Adorable puppies

I went to one of the other foster volunteer's homes yesterday to play with puppies. They will be ready for adoption this Saturday, and I think Duncan will have a hard time getting a home with these adorable puppies for competition! I can understand why - every time I picked up a different one, that one immediately became my favorite! So here are the 10 adorable puppies waiting for a home...

Cheerio - the cutest of the bunch probably - this little guy will go quick!


Roxanne - Rottweiler mix - kind of looks like a little itty bitty Rottweiler, and she's so sweet!


Polly - she is the most outgoing, very eager to meet new people!


Ozzie - Black Lab mix - all black and not as furry as his siblings will make him harder to adopt, but he's so sweet and loving - hopefully someone will see that and pick him first!


Joey - the foster mom says he looks like Australian Cattle Dog puppies look, so that may be what he turns out to be mixed with. He's just adorable, whatever his mix is.

Guinea - this little guy looks like his brother Joey - but when he was smaller, he looked more like a guinea pig. :-)

Cobbler - the biggest of the bunch, possibly a mastiff mix. I love the cute wrinkles on his face.

Chewie - another adorable puppy - possibly Australian Shepherd mix.

Buster - a cute little fuzzy, soft puppy


Barbie - The female version of Buster!

Now you can understand why Duncan will have some serious competition for the next few weeks at PetSmart! :-)

Doobie was adopted!

Great news - my previous foster cat Doobie, who went to another foster home earlier this month, was adopted! His foster family fell in love with him and decided to keep him, so he now has a wonderful new home with them, and will never have to go to another new place again.

Also, Bugsy is now staying up at PetSmart, so people will see him during the week and hopefully he will find a home that way. I miss him, but its kind of nice to have a few days with no cats in the house. I have plans to take two more cats in sometime later this week probably.

And here are some new pictures of my current dogs...

Here is Tulsa using Remi's front legs as a pillow.


Here is Remi drinking out of his water dish, and Duncan drinking out of his water dish underneath.



I show you these pictures, so that when you see the next pictures, you'll believe me when I tell you all the dogs get along great and they were just playing!! :-)

Here is a picture of all the dogs trying to see how long they had to all bark at the same time before I lost my mind. In case you're wondering, it didn't take long!



Here's another picture of the dogs playing. I think Duncan's whole head would fit inside Remi's mouth!


Here are pictures from PetSmart today. This is normally a very slow week for adoptions due to the holidays, and the stormy weather all day didn't help! It was very quiet, and Duncan (on the left) and Noelle (on the right) both had a lot of time to nap.



Tulsa, on the other hand, doesn't do well at Petsmart. She barks loudly at every dog she sees - even her friends that she lives with. She has to stay covered up to keep her from barking non-stop, but as you can imagine, that doesn't get her much attention. There is Tulsa, behind the crate with the striped blanket on it. You can't actually see her in this picture, but she's there.

Not surprisingly, no one even looked at her today. A few people looked at Duncan, but he wasn't adopted. However it was Noelle's special day - she received two applications for adoption! We have to wait and make sure that her new family can have a pit bull mix, since some insurance companies don't allow them, but hopefully she will be getting adopted within the week. Well, I hope so for her sake, but I will really hate to see her go.

Here is a picture of Duncan and Tulsa, sleeping after they got home. Adoption days usually tire them out - even though they're stuck in their crates most of the time we're at PetSmart, they still use a lot of energy checking out all the excitement of new people and new dogs, so Saturday nights they usually sleep well. Here they stretched out for a nap at my feet while I typed on the computer.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I have been busy with non-fostering related Christmas activities, so I do not have a lot to share. Some happy news though - all of the Australian Shepherd puppies have now been adopted! Also, one of my favorite Heartland dogs was adopted on Christmas Eve. George, an Aussie/Shepherd mix, has been in foster care for awhile. He was very shy around new people, so even though he was very cute and a great dog, he took a little longer than most to find a home. I was very happy he found a home with a great family who had adopted from Heartland before.

I have very little to report on my current fosters. Duncan, my chocolate lab puppy, didn't go to PetSmart last weekend because we had received an application from someone who had to work last Saturday and wasn't able to meet him until Sunday. I took him over to their house on Sunday night, and Duncan did great with their dog. However we talked again about the time commitment of house-training, and the couple, both of whom work long hours, wisely opted to wait and look for an older dog. So Duncan will be making his PetSmart debut tomorrow! Noelle and Tulsa will be there too. Tulsa is doing so well at my house - she was a bit of a challenge the first time I fostered her, but her last family did a great job with her and now that she's over a year old (instead of a six-month-old puppy), she is almost perfect! We don't have to crate her anymore, so she has the run of the house with Remi, and she never has accidents or destroys anything while we're not home. It is nice to be able to leave her out and not have to worry about her while we're gone.

