Four Dogs under the age of 2!!

Technically Remi just turned 2 years old -- but we basically have four puppies of varying ages at our house right now. A 2-year-old Great Dane, a 1-year-old cattle dog/shepherd/unknown mix, a 6-month-old Australian Cattle Dog, and a 3-month-old unknown mix puppy. The one thing these dogs have in common - they LOVE to play. Here are some pictures I took recently.

Here is Tulsa, showing us how much she dislikes her dog food -- she pretends if she eats it, it kills her.

Remi and Tulsa play tag:

When playtime is over, Remi makes a great table for Tulsa to munch on her bone.



Here's an idea -- let's put one toy in the middle of three puppies, and see what happens!

Koda says "why's that big dog destroying my puppy toy?!"

Introducing Koda

That's right, we now have another foster dog, at least temporarily. My husband went up to PetSmart a few days ago and some people found a puppy across the street that they didn't know what to do with so they took it to PetSmart. My husband volunteered to bring her home - just for one night. So yesterday he took her back to PetSmart to check for a micro-chip and hopefully find the puppy's owners. No luck - no tags and no microchip! He didn't want her to get sent to a shelter and possibly put to sleep if no one ever wanted her, so he brought her back home. We've posted ads online and sent the dog's picture to area shelters, hoping to find out who she belongs to. However, if this puppy was an unwanted dog that someone just dumped, then we may be keeping her until she can be adopted out! She is a very sweet puppy - gets along great with all three of our current dogs and appears to be house-trained as well! We've named her Koda. I just hope that either Selena or Tulsa finds a new home soon, since I'm afraid four dogs will be too much for both me and my husband to handle. Anyone out there interested in fostering a puppy for a few weeks?! :-)

Here are a few pictures of Koda:

Introducing Selena

Now that we have a fence, my husband agreed that I could bring home a second foster dog. I was very excited, and immediately asked for Selena. Selena is a beautiful intelligent dog, who has had a very hard time finding a forever home. She has lived in a shelter environment most of her life, and I don't know if she's ever really had a family of her own. We think Selena is a cattle dog/shepherd mix, but she could be mixed with other breeds as well. She's about a year old, and in spite of her circumstances she is still a very happy dog who loves people. She also loves other dogs and gets along with cats, so she'll make someone a wonderful pet. We're going to start working on some household manners, since she hasn't had the opportunity to learn that in the past. She already knows how to sit, and now she's learning not to jump up on people. She is getting along great with Remi and Tulsa. I was a little worried that she would be noisy, since her biggest problem in getting adopted is probably that she spends most of the day at PetSmart barking. However she's been surprisingly quiet at our house. She doesn't bark when she's crated or when she wants anything - that's a nice surprise! Here's a picture of Selena:

Pictures of Remi

I decided that since I have pictures of almost all my foster dogs, I needed to add pictures of Remi! So here is Remi:

And here he is with an almost victim (we rescued Teddy in time):

This teddy bear wasn't so lucky...

Here is my husband demonstrating just how big Remi is:

And here is one of Remi trying his best to fit onto the largest dog bed we could find:

I hope you enjoyed the pictures of my really big, really goofy, wonderful dog. :-) He's a typical Great Dane - he thinks he's a lap dog and loves to sit in people's laps. He likes to chew up paper and can find a tube of chapstick to eat no matter WHERE its hidden. He also prefers to lean against people like many Great Danes, and when he does lean against you and you fall over, he looks around like "what just happened?!". He's not the smartest dog around, but I think he is one of the most entertaining. :-)

Update on Tulsa

Tulsa is such a sweet dog. She has been sleeping in our bed (yes, I'm spoiling her for whomever adopts her - but I can't help it!) and she loves to curl up next to me and put her head on my leg to sleep. She patiently sleeps until I'm ready, then when I get up she is so excited to get up too and start her day! This morning I let her and Remi outside, and they immediately began playing chase and wrestle which they love to do. Now that we have a fence (they finished installing it yesterday!) the dogs can have a lot more room outside to run and play. Tulsa made me dizzy running in circles around a tree - I think she made Remi dizzy too. Remi reciprocated by trapping Tulsa between his front legs so she couldn't move. It was hilarious - wish I had my camera ready! My husband Dave discovered that Tulsa loves to chase a laser pointer -- she is so determined to catch that little red dot. Its a great way to exercise her, since we can stand on the deck and just have her chase it from one side of the yard to the other, over and over. And finally the big hill in the back yard is coming in handy -- running up it will certainly tire her out faster than running on flat ground! :-) Still we get bored of it before she does - I think I'll have to make sure to buy a laser pointer for whomever ends up adopting her.

I've also been teaching Tulsa to run on our treadmill. I love taking the dogs for walks, but with the cold weather we've had lately, the treadmill has been a good alternative. Tulsa will happily run on the treadmill now with no problems. Remi is still afraid to get on it while its moving, but he is a bit less coordinated than she is. Its not his fault, he's just too big. Fortunately he's also not a puppy anymore so he is happy just being lazy on the couch after he gets his play time with Tulsa. :-)

