I heard from the lady who adopted Lacy tonight. Lacy is a basset hound/beagle mix who I fostered in September/October. She is doing wonderful in her new home!! Also Selena, one of my early fosters who I had for quite awhile, came to PetSmart a week ago for dog training classes and stopped by to visit me. Selena's picture is at the top right of the page, from last winter. She is also doing well - still a lot of energy, but she is very much loved by her new owner and I know the feeling is mutual. It's so nice to hear success stories like these.
I wasn't able to be at adoptions this past weekend, but I heard that we had three dogs go home! Kodiak is a beautiful all-white Siberian Husky who went to a home with some other huskies (and people, of course). Chili is a very sweet chocolate lab puppy - she was my favorite of the litter of 5 that we have, and as expected, the chocolate lab was adopted prior to her four black lab siblings. And the third dog, Miya, was a cocker spaniel/long-hair chihuahua mix, and the cutest dog ever (except for maybe Dash - a dog belonging to one of the cat fosters). I like to think of Miya a little bit as mine, because I picked her out at a high kill shelter and that's how she became a Heartland dog. I had too many fosters at the time so another volunteer took her to foster. She got a ton of applications when she was put on the website, and she went to a great home. So it's great news that three more dogs were saved this weekend.
I'll be bringing home Duncan, my new chocolate lab puppy, tomorrow to start fostering him. I can't wait to see him again - I will take pictures of him soon!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Pictures of Jake, Noelle and Remi
I wanted to take some Christmas pictures of my fosters for the website. So I tried to take a few today, and they did not turn out at all, but I thought you might enjoy seeing some of my failed pictures!
First, here is a picture of Jake, the lab/border collie puppy who is staying with me for a couple of days. He's about five months old now, and he's so big! They're expecting these puppies to be between 50 and 70 pounds when they're done growing - I think Jake will probably be closer to the 70 pound mark.
Here is a picture of Jake with a Christmas tree on his head. Poor dog looks miserable! I gave up on getting his Christmas picture pretty quick, because I felt sorry for him. :-)
Next is Noelle, also trying on the Christmas Tree hat. She was more interested in eating it than wearing it, so that didn't work out.
And finally, here's a picture of how most of my morning went. I was working from home, and even though I put the dogs through a lot trying to get cute photos, they love me anyway. So much that it makes getting much work done very difficult! I spent most of the morning trying to type around Jake's head, and keep Doobie from blocking my vision of the keyboard. It was challenging, but I enjoyed every minute of it!
I hope you have a very happy Thanksgiving!
First, here is a picture of Jake, the lab/border collie puppy who is staying with me for a couple of days. He's about five months old now, and he's so big! They're expecting these puppies to be between 50 and 70 pounds when they're done growing - I think Jake will probably be closer to the 70 pound mark.
Here is a picture of Jake with a Christmas tree on his head. Poor dog looks miserable! I gave up on getting his Christmas picture pretty quick, because I felt sorry for him. :-)
Next, I tried to recruit my husband to help take a picture of Remi, the newest reindeer! You can see Remi saying "When will this be over?" and Noelle, down at the bottom of the photo, saying "What's she doing to you?!"
Next is Noelle, also trying on the Christmas Tree hat. She was more interested in eating it than wearing it, so that didn't work out.
And finally, here's a picture of how most of my morning went. I was working from home, and even though I put the dogs through a lot trying to get cute photos, they love me anyway. So much that it makes getting much work done very difficult! I spent most of the morning trying to type around Jake's head, and keep Doobie from blocking my vision of the keyboard. It was challenging, but I enjoyed every minute of it!
I hope you have a very happy Thanksgiving!
New Puppies
I brought home a puppy yesterday. You may have heard me talk about the cute lab/border collie puppies that we have available for adoption. We (Heartland Humane Society) started with 9 puppies, and we still have 7 of them waiting to find homes. Their mom was a yellow lab and the dad was a border collie. The puppy I brought home is from this litter. His name is Jake, and he is the best cuddler ever (except for maybe Noelle). He just likes to curl up next to me on the couch and lay there for hours. I'm only keeping him for a few days, and then he's going on to another foster home, but I'm really enjoying having him here while I can. You too, can have your own puppy, to adopt or just to foster! Apply online at http://www.hhsrescue.org/, or e-mail me for more information.
I am going to be bringing home a different puppy next week. Duncan (I'm naming him after my niece and nephew) is a little chocolate lab puppy. He was picked up as a stray and no one came for him. Another volunteer told me about him, and we went to see him together. He's at a rural animal control - in an outdoor pen that is falling apart. He had no food or water, no toys, no other animals or people for company. He has been all alone there in the cold for a week now. I feel so awful for him. The volunteer I went with is going to pick him up today and get him dewormed and vaccinated. He'll finally have some human attention, and medical care, and somewhere warm to sleep tonight!
I am going to be bringing home a different puppy next week. Duncan (I'm naming him after my niece and nephew) is a little chocolate lab puppy. He was picked up as a stray and no one came for him. Another volunteer told me about him, and we went to see him together. He's at a rural animal control - in an outdoor pen that is falling apart. He had no food or water, no toys, no other animals or people for company. He has been all alone there in the cold for a week now. I feel so awful for him. The volunteer I went with is going to pick him up today and get him dewormed and vaccinated. He'll finally have some human attention, and medical care, and somewhere warm to sleep tonight!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Joy and Montelle were adopted!
I am happy to report that two of my foster animals were adopted this weekend. Well technically they were other people's foster animals, I was just "sub-fostering" them. Which means I got to have them live at my house for awhile, but I wasn't their actual foster parent who rescued them and did all the work getting them ready for adoption, not to mention fostering them for several months before I got them. Which really means that there are several of us who are very happy this weekend that Joy and Montelle found homes. :-) Joy, the Doberman Pinscher mix, was adopted to a family tonight. They met her at PetSmart yesterday, but their dog wasn't too sure about being at PetSmart so we couldn't tell for sure how her and Joy would do together. So I took Joy to their house tonight to see how they did, and the dogs did great together. They immediately started running around and playing, having a great time. Also, Montelle was adopted at PetSmart yesterday. I didn't get to talk to his new family very much since we were short on dog volunteers and it was pretty busy. Speaking of which, if anyone wants to come help out with dogs on Saturdays, we could use you!
I'm going to have to miss PetSmart next weekend due to family plans, so Noelle and Doobie, my two remaining fosters, will get an extra week before they get to go back to another adoption event. My husband is very happy about that - he is crazy about Noelle and doesn't want anyone to adopt her. :-)
I'm going to have to miss PetSmart next weekend due to family plans, so Noelle and Doobie, my two remaining fosters, will get an extra week before they get to go back to another adoption event. My husband is very happy about that - he is crazy about Noelle and doesn't want anyone to adopt her. :-)
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Update on Noelle's Training Session
Noelle had her second training class last night, and she seemed to have taken a step backward since her first class. I think this is due to two things - first, I missed a few days of working on her training while I wasn't feeling well. Second, I took her for a 15 minute walk before her training class. Now, you may wonder why a 15 minute walk would influence how she did during class? Let me give you a few examples of how class went (of course, I was using hand signs whenever I was speaking to Noelle)...
Trainer: Okay, let's see her do a sit-stay.
Me: Noelle, sit.... stay.... no, don't lay down...come on, back up.... stay.... no, sit up.... stay... look, here's this yummy treat right above your nose, just follow it back up to a sit position.... no, don't lay back down!
Trainer: Hmmm...okay, how about a down-stay.
Me: Noelle, down..stay... ... watch me.... no, put your head up so you can see me... watch me... here i am, watch me... look, I have yummy food.. no don't close your eyes... noelle, wake up!
We actually worked on a new command - "leave it" - she saw a treat, saw the trainer put her hand over it... sniffed her hand for a second, then put her head down on top of the trainers hand and fell asleep. It was hilarious! This dog is the laziest dog I have ever met in my entire life - and she's only 6 months old! The trainer asked me to not take her for any more walks immediately preceding her scheduled training session. :-)
In other news, Joy is learning so quickly. She is house-trained now and so well-behaved. She has started sleeping on the bed with Noelle and Remi and and Doobie and me at night, and she is just like Remi - she tries to lay in the middle of the bed and stretch out as much as possible. Fortunately she's quite a bit smaller than Remi so I still have some room left over. Joy's favorite thing to do is to stalk the cats. She'll happily spend an hour or more just sitting and watching the hallway, waiting for a cat to appear so she can sneak up on it. Doobie doesn't mind - he just looks at her and ignores her. Montelle definitely minds, but sometimes I think he's just playing with her too, because he has plenty of opportunity to get away from her and usually just stays out and taunts her.
We're all going to PetSmart again this Saturday, and I hope one of my foster cats gets adopted. Okay, I'd love one of my foster dogs to get adopted too, but right now they're my Christmas dogs (Joy and Noelle, get it?) and it'd be fun to still have them around for Christmas! :-) I'm playing a game where everytime I'm with them and a Christmas song comes on, if I hear their name, they get a treat. Joy really likes the song "Joy to the World" and Noelle's favorite is "The First Noel". Silly I know, but I amuse myself rather easily. :-)
Trainer: Okay, let's see her do a sit-stay.