It was a nice Christmas present to hear from a couple of past adopters. First, the couple who adopted Coal (now named Murphy) sent me some pictures of him and their other dog Lexi. I love seeing how well they're doing. Coal was scared of everything when he came into foster care. He wouldn't go outside - he wouldn't even get off the spot on the couch where he curled up when I first brought him home. Every noise and motion scared him, and he spent most of his time in a quivering ball, looking just like a lump of coal. I worked with him a bit, and then his new adoptive family worked with him a lot more, and today he is such a happy, wonderful dog. That's Coal on the right and Lexi on the left.


I also received a nice letter from the couple who adopted Elvis, one of my previous foster dogs. Elvis was a bit like George - very shy around new people, especially men. It also took him awhile to find a home, but I'm glad to report that the perfect people came along and he is doing wonderfully with them. Here is Elvis, waiting patiently for Santa. I hope he had some extra-yummy dog treats in his stocking!

Noelle graduated; help wanted

Noelle completed her final class of obedience training this week. She got a diploma and everything! Now I just have to keep practicing with her so she doesn't forget everything she learned. Here is Noelle with her graduation hat on. I hope that now that she's a brilliant, successful doggie school graduate, someone will want to adopt her!









Duncan makes his first trip to PetSmart this weekend! Also I'll be taking Noelle, Tulsa and Bugsy again to try to find a home... and Kermit will be going to PetSmart again this weekend too. Of course, a lot of other dogs and cats will also be there trying to find forever homes - I really hope we have a lot of adoptions just in time for Christmas.


If you want to help homeless animals, but can't adopt, please consider some of these volunteer opportunities:

• Foster Home - visit http://www.hhsrescue.com/ for details

• LAPC Cleaner - Volunteers needed to care for cats, clean litterboxes, etc at the Love-A-Pet Center at the O'Fallon, MO PetSmart on Thursday evenings or Friday mornings.

• Dog Caretaker - Volunteers needed to care for dogs in Lincoln County (near Troy, MO) one evening a week.

• Adoption Event Set-up - Help set up crates for dog/cat adoptions on Saturday mornings at PetSmart.

• Dog Transporter - Help transport dogs to/from PetSmart on Saturday morning/evening.

All volunteers must be age 23 or older. For more information on how you can help, please e-mail me for details. We could really use your help!

Introducing Bugsy, New Pictures

Here is my newest foster cat! He has a very interesting story. We got a call from someone who used to foster for Heartland - a cat had come out of nowhere and went running into her house when she opened the door one night! He is a brilliant cat - he picked the house of someone who would take excellent care of him! Once I was able to make room for him, I brought him home and immediately decided I would call him Bugsy (have you noticed his very large eyes - he's kind of bug-eyed). :-) Bugsy is a wonderful cat - he is friendly and affectionate and does well with other cats and is not scared of the dogs! Tomorrow will be his first day at PetSmart trying to find a permanent home.

I will admit to being a lousy photographer, so I had a friend come over and take pictures of Bugsy and my other fosters for me. You can read about it here: Almost Home

Here are some of the other pictures she took of my pets:

This is Remi, my own dog. We adopted him when he was 1 1/2 years old, and he's the one who got me into fostering in the first place!

Here is Noelle - This is a great picture of her, but I must admit she's not exactly the cutest dog in the world. :-) Of course she makes up for it with her wonderful temperament, but I can understand why the applications aren't just pouring in based on her picture alone. :-)

Next is Tulsa, the cattle dog. I love the picture of her smiling!

And last is Duncan, the chocolate lab puppy (and that's me with him in the 2nd picture). Isn't he adorable?!

About me and my fosters

For anyone new to the blog, here's a quick review:

My name is Laurie, I'm married to Dave, I have a step-daughter named Rachael who lives with her mom in Alabama and visits during holidays and summers, and we have a dog named Remi. Remi is 3 years old, and he's a Harlequin (black and white) Great Dane, 150 lbs, and a big baby. I also have a lot of extended family who get to listen to me talk about my foster animals every time they see me. At least so far they've avoided adopting any of my fosters from me - but someday I'm going to change that!

