Kai was adopted; I adopted Noelle!

Kai was adopted at PetSmart yesterday by a very nice lady who met her and fell in love. She will be in a great home with a fenced yard and another dog friend to play with. I am missing her but I'm so happy she found a good home!

Also, I finally gave in and adopted my long-term foster dog Noelle. I've had a rough couple of weeks and through it all she's been there for me to make me feel better. We rescued her from the pound when she was only a puppy, and we've had her for nine months now. We're the only life she's ever known and she's bonded so closely to myself and my husband that I can't bear to send her away. I always thought if I adopted another dog it would be one that I'm typically drawn to (sweet and shy) and one that's great with other dogs and cats. Instead I have fallen in love with a dog who's the complete opposite! She is the most outgoing dog - never intimidated by anything - never meets a person she doesn't love - never lets anything deter her from her goals. She's also leash-reactive and iffy around some dogs, and enjoys chasing cats. Not the ideal for a foster mom, but perfect for a wanna-be dog trainer to practice with, I guess. :-) But most of all she's got those typical pit bull qualities - she is loyal, loving, affectionate, funny, and wants nothing more than to be with her family and show how much she loves us. I adore her and I'm so happy that she's now officially mine. :-)

New pictures!

Here are some new pictures of my Sea Litter kittens. First is Cabbie. He's not only adorable but also so affectionate. I love his laid-back personality.



Next is Cabbie's sister - Cilla. She is stalking one of the dogs in this first picture which is why her tail is straight up in the air and very fluffy!

Third is Chessie. She's the high energy kitten of the group - always on the go, and always getting into trouble. She's so friendly and cute and good at making me laugh.



Last but not least is Capri. She's become my all-time favorite cat foster ever. I have never been so attached to any other foster cat - she's kind of the feline version of Coal for me. Coal was the first foster dog I fell in love with when I started fostering, and until Noelle there's never been another dog that I've connected with in the same way. It was really hard to adopt out Coal, but I was very fortunate that the family who adopted him not only gave him a good home but has done an awesome job of keeping me updated on him and bringing him to PetSmart so I can visit with him! I can only hope I am so lucky in finding a similar situation for Capri (hey Bernice, want another cat?) :-D

This weekend I'll be taking Kai, Mercury and Solara to PetSmart to try to find homes for them. Oh, I have exciting news! Angie, the volunteer who found Andy the beagle, came over last night and we walked dogs, and Kai made it ALL THE WAY AROUND THE BLOCK!!! I was so excited. :-) We tried using a harness instead of a regular collar, and that seems to have helped. She's now officially no longer a shy scaredy-dog, and while we'll keep working on walks on leash, she's able to start on the regular obedience training - no jumping on people or counter-surfing, learning to sit/stay, and so on. She now loves to greet new people and new dogs, and has no fear of anything at my house, so I'm very proud of her.

Anastasia was adopted!

The last kitten in my Disney litter has now found her own home. Stasi was adopted to a very nice lady who I am sure will take great care of her. She will also have several other cats and a dog to play with, which is great for such an energetic kitten.



That just leaves me with kittens from two litters, and a few assorted adult cats. I have Mercury the gray kitten and Solara the dilute calico mother from the Solar System litter, and I have four kittens that are unrelated but their names all start with "C" so I'm calling them the Sea litter. They should be ready for adoption in about a week and half hopefully!



I think its time for another contest. I was sure that of the Disney litter, Anastasia would be the first to go, because she's white with black spots and very original markings. I thought Ariel would be the last because she's a gray tabby - pretty, but there are a lot of gray tabbies out there competing for homes. I was wrong as usual, and Ariel was adopted first and Anastasia was adopted last! So let's see if you do better... vote for which of my foster cats you think will be adopted next. If you want to make sure you win, feel free to adopt one yourself. There are no actual prizes awarded, but winners do get bragging rights. :-)

Raven was adopted!