Me: Noelle, sit.... stay.... no, don't lay down...come on, back up.... stay.... no, sit up.... stay... look, here's this yummy treat right above your nose, just follow it back up to a sit position.... no, don't lay back down!
Trainer: Hmmm...okay, how about a down-stay.
Me: Noelle, down..stay... ... watch me.... no, put your head up so you can see me... watch me... here i am, watch me... look, I have yummy food.. no don't close your eyes... noelle, wake up!
We actually worked on a new command - "leave it" - she saw a treat, saw the trainer put her hand over it... sniffed her hand for a second, then put her head down on top of the trainers hand and fell asleep. It was hilarious! This dog is the laziest dog I have ever met in my entire life - and she's only 6 months old! The trainer asked me to not take her for any more walks immediately preceding her scheduled training session. :-)
In other news, Joy is learning so quickly. She is house-trained now and so well-behaved. She has started sleeping on the bed with Noelle and Remi and and Doobie and me at night, and she is just like Remi - she tries to lay in the middle of the bed and stretch out as much as possible. Fortunately she's quite a bit smaller than Remi so I still have some room left over. Joy's favorite thing to do is to stalk the cats. She'll happily spend an hour or more just sitting and watching the hallway, waiting for a cat to appear so she can sneak up on it. Doobie doesn't mind - he just looks at her and ignores her. Montelle definitely minds, but sometimes I think he's just playing with her too, because he has plenty of opportunity to get away from her and usually just stays out and taunts her.
We're all going to PetSmart again this Saturday, and I hope one of my foster cats gets adopted. Okay, I'd love one of my foster dogs to get adopted too, but right now they're my Christmas dogs (Joy and Noelle, get it?) and it'd be fun to still have them around for Christmas! :-) I'm playing a game where everytime I'm with them and a Christmas song comes on, if I hear their name, they get a treat. Joy really likes the song "Joy to the World" and Noelle's favorite is "The First Noel". Silly I know, but I amuse myself rather easily. :-)
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Rough weekend
I had a pretty bad cold all weekend, and didn't do much besides sleep and watch TV. I only wish I had been well enough to actually enjoy that! I did make it to PetSmart on Saturday, and fortunately we had two newer dog volunteers - Rhonda and Nancy, who were there to help out. I wasn't much help since I felt like I could barely stand up! They were a big help to our regular volunteers and we had four dogs that were adopted. Several small dogs - two puggles and a Westie mix - were adopted, which wasn't very surprising. Also, one of our longer-term fosters was adopted! Shirley, a cute medium sized mix dog, had been in foster care since she was a very young puppy. She finally found her very own home, and we were all excited about that!
None of my own fosters found homes - Joy spent most of the time barking at other dogs, and Noelle spent most of the time sleeping, so neither of them have mastered the adorable, pleading, "please adopt me" look that is so helpful for finding their own home. :-)
I am sad that I missed going to the Painted Pot on Sunday - I hope a lot of you made it out to support Heartland and had a good time in the process.
Oh, on Friday I went and had my friend Angie (HHS President and writer of the cat blog!) take pictures of some of my fosters. Many of our pets are adopted after they are seen on web sites like adoptapet.com or petfinder.com. The photos and bios are what often draws people in to meet these animals, so I jumped at the chance to have Angie take pictures of my fosters. She's a great photographer, and has her own website, so check it out at http://www.kitcatphotos.com/. She got some great pictures of Noelle, Joy and Doobie for me. Hopefully that will help them get adopted a bit quicker.
None of my own fosters found homes - Joy spent most of the time barking at other dogs, and Noelle spent most of the time sleeping, so neither of them have mastered the adorable, pleading, "please adopt me" look that is so helpful for finding their own home. :-)
I am sad that I missed going to the Painted Pot on Sunday - I hope a lot of you made it out to support Heartland and had a good time in the process.
Oh, on Friday I went and had my friend Angie (HHS President and writer of the cat blog!) take pictures of some of my fosters. Many of our pets are adopted after they are seen on web sites like adoptapet.com or petfinder.com. The photos and bios are what often draws people in to meet these animals, so I jumped at the chance to have Angie take pictures of my fosters. She's a great photographer, and has her own website, so check it out at http://www.kitcatphotos.com/. She got some great pictures of Noelle, Joy and Doobie for me. Hopefully that will help them get adopted a bit quicker.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
A cat named "meow"
My 6-year-old niece came over to vist the other night. She fell in love with Rudy when I first got him several months ago, and so when I found out I was going to be dog-sitting, I knew she would want to visit him. And once again I received the request "Pleease keep him until I turn 16?!", because her mom and dad have told her she can get a dog when she turns 16. Although I hate to ever tell her no, in this case I had to tell her that Rudy would be better off in a home with someone who didn't work full-time. It was great to have her visit, and she also suggested while she was there that we rename one of my foster cats. Montelle, my newest foster cat, is very vocal - he spends a lot of time saying "meow" as loud as possible, to request that I come pay attention to him. He'd be happy to come find me for attention if there weren't so many dogs around! But anyway he was being his usual vocal self while my niece was there, and she suggested we should name him "Meow", because then "He can say his own name!". So now Montelle's new nickname is Meow.
Meow also has a new amazing trick - he can act like a hat! He does this by getting a running start while I'm sitting at the kitchen table, and jumping directly from the floor to my shoulders, and on top of my head. He then just hangs out there, until I pull him down. The first time he did this, I was very confused - how'd I get a cat that came out of nowhere on the top of my head?! Now I'm getting used to it, and between him and Doobie, it's very difficult to get any work done on my home computer. But I really don't mind - its nice to see him start to come out of the cat room to visit more often.
Tonight is Noelle's next training session - I am anxious to begin! She has been very popular recently - we've received several inquiries and applications on her. Unfortunately none of them have a fenced yard, and its too dangerous to ever let her off-leash without a fence. Just imagine taking any puppy outside.... they like to chase things! Most of them, including Noelle, will chase a rabbit, or a squirrel, or a blowing leaf. And since you can't clap your hands or call her name and have her stop and turn around, she would end up following something right into a street. And since she can't hear a car coming, she would be in very great danger. So, I've had to turn down some really good applicants, which I hate to do. But I know eventually someone will come along who wants to adopt her and has a fenced yard.
I'm looking forward to going to the Pawsitively Purrfect Painting Party at the Painted Pot on Sunday. I have never been - and my family can attest that I am pretty awful at art. But I still think it'll be a lot of fun - especially if they let me bring in Remi! They say you can bring a pet, but since Remi is more often compared to a pony than a dog, he may be too big. :-) It sounds like a lot of fun though, and a great way to raise money for Heartland. Here are the details of the fundraiser:
Pawsitively Purrfect Painting Party
Sunday November 16th 12PM-4PM
The Painted Pot
Get a jump on making a personalized holiday gift or decoration and let your pets help! Come in and your pet's painted paw can decorate an ornament, picture frame or personalized pet bowls! If you don't want to bring your pet, you're still welcome and Heartland will get your studio fees as a donation! So bring a friend and enjoy the afternoon!
Hope to see you there!
Meow also has a new amazing trick - he can act like a hat! He does this by getting a running start while I'm sitting at the kitchen table, and jumping directly from the floor to my shoulders, and on top of my head. He then just hangs out there, until I pull him down. The first time he did this, I was very confused - how'd I get a cat that came out of nowhere on the top of my head?! Now I'm getting used to it, and between him and Doobie, it's very difficult to get any work done on my home computer. But I really don't mind - its nice to see him start to come out of the cat room to visit more often.
Tonight is Noelle's next training session - I am anxious to begin! She has been very popular recently - we've received several inquiries and applications on her. Unfortunately none of them have a fenced yard, and its too dangerous to ever let her off-leash without a fence. Just imagine taking any puppy outside.... they like to chase things! Most of them, including Noelle, will chase a rabbit, or a squirrel, or a blowing leaf. And since you can't clap your hands or call her name and have her stop and turn around, she would end up following something right into a street. And since she can't hear a car coming, she would be in very great danger. So, I've had to turn down some really good applicants, which I hate to do. But I know eventually someone will come along who wants to adopt her and has a fenced yard.
I'm looking forward to going to the Pawsitively Purrfect Painting Party at the Painted Pot on Sunday. I have never been - and my family can attest that I am pretty awful at art. But I still think it'll be a lot of fun - especially if they let me bring in Remi! They say you can bring a pet, but since Remi is more often compared to a pony than a dog, he may be too big. :-) It sounds like a lot of fun though, and a great way to raise money for Heartland. Here are the details of the fundraiser:
Pawsitively Purrfect Painting Party
Sunday November 16th 12PM-4PM
The Painted Pot
Get a jump on making a personalized holiday gift or decoration and let your pets help! Come in and your pet's painted paw can decorate an ornament, picture frame or personalized pet bowls! If you don't want to bring your pet, you're still welcome and Heartland will get your studio fees as a donation! So bring a friend and enjoy the afternoon!
Hope to see you there!
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Introducing Joy and Montelle
Yesterday I went to see Sammy, the pit bull puppy at animal control, and found out they had just released him to another rescue group. This was great news, because the family who was interested in him didn't show up, and I know the group he went to will make sure he goes to a good home.
