Re-Introducing Tulsa... Again



Tulsa as a puppy

 I first introduced Tulsa on February 3, 2008.  At the time I brought her home, she was just a six month old puppy.  She is a deaf purebred Australian Cattle Dog (also known as a Blue Heeler) who was turned in by her first owners because they didn't have enough time for her.  She was my first attempt at fostering a deaf dog, and she was just as much of a character as Ziggy is! 

She seemed to think the other dogs were there for her convenience. For example, she used Remi as a table while she munched on a cow's hoof.

She also tended to have a sarcastic streak.  After taking a small bite of dog food, she immediately pretended that she had been poisoned.

But it wasn't all fun and games with Tulsa.  She was only my fourth foster dog and I still had a lot to learn about dog training and dog behavior.  After two months at my house, I realized she was just too much for me to handle and I sent her to another foster home who had much more dog experience. 

A month after that, in April 2008, Tulsa was adopted!  She went to a home with two other Australian Cattle Dogs, and I thought that she would have her happily ever after.  But it was not to be. 

Eight months later, in December 2008, Tulsa was returned.  Her owner had to move and was unable to keep her, so Tulsa came back to my house.  She settled right in, and was doing great for the most part.  But we weren't sure that she'd ever be adopted because at every adoption event, she'd bark non-stop at any dog she saw, including the ones she lived and played with at her foster home.  So most adoption events, you'd see something like this:

That's Tulsa in the crate underneath the striped blanket.  She didn't bark, but no one could see her either!  Not a good way to get adopted.  By the way, see the white dog sleeping in the crate on the left?  That's Noelle.  She always slept through adoption events - another reason she never found a home before we adopted her.  Anyway, back to Tulsa.  She continued to be her sweet, silly self at my house.  She continued to use Remi as her own personal furniture - in this case, a pillow while she slept:

Several months later, Tulsa was adopted!  This time the adoption lasted less than eight months, and she was returned again, back to her first foster home.  And then she was adopted again!  And then returned again.  I have lost count of the number of homes this dog has lived in, but I know that she was most recently returned because she had trouble getting along with other dogs.  So Tulsa is coming back to my house, to live with me and Ziggy and the Three Musketeers (Target, Forrester and Toby).  This will be a bit of a challenge, since she has become selective about what dogs she gets along with.  I'm a little bit nervous about it, because one difficult foster dog is all I really want to handle at a time, and Ziggy is already firmly established in that role.  But I made a commitment to Tulsa when I took her in as a foster originally, so I'm going to do my best to help her now.  And Ziggy and I are going to start praying that the perfect home for Tulsa AND Ziggy comes along as soon as possible!  Or at least that's what I'll be praying for.  I'm pretty sure that in spite of the instructions I give to Ziggy, he'll still be praying for treats.