Time for Ice Cream!

Tomorrow (Friday, August 1st), please join us at Maggie Moo's on Highway K in O'Fallon for an ice cream fundraiser. Make sure to print this flyer, so 20% of the proceeds will benefit Heartland Humane Society. You can bring in the flyer anytime during the day to benefit Heartland, and if you visit from 6:00-9:00 p.m., you can be served by one of the "celebrity scoopers" a.k.a. Heartland volunteers. While you're there, make sure to also pick up a voucher for Dream Cakes or Cupcakes - the voucher will be good for up to one year from the date of purchase, and 20% of the proceeds also benefit Heartland. Come join us for some ice cream and fun! I'll be one of the "celebrity scoopers" and you can make fun of me since I'll have no idea what I'm doing! :-)

Kitten Adoptions

Three of my kittens have found new homes! Ace, Apollo and Taffy were all adopted on Saturday. I now just have two left from each litter. Blaze and Monkee are the slightly older kittens, and then Astro and Avalanche are the two remaining flood kittens. I'm hoping to teach Monkee and Astro to be more friendly this week, and to teach Blaze to be less friendly. Avalanche is already perfect. Monkee and Astro just aren't that interested in cuddling, so I'm trying to teach them how nice it is to be held and petted. Blaze just needs to be taught that people are not supposed to be climbed like trees - he digs his claws in and climbs from the floor to the top of my head, and then digs his claws into my head. He does this to everyone he meets unfortunately. I know a little bit about dog training and dog behavior, but nothing about cats, so it is time for me to consult one of the cat foster moms and learn some new things!

None of the dogs were adopted this week, but they did do very well at Petsmart. It's always hard to guess how a dog will do if they've never been there. Some of them are quiet and shy, some are friendly and outgoing, and some of them are loud and upset. I was afraid that Jade would be one of the loud and upset dogs - barking at every person and every dog that walked by. But she actually did very well - she turned out to be one of the friendly, outgoing dogs! We put a donation vest on her to try to get some donations, and she happily greeted all the people and dogs, and had no problems. I was very relieved about that. The puppies of course also did great, and enjoyed playing with another puppy that was there to be adopted (Yosemite Sam, the last of Molly's puppies still waiting to be adopted). We didn't get any new puppies adopted this week though - the only dog adoptions were pre-arranged ones. Now I'm hoping that someone sees one of my puppies on the website this week and decides to adopt them, so they don't have to wait until next weekend to get another chance at a new home.

My puppies grew up!

Remember those cute puppies I dogsat for, for a few weeks? Here is their picture from when I had them, at three weeks old...

They went back to their first foster mom when I went on vacation. They had ringworm which had to be treated, and so they took a little bit longer than most puppies to be ready for adoption. The day is almost here, and the puppies are on the website now to find their own homes. Only they aren't tiny anymore! Check out the puppies now...

They got huge! I still think they're as adorable as ever. I can't wait to see how they turn out once they're all grown up - hopefully their future adoptive families will be back to share pictures and stories then!

Speaking of that, I talked to the new families of both Vala and Samantha this week. Both families say the dogs are doing great. It's always so nice to hear when the dogs have settled in and know that everything is going well - it just makes giving up the dogs I love much easier to know that! Now if I can just find some happy forever families for my puppies and kittens tomorrow! Skittles and Reese and Jade will all be making their first ever appearance at Petsmart tomorrow. Noah is an expert at it now - he's been going for several weeks. So are all seven kittens that I'll be bringing up with me - I'm sad that none of them have found homes yet, even though they've been going up to Petsmart several times, on weekends and during the week. Maybe tomorrow will be their lucky day.

Pictures of Jade, Skittles & Reese

I helped my sister move to her new house yesterday so I didn't get to take any of my fosters to Petsmart this week. I heard they did very well with adoptions - at least the dogs, not sure about cats. They had several puppies that were adopted, as well as some of the adults. My fosters should all be ready to be adopted next Saturday, so hopefully we'll have another good week then. I took some pictures so I could get them on the website, and decided to share a few of them here.