So after I left the shelter, I went up to PetSmart - because it was Saturday and I can't stay away! One of the dog fosters was there with dogs for adoption. She recently took in several puppies to foster, and I know they are a LOT of work. I thought about offering to take in some of those puppies, but I didn't think I could handle that (plus, my husband would kill me). :-) So I offered to take Joy, one of her other foster dogs right now, to hopefully lighten her load a little bit. I fell in love with Joy after visiting her in her foster home several weeks ago. She was this great puppy with a lot of energy who was very shy! She was afraid to come to me and would run and hide behind the bushes. Her foster mom has been working with her a lot, and Joy has improved so much. Now she is not shy at all, and she's been crate-trained, and is a joy to foster. (get it? I amuse myself.) :-) Anyway, here is my newest foster dog Joy:
And here are all three dogs (Remi, Noelle and Joy) playing together. I like having one black dog, one white dog, and one black and white dog - its very symmetrical. :-)
So after I left the shelter, I went up to PetSmart - because it was Saturday and I can't stay away! One of the dog fosters was there with dogs for adoption. She recently took in several puppies to foster, and I know they are a LOT of work. I thought about offering to take in some of those puppies, but I didn't think I could handle that (plus, my husband would kill me). :-) So I offered to take Joy, one of her other foster dogs right now, to hopefully lighten her load a little bit. I fell in love with Joy after visiting her in her foster home several weeks ago. She was this great puppy with a lot of energy who was very shy! She was afraid to come to me and would run and hide behind the bushes. Her foster mom has been working with her a lot, and Joy has improved so much. Now she is not shy at all, and she's been crate-trained, and is a joy to foster. (get it? I amuse myself.) :-) Anyway, here is my newest foster dog Joy:
She's so sweet - I just love her. She is having a great time playing with Noelle. And she does well with Remi too. Here is Joy and Remi, my own dog. Well, that's his head, anyway... he looks kind of silly since you can't really see his body. :-)
Since I had the camera out, I took some more pictures of Noelle too.
And here are all three dogs (Remi, Noelle and Joy) playing together. I like having one black dog, one white dog, and one black and white dog - its very symmetrical. :-)
I know they look like they're trying to kill each other, but really no dogs were harmed in the making of these photographs - they're just playing!
Also, here is a picture of Rudy, my current house-guest. He is just staying for a week while his foster mom is gone. He is doing so well - he likes to sit in my lap and cuddle all the time. I'm sure he'll be glad to get back to his foster home though, because Noelle keeps trying to play with him and he does not appreciate that.
While I was at PetSmart I also asked one of the other cat fosters if I could have another cat to foster. I really like getting cats from someone who already fosters them because that way they have already been to the vet and had everything done for them. They can just come and live at my house until they get adopted, which gives extra space to the original foster home, and also sometimes gives us more information on that foster cat and how they do with dogs, if they didn't have dogs in their original foster home. So anyway, Jeana let me take home one of her fosters, a cat named Montelle. I believe he was part of a litter that was originally named after various talk show hosts. He is a really pretty all black cat, and he is very affectionate. He even gives me hugs! But he's still not too sure about the dogs, so he's spending most of his time in the cat room, complaining (meowing) loudly about having to live in a house with dogs! He's starting to come out occasionally now so hopefully within a few days he will be more comfortable. Here is a picture of Montelle. He had a cold when he was younger, so one of his eyes is a little runny, but it doesn't seem to cause him any problems, and it doesn't require any special care. It might make him harder to adopt out, but then again it might not, since it makes him different, and that can draw in people like me who want to give the special ones good homes. :-)
And finally, here's my last foster - Doobie. He is doing very well - he got used to all the dogs, and sleeps on my pillow every night! He is so funny because he snores, but it sounds more like he's singing, or humming, than snoring. He's a very musical kitty, I guess. He also doesn't meow like most cats - he opens his mouth and you can kind of see him saying "meow" but all that comes out is a very quiet squeak - its very cute.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Update on Noelle and Rudy
Noelle just completed her first obedience class! It was more of an evaluation actually. The trainer, from Positive Paws Pet Training (http://www.positivepawstraining.com/) was very nice and I'm really looking forward to working with her. Next week we start our first official class of the four week program.
It has been really quiet with no other fosters except Noelle and Doobie right now. But not for long - one of my old fosters is coming back to visit for a week! Rudy (previously named Ray - sorry Mom, I know you hate when their names change) is a Pekingese that came from a breeder several months ago. He has some problems with his eyes, and so he has been in foster care ever since we took him in. I had him at my house for a short time, but couldn't devote the time he needed to care for his eyes, so another Heartland volunteer took him home. She has been caring for him and spoiling him rotten. :-) I am going to get to keep him for a week while she is out of town, and I can't wait to see him again!
Also I will be missing the adoption event at PetSmart on Saturday because I'm going to see about another dog who needs help. Sammy is a pit bull puppy at a municipal shelter who is almost out of time. I first saw him at the shelter several weeks ago when I got Noelle. He was such a sweet dog, and he looked at me and did this little happy dance, and I fell in love. I hated to leave him behind, but I had too many other fosters at the time and couldn't take him. Now that some of my fosters have been adopted, I'm hoping to foster Sammy if he still needs it. He had a family interested in him and they are going to visit him Saturday morning, so if that works out he won't need me. But if they don't adopt and he is out of time, I will probably bring him back home with me on Saturday.
It has been really quiet with no other fosters except Noelle and Doobie right now. But not for long - one of my old fosters is coming back to visit for a week! Rudy (previously named Ray - sorry Mom, I know you hate when their names change) is a Pekingese that came from a breeder several months ago. He has some problems with his eyes, and so he has been in foster care ever since we took him in. I had him at my house for a short time, but couldn't devote the time he needed to care for his eyes, so another Heartland volunteer took him home. She has been caring for him and spoiling him rotten. :-) I am going to get to keep him for a week while she is out of town, and I can't wait to see him again!
Also I will be missing the adoption event at PetSmart on Saturday because I'm going to see about another dog who needs help. Sammy is a pit bull puppy at a municipal shelter who is almost out of time. I first saw him at the shelter several weeks ago when I got Noelle. He was such a sweet dog, and he looked at me and did this little happy dance, and I fell in love. I hated to leave him behind, but I had too many other fosters at the time and couldn't take him. Now that some of my fosters have been adopted, I'm hoping to foster Sammy if he still needs it. He had a family interested in him and they are going to visit him Saturday morning, so if that works out he won't need me. But if they don't adopt and he is out of time, I will probably bring him back home with me on Saturday.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Molly, Pepsi & Ginger were adopted!
It was a very good adoption day for me on Saturday - three of my four foster dogs were adopted! Molly went to a family with kids, who decided they were ready for a dog. She seemed very happy with them! Ginger's new family also has two kids, and a mom who had a hard time deciding whether to adopt Ginger or Pepsi. They're both such good puppies, but she finally decided Ginger would be a better fit with her family. That actually worked out well, because shortly after that my cousin came by, and fell in love with Pepsi. So I'm so glad they adopted her - now I'll be able to hear how she's doing in the future! We also had several other foster dogs adopted this weekend - it was a good week for everyone.
That leaves me with just Noelle at home. Oh, and my foster cat Doobie. He decided to hide just before it was time to leave for PetSmart, and even though I searched the house for 20 minutes, and checked all the usual cat hiding spots, I couldn't find him. So he got to skip adoption day this week. After I got home on Saturday night, he was in his usual spot on the bed, pretending like he'd been there all along - so I still don't know what new hiding spot he discovered!
One of the nice things about fostering is that I can take a break in between fostering dogs whenever I want to. So that's what I'm doing now... at least for a few weeks probably. I will still have lots of news to report on other Heartland foster dogs though! And of course I'll keep fostering Noelle, too. I've enrolled her in some private dog training classes, and the trainer is coming out on Thursday night to my home for her first class. If I foster Noelle long enough, I'd like to get her CGC Certification. That is a Canine Good Citizen award - it is given by the AKC for any dog who passes a 10-part test that shows they can perform basic obedience and are well-behaved in various social situations. For more information, go to http://www.akc.org/events/cgc/index.cfm. I plan to learn to train Noelle through these private lessons, and then be able to train other fosters to earn their CGC on my own in the future. I hope it will help some of the hard-to-adopt dogs to be adopted more quickly. Oh, and for those of you who support Heartland, I just want you to know that I'm paying for the classes myself. So if you think its a waste of money to train a foster dog, now you know it's my money and not any that you have donated to Heartland. :-) I have arranged with the trainer to allow me to take these classes, working toward the CGC, with whatever foster dog I have at the time. So while I plan to especially work with the harder to adopt dogs (like Noelle, since she's deaf), I also won't let it interfere with them being adopted if a perfect home comes along - I'll just get another hard-to-adopt dog to train and pick up with the classes where I left off! I'm still going to school for a Dog Training diploma, and a Shelter & Rescue Work diploma, but that will still take me a few years before I'm done, so in the meantime I want to get some extra hands-on help with training. Remember, i've only been a dog owner for a couple of years, and have NEVER taken a dog training class! My own dog Remi came to us already having attended several levels of obedience classes before we adopted him, so there was never really a need. I'm self-taught - having read every book I can get my hands on - and I've developed a lot of confidence in working with several of the dogs I've fostered over the past year. But sometimes it just makes a huge difference to see certain training techniques demonstrated, or to watch how someone solves a particular problem that a dog has. So I'm really looking forward to these classes.
