fostering fluffy white puppies is that everyone wants to adopt them because they are adorable.  They don't think about how much 100+ pound dogs cost (some vetting is more expensive as is heartworm preventative and so on due to their weight).  Or how much they eat.  Or how much they shed.  And because these dogs were bred to guard livestock, they can be vocal.  And protective.  They need to be socialized well, and they need an owner that will keep them no matter what.  And sadly most of the applications we get are from people who don't think about those things, but just see the fluffy white puppy and think "I want that!".  So the hardest part is going through all 500 applications and doing our best to decide which homes will really be wonderful, forever homes for these guys.  And then telling the other 498 people that they weren't picked.  I'm thinking of taking some of the extra fluff on these guys and attaching it to Ziggy, to see if I can convince anyone to adopt him instead.  Think it will work?

Guest Post From Ziggy

Hi! I’m Ziggy the Adoptable Dog. I have been living here with my foster mom for a few years now, and we’ve both worked very hard during that time. My foster mom has tried to find me a home, and I have tried to find things to eat. Overall, it’s clear that I’ve been much more successful than she has. She has done things like taking me to training, teaching me tricks, and helping me with my website and Facebook page. So far I’ve only been adopted once and that only lasted three weeks. While she was working so hard to find me a home, I’ve been busy finding things to eat. My foster mom claims that I have food allergies and can only eat potatoes and ducks. So I’ve had to work hard to find other items to supplement my diet. I’ve learned to enjoy a wide variety of foods like bananas, no-chew spray, and sticks. I pray for food every chance I get, and my prayers are almost always answered. I also have made some friends that take pity on me and send me food whenever they can. One of these friends, a dog named Blueberry, had her human mom send me a care package. I think that’s what they call it when you’re stuck in foster care with a very limited amount of food to eat.


Blueberry and her mom Stephanie mailed me a box, and I couldn’t wait to eat it!

Yep, it doesn’t taste too bad!

But then my foster mom said if I opened the box, I could find stuff inside!

Helloooooo? Anything in here????

Foster mom calls these “peanuts” but they sure don’t smell like peanuts!

Oh boy, oh boy, my own chew bone!

And a Bumble! I think I’ll name him Blueberry!

AND a box of Pumpkin treats!  I’ll eat these all right now!

I also got a Frisbee and a ball and a nice card! It was such a great care package. I wonder if Blueberry’s mom wants to adopt me.

More Returns!

One of the challenges of rescue is taking back previously adopted dogs when their owners can no longer care for them.  Since I volunteer with an all-foster home group, we have no shelter building to house the dogs.  If a dog is going to be returned, we hope that the person who originally fostered the dog will take him or her back.  But if that isn't possible, then everyone in the group works together to find a place for the dog to go.  I am fortunate enough to work with a wonderful group of volunteers, and someone is always stepping up to help whenever is needed.

Returns don't happen very often, but sometimes it seems as if when one happens, it is immediately followed by many more!  In the past two weeks, we've received several returned dogs, and it seems that most of them have been mine!  The good news is that Nosey, the blind Beagle puppy who was going to be returned, ended up going to a family member of the adopter and is no longer being returned.  Also one of our new foster volunteers stepped up to help out by fostering Bogey when he was returned.  He's doing wonderful in his new foster home!  It also helped that Allie and Natasha's adoptions are both working out, and in addition Trooper the Black Lab and Libby the deaf Jack Russell Terrier were also adopted!

Jax is one of the returns that I took in last week.  He is a great little guy - only 8 months old - and already I'm forcing him to earn his keep by collecting donations at adoption events.  So far he's earned around $40 over the past two adoption events - not bad for a dog!

Jax

The other returns that ended up coming back to my house are Louie the Black Lab mix and Gemma the deaf pit bull mix. Both were returned because their owners could no longer afford to care for them.

Louie is a year and a half old, and was part of the "Donald Duck" litter.  

Louie!

He is now all grown up.  He's very nervous around new people at first, but he's quickly learned to trust me and has become my constant companion, even sleeping on my bed at night.  

Louie looking nervous during an adoption event.

