Introducing Freddie

All Paws Rescue was recently contacted about four dogs who were living in a burned out trailer.  The owner had moved away and left the dogs there.  The situation was not good. 

 All Paws pulled all four dogs from that horrible situation, and now they are no longer hungry and dirty.  The first of these four dogs, a Beagle named Freddie, has now been adopted! 

The other three dogs - Duke, Oreo and Buddy - are available for adoption and we hope they will soon find their forever homes too!  For pictures of the dogs and more info, please view their adoption listings online here. 

Introducing Kira

A couple of weeks ago, I received a message from a friend about a deaf dog at a local animal control facility.  When I arrived at the shelter, I found this dog:

I fell in love with her cute face and gigantic ears right away. After spending a few minutes with her, I knew I would be taking her home to foster.  The dog was very well behaved during the evaluation.  She didn't jump up, she wasn't mouthy or pushy, she wasn't fearful, and she tolerated being handled and held with no issues.  She was the perfect size (around 25 pounds) and she seemed to be in good health. 

At her vet visit I learned that she is believed to be a French Bulldog mix, and she is between two and three years old.  At home I learned that she is mostly deaf, although she may have limited hearing.  She is great with other dogs, fine with my cat, and she loves to cuddle.  And it didn't take long before I started thinking about adopting her myself. 

I haven't decided to keep her yet... she is still new and I need to make sure once she settles in she will be okay with all the different dogs and cats that I foster.  But so far she is doing great.  And although I originally wanted to name her something to do with her large ears or the cute paw-print shaped spots on her back, in the end my husband called her Kira, and since he agreed that we could keep her if I wanted to, I thought it only fair that I also keep the name he gave her! 

Whether she stays permanently or not, I just have to say that I love this dog!

Antlers!

Since Ziggy and many of the other dogs I foster love to chew, I am always looking for long-lasting chew bones to keep them busy.  So when I heard about a company that sold deer antlers, I decided to check it out.  I've purchased deer and elk antlers from various pet supply stores before, and for the most part the dogs all like them.  They last a very long time and are safe and don't stain carpets or smell bad like some other chewables.  The only downside is the price - antlers can be expensive.  So when I saw the prices at Indiana Antler Supply, I really thought they were too good to be true.  But I went ahead and ordered a deer antler and an elk antler, and I was even more impressed when I received them.  The customer service was great, and the antlers were gigantic.

Ziggy offered to help demonstrate the product. 

And then Juno offered too.  Unfortunately Juno was recently neutered and is wearing the Cone of Shame, so his picture didn't turn out so well. 

All the dogs enjoy chewing on these antlers, and so far the deer antler seems to be preferred three to one over the elk antler. 

I didn't receive any free product or payment for sharing these with you, I just think they're great for dogs that like to chew, and wanted to let you know too!  You can find out more at Indiana Antler Supply. 

And now, a message from Ziggy. 

For those of you who don't speak "dog", he is clearly communicating that he would like you to adopt him.  Please.   

Introducing Juno and Bear

Recently I received a Facebook message from a friend.  There was a dog at an area shelter who was believed to be deaf.  He was scheduled to be euthanized and she wanted to know if I could help.  I love helping all sorts of dogs, but deaf dogs just so happen to be my favorite to rescue.  Not only because they're most in need of saving, but also because they are so much fun to have around.  They sleep soundly, but then when they are awake they hardly miss a thing in spite of no hearing.  Someone knocking at the door?  The deaf dog sometimes barks before the hearing dog because they spotted the car headlights turning into the driveway, or the person walking up the front porch stairs.  Deaf dogs are good at noticing what is going on around them, and they are more attentive than most hearing dogs because they don't want to miss anything.  They bond more closely than hearing dogs because they have to watch you to see what is going on instead of just waiting until you call them.  They also are often easier to train because they aren't so easily distracted by the noises around them.  So while there are exceptions to every rule, in general I would always choose a deaf dog over a hearing dog.  And when I got this message from a friend, I just so happened to have room for another foster dog.  That is how Juno came to live with me.  And while checking out pictures of the other dogs at the shelter, I fell in love with Bear's picture.  And that is how Bear tagged along on Juno's rescue.

Juno was said by the shelter to be three years old.  The volunteers there knew better and guessed he was around eight years.  It turns out that our vet estimates him at at least ten years old.  This is Juno's picture from when he was at the shelter:

 He was very dirty and had double ear infections and was in a lot of pain. 