My latest news - yesterday I went with another HHS foster volunteer to pick up some puppies. The owners dogs had two unplanned litters of puppies - 12 of them altogether! So we went and got them and took them back to the foster volunteer's house. On the way home, we saw two dogs running loose on highway 61. They looked like they were going to get hit by a car, so of course we stopped and tried to help. One of the dogs ran back up the embankment, and even though we went after it, we weren't able to find it. We were able to rescue the other dog, and since we knocked on doors of homes in the area but couldn't find her owners, she came home with me last night. This morning I was able to call the vet where her rabies tag was registered, and contact the owner. They came and picked her up, and they were very happy to get her back. Their other dog, the one who ran away from us, also made it back home safely, so it was a happy ending all-around!
That leaves me with just Noelle at home. Oh, and my foster cat Doobie. He decided to hide just before it was time to leave for PetSmart, and even though I searched the house for 20 minutes, and checked all the usual cat hiding spots, I couldn't find him. So he got to skip adoption day this week. After I got home on Saturday night, he was in his usual spot on the bed, pretending like he'd been there all along - so I still don't know what new hiding spot he discovered!
One of the nice things about fostering is that I can take a break in between fostering dogs whenever I want to. So that's what I'm doing now... at least for a few weeks probably. I will still have lots of news to report on other Heartland foster dogs though! And of course I'll keep fostering Noelle, too. I've enrolled her in some private dog training classes, and the trainer is coming out on Thursday night to my home for her first class. If I foster Noelle long enough, I'd like to get her CGC Certification. That is a Canine Good Citizen award - it is given by the AKC for any dog who passes a 10-part test that shows they can perform basic obedience and are well-behaved in various social situations. For more information, go to http://www.akc.org/events/cgc/index.cfm. I plan to learn to train Noelle through these private lessons, and then be able to train other fosters to earn their CGC on my own in the future. I hope it will help some of the hard-to-adopt dogs to be adopted more quickly. Oh, and for those of you who support Heartland, I just want you to know that I'm paying for the classes myself. So if you think its a waste of money to train a foster dog, now you know it's my money and not any that you have donated to Heartland. :-) I have arranged with the trainer to allow me to take these classes, working toward the CGC, with whatever foster dog I have at the time. So while I plan to especially work with the harder to adopt dogs (like Noelle, since she's deaf), I also won't let it interfere with them being adopted if a perfect home comes along - I'll just get another hard-to-adopt dog to train and pick up with the classes where I left off! I'm still going to school for a Dog Training diploma, and a Shelter & Rescue Work diploma, but that will still take me a few years before I'm done, so in the meantime I want to get some extra hands-on help with training. Remember, i've only been a dog owner for a couple of years, and have NEVER taken a dog training class! My own dog Remi came to us already having attended several levels of obedience classes before we adopted him, so there was never really a need. I'm self-taught - having read every book I can get my hands on - and I've developed a lot of confidence in working with several of the dogs I've fostered over the past year. But sometimes it just makes a huge difference to see certain training techniques demonstrated, or to watch how someone solves a particular problem that a dog has. So I'm really looking forward to these classes.
My latest news - yesterday I went with another HHS foster volunteer to pick up some puppies. The owners dogs had two unplanned litters of puppies - 12 of them altogether! So we went and got them and took them back to the foster volunteer's house. On the way home, we saw two dogs running loose on highway 61. They looked like they were going to get hit by a car, so of course we stopped and tried to help. One of the dogs ran back up the embankment, and even though we went after it, we weren't able to find it. We were able to rescue the other dog, and since we knocked on doors of homes in the area but couldn't find her owners, she came home with me last night. This morning I was able to call the vet where her rabies tag was registered, and contact the owner. They came and picked her up, and they were very happy to get her back. Their other dog, the one who ran away from us, also made it back home safely, so it was a happy ending all-around!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Introducing Kermit & Doobie; Nacho was adopted!
Nacho, my little orange guy, was adopted tonight! So all of my orange kittens have now found homes. Also, Linguini, my very affectionate black cat that I borrowed from another foster mom, was adopted yesterday. So it's been a great week for cat adoptions for me - I only have one cat foster left! His name is Doobie, and here is his picture:
I also temporarily brought home another foster dog named Kermit recently. You may have heard me talk about Kermit before - he's become my latest project. :-) Kermit is a great dog who's been waiting a really long time for his own home. He has a neurological disorder which causes him to have poor balance. That, plus the fact that he's a big black dog, means he is often overlooked. He's been at his foster home for a very long time now, so his foster mom asked me if I wanted to see how he'd do in a new environment. I am happy to report he did great. He got along well with the other dogs and cats, and he even learned to handle stairs! He had zero accidents in the house, and was an all-around great foster for me. He only stayed at my house for about a week, since I have several other foster dogs right now. But now we can update his bio online, and hopefully that information will help him to find a new home. Here are a couple of pictures of Kermit from when he was at my house this past week:
While I was downloading pictures, I once again was surprised to find that my husband took a few photos while I wasn't home. It's always interesting to see what he takes pictures of. Here are a couple of his latest pictures...
Aren't they cute? I think this is more proof that he drugs them when I'm not there. :-) That's Ginger at the top, then Pepsi, and Noelle at the bottom. They're sleeping on the mattress that we have in our bedroom to use as Remi's bed. Remi is my Great Dane - he's 150 lbs and even though he usually sleeps in our bed whenever he can get away with it, sometimes my husband makes him go over to his own mattress. :-)
I also temporarily brought home another foster dog named Kermit recently. You may have heard me talk about Kermit before - he's become my latest project. :-) Kermit is a great dog who's been waiting a really long time for his own home. He has a neurological disorder which causes him to have poor balance. That, plus the fact that he's a big black dog, means he is often overlooked. He's been at his foster home for a very long time now, so his foster mom asked me if I wanted to see how he'd do in a new environment. I am happy to report he did great. He got along well with the other dogs and cats, and he even learned to handle stairs! He had zero accidents in the house, and was an all-around great foster for me. He only stayed at my house for about a week, since I have several other foster dogs right now. But now we can update his bio online, and hopefully that information will help him to find a new home. Here are a couple of pictures of Kermit from when he was at my house this past week:
While I was downloading pictures, I once again was surprised to find that my husband took a few photos while I wasn't home. It's always interesting to see what he takes pictures of. Here are a couple of his latest pictures...
Aren't they cute? I think this is more proof that he drugs them when I'm not there. :-) That's Ginger at the top, then Pepsi, and Noelle at the bottom. They're sleeping on the mattress that we have in our bedroom to use as Remi's bed. Remi is my Great Dane - he's 150 lbs and even though he usually sleeps in our bed whenever he can get away with it, sometimes my husband makes him go over to his own mattress. :-)
Monday, October 27, 2008
Lot of cat adoptions!
Many of my cat fosters were adopted this week! Blaze and Astro were adopted on Friday night, and Jester and Cheeto were adopted on Saturday. That just leaves me with Nacho (last orange kitten), Linguini (black cat hopefully being adopted by someone tomorrow!) and Doobie - a cat that I haven't even introduced yet. :-) I talked about Doobie before - he was taken by another volunteer when he was out of time at an area shelter, and now that I have room for him, he came to live with me until he can be adopted. I just got him a few days ago so I will get his picture and tell you more about him soon.
All of my foster dogs went to PetSmart on Saturday, but none of them were chosen to be adopted. We did have a couple other very exciting adoptions - Poppy, an older dog, was adopted! It's always good when one of our older dogs finds a home. Also Taz, another long-timer, was adopted. Taz has been waiting for his own home for a very long time - although he was spoiled to death in his foster home while he waited. :-) He had some problems with his ears so it took him a little longer to find a home. So our recent pattern of special needs and harder-to-place pets being adopted continues! I hope this happens for Kermit as well. Kermie, as I call him, is a special needs dog that has been in foster care for a very long time. He has a neurological disorder that makes it hard for him to keep his balance. I took him to my house late last week to see how he'd do in a new environment, with new dogs and cats, and to see if he could handle the stairs in our house. I'm happy to report he is doing wonderful. He gets along great with all the other dogs and cats, and he can even go up and down the stairs without a problem! He's had no accidents in the house at all - have I mentioned how nice it is to bring home a dog that's already house-trained? And he is so happy and friendly and easygoing. He hasn't fallen down and even though he walks a little bit funny, he is basically just a normal dog. So that's very exciting to know how well he can do when going into a new home - even one that has stairs - and I hope that he can find his own forever home soon. I will post a new picture of Kermit soon too.