Here is Noah and Samantha (taken before she was adopted) in the back yard.

Here is Jade, my newest foster. She is doing very well with the other dogs!

Here is Skittles, taking it easy on the couch.

Reese playing with her favorite squeaky toy.

Skittles and Reese - best friends! My husband wants them to be adopted together, but I said I'd just be glad for either of them to find a home. :-)

Reese is another lap dog, just like Vala was. She prefers to sit on people's laps whenever possible. Or in this case, she's using Remi as her cushion. :-)

I love Skittle's ears in this picture - so cute!

Here is an action shot of Jade, playing with one of the toys made and donated by the Girl Scouts - the dogs love them!!

Rachael (Dave's daughter) is home visiting for the summer, and lucky for me, she likes animals! She's been a huge help with all 13 cats and dogs! :-) Noah sleeps with her every night, and I think she is his favorite person in the world now. He will miss her when she goes back home to Alabama in a few weeks.

Sam was adopted!

Samantha was adopted on Saturday, to a family who lives on my street! We didn't realize it beforehand, but once they filled out the application I saw that we were actually neighbors. Hopefully this means I'll get to see Samantha out in the neighborhood once in awhile.

Since Sam is gone, the house is much quieter. Just kidding - its as crazy as ever. I really miss her, but the new puppies are keeping me so busy that I haven't had much time to be sad that she is gone. Just to make sure I stay busy, I'm bringing home another dog tonight. Jade is a dog that was picked up as a stray at the North County shelter. I saw her there a couple of months ago, and wanted to take her but didn't have room. Another Heartland foster mom volunteered to take her for me, and has been keeping her at her house for the past month getting her ready for adoption. She's now been vaccinated and spayed and is all ready to be adopted - she's even on the website already. I named her Jade, because one of our previous adopters kindly donated some old leashes and bandanas and collars, and one of the bandanas was monogrammed with the name Jade. So I told them we could still use it, and would just name one of our fosters Jade! So she doesn't have green eyes, but I checked and the gemstone jade actually does come in the color black, so its all okay. :-) I just have to remember to put the bandana on her at adoption events now!

Anyway, I'm going out to the other foster mom's house tonight and I plan to bring Jade home, so she has more room for some new dogs that she recently took in (she has the cutest baby beagles I've ever seen - I just want to take them home and KEEP them!) . Jade has been a little bit nervous around other dogs at her house, even though she did fine at the shelter with other dogs before we got her. I hope that she'll be okay at my house with Remi and Noah, but if she's not, it may be a very short visit and then back to her current home. Maybe I'll get the beagles instead. (just kidding, Gina... unless you like the idea.) :-) My favorite thing about Jade is that one of her ears is always straight up, and the other one is always flopped over at the very tip. It's so cute. I hope to get some better pictures of her while she's at my house - the one on the website is one I took but I don't like it very much. I'll try to get some more pictures of Reese and Skittles while I'm at it. They're done with their quarantine now, and they're both doing great. They LOVE to play together, and they are just so cute when they hop around attacking each other with puppy sneak attacks.

Introducing Skittles and Reese

This is Skittles! She is a typical puppy - just wants to play, get attention, eat, and then play some more! She has very soft fur, and is so fun to hold and cuddle.




This is Reese. She is very quiet - I've only heard her bark once. She is small - maybe around the size of a Jack Russell Terrorist, but of course she's much quieter than a JRT. :-) I'll have more information on both of these girls and how old they are when I get back from the vet today!

These puppies both came from the North County animal shelter. The shelter had over 150 animals there on Tuesday, and most of them were going to be euthanized the next morning. Most of these pets came to the shelter as strays, and the owners don't want to pay (cost of vaccinations and spay/neuter) to get the animals out, so they just get another one from a backyard breeder. The animals pay the price with their lives.