After a bath, some medicine, and a few days to relax, Juno turned into a different dog! 

I'd say that he's a completely different dog, but he's still grumpy sometimes!  He is hard of hearing, but it's most likely just due to age.  He has some arthritis in his back legs and doesn't like to be touched there or picked up (and he makes it very clear that he doesn't like it!)  So he's going to need a very patient home with no kids around.  In the meantime he's taken over the biggest dog bed in my living room and spends almost all his time there just relaxing.  I may have him for a long time, but he's the easiest dog ever and gets along with all the other dogs so it is no work at all to foster him.  He just deserves a place to live out his life in peace and quiet, somewhere warm and safe and clean. 

I was more worried about taking in Bear without being able to evaluate him first.  The facility was a couple hours away and I didn't have the chance to go meet the dogs before they were scheduled to be put down, so I had to take a chance on what the dogs would be like based on the volunteers and workers at the shelter.  The Animal Control officer said he dog-tested Bear and Bear did fine, but anytime you take in a large dog like Bear (he weighs 70 pounds) you have to be ready for anything.  Bear was very vocal and barked all the time at first.  But within a few days he settled in and started doing better.  He got along well with the other foster dogs, and it didn't take long for me to realize he was a wonderful dog. 


Bear's picture from the shelter

  Another foster volunteer took Bear home to evaluate him, and he did great with her other animals and with adjusting to a new situation.  He was already house-trained and knew some basic commands, and he quickly learned that it was much better to sit when wanting something than to bark.  This picture is from his foster home where he was staying after he was at my house. 

I sent this picture to my niece and sister because they were looking for another dog, and they quickly fell in love.  And last week, Bear was officially adopted!  He's doing great now at my sister's house.  He gets along well with her other dog, does great with the kids, and has received a new name of Truman. 

New Fosters

The Saturday before last was an amazing day.  The rescue group I volunteer with had eleven dogs adopted!  And even more importantly, we had two brand new foster volunteers join the group.  This means we'll be able to save more dogs! 

When we get new foster homes, we try to give them a dog that is already in one of our foster homes and ready for adoption.  This is because when we get in new dogs, we don't always know much about them.  Some of them will be heartworm positive or have other health issues that will require long-term care.  Others have issues like ear mites and worms that can be contagious to other pets so they have to be quarantined.  Plus the dogs may have behavior issues that will need to be worked with, and often new volunteers don't want to take in a dog that they quickly learn is pushy with other dogs, or doesn't like kids, or screams when unhappy.  Since we want to keep our new volunteers, we prefer to give them dogs that have already been evaluated and fully vetted and that we know will be a good fit for their home.  That way they have a good experience and keep coming back!   

Since I somehow always seem to have plenty of foster dogs around, I often end up moving one of my foster dogs to new foster homes.  Or in the case of the past few weeks, I moved three of my dogs to new foster homes!  Both Bogey the shy dog (now called Brody) and Lucky the deaf dog went to a volunteer who is new to fostering but absolutely wonderful with training and socializing dogs.  I've shared a few of their pictures on my Facebook page and they are both doing great!  Also Louie my shy but perfect foster dog went to another foster home where he is being spoiled rotten. 

There's one other thing you should know about new foster homes.  They have uncanny luck in getting their fosters adopted.  Even dogs that have been around for several months suddenly become adopted once going to a new foster home.  It is wonderful!  In this case, both Lucky and Louie have been adopted in the past week!  This means I was able to send out two more foster dogs to those foster homes!  I've also taken in several new dogs, and one new cat, so here's a quick update.

Hoppy is a three-legged cat who was turned into a shelter when his family said they no longer had time for him.  He is very sweet and loving, and he was adopted three weeks after I brought him home!

Josie is a female English Foxhound or Treeing Walker Coonhound mix (your choice).  She was left behind in the parking lot of a vet's office.  One of the vet techs rescued her and she went to another relatively new foster home.  She had a bit too much energy for them, and since they had no other pets for her to play with, we moved her to my house so she could have some other dogs to keep her busy.  My back yard is basically like a dog park with new dogs being introduced often, so she always has someone new to play with.  Right now she loves running and playing with Jax and Lacey.   

 
Since Josie's foster family was willing to take another dog, they took home Gemma the deaf pit bull mix.  And since Moose the Great Dane and all five of Lacey's puppies were adopted, that gave me room to take in a few new dogs.  So stay tuned for more new fosters, coming soon!