All of my foster dogs went to PetSmart on Saturday, but none of them were chosen to be adopted. We did have a couple other very exciting adoptions - Poppy, an older dog, was adopted! It's always good when one of our older dogs finds a home. Also Taz, another long-timer, was adopted. Taz has been waiting for his own home for a very long time - although he was spoiled to death in his foster home while he waited. :-) He had some problems with his ears so it took him a little longer to find a home. So our recent pattern of special needs and harder-to-place pets being adopted continues! I hope this happens for Kermit as well. Kermie, as I call him, is a special needs dog that has been in foster care for a very long time. He has a neurological disorder that makes it hard for him to keep his balance. I took him to my house late last week to see how he'd do in a new environment, with new dogs and cats, and to see if he could handle the stairs in our house. I'm happy to report he is doing wonderful. He gets along great with all the other dogs and cats, and he can even go up and down the stairs without a problem! He's had no accidents in the house at all - have I mentioned how nice it is to bring home a dog that's already house-trained? And he is so happy and friendly and easygoing. He hasn't fallen down and even though he walks a little bit funny, he is basically just a normal dog. So that's very exciting to know how well he can do when going into a new home - even one that has stairs - and I hope that he can find his own forever home soon. I will post a new picture of Kermit soon too.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
General information about Shelters/Rescues
Ever wonder about the difference between a municipal shelter and a rescue group? Or what about the difference between a no-kill group and an open admission shelter? Is it better to adopt a dog or cat from a municipal shelter or a rescue group, or does it even matter? I used to wonder about these questions, and now that I've found some answers, I thought I'd share my knowledge with those of you who are curious.
Animal control started out with dog-catchers taking stray dogs to the pound to solve a public health issue, due to concerns about rabies and other diseases. Most large cities have animal control departments that still exist for this purpose, and over time many have grown to include other animals such as cats and small creatures like rabbits and guinea pigs. They have also expanded to exist for animal care in addition to animal control. This means they provide care to the animals and try to adopt them out to the public if they can't be reunited with their original owners. Most cities have their own animal control department, or they have contracts with an independent group to provide care to the animals in that city. These shelters are generally "open admission", meaning they must take any animal that comes to them. Most take in not only strays but also animals that owners no longer want to keep. Because they are open admission, they often cannot adopt out all of the animals that come to them, so they must euthanize to make room for more animals. There are good open admission shelters, and not-so-good shelters. Some shelters will work hard to provide for the animals in their care - they will vaccinate them and give them good health care, spend time keeping their kennels and the facility clean to reduce disease, work with the animals to get them ready for adoption, use volunteers to walk dogs or provide foster homes for special needs animals, keep hours that make it easy for the public to visit to adopt, and do everything they can to help those animals in their care. Other open admission shelters are poorly funded by the government, or poorly staffed, or both. They provided minimum care and are quick to euthanize animals once they exceed the minimum holding time required by law. They don't have the resources, staff, or desire to keep the kennels clean, and they don't work to socialize the animals, start a volunteer program, or work with the public to help the animals in their care find homes.
In addition to the government-mandated municipal animal care facilities, there are other privately-funded groups created to help animals. These include non-profit 501(c)3 organizations as well as groups who have not applied for non-profit status. Groups that get 501c3 non-profit status must follow specific tax laws and requirements. The funding for privately-funded organizations may come from adoption fees, charitable contributions from the public, grants, or other non-government sources. These are generally known as rescue groups, and they may be breed-specific or non-breed specific. A breed-specific group would be a group that takes in just in one dog or cat breed - for example a German Shepherd rescue, or a Siamese Cat rescue. They will take in only German Shepherds or German Shepherd mixes, and work to place them in homes. A non-breed specific rescue will take in any breed or mixed-breed animal. Many, but not all, privately funded groups are no-kill. This means they will keep any adoptable animal until it finds a home, and will not euthanize healthy animals to make space for new ones. These groups are also called limited admission, because in order to keep the animals they have until they are adopted, they have to turn away other adoptable animals for lack of space. There are some privately-funded groups like the Humane Society of Missouri who are not limited admission - they will take in any animal that is turned in to them. However, they then have to euthanize animals to make space for new ones coming in. Some privately-funded groups have their own shelter (building to house the animals), while others utilize a foster care network to provide for the animals they take in. And just like municipal animal control facilities, there are some good and some bad privately-funded groups.
You can't tell what kind of shelter or rescue it is from the name. The Humane Society of the United States has nothing to do with the Humane Society of Missouri - they are both independent groups. Likewise, the group I volunteer with - Heartland Humane Society of Missouri - is unrelated to the Humane Society of Missouri, and unrelated to all other groups. None of these organizations have a contract with any municipality to provide animal control services - they are all privately funded organizations. Confusing, I know! But each shelter or rescue group is generally independent from the rest, and the only way to know what kind of shelter they are (open admission, limited admission, providing animal control services for a specific municipality, etc) is to ask.
So what does this mean to you? If you want to adopt a pet, the dog or cat in the worst-funded public shelter needs you just as much as the dog or cat in the best-funded rescue. It doesn't make a lot of difference to the animal-care community as a whole, because if you adopt from a rescue, that will allow them to take in another animal from the worst-funded public shelter. Either way, you're saving a homeless animal, and that will open up a space at a shelter or rescue group for another homeless animal to take its place. There are some pros and cons to you depending on where you adopt. If you adopt from your municipal shelter, you may find the adoption fees are lower. Municipal shelters are often a bit less picky about who they adopt to. Rescue groups may ask a few more questions, and may even request a home visit to be sure your home environment is a good match for the animal. However, rescue groups are nice because they can usually spend more time with the animals they care for. They often have been able to provide more medical care to the animals, so you're less likely to come home from a shelter with a sick animal, or to have to pay so much at your first vet visit for vaccines, tests, etc. This alone can often make up the difference in adoption fees between municipal shelters and privately-funded rescue groups. Also rescues that keep their animals in foster care can usually provide much more information on an animal's personality. All shelters should do temperament tests prior to placing an animal for adoption, but those animals in foster care can be more closely evaluated for a longer period of time. This means the rescue group can help you to find the right animal for your home. I think this is one area that people don't take advantage of enough when adopting from rescues. At the rescue group I volunteer with, we sometimes get a person say "what dog(s) or cat(s) would be a good match for my family?" and then we can find out about the family, and offer suggestions on pets that would fit in best with that family's lifestyle. Most of the time though, we have people who fall in love with an animal based on appearance, and that may not be the best fit for that family. For example, an active family with several children may fall in love with a shy timid dog who is afraid of noise - not the best match. So if you go to adopt an animal, take advantage of the shelter/rescue worker's knowledge and ask which animals would be a good fit. If your shelter worker doesn't know, or doesn't want to take the time to help you, go somewhere else. In the end you will be glad you did!
Here are some related articles on the subject: http://www.animalsheltering.org/resource_library/magazine_articles/nov_dec_2000/whats_in_a_word.html
http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2008/01/animal-shelters-and-the-no-kill-debate/
Animal control started out with dog-catchers taking stray dogs to the pound to solve a public health issue, due to concerns about rabies and other diseases. Most large cities have animal control departments that still exist for this purpose, and over time many have grown to include other animals such as cats and small creatures like rabbits and guinea pigs. They have also expanded to exist for animal care in addition to animal control. This means they provide care to the animals and try to adopt them out to the public if they can't be reunited with their original owners. Most cities have their own animal control department, or they have contracts with an independent group to provide care to the animals in that city. These shelters are generally "open admission", meaning they must take any animal that comes to them. Most take in not only strays but also animals that owners no longer want to keep. Because they are open admission, they often cannot adopt out all of the animals that come to them, so they must euthanize to make room for more animals. There are good open admission shelters, and not-so-good shelters. Some shelters will work hard to provide for the animals in their care - they will vaccinate them and give them good health care, spend time keeping their kennels and the facility clean to reduce disease, work with the animals to get them ready for adoption, use volunteers to walk dogs or provide foster homes for special needs animals, keep hours that make it easy for the public to visit to adopt, and do everything they can to help those animals in their care. Other open admission shelters are poorly funded by the government, or poorly staffed, or both. They provided minimum care and are quick to euthanize animals once they exceed the minimum holding time required by law. They don't have the resources, staff, or desire to keep the kennels clean, and they don't work to socialize the animals, start a volunteer program, or work with the public to help the animals in their care find homes.
In addition to the government-mandated municipal animal care facilities, there are other privately-funded groups created to help animals. These include non-profit 501(c)3 organizations as well as groups who have not applied for non-profit status. Groups that get 501c3 non-profit status must follow specific tax laws and requirements. The funding for privately-funded organizations may come from adoption fees, charitable contributions from the public, grants, or other non-government sources. These are generally known as rescue groups, and they may be breed-specific or non-breed specific. A breed-specific group would be a group that takes in just in one dog or cat breed - for example a German Shepherd rescue, or a Siamese Cat rescue. They will take in only German Shepherds or German Shepherd mixes, and work to place them in homes. A non-breed specific rescue will take in any breed or mixed-breed animal. Many, but not all, privately funded groups are no-kill. This means they will keep any adoptable animal until it finds a home, and will not euthanize healthy animals to make space for new ones. These groups are also called limited admission, because in order to keep the animals they have until they are adopted, they have to turn away other adoptable animals for lack of space. There are some privately-funded groups like the Humane Society of Missouri who are not limited admission - they will take in any animal that is turned in to them. However, they then have to euthanize animals to make space for new ones coming in. Some privately-funded groups have their own shelter (building to house the animals), while others utilize a foster care network to provide for the animals they take in. And just like municipal animal control facilities, there are some good and some bad privately-funded groups.
