Leah's Story

A year ago I fostered a Chihuahua named Blondie and her three puppies – Lee, Leo and Leah.  Leah was the only girl, and she was twice the size of the two boys.  She was the fearless leader of the group, always exploring and chewing and getting into trouble.  I adored her.  She was quickly adopted, and went to a good home with a loving owner and two other dogs.  Last week I was sad to learn that Leah was being returned.  The reason isn’t important, although I was disappointed that the family decided to return her.  When she went out, she was a silly fat sassy puppy. 

Puppy Leah

When she came back, she was a terrified, anxious, depressed dog.  She won’t leave her kennel.  She won’t eat, drink, or even move when anyone is around.  She has laid in the same spot, huddled against the back of the kennel, for a week and refused to make eye contact.  This morning we had a bit of progress.  She ate a piece of chicken while I was in the room.  It’s heartbreaking to see how afraid she is, and how much she misses her family. I’m trying Rescue Remedy, DAP collars, and other options to try to help her overcome her depression.  I am hoping she will have a happy ending to her story.  That she will come out of her shell and bond to a new person and hopefully find an owner that will be her forever family.

Update: Leah has found her forever home!  She is happy again and doing well in her new home.

Search!

When I first brought home Ziggy, I quickly realized he wasn't a "normal" dog.  Sure, he did normal dog things, like barking and chewing and playing with toys.  But he didn't want affection or petting, and the only thing he cared about was food.  He didn't bond with people or other dogs, and didn't want them around unless they were willing to provide the one thing he cared about - food!  We've never really figured out what makes Ziggy the way he is.  With a lot of hard work we've taught Ziggy to accept petting and attention, but he still only tolerates it in hopes of getting rewarded with food.  It's made him basically unadoptable as a pet dog, but it also makes him a very motivated dog when it comes to working.  Recently I've tried to channel that motivation into a new goal - to become a certified Search and Rescue dog! 

 

About five months ago I joined CSARA, a local search and rescue group.  I recently earned my SarTech II certification, and now I've started to focus on training Ziggy to be a cadaver dog.  This is a video of a recent training session: 

 

 

There are three main types of Search and Rescue dogs.  Two of those - Air Scent and Trailing - search for living people.  The third type of dog searches for human remains.  This is an important part of Search and Rescue since it can assist law enforcement in investigations and provide loved ones with closure.  It is also the type that is most appropriate for Ziggy since he is deaf and not that big a fan of living people. 

Becoming certified as an HRD (human remains detection) dog is a long process that involves a lot of training.  We've only started, and have a very long way to go.  Ziggy will have to learn to detect sources that are buried or elevated, and he will have to learn to ignore all distractions along the way.  Although he may never reach the goal of being certified, we are having fun learning together.  Eventually I hope to adopt a dog specifically for Search and Rescue, and the time spent practicing with Ziggy will help me train a future dog.  Ziggy doesn't understand anything about certifications or tests - he just knows that if I give him the sign for Search, it means it is time for a fun game where when he wins, he gets his favorite thing - food! 

What A Foster Home Intake Coordinator Does (aka Why I Love My Job)

Many animal rescue groups are made up of only foster homes.  This means they don't have a shelter, and every time they rescue an animal, they have to find a place for it to stay until it is adopted.  The group I volunteer with, All Paws Rescue, currently has around 30 active foster homes for dogs.  This means that we constantly have dogs coming into our rescue, being fostered, being adopted out, and then new ones coming in.  Coordinating all of the dogs coming in and going out can be a lot of work, but everyone cooperates to make it go smoothly.  A couple of years ago I volunteered to be the Dog Intake Coordinator (there is also a Cat Intake Coordinator who handles all of the cat intakes and cat foster homes).  Like everything else in our rescue, this is a volunteer position - no one in our group gets paid!  We just do this because we love to help animals.  So the way I help as the dog intake coordinator is to make sure our dog foster homes have what they need in the form of paperwork, supplies, and dogs. When a volunteer tells me they are ready to take on a foster dog, I try to match one to them that is a good fit.  Some of our foster homes can only take in hypoallergenic dogs, or small dogs, or female dogs, or other special requirements, so whenever possible I try to match up a dog in need with the available foster home to make sure it works out for everyone.  However often the dogs that need rescue don't come with information like if they are house-trained, or if they get along with small dogs, or if they like cats.  That is why many foster animals come to my house or another experienced volunteer's house for a short time for an evaluation.  Then when another foster home opens up that is a good fit for that dog, the dog goes to that home and that opens up a space for us to take in another dog to evaluate.  The down side is I end up having to give most of the "easy" dogs to other foster homes, and the only ones that stay with me are those with issues.  But the up side is I get to foster a lot of awesome dogs. 

 

For example, tonight after work I am picking up this dog:

 

His name was Prince and then it was recently changed to Baxter, so at the moment I'm calling him Prince Baxter, until I find out which one he answers to.  He looks so adorable, I'm thinking he'll probably be a very short-term foster dog.  But then again, he could turn out to have issues and be stuck with me for awhile!  I can only hope!