My foster puppy Raven was adopted on Saturday. Chip doesn't even seem to realize she's gone. When I foster puppies that young I like to expose them to as many new things as possible. Puppies who meet a lot of different people and a lot of different animals, and experience a lot of different places and things will generally do better in new situations as they get older. There's a trade-off because puppies that young can be at a higher risk of disease since their immune system isn't fully developed, so I can't just take them to the park or the store to meet people. I have one friend, another Heartland volunteer, who has been great about coming over everytime I have puppies to help me socialize them. She came over on Friday so both Raven and Chip got to meet another new person. We also took Remi and Noelle for a walk around the neighborhood. I've been working on teaching Noelle to use a Gentle Leader collar instead of a regular collar, since she pulls so hard on the leash. She's still getting used to it though, and Friday she tried several times to get it off, and in the process she scraped her nose on the concrete. I kept teasing her that she was just trying to be a red-nosed pit bull (some pit bulls have red noses instead of black noses, and some people prefer this for looks). Fortunately her nose is looking much better today! We tried to take Kai on a walk also - she's getting better, and she'll actually walk farther now on a leash than she ever has, but we still could only get her to go about two houses down from mine before she got overwhelmed and stopped walking. Every time she goes a little bit farther though, and its rewarding to watch her improve.

Another volunteer stopped by yesterday to drop off a leash attachment she made for Noelle (hooray - another new person for Chip to meet!). And after that a third Heartland volunteer came over to help me with my kitten fosters. We rearranged the locations of a bunch of them, and she spent hours helping me clean and move everybody. My Sea Litter (Cilla, Capri, Caboose and Chessie) are now staying in the living room, and they're having a blast running around and exploring the new location. Kai and Noelle are really enjoying them too! Chip doesn't seem to mind them either way - he'll play with them but then he gets distracted by a toy or a piece of string or a noise and he forgets all about them. It's not that he's not smart - but he has a shorter attention span than a kitten - and that's saying something! He's the first to stick his nose into every open door or cabinet or drawer and check things out, but he doesn't get himself into too much trouble because by the time I get to him, he's already moved onto something else!

The great thing about my dogs...

Maybe all dogs aren't like this, but my dogs are the greatest. When I have a bad week, they always cheer me up. If I come home from work in a bad mood, I can't help but smile when Kai runs to greet me with her ears flopping up and down and a big smile on her face. I have to laugh to watch my foster puppies trip over each other trying to be the first one out the door. Remi lets me hug him and his soft fur catches my tears. And Noelle listens while I rage against the injustice in the world and then licks my face to comfort me. The fact that she's deaf doesn't stop her - she listens with her heart - better than most people or dogs ever could. My dogs are my best friends, and I can't imagine life now without having a dog. They share in the heartaches of life but they also share in the joy, and bring more joy than I ever thought possible. I know someday Kai will find her own home, and bring that same joy to another family. Maybe even Noelle will find her home and be able to rescue someone else like she rescues me now. I look forward to that day because I know they will have brought comfort and joy to more people, and we all need that. And I'll still have Remi to catch my tears whenever I miss my other best friends.

Aurora was adopted; Featured Foster: Andy

My foster kitten Aurora was adopted last night to a wonderful family. They have adopted from Heartland before, and are experienced pet owners, so I know Aurora is in great hands. I love her new name. They've renamed her Cammi, because with her tortie/tabby markings she looks like she is camouflaged.

This next story is partly featuring a new Heartland dog, Andy, but it's also featuring a Heartland volunteer. Angie C. is a relatively new volunteer who's become a great asset to Heartland. She volunteers with the dogs, helps with transporting and vet runs and all sorts of things. Earlier this week she was driving down the road in a rural area and found a little dog in the middle of the highway. He was shaking, had a swollen eye like he'd been in a fight, and he wouldn't move from the road. He let Angie walk right up to him and pick him up without moving. The poor little guy was so skinny and covered in ticks. Angie couldn't leave him behind. That area doesn't have any sort of shelter or animal control so there was no one else to help him. He had no tags, and no way to identify where he came from. So Angie took him to the Emergency Vet in O'Fallon to see what he needed. They pulled about 200 ticks off of him. Angie said he never flinched or yelped or anything - he was so worn out. The vet did some bloodwork and an exam, and fortunately found no serious medical problems. Angie not only paid his bill which was several hundred dollars, but she then found a family member willing to provide a foster home for him and nurse him back to health until he can be made ready for adoption. Andy came from a bad situation but he's become a very lucky dog to have been rescued by Angie! Here's a picture of Andy in his new foster home, finally able to relax in a safe, comfortable place.