I foster dogs and cats for Heartland Humane Society in O'Fallon, Missouri. I started fostering a year ago (October 2007) when I decided that Remi needed a friend, and found that it was fun and rewarding to provide a revolving door of various friends for him to play with until they found their own homes.

Here are my current foster dogs:

Noelle - terrier mix (maybe bull terrier or Staffordshire terrier mix), 6 months old, very sweet. Noelle is wonderful - we have seriously considered adopting her ourselves several times, but have decided not to, since it would take up the space of another foster dog, and there are so many dogs who need foster homes to help prepare them for adoption. Noelle is one of the most loving, affectionate dogs I've ever had. She has been going to obedience classes and is learning many different sign language commands, because she is deaf. She is a very laid back, low energy dog, and loves to cuddle.

Duncan - Chocolate Lab mix - 3 months old, very smart. Duncan is a happy energetic puppy. He hasn't grasped the concept of house training or crate training yet, so that's a constant work in progress. He loves to play with Noelle, and he loves to be around people.

Tulsa - Australian Cattle Dog (aka Blue Heeler). Tulsa is 1 year old. She is already house-trained (HUGE bonus for foster parents) and loves to be petted. She is a high energy dog - her breed was originally created to herd cattle, which required a high energy dog that could run for hours. Tulsa loves to run and play, and will nip at the other dogs and play tag with them for as long as they can keep up with her. Tulsa is deaf, and some people think that deaf dogs don't bark, but Tulsa would be happy to prove you wrong. Many times when she plays with the other dogs, she begins to bark, and when I ask her to be quiet, she just looks at me like "why would you ask me that?" As a friend of mine said recently - "She can’t help it mom, she just doesn’t know how loud she really is… :-) "

And my current foster cats:

Doobie - Good news - Doobie has a new foster home! He is such a loving affectionate cat, and he was scared of Tulsa so he spent most of his time lately hiding. Another foster home offered to take him, and since they don't have any scary dogs, he was very happy to go.

Bugsy - I haven't introduced Bugsy yet, because I'm waiting to get a picture. I will tell you more about him in a future post.

It's quite interesting to live in a house with two deaf dogs. I know several people do it, and I didn't really expect it to change anything when Tulsa came to my house, since I was already used to having one deaf dog. So I was surprised to find it did make a small difference to have two deaf dogs. The difference is when two of my dogs are playing, I can usually just say something to the hearing dog and thereby get both of their attention. If Remi and Noelle are playing and they're getting a bit too enthusiastic, I'll just say "Hey, easy" and Remi will stop and look at me, then Noelle will stop and look at me (at which point she sees me looking at her and she usually comes running to me) and then they'll settle down. But if Tulsa and Noelle are playing, there's no way to get their attention short of moving into their line of vision or touching them to get them to notice me. Other than that though, there's not a lot of difference. It's so cool to hold a treat, and give the sign for sit (without saying a word) and watch all four dogs (even Duncan!) sit for a treat. I guess if nothing else, I've taught them to beg rather well. :-)

I'm hoping for a good adoption day at PetSmart this week. Duncan still needs another vaccination, so he won't be able to go, but Noelle and Tulsa will be there. I'll also help bring some dogs from another foster home to PetSmart for the day. Kermit will be there!! Please pray he gets a home for Christmas - he's been waiting such a long time. If you don't know about Kermit, visit Kermit's Page. We'll have several puppies there also, and hopefully many will find homes again this week.

My Recommendations

Need a dog sitter? Or a dog trainer? Maybe just some on-line references for a specific dog training issue? Here are some resources that I have personally used and highly recommend.

Dog Sitter
No Place Like Home
In Home Pet Sitting
O'Fallon, MO
314-398-6697

Personal experience: I bid on and won a gift certificate for two nights of dog-sitting during our trivia night silent auction fundraiser. I called, and spoke with Kelly, and she fit me in during the Thanksgiving holiday. Kelly is awesome - her and her husband pet-sit animals in their home, and they only dog-sit for a few animals at a time so they can give them plenty of attention and care. She spoiled Remi and Noelle even though they tried to eat her floor while they were there! I even came home with ornaments for my tree - they have each dog's picture and are so cute. Oh, and did I mention she also fosters a dog for another group? Anyone who fosters homeless animals (especially ex-fighting pit bulls) is worth checking out!