I can't save all of them, but we saved two of them. I grew up in North County, so I feel especially concerned about the animals at this shelter. Once they're picked up by animal control, they are given 6 days to be claimed. If they are not claimed during this time, and no one has shown any interest in adopting them, they are euthanized immediately. Look at Reese and Skittles - could you leave them there to be killed once you saw them? I hate that I also had to leave Oreo and Salt & Pepper and Simon and Pepsi behind. They were other ones at the shelter that I really wanted to take - they were just as cute, or even cuter than Skittles and Reese, but I couldn't save them.
A couple people have said that four foster dogs is too many. That might just be because my family is worried about me going nuts from all the dogs. :-) In my opinion, however many animals you have, if you can take good care of them, that is the important thing. And Skittles and Reese are getting very good care at my house, just like all my other foster animals. Our fosters have great medical care thanks to Heartland, they have lots of play time with each other, lots of outdoor time (dogs only of course), and lots of one-on-one time with me or my husband. Right now both puppies are quarantined to make sure they are not sick - many animals coming from the shelter have been exposed to viruses that may not show symptoms for several days. So they each have their own bedroom, and they have to stay by themselves until their quarantine time is up. Then they'll be able to join the rest of the household, and sleep in our room (in a crate until they're housetrained), and play with the other dogs. So I don't think I have too many animals - I love them, and love fostering! I admit it has become a second job - I get up an hour earlier in order to get them all fed and outside and back in before I go to work, and then I spend most of my evening with them, either feeding or playing with or cleaning up after them. I don't watch TV much anymore, or play computer games, but I enjoy being with the animals so much more. If I had less fosters, I'd have more time for "entertainment" but it would be much less entertaining than watching my puppies or kittens. :-) And one of the awesome things about fostering is that I can always take in less when I need a break! I just wish we had more foster homes and adopters - there are so many more cute puppies and kittens, and dogs and cats, at North County and other shelters that are being euthanized every day just because there aren't enough animal lovers out there that are willing (or know how) to foster. If its something you'd be interested in, check out http://www.hhsrescue.com/ for more information. You can even foster Skittles or Reese once their quarantine time is up, and I'll go get another one. ;-)

For those of you who have adopted a dog or cat from Heartland or another shelter/rescue group - thank you for being part of the solution! It does no good to foster these animals if they can't find good homes to adopt them, so without you, these animals wouldn't have a chance! And if your adopted dog or cat needs a playmate, consider adopting or fostering another one. ;-)

Dog and Cat Pictures

The kittens have taken over the house, and the dogs are not sure what to make of it. Here are some pictures of the fun they've been having! As always, you can click on any of the pictures to see them larger size.

This is Ace attacking Remi (Ace won, of course).



Here, the kittens have taken over Samantha's dog food dish, and refuse to share with her.


George, the adult cat on the left, is thinking "where are all these kittens coming from?!"


Samantha and Apollo vye for dominance of the coffee table (as expected, Apollo wins).


Avalanche, surveying his domain!

Vala and Selena were adopted!

This was a good weekend for me at Petsmart. Vala was adopted on Saturday, to a nice family with two young boys. I had a really hard time watching her go - they picked her up on Saturday evening from my house, and Vala happily jumped in the car, but when they got ready to drive away, she just kept looking out the window at me like "aren't you coming with me?". I still have this picture in my head of the car driving away with her looking back at me as long as she can. I know she'll settle in and be fine, but I hate that I can't explain to her somehow what is happening. Whenever I bring home a new dog, I give them a brief explanation on why they're there, and how its just temporary and they will find their forever home soon. Unfortunately most of them don't seem to understand, and Vala especially seemed to think we were her permanent family. I really really hope this works out, because I can't stand for her to keep leaving and coming back - its so confusing for her. She was adopted out once but returned the next day because the person's dog didn't get along with her. And then we went on vacation and she was sent to another foster home while we were gone. So she's been moved around a lot lately, and I really want this to be her forever home.