You can't tell what kind of shelter or rescue it is from the name. The Humane Society of the United States has nothing to do with the Humane Society of Missouri - they are both independent groups. Likewise, the group I volunteer with - Heartland Humane Society of Missouri - is unrelated to the Humane Society of Missouri, and unrelated to all other groups. None of these organizations have a contract with any municipality to provide animal control services - they are all privately funded organizations. Confusing, I know! But each shelter or rescue group is generally independent from the rest, and the only way to know what kind of shelter they are (open admission, limited admission, providing animal control services for a specific municipality, etc) is to ask.
So what does this mean to you? If you want to adopt a pet, the dog or cat in the worst-funded public shelter needs you just as much as the dog or cat in the best-funded rescue. It doesn't make a lot of difference to the animal-care community as a whole, because if you adopt from a rescue, that will allow them to take in another animal from the worst-funded public shelter. Either way, you're saving a homeless animal, and that will open up a space at a shelter or rescue group for another homeless animal to take its place. There are some pros and cons to you depending on where you adopt. If you adopt from your municipal shelter, you may find the adoption fees are lower. Municipal shelters are often a bit less picky about who they adopt to. Rescue groups may ask a few more questions, and may even request a home visit to be sure your home environment is a good match for the animal. However, rescue groups are nice because they can usually spend more time with the animals they care for. They often have been able to provide more medical care to the animals, so you're less likely to come home from a shelter with a sick animal, or to have to pay so much at your first vet visit for vaccines, tests, etc. This alone can often make up the difference in adoption fees between municipal shelters and privately-funded rescue groups. Also rescues that keep their animals in foster care can usually provide much more information on an animal's personality. All shelters should do temperament tests prior to placing an animal for adoption, but those animals in foster care can be more closely evaluated for a longer period of time. This means the rescue group can help you to find the right animal for your home. I think this is one area that people don't take advantage of enough when adopting from rescues. At the rescue group I volunteer with, we sometimes get a person say "what dog(s) or cat(s) would be a good match for my family?" and then we can find out about the family, and offer suggestions on pets that would fit in best with that family's lifestyle. Most of the time though, we have people who fall in love with an animal based on appearance, and that may not be the best fit for that family. For example, an active family with several children may fall in love with a shy timid dog who is afraid of noise - not the best match. So if you go to adopt an animal, take advantage of the shelter/rescue worker's knowledge and ask which animals would be a good fit. If your shelter worker doesn't know, or doesn't want to take the time to help you, go somewhere else. In the end you will be glad you did!
Here are some related articles on the subject: http://www.animalsheltering.org/resource_library/magazine_articles/nov_dec_2000/whats_in_a_word.html
http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2008/01/animal-shelters-and-the-no-kill-debate/
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Introducing Molly
Now that Lacy is adopted and Murphy and Lexi are back at their own home, I don't have any big dogs that can play with Remi. I only have the three puppies - Pepsi and Ginger (3 months) and Noelle (4 months) - none of them weigh over 25 pounds, and while they get along well with Remi, they prefer to play with each other. So, I decided it was time to get an adult dog to foster. And guess who came along just at the right time? An adorable St. Bernard mix that was adopted out by Heartland as a puppy and returned this past weekend. Molly is one year old, and you may remember her from last December when her and her siblings were up at PetSmart trying to find homes. I think they were only there a couple of weeks, but they were so cute, they were hard to forget! I still have a picture I took with my camera phone from when they were puppies - I believe the one on the left is Molly.
And here is Molly now, almost one year later. As you can see she's grown a bit, but she's still as sweet as she was then. I brought her home tonight and she immediately fit right in with all the other animals. She is sleeping at my feet as I type this, and she is such a good dog. She weighs around 60 pounds right now, and she still needs to put on a little weight, so she'll probably be 75 pounds by the time she's done growing.
While I was taking pictures, I took a few of my other current fosters, just so you can keep up with which ones I have right now. :-) Here is Linguini - he's my lap cat. I'm borrowing him from PetSmart until Halloween is over, and he makes a great Halloween decoration! :-)
Next is Noelle. As much as I want to keep her, I decided it would be better for her to find a home where she can have her own family. While she is with me she has to share with so many other dogs and cats. By keeping her I also have less ability to take in the next homeless dog that needs me, and since there are a lot more adoptive homes than foster homes out there, I think it'll be better for her and for future homeless animals if she finds a permanent home with someone else. But, I'm holding out for a perfect home, and since she's a pit bull mix and deaf, that might take a very long time - I'm okay with that! :-)
And here is Noelle trying to play in the cat tree...
Next is Ginger. The puppies have been moved upstairs and are now being given the run of the house when I can watch them. They love playing with one of the fleece balls we got at Trivia Night - its one of their favorite toys!
Here is Pepsi, my little pit bull puppy. She loves to cuddle, and watched a movie with my husband and me last night, just laying on the couch between us.
And last are my two orange kittens - Cheeto and Nacho. I have a few other foster kittens (Blaze, Astro and Jester) but they're all staying up at PetSmart at least until Halloween is over trying to get homes. I'm also getting another cat named Dooby - I'll introduce him when I get him later this week. Oh, and Kermit is coming to visit! I'll introduce him later too. :-) For now, here's the last picture of my current foster. This is Cheeto, but he looks very similar to Nacho so I didn't need to take both of their pictures. :-)
Okay, now do you have all my fosters straight? If not, I don't either... I just know how many I'm supposed to have in total, and count now and then to make sure I have the right number of dogs and cats running around. Its much easier that way. :-)
And here is Molly now, almost one year later. As you can see she's grown a bit, but she's still as sweet as she was then. I brought her home tonight and she immediately fit right in with all the other animals. She is sleeping at my feet as I type this, and she is such a good dog. She weighs around 60 pounds right now, and she still needs to put on a little weight, so she'll probably be 75 pounds by the time she's done growing.
While I was taking pictures, I took a few of my other current fosters, just so you can keep up with which ones I have right now. :-) Here is Linguini - he's my lap cat. I'm borrowing him from PetSmart until Halloween is over, and he makes a great Halloween decoration! :-)
Next is Noelle. As much as I want to keep her, I decided it would be better for her to find a home where she can have her own family. While she is with me she has to share with so many other dogs and cats. By keeping her I also have less ability to take in the next homeless dog that needs me, and since there are a lot more adoptive homes than foster homes out there, I think it'll be better for her and for future homeless animals if she finds a permanent home with someone else. But, I'm holding out for a perfect home, and since she's a pit bull mix and deaf, that might take a very long time - I'm okay with that! :-)
And here is Noelle trying to play in the cat tree...
Next is Ginger. The puppies have been moved upstairs and are now being given the run of the house when I can watch them. They love playing with one of the fleece balls we got at Trivia Night - its one of their favorite toys!
Here is Pepsi, my little pit bull puppy. She loves to cuddle, and watched a movie with my husband and me last night, just laying on the couch between us.
And last are my two orange kittens - Cheeto and Nacho. I have a few other foster kittens (Blaze, Astro and Jester) but they're all staying up at PetSmart at least until Halloween is over trying to get homes. I'm also getting another cat named Dooby - I'll introduce him when I get him later this week. Oh, and Kermit is coming to visit! I'll introduce him later too. :-) For now, here's the last picture of my current foster. This is Cheeto, but he looks very similar to Nacho so I didn't need to take both of their pictures. :-)
Okay, now do you have all my fosters straight? If not, I don't either... I just know how many I'm supposed to have in total, and count now and then to make sure I have the right number of dogs and cats running around. Its much easier that way. :-)
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Lacy and Frito were adopted!
Lacy was adopted at PetSmart today! She went to a home with a very nice couple who decided they were ready for a dog. They were "cat people" before this, so hopefully Lacy will do well with their cats, and maybe she can even convert them to becoming dog people. Hey, it happened to me once I got my first dog! :-)
Frito, one of my orange kittens was also adopted. I actually visited him in his new home this evening, and he has settled in already. He was sitting with his new family watching football - apparently he's a football fan and I never knew it - but he did fall asleep on the husband's lap while watching the game. He looked so happy in his new home with people to give him lots and lots of love.
Pepsi and Ginger made their first trip up to PetSmart this week, and they did very well. Well, Sue and Lori, two of the volunteers, may not agree - they had to clean up a few messes from the puppies! Both puppies are very young and not crate trained yet, so they haven't learned to hold it while they're in crates yet. But other than that, they did very well with all the noise and new people. Pepsi found a new best friend in Donna, another one of our dog volunteers. Ginger was a little more shy with meeting people, but she did very well overall. Jester, my newest cat, also made his first appearance at PetSmart. There was an empty cage there because Buttercup, a kitten I had at my house for awhile, was adopted today! So I left Jester there so hopefully someone will see him tomorrow or sometime soon and want to adopt him.
Last night was our Trivia Night fundraiser, and it was a lot of fun. I was happy to see a few people I knew - the people who adopted Elvis were there, and Diana - the lady who rescued Lacy, and Joanne - one of my co-workers, and several others as well. Thanks to all of you who made it out to support Heartland! And a very special thank you to Angie, the Heartland President, who puts so much effort into the event every year, and does a fabulous job. It seemed like everyone had fun, and we raised a lot of money to help us keep up with our vet bills!