Introducing Chip

This is my newest foster puppy - Chip. He's a Beagle/Brittany Spaniel mix, and he's only about 8 weeks old. He weighs 7 pounds, and he's only half the size of my foster puppy Raven. They've become best friends though. They share everything - food, toys, a dog bed. They love to wrestle and play together. Raven will probably be ready for adoption this weekend, so then Chip is going to miss her! He likes to play with Kai too though. Kai is so good with puppies - she lets them hang on her and pull her ears and bite her tail, and she never gets upset with them.

I've gotten spoiled with having Raven around. She's the easiest puppy I've ever fostered. She always uses puppy pads when I'm at work and can't let her outside, so I never had to bother with newspaper or cleaning up any big messes. She is very neat and never messed up her kennel or tore up anything when left alone - this is very atypical for puppies! Of course now that Chip is here, he's happily tearing up newspaper and puppy pads and making a huge mess of their exercise pen. So I have to get used to typical puppies all over again! Maybe Raven will teach him some good habits before she's adopted. :-)

Rowdy & Venus were adopted; other adoptions

We had a lot of exciting dog adoptions this weekend. My foster dog Rowdy was adopted on Saturday. I talked to his new family yesterday and he's settled in very quickly to his new home, and is doing great. Also one of my previous short-term foster dogs, Dash, is being adopted!! He met his new family on Sunday, and they're planning to come back and adopt him later this week - hooray!! Another dog from our shelter was also adopted on Saturday. Her name is Mattie - she looks a lot like Kai, my foster dog. Mattie went home with a family with lots of kids, and she looked so excited to be on the receiving end of so much love and attention. Also Kevin and Candy, two small breed dogs who came from horrible circumstances, went home on Saturday with new families, where they will be loved and spoiled for the rest of their lives. All in all, it was a great weekend for Heartland dogs.

As for cats, I am not sure who all got adopted (check Angie's blog for updates), other than my foster kitten Venus. She was adopted by a family who has adopted from Heartland before. It's always great to have adopters come back and adopt another pet into their family. I think Venus will be very happy in her new home.

Pip was adopted!, Reintroducing Artemis

My little beagle puppy Pip was adopted! I knew he wouldn't take long to find a home, he's just too cute. A previous Heartland adopter actually saw him on my blog and asked to meet him when he was ready for adoption, so we did a home visit and Pip and his dog J.D. got along great. I miss my little guy, but I'm glad that he's in such good hands now.

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, or visiting Heartland at PetSmart, you may remember Artemis, the black cat who looked like a panther. He was my foster cat, adopted out in March. Unfortunately he has had some trouble adjusting to the other male cat in the household and had to be returned. Artemis (or Artie for short) still looks kind of like a panther... just a little fatter than most panthers. :-) I'll hold onto him for awhile for evaluation to make sure he doesn't have any new behavior issues, and then try to find him another home without another male cat. Here's his picture from when I had him in March:

New Pictures of Mercury, Raven and Rowdy

Here are some new pictures of my fosters. Also I added some pictures to the last post for Rowdy and Raven - I still need to get a picture of Solara!

Here is Rowdy being rowdy. :-)

Noelle comes along and decides to take away his toy... (see, she DOES like other dogs - especially when they have fun toys!)

Here is the newest contestant for the Cutest Puppy Ever contest.

This is Raven saying "grrrr". Actually I've never heard her growl, even when playing. She does make the cutest little puppy grunts though when I pick her up.

Here are Mercury and Raven playing together:

Mercury chills out....

Mercury gets ready to pounce onto an unsuspecting Raven below...

The toy is bigger than she is, but that doesn't slow her down!