Selena was also adopted, and went to her new home yesterday. She took a very long time to get adopted at first, and when I found out she was being returned, I expected to have a hard time finding her a new home again. But she came back on Saturday, and was adopted again on Sunday! She is a great dog - no major issues at all, just very high energy. The lady who adopted her has another dog for Selena to play with, and has some experience with dog training, so I hope that it will work out for her.

I am back to only two foster dogs now - Noah and Samantha. Samantha is doing great - she's ALMOST house-trained, and she is just the sweetest dog. She follows me around and just wants to lay at my feet all the time. Now that her best friend playmate is gone (Vala), she's kind of lonely. Remi and Noah are both older and don't like to play as much. Samantha is only 7 months old. I know a lot of people only have one dog, but if its a young dog, I don't know how they do it. It is so much easier when they have another dog to play with!

I am hoping to work with Noah more now that it is a little less hectic at home. He doesn't know any obedience commands - no one has ever even taught him to "sit" - or if they have, he's forgotten it! Shy dogs can do really well with obedience training, because it increases their confidence. Think about it this way - if you learn a new skill (say, you learn to speak French) then all of a sudden you feel more confident when you go to France. Sure, you don't catch every word - but if you can at least understand the basics of what people are saying, you are going to be a little less timid. Noah is doing well at my house, but he doesn't seem to be showing a lot of progress. I'm hoping that some basic obedience training will help him develop more confidence.

None of the kittens have been adopted yet. I am trying to talk my husband into letting me adopt Avalanche as a birthday present. He's the sweetest kitten - he just wants to be held and petted all the time. I don't expect to talk my husband into it, but I'm going to keep trying. :-)

Kitten Pictures

I took more pictures of all my kittens to get them added to the website, so I'll share them here also. Here are my cat-napped kittens...

This is Monkee - she has such a cute little face, and her fur is soooo soft!

This is Taffy - she's my favorite - she always wants to jump up on my shoulders, and just stays there while I walk around the house doing chores.


This is Blaze. He's the only boy of this litter, and he is very friendly. I found him yesterday walking on Remi's back. Remi is my 150 lb Great Dane. Remi just looked at him like "Huh?! What's going on?!".


This is Ella - she's the mom of the first three kittens I fostered a couple months ago. She is still up at Petsmart and hasn't been adopted yet. :-(


Here is a picture of Ace - he's one of my flood kittens. He loves to play with feather toys, and will growl and play tug with it!


This is Apollo. He came back from the vet with this cute little bandana, and I can't bear to take it off of him! It has little mice and cheese on it.


This is Astro - he is my attack kitten. He loves to sneak up on and attack a small stuffed dog in the kitten's playroom. (Yes, my kittens have their own playroom -- they're a little bit spoiled.)

This is Avalanche. He's the tough guy kitten - he growls at the other kittens if they try to eat while he's eating canned food. Its a good thing he's so cute - its very hard to take him seriously with his little kitten growl!




Okay, back to dog news. We went to the Rascal's baseball game last night - it was one of their "Take your Dog to the Ballpark" nights. It was a lot of fun. My husband went with me, and we took Samantha and Vala. Then he decided to go back home and bring Remi up also. All the dogs had fun. Noah wanted to go, but we thought he might change his mind once he got there. He doesn't like all the people and noise, so he stayed home and watched over the kittens while we were gone. Vala and Sam got lots of attention. We had set up a table on the concourse, where we were able to talk to many people about Heartland, and met several people who had adopted their pets from Heartland in the past! Samantha collected donations in her "Donation Dog Vest" and we made around $40 in donations. All the dogs did great at meeting the people and even the other dogs. The only difficult part was that Samantha doesn't like the mascots. She would go crazy every time one came by -- and they have several mascots at that ballpark! But in spite of that, it was overall a very nice night. Their next game where you can bring your dog to the ballpark will be on Sunday, July 13th.