Today was a crazy day for me. I should have known it was going to be a rough day when I woke up at 5:00am due to my husband's alarm clock going off. He's out of town for Army this weekend, and apparently forgot to shut off the alarm before he left. Okay, no big deal, I just hit the Off button and tried to go back to sleep. But 5 minutes later, it went off again. Hmm... apparently I hit the Snooze button, not the Off button. I can't figure out where the off button is in the dark, and if I get out of bed, the dogs will get up thinking its time to go out, and I'll have a hard time going back to sleep. Okay, I can solve this - I unplug the clock. Five minutes later, guess what - yep, the alarm goes off AGAIN. Apparently the thing has a battery backup. By this time I was NOT happy. I had to get up, turn on the light, and figure out how to end the annoying beeping sound. Remi, Lacy, Linguini and Murphy are all looking around trying to figure out what I'm doing - and of course Noelle is deaf so she slept through the whole thing! But then the dogs all get up, which wakes her up, and I end up having to go outside with them all, since Murphy doesn't like to go outside by himself, and Remi barks if left outside alone. Fifteen minutes later I go back to bed - again have to fight Remi for the covers, wait for the rest of the dogs and cat to settle in around me, and finally fall back asleep. Seems like only minutes later instead of a couple hours that my alarm goes off. So the day begins. It was then a rush to get everything done as usual - get the dogs outside, inside, fed, and outside again, then back in and crated. Quick trip to the vet to drop off stool samples and make sure the orange kittens can go to adoptions. Rush back home and pack up the crates and ex-pens, and get the dogs not going to PetSmart situated with bones or toys to keep them entertained while I'm gone. Track down the cats and pack them up. Load the cats, dogs, crates and supplies into the van, and head to PetSmart. Get there, and rush the cats inside since someone was waiting to meet my orange kittens. Set up crates, unload kittens, talk to a potential adopter, rush back to the car to unload and set up more crates outside, unload dogs, unload supplies, rush back inside to do adoption for Frito (hooray!), back outside to talk to someone about Lacy, back inside to drop off paperwork, back outside to talk to some other potential adopters, and so it goes. It finally slowed down after a bit, and by the time the day ended at 4pm, it was very quiet. We loaded back up the dogs into the cars, tore down all the crates, and headed home. Fortunately I live close - some people have to drive all the way out to Troy to take home their fosters - that makes for a very long day! After I got home and once again got the car unloaded and the dogs situated (outside, then inside, fed, then back out, then inside) I headed over to Frito's new home to drop off some medicine he needs to finish that I forgot to take to PetSmart with me. Then back home, to again let the dogs out, return some phone calls from people asking about my fosters, and then finally I could rest! Don't get me wrong, I love doing this, but days like today where I had a pet adopted (two actually!) make it so much better. Its the days that I do all this and don't get anyone adopted that are hard. I'm pretty lucky that I can foster so many animals, so I have more luck getting adoptions. Some of our foster volunteers have fewer fosters, so they might do this week after week, for cats or dogs, and not have an adoption in several months. :-( I know that has to be so disappointing. Sometimes people say "thanks for caring for these animals" or something along those lines, and it really feels good to have people recognize that. I don't know if other volunteers feel the same way, but for me if I don't have adoptions in awhile, its just nice to hear that my efforts to help these animals are appreciated. So next time you see a Heartland volunteer, please make sure to thank them for the work they put into saving animals. None of us get paid anything, and we all put in our own time, money and effort just to help animals get good homes, sometimes while listening to people complain or just exhibit a total lack of compassion for animals. So knowing there are people out there who actually appreciate what we do week after week really helps. And for those of you who haven't had an adoption in months, you know your fosters are lucky to have you, and the right home will come along! :-)
Frito, one of my orange kittens was also adopted. I actually visited him in his new home this evening, and he has settled in already. He was sitting with his new family watching football - apparently he's a football fan and I never knew it - but he did fall asleep on the husband's lap while watching the game. He looked so happy in his new home with people to give him lots and lots of love.
Pepsi and Ginger made their first trip up to PetSmart this week, and they did very well. Well, Sue and Lori, two of the volunteers, may not agree - they had to clean up a few messes from the puppies! Both puppies are very young and not crate trained yet, so they haven't learned to hold it while they're in crates yet. But other than that, they did very well with all the noise and new people. Pepsi found a new best friend in Donna, another one of our dog volunteers. Ginger was a little more shy with meeting people, but she did very well overall. Jester, my newest cat, also made his first appearance at PetSmart. There was an empty cage there because Buttercup, a kitten I had at my house for awhile, was adopted today! So I left Jester there so hopefully someone will see him tomorrow or sometime soon and want to adopt him.
Last night was our Trivia Night fundraiser, and it was a lot of fun. I was happy to see a few people I knew - the people who adopted Elvis were there, and Diana - the lady who rescued Lacy, and Joanne - one of my co-workers, and several others as well. Thanks to all of you who made it out to support Heartland! And a very special thank you to Angie, the Heartland President, who puts so much effort into the event every year, and does a fabulous job. It seemed like everyone had fun, and we raised a lot of money to help us keep up with our vet bills!
Today was a crazy day for me. I should have known it was going to be a rough day when I woke up at 5:00am due to my husband's alarm clock going off. He's out of town for Army this weekend, and apparently forgot to shut off the alarm before he left. Okay, no big deal, I just hit the Off button and tried to go back to sleep. But 5 minutes later, it went off again. Hmm... apparently I hit the Snooze button, not the Off button. I can't figure out where the off button is in the dark, and if I get out of bed, the dogs will get up thinking its time to go out, and I'll have a hard time going back to sleep. Okay, I can solve this - I unplug the clock. Five minutes later, guess what - yep, the alarm goes off AGAIN. Apparently the thing has a battery backup. By this time I was NOT happy. I had to get up, turn on the light, and figure out how to end the annoying beeping sound. Remi, Lacy, Linguini and Murphy are all looking around trying to figure out what I'm doing - and of course Noelle is deaf so she slept through the whole thing! But then the dogs all get up, which wakes her up, and I end up having to go outside with them all, since Murphy doesn't like to go outside by himself, and Remi barks if left outside alone. Fifteen minutes later I go back to bed - again have to fight Remi for the covers, wait for the rest of the dogs and cat to settle in around me, and finally fall back asleep. Seems like only minutes later instead of a couple hours that my alarm goes off. So the day begins. It was then a rush to get everything done as usual - get the dogs outside, inside, fed, and outside again, then back in and crated. Quick trip to the vet to drop off stool samples and make sure the orange kittens can go to adoptions. Rush back home and pack up the crates and ex-pens, and get the dogs not going to PetSmart situated with bones or toys to keep them entertained while I'm gone. Track down the cats and pack them up. Load the cats, dogs, crates and supplies into the van, and head to PetSmart. Get there, and rush the cats inside since someone was waiting to meet my orange kittens. Set up crates, unload kittens, talk to a potential adopter, rush back to the car to unload and set up more crates outside, unload dogs, unload supplies, rush back inside to do adoption for Frito (hooray!), back outside to talk to someone about Lacy, back inside to drop off paperwork, back outside to talk to some other potential adopters, and so it goes. It finally slowed down after a bit, and by the time the day ended at 4pm, it was very quiet. We loaded back up the dogs into the cars, tore down all the crates, and headed home. Fortunately I live close - some people have to drive all the way out to Troy to take home their fosters - that makes for a very long day! After I got home and once again got the car unloaded and the dogs situated (outside, then inside, fed, then back out, then inside) I headed over to Frito's new home to drop off some medicine he needs to finish that I forgot to take to PetSmart with me. Then back home, to again let the dogs out, return some phone calls from people asking about my fosters, and then finally I could rest! Don't get me wrong, I love doing this, but days like today where I had a pet adopted (two actually!) make it so much better. Its the days that I do all this and don't get anyone adopted that are hard. I'm pretty lucky that I can foster so many animals, so I have more luck getting adoptions. Some of our foster volunteers have fewer fosters, so they might do this week after week, for cats or dogs, and not have an adoption in several months. :-( I know that has to be so disappointing. Sometimes people say "thanks for caring for these animals" or something along those lines, and it really feels good to have people recognize that. I don't know if other volunteers feel the same way, but for me if I don't have adoptions in awhile, its just nice to hear that my efforts to help these animals are appreciated. So next time you see a Heartland volunteer, please make sure to thank them for the work they put into saving animals. None of us get paid anything, and we all put in our own time, money and effort just to help animals get good homes, sometimes while listening to people complain or just exhibit a total lack of compassion for animals. So knowing there are people out there who actually appreciate what we do week after week really helps. And for those of you who haven't had an adoption in months, you know your fosters are lucky to have you, and the right home will come along! :-)
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Why Dogs are Better Than Cats
Why Dogs are Better Than Cats
* Dogs will let you give them a bath without taking out a contract on your life.
* Dogs will bark to wake you up if the house is on fire. Cats will quietly sneak out the back door.
* Dogs will bring you your slippers or the evening newspaper. Cats might bring you a dead mouse.
* Dogs will play Frisbee with you all afternoon. Cats will take a three-hour nap.
