Currently I have seven foster dogs and two foster cats.
King, the extremely smart pit bull puppy, has gone to a foster-to-adopt home where he's doing really well. And
Bandit the previously semi-feral kitten has finally found a home just in time for Christmas!
You may remember me claiming that I could handle
Jefferson, the incredibly energetic and challenging Shepherd mix. Well, I was wrong. Fortunately one of my friends gave me the best Christmas present ever when she took Jefferson to work with him some more. She's a professional trainer and if anyone can get through to him, it's her.
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| Oscar |
This is
Oscar, the deaf Boston Terrier. He's doing really well with house-training and is finally allowed to sleep in bed with me and the other dogs at night (all the dogs except Ziggy, who would likely eat the bed while we slept). Oscar has such a funny personality - I've learned from a friend who often sends me Youtube videos that many Boston Terriers have this same "silly gene". He loves attention, likes to play with the other dogs, likes to be held, and thinks that he is Mr. Tough Guy. He always makes me laugh.
Chloe, my brown and white cow-dog, tested positive for
heartworms. This means she will have to undergo a painful, expensive and dangerous treatment to get rid of them. If left untreated, they will eventually cause congestive heart failure. I'm talking to more and more people who don't have their dogs on heartworm preventative. They often want to adopt one of our rescue's dogs, but we don't adopt to people who don't use heartworm preventative, because we've seen the devestating effects firsthand. If you don't use heartworm preventative, please talk to your vet and see if it is recommended in your area.
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| Roo |
Roo the red pittie mix with the large ears, is doing very well with her Canine Good Citizen training classes. She has passed her first level (where she learned sit and down) and is now working on stay and come when called. She's also learned she can jump four foot tall baby gates and fences. This is why the new fence will be a six foot privacy fence. In the meantime, she's having to stay on a tie-out or leash while in the yard, which makes her sad. I call her my squeaky girl, because she she whines/squeaks when she is sad or nervous. And lately, I've needed some WD-40 to stop all the squeaking! In case you were wondering... yes she was squeaking when we made her wear a Santa hat. But she looks so cute!
I'll update the status of the rest of my current foster pets tomorrow!
10 comments:
You CERTAINLY have a house FULL of Fosters!!! They are really Lucky.
Whew, what a crew! Always love getting the update and count.
I do want to caution that even great owners can make a decision not to use heartworm preventative. If you do some research, preventative is a misnomer in this case, because really it is basically treatment that they are getting each month, regardless of whether or not they contract the disease, and some people really prefer not to give their dogs potentially unnecessary pharmaceuticals. Our family has gone away from this, for instance, and if I was denied adoption of a dog without talking to me about my reasoning, I would be really offended. Just my 2 cents. We do still make sure our girl gets yearly check ups and testing, but so many of the shots and chemicals and "preventatives" can have their own negative effects that I'm trying to limit. =)
Of course, it is also a great chance for education, if someone is simply ignorant of heartworm risks and effects, so that is great you guys inquire about it and have the chance to open that dialogue! Good for you! I hope Chloe is able to weather treatments well and gets better!!!!
A full house. If you get a chance away from all of those fuzzies, could you email me?
purple.tidalwave@gmail.com
Thanks :)
Great updates!
They all sound great! And Roo looks like my foster sister Brookie! Best of luck to Chloe and her heartworm treatments.
-Corbin
Amanda, you've brought up a good point - and we do try to take each application on a case-by-case basis. However heartworms are so bad in our area that I have never found anyone who did the test and not the preventative - most people just don't want to pay the money for either, at the expense of the dogs' health.
Roo looks just like our foster Ginger! Luckily, Ginger is not a fence jumper. Actually, our vet refers to her as a velcro dog because she doesn't like to be away from her humans....ever. She prefers to be touching us at all times...even if it's just one paw touching part of a toe. :)
You are so awesome! Cant wait to learn about the rest of em!
Oh, I thought you meant the Australian beer!! :)
Not really :)
Ahh I see Laurie! I did figure you're thorough in your reasoning overall. There's no way you can do all you do and be successful without that, right?! =)
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