Gemma is the other recent return.  She originally came from a shelter in Kansas City, where she was going to be put down without ever being made available for adoption due to being deaf and heartworm positive and having some health issues.  Fortunately the shelter has a great rescue coordinator who shared her and when I saw her on Facebook I immediately said I'd take her.  She had been hit by a car prior to being taken to the shelter and has some nerve damage in her front leg which causes her to limp.  However she completed her heartworm treatment and is in good health other than the continuing issues with her leg.  Gemma is a very sweet dog - she is affectionate and loves everyone she meets.  The other family who fostered her previously wants to take her back as soon as their current foster dog is adopted, but in the meantime she is staying here with me.  I am enjoying having her back!

Gemma

The other exciting thing that happened this week was Zara, Ziggy's littermate who was adopted out three years ago, was lost and came back for a few days until we could locate her owner.  She is now safely back home!

Zara

For those of you wondering, Ziggy and Zara used to love to play together.  I wanted to give them a chance to play together again while Zara was back, but it turns out that they're much more mature now, and Ziggy was too busy worrying about if Zara would steal his stuff to actually want to play.  So Zara played with all the other fosters for a few days and seemed to have a great time visiting everyone except Ziggy!

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. 

Double the Fosters...Double the Fun?

12/4/12
On Thursday night I had five foster dogs at my house (Ziggy, Allie, Lucky, Natasha and Lacey).  On Friday night I had ten foster dogs at my house.  Turns out when the vet said that Lacey's pups were due in 20 days, she was off by 18 days.  I came home Friday night and found Lacey on my bed, surrounded by her new babies.  Yep, she had her puppies on my bed.  This was one of those things no one warned me about when I signed up to foster. 

Fortunately there were no complications, and Lacey took care of everything perfectly.  All five puppies are healthy and doing well.  In spite of being a very young first-time mom, Lacey knew exactly what to do, and is handling the whole thing much more calmly than I am.  Originally Lacey was supposed to go to a special neonate foster home to have her puppies, and they'd all stay there together for four-to-six weeks before coming back to my house.  However, since she already had the puppies and everything went so smoothly, I decided it wasn't worth it to put her through the stress of moving to a new place.  So now I get to watch the puppies grow up every day.  And this is only day four, but I'm pretty sure they've noticeably gotten bigger already.  Here is a picture of the pups on the day they were born. 

There are three all-black pups (one boy and two girls), one chocolate pup (girl), and one yellow pup (girl).  Now I need some help coming up with names!  I like the idea of the shoe theme (to go with Lacey the mom).  Any suggestions?

---
Update 12/10
I wrote the above post over a week ago, but have been so busy I guess I never published it!  The pups are all doing well, and are getting bigger every day.  They still don't have names yet.

They have been moved to another room and are hanging out in a kiddie swimming pool so they can't crawl too far away and get lost! 

This is what they do... all day:

I think they look kind of like baby manatees.  Mixed with Shar Pei.    

 Yep, I'm sure that's what they are - Shar Pei/Manatee mixes. 

For those of you who forgot, here's what the mom looks like:

Lacey

She is a wonderful mother, and has created five wonderful pups.  I believe that these are the best puppies in the whole wide world.  They are definitely the best behaved dogs at my house.  Maybe the best behaved dogs in the entire state! That might change once they're able to start walking, but for now, they're just perfect!

Wordless Wednesday





How I Entertain Myself with A Sleepy Dog

I am easily entertained.  For example, I recently walked into the room and saw this:

Lucky was sleeping soundly.  I then did what I do almost every time one of my deaf dogs is sleeping. I did a hearing test, by yelling loudly and clapping my hands to see if they would wake up. In case you're wondering, Lucky is still deaf.


Next I got my camera out and took a few dozen pictures from every angle.  It was fun. 

I also took several close ups.  

Then I decided to cover him up with the blanket.  That woke him up, so I took a few more pictures.

Then he decided to go get a drink.  He didn't remove the blanket.  I guess he was cold. 

 Then he wanted to go outside, so I took the blanket off of him and that ended my entertainment with a sleepy dog.