Unwanted

None of our special needs dogs were adopted this week. I was really surprised, and really sad. These special needs dogs are all so sweet and they need someone to love them! Why doesn't anyone want them??? I think this will be the hardest part of volunteering for a dog rescue organization - not dealing with the dogs, but the people. Its not always easy to foster - the dogs require a lot of time and attention, and they chew things they shouldn't, they have accidents in the house, they don't always behave like I wish they would. But they bring so many rewards -- unwavering love and affection, loyalty and devotion. They just want to love someone and be loved in return. They don't judge, or hold grudges, or place blame. And they don't go holding out for the perfect owner - they accept their person, even with all their faults and shortcomings, just as they are. That's why I'll always prefer to deal with dogs instead of people. These special needs dogs we have - they aren't much different than other dogs. I got to spend a few hours with them at PetSmart on Saturday, and they were all such good, well-behaved dogs. I don't understand why they haven't been adopted. I know there are many people out there who care about these dogs and have adopted their own rescued dogs. But there are so many more who only care that they get a dog that will scare away intruders, or be a hunting dog, or keep their kids entertained. These are not bad reasons to want a dog, but if you only think of the dog as a possession and what it can do for you, you're going to make a poor dog owner, and miss out on a lot of joy that comes with truely loving a pet. I ran across a post on a web-site which I think explains it rather well:

Note to adopters: Lassie and Cleo and Rin Tin Tin and Toto don't show up in rescue. We don't get the elegantly coiffed, classically beautiful, completely trained, perfectly behaved dog. We get the leftovers. Dogs that other people have incompetently bred, inadequately socialized, ineffectively "trained," and badly treated. Most Rescue dogs have had it. They've been pushed from one lousy situation to another. They've never had proper veterinary care, kind and consistent training, or sufficient company. They've lived outside, in a crate, or in the basement. They're scared, depressed and anxious. Some are angry. Some are sick. Some have given up.
But we are Rescue and we don't give up. We never give up on a dog. We know that a dog is a living being, with a spirit and a heart and feelings. Our dogs are not commodities, things, or garbage. They are part of sacred creation and they deserve as much love and care and respect as the next Westminster champion. So please, please don't come to rescue in the hopes of getting a "bargain," or indeed of "getting" anything. Come to Rescue to give, to love, to save a life -- and to mend your own spirit. For Rescue will reward you in ways you never thought possible. I can promise you this -- a rescue dog will make you a better person.
-excerpt from http://www.midwestbloodhoundrescue.com/11%20Newsline.htm

Valentine's Day

This Saturday is a special adoption event for Valentine’s Day. We’re focusing on special needs dogs, which of course includes Tulsa. It also includes some very special other dogs that I really hope find forever homes this weekend. Here is a flyer I made up for Heartland's special needs dogs (click on it to see a larger version). As you can see, Tulsa is the fourth dog on the flyer. I hope she finds a home, but I'm really enjoying fostering her, so I'm okay if it takes a little longer!

One dog gone...

Since both Benny and Tulsa are expected to be harder to place dogs (Benny because of his age, and Tulsa because of her deafness), I didn’t expect to go to PetSmart with two dogs and come home with only one this week! But that’s what happened! Shortly after I got there, some people came in and looked at all our dogs, and then they decided that they liked Benny! They decided to adopt him, and he was the first dog to go home today! I will miss having him around, and my husband will too, but I did decide that having three dogs is a bit much until we get our fence put in. Once that’s done – hopefully in another two weeks – I’ll be pushing my husband to let me take 2 foster dogs again! I already know the ones I want to bring home next – unless of course we’re lucky and they get adopted first!

Introducing Benny

Today, Benny came to stay with us too. I couldn’t believe my husband said okay when I asked him, but I wasn’t about to argue. I think he’d been looking forward to getting Benny, so that’s why he said yes. Whatever the reason, I now have Benny and Tulsa! Tulsa is turning out to be at least partially house-trained, so that’s a nice discovery. Also, both Remi and Benny are a bit scared of Tulsa – she likes to nip at them, and they’re not crazy about that. It’s funny to watch Tulsa and Remi play – Tulsa definitely “wins” their play battles. But Remi always keeps coming back for more! Benny is content to just watch and have his ears scratched every so often.

Introducing Tulsa

It was not much of a surprise, since she was such a good dog, but Mandy was adopted at PetSmart today. I’m happy that she found a new home so quickly, and I hope she continues to do as well at her new home as she did with us. Last week before we decided to foster Mandy, we were thinking about fostering Benny. Benny is a bloodhound mix, and he’s a little older than many of the dogs we rescue (6 or 7 years old I think), which means he’ll be a little harder to place. Benny is a large dog (70 lbs) so knowing how much my husband likes large dogs, I had planned to take Benny home last week. However, since Mandy needed a home environment more, I took her instead. Now that Mandy has found her forever home, I had planned to get Benny today. At least, I planned on that until I got to PetSmart and was told about Tulsa. I had met Tulsa at PetSmart last week, and thought she was a cute little dog. However, I didn’t consider fostering her for several reasons. First, she is a puppy (6 months old), second, she’s not house-trained, and third, she’s only 25 pounds. I am always afraid the Remi is going to play with a smaller dog and squish it. Especially with his propensity to begin playing with another dog by taking his huge paw and putting it on the other dog’s back, then shoving that dog down onto the ground. Since Remi outweighed Tulsa by 100+ pounds, I didn’t even consider bringing her home. But then they told me that they just found out that Tulsa is deaf. They knew I’ve wanted to foster a deaf dog since I first volunteered with Heartland. When I first started reading about dogs before we adopted Remi, I found out the huge numbers of dogs that are put to death each year simply for being deaf. I started doing more investigating, and what I found convinced me that deaf dogs are just as good as hearing dogs, and in some ways, they’re better! I joined some yahoo groups for deaf dogs, and began learning to how communicate with them and what special needs they had. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to foster a deaf dog. So, when they told me about Tulsa, I had to take her home. I am very excited at the opportunity to work with her, and so far, Remi and she are getting along just fine.