Dog Trainer
Positive Paws Pet Training
St. Charles / St. Louis area
http://www.positivepawstraining.com/
636-352-3104

Personal experience: When I decided to hire a trainer to teach me to train my foster dogs, I did some research online. I choose this trainer based on reviews from her website, her background and education, as well as because I agreed with her training methodology. It's still a bit scary to hire someone without having a personal reference from someone I know, but I was very fortunate in this case, and can now give that personal reference for her to others. Kimberly Gracner, the trainer with Positive Paws, is very experienced, well educated, patient and friendly. She is always willing to meet my newest foster dogs when she comes over for training sessions, and she patiently answers all of my dog training questions - not just the ones around the subject that we're focused on at the time. I highly recommend her for any dog training issues you may encounter.

Other References
Have a specific issue with your dog that you need help with? Is your dog chewing up the sofa, or barking incessantly, or refusing to listen to you? Of course a trainer is the way to go, but if you can't do that and want some quick online help, check out these websites:

San Francisco SPCA Dog Behavior & Training Library

My Smart Puppy Library

Dumb Friends League - Dog Behavior Topics


Oh, and just for the record...

*The views and opinions expressed on this blog do not necessarily state or reflect those of the Heartland Humane Society of Missouri. The appearance of hyperlinks referencing sites outside this blog does not constitute endorsement of those web sites by HHS or the information, products, or services contained therein. HHS does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at this location.

This post was prepared as a service to the St. Charles County community. Neither Heartland Humane Society of Missouri nor any of its volunteers makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government, or by Heartland Humane Society of Missouri.

And yes, I borrowed that disclaimer from a military website - could you tell? :-)

Lot of adoptions!

It was a great Saturday at PetSmart - we had a LOT of dog adoptions! Two of the most exciting ones were Lily and Scout. Lily is a wonderful adult dog who has been in foster care for a long time, so we were all very excited that she found a home. And Scout has also been waiting a long time. He was born in foster care in the Spring, and because he and his siblings are all going to be very large as adults, they had a hard time finding homes. Now only Cody is left from that litter of puppies to still need a home. We also had several other puppies from other litters who were adopted, so it was a very happy day for the Heartland volunteers, not to mention those dogs who found new homes!

I took Tulsa to PetSmart, but she was not adopted. She tends to bark a lot while she's at PetSmart, so that makes her harder to adopt out. So she's back at home with me now, and having a good time playing with Duncan and Noelle and Remi. Doobie, my foster cat, also spent the day at PetSmart but was not adopted either, so he'll have to try again next week.

Huge thanks to the Girl Scouts, who did another supply drive for us yesterday. Also thank you to everyone who donated! The doggies really appreciate all the toys and treats - and the foster parents also appreciate the donations!!

Introducing Duncan; Re-introducing Tulsa

I took some quick photos of my newest fosters this morning. First, here is Duncan. He is a small puppy, but as usual he looks a lot bigger in my pictures. He is doing pretty well - he loves to play with the other dogs. This morning I was out with just him and Tulsa, trying to take some pictures, and of course they only wanted to play together. Tulsa enjoyed running in circles around the yard, while Duncan would run around behind her, whining the entire time and trying to catch her. Poor little puppy is so starved for attention, and for food. He gulps down as much food as he can, as quickly as he can, like he doesn't know when or if he'll get another meal. He also doesn't like to go outside without me. Even when the other dogs are out there, if I don't stay out with him, he whines and cries to come back inside. I can't blame him though - he's had such a rough start to life, never knowing if anyone will be there to take care of him, or if he's going to be left to fend for himself again. He's only 3 months old - much too young to handle what he's been through. But the good news is, he is young enough to overcome his past experiences and still become a happy, healthy dog. He loves people, and enjoys being next to me whenever he gets the chance. I am hopeful that he will start to feel safer soon, and know that he will always get plenty of food and attention and love for the rest of his life.

Next up is Tulsa, my newest foster. She is so affectionate and loving. She's been sleeping on the bed with us every night, and gets along great with the other dogs. She is back to her old tricks of stalking and trying to sneak up on the other dogs, then wanting to play tag with them. Here is her stalking Duncan this morning..

I know its been hard for her to readjust to life as a foster dog - she's been through two families so far, not including her time between in two different foster homes, and now back to my house. So its no surprise that she is starting to show a few signs of separation anxiety - not wanting to be left alone. But she is so loving and affectionate. I am hopeful that we can find another permanent home for her quickly, so she doesn't have as hard of a time adjusting to yet another home.

And last, I'd like to introduce my very favorite puppy (don't tell Duncan though)... this is Bree-Ann. She is one of the seven Australian Shepherd puppies we have right now. The first time I saw her, I fell in love with her. She has five blue merle siblings, and one black and white sibling, but she is the only all black dog in the litter. Despite this, I don't think she'll take too long to get adopted - she is just adorable! As soon as I met her, I asked her foster mom if she wanted to have one less puppy to take care of - after all, there were plenty of them! :-) I really wanted to take her home and foster her, but then Duncan came along and I couldn't leave him behind. So she is still with her other siblings, and they'll be making their first trip to PetSmart this weekend. Anyway, I just adore her and wanted to share her picture with those of you who haven't seen her on the Heartland website.

Never-ending puppies...

If you are involved in animal rescue for very long, you will have "Spay & Neuter" drilled into your head over and over. The longer I am involved in rescue, the more I understand why. For me, it started in May. I brought home these adorable guys...


to dog-sit for a few weeks while their foster mom was out of town. Since then, three of these five puppies have been adopted - two are still waiting! They were born in foster care - someone dumped their mom after she got pregnant. If she'd been spayed, it wouldn't have happened.


Next, came several individual puppies - separated from their litter. I fostered Skittles, Reese, Bailey, Pepsi, and Ginger - all young puppies who needed a home. Others also had foster puppies - so many of them! There was Molly and her 9 puppies, a litter of 5 Dachshund/Lab mixes, Dolly and her puppies, and more.Fortunately these have all been adopted. Later in the summer, Heartland took in another whole litter of puppies - Lab/border collie mixes.


There were nine of them, I think. We still have seven of them waiting in foster care for their own homes. The owners of the mother dog got her spayed through a Heartland program as part of the agreement that we take the puppies - so at least next year she won't have another litter of unwanted puppies.

After that, we had these cuties - how could anyone just dump these adorable guys?


They've found homes, but there was immediately another litter waiting. This time, there were two litters of puppies at the same home. Again, we agreed to take the puppies and care for them until they could find homes, but last I heard, the owners still haven't taken in the adult dogs which they kept to be spayed/neutered - even though Heartland offered to pay for it!! The first litter had five lab mix puppies - this is Rosemary, one of the five. Four of these puppies are still waiting to be adopted.



The other litter from that home was made up of 7 Australian Shepherd mix puppies. This is Lily Rose, one of the 7 puppies. All seven are waiting to be adopted - they will be ready for adoption this weekend.

Then, last weekend, a volunteer driving home almost ran over 3 tiny puppies who were in the road. He stopped, and found out where they lived. It turns out the owner didn't want them, or their seven siblings, and they were all living outside trying to survive the cold. The Heartland volunteer couldn't leave them there to die, so he arranged to get them into rescue. Now I'd like you to meet our latest Heartland puppies.

I hate what these puppies have gone through, and what they will still go through, possibly months and months of waiting for their own home. And they are the lucky ones - they have been saved and will have a safe place to stay until they get adopted. So many more are not this lucky. And so because of this past year - my first year in rescue - I've become one of those who goes around preaching "spay and neuter!" - because it really will save lives!

Oh, and if you know anyone who wants to adopt a puppy - PLEASE direct them to Heartland Humane Society! :-)

Tulsa was returned, new foster blog!

First, I am excited to share with you a new blog written by one of our new foster volunteers. This is an amazing blog - the volunteer is a great photographer and writer, and has recently taken in and started fostering both cats and dogs - hooray! Even her blog name is so creative - I'll admit I'm jealous of her talents, but so happy to have her be a part of Heartland. In addition to her creative skills, she's just a very nice person who I really enjoy volunteering with. Check out her blog - Almost Home.

Now, for the sad news - Tulsa, the deaf Australian Cattle Dog that I fostered almost a year ago, has been returned. Her owner loved her very much, but she moved in with another family member and is unable to keep Tulsa any longer. So, last night Tulsa came back to my house. She is staying with me for at least a week, and then she may go back to her original foster home after that. Tulsa had a hard time at my house when she was here before. She loved to play, and since she was a herding dog, she spent a lot of time nipping at Remi - I think she thought he was a cow (he does look like one, you know). Anyway, she was kind of hard on him, so I wasn't able to keep fostering her until she was adopted last time - she went to a foster home without any cows (or Great Danes) and did much better there. I'm hoping that maybe this time will be different and I can keep her a little longer. So far, she is settling in fine. She loves to play with Noelle and with Duncan, and seems to remember being at my house before, so hopefully the transition won't be too difficult for her.