* Most dogs come when you call them…cats wait till you lose your voice and come find them.
* Dogs will greet you & lick your face when you come home from work. Cats will be mad that you went to work at all.
* Dogs will sit, lie down, and heel on command. Cats will smirk and walk away.
* Dogs will tilt their heads and listen whenever you talk. Cats will yawn and close their eyes.
* Dogs will give you unconditional love forever. Cats will make you pay for every mistake you've ever made since the day you were born.
* Dogs will let you give them a bath without taking out a contract on your life.
* Dogs will bark to wake you up if the house is on fire. Cats will quietly sneak out the back door.
* Dogs will bring you your slippers or the evening newspaper. Cats might bring you a dead mouse.
* Dogs will play Frisbee with you all afternoon. Cats will take a three-hour nap.
* Most dogs come when you call them…cats wait till you lose your voice and come find them.
* Dogs will greet you & lick your face when you come home from work. Cats will be mad that you went to work at all.
* Dogs will sit, lie down, and heel on command. Cats will smirk and walk away.
* Dogs will tilt their heads and listen whenever you talk. Cats will yawn and close their eyes.
* Dogs will give you unconditional love forever. Cats will make you pay for every mistake you've ever made since the day you were born.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Pictures of fosters
As promised, I took pictures so I can get my new fosters on the website. However, as usual the pictures didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. Oh well, they'll do for now and maybe later I will get better ones. Here are pictures of my newest fosters:
First, here's Linguini. He's a gorgeous black cat that I fell in love with up at PetSmart. He was staying in one of the cat cages at PetSmart, hoping to find a home, but with Halloween quickly approaching, the black cats don't get to stay at PetSmart right now. So I asked his foster mom, and she kindly let me take him home with me. I put Blaze up at PetSmart instead, hoping that maybe he would find a home while Linguini is at my house. Once Halloween is over, I will take Linguini back to PetSmart, but in the meantime I am just loving having him around. I put him in the cat room and thought he might want to stay there for awhile, at least until he got used to all the other animals. But no, as soon as I left the room, he followed me out. The cat room is blocked off from the main part of the house with a baby gate, so the cats can go in and out over the gate, but the dogs can't go into the room. He immediately jumped the gate and braved all the other dogs in order to be in the same room as I am. I just love this cat! He follows me around everywhere, just like the dogs do, and jumps up on my lap whenever I sit down. All the dogs are scared of him now, which is pretty funny.
Next is my newest foster cat Jester. He's doing great. He just completely ignores all of the dogs, and he plays with the other cats, and he's so friendly. He purrs every time I pick him up. I feel a bit like the Pied Piper when I walk around the house, because now I'm followed from room to room by 4 dogs and 3 cats - every time I move! As someone who's used to not being noticed, its quite an ego trip to be so popular. :-)
Here are new pictures of Noelle. She always makes me smile, because the dog is only 4 months old and she acts like she's 10 years old! The only time I could guess she was so young is when she occasionally decides to play - she still has that puppy run and hop that is so cute. But 95% of the time she spends just laying around acting lazy. I have to admit, this is totally my speed of dog.
Here is a picture I took this morning - I was outside with the puppies, and in the window waiting for us were Lacy (basset hound), Astro (gray tabby) and Jester (cream tabby). They all wanted to come out and play too, but I didn't let them. :-)
Next is Pepsi, my little pit bull puppy. I wasn't very happy with the pictures I got of her. The only time she'd smile at me was when she was jumping up on me wanting to be picked up. I can't hold her and take a picture at the same time, so I finally put her on a tie-out so she couldn't run up to me. Then she just looked at me like "why are you mad at me?!".
And last is Ginger, my terrier mix puppy. She looks like a Jack Russell Terrier to me, but when I said this to the vet, he laughed at me. He said she's as big as a Jack Russell now, and she's only 11 weeks old! So I don't know if she has some Jack Russell in her, mixed with a bigger dog, or what - but she's a cutie!
First, here's Linguini. He's a gorgeous black cat that I fell in love with up at PetSmart. He was staying in one of the cat cages at PetSmart, hoping to find a home, but with Halloween quickly approaching, the black cats don't get to stay at PetSmart right now. So I asked his foster mom, and she kindly let me take him home with me. I put Blaze up at PetSmart instead, hoping that maybe he would find a home while Linguini is at my house. Once Halloween is over, I will take Linguini back to PetSmart, but in the meantime I am just loving having him around. I put him in the cat room and thought he might want to stay there for awhile, at least until he got used to all the other animals. But no, as soon as I left the room, he followed me out. The cat room is blocked off from the main part of the house with a baby gate, so the cats can go in and out over the gate, but the dogs can't go into the room. He immediately jumped the gate and braved all the other dogs in order to be in the same room as I am. I just love this cat! He follows me around everywhere, just like the dogs do, and jumps up on my lap whenever I sit down. All the dogs are scared of him now, which is pretty funny.
Next is my newest foster cat Jester. He's doing great. He just completely ignores all of the dogs, and he plays with the other cats, and he's so friendly. He purrs every time I pick him up. I feel a bit like the Pied Piper when I walk around the house, because now I'm followed from room to room by 4 dogs and 3 cats - every time I move! As someone who's used to not being noticed, its quite an ego trip to be so popular. :-)
Here are new pictures of Noelle. She always makes me smile, because the dog is only 4 months old and she acts like she's 10 years old! The only time I could guess she was so young is when she occasionally decides to play - she still has that puppy run and hop that is so cute. But 95% of the time she spends just laying around acting lazy. I have to admit, this is totally my speed of dog.
Here is a picture I took this morning - I was outside with the puppies, and in the window waiting for us were Lacy (basset hound), Astro (gray tabby) and Jester (cream tabby). They all wanted to come out and play too, but I didn't let them. :-)
Next is Pepsi, my little pit bull puppy. I wasn't very happy with the pictures I got of her. The only time she'd smile at me was when she was jumping up on me wanting to be picked up. I can't hold her and take a picture at the same time, so I finally put her on a tie-out so she couldn't run up to me. Then she just looked at me like "why are you mad at me?!".
And last is Ginger, my terrier mix puppy. She looks like a Jack Russell Terrier to me, but when I said this to the vet, he laughed at me. He said she's as big as a Jack Russell now, and she's only 11 weeks old! So I don't know if she has some Jack Russell in her, mixed with a bigger dog, or what - but she's a cutie!
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Nice Day!
It was beautiful weather out today, and that may have been part of the reason that it was quiet at PetSmart - hopefully people were out enjoying the great weather before it ends. However it did mean that we didn't have a lot of luck at PetSmart, at least with dog adoptions. Penny, one of my favorite Heartland dogs, was adopted. She is a border collie mix, and very sweet. Also, Luke, a chocolate lab, and Hannah, a dachshund mix puppy were adopted. So all in all, it wasn't a bad day - although it would have been better (in my opinion) if Lacy or one of the lab/border collie puppies were adopted. Derby also is finally going to his new home tomorrow morning - hooray! I am hoping by next week to have Pepsi and Ginger ready for their first trip to PetSmart. Tomorrow I am determined to get pictures of them so I can get them on the website. And now I must end this, because Hunter is harassing Remi, Derby and Noelle are harassing Blaze, and I have no idea where Lacy is or what she's up to!
Friday, October 10, 2008
Orange Kitten Update
My orange kittens - Frito, Cheeto and Nacho - went to the vet yesterday to get neutered. I was hoping they'd get a clean bill of health and get to go to adoptions on Saturday, but the news wasn't so good. They have coccidia, which is a common kitten problem. So they have to get treated for a week, and won't be able to go to PetSmart tomorrow. So I'll just be taking Lacy, Blaze and Astro again this week.
Things are starting to calm down a little bit at home, now that the newcomers have learned what to expect. Jester, the new cat, is doing great. The vet estimated he is one year old. He is very playful and affectionate, and every time I go into the room where he's staying, he comes to greet me and climbs on my lap to be petted. The two puppies - Ginger and Pepsi - are estimated to be 11 weeks and 12 weeks old, respectively. They are the same size, and about the same energy level, and they have a great time playing together. The have the basement to themselves, and they're doing much better now about not destroying their kennels. I have been able to get them out to play 3 times a day, and I think that helps a lot to keep them tired. :-) Noelle is staying upstairs with Lacy and Derby, and she's doing great. She gets along with the other dogs and cats, and is just so sweet. I can never move anywhere without tripping over her, because she sticks so close to me. The vet estimated her at 4 months old.
Hunter got here last night, and fits right in! He met all the dogs, except the puppies, last night, and did fine with all of them. He really likes to play with Derby and Lacy. He misses his family though - for the first 20 minutes after they left, he kept going to the window and whining, waiting for them. But I was able to distract him with some games and treats, and he settled down after a bit. He slept on the bed right next to me last night, and seemed to be in a good mood this morning. All the dogs got Kongs filled with peanut butter, carrots, and dog food before I left... sounds pretty gross to me, but the dogs really like it! :-)
Things are starting to calm down a little bit at home, now that the newcomers have learned what to expect. Jester, the new cat, is doing great. The vet estimated he is one year old. He is very playful and affectionate, and every time I go into the room where he's staying, he comes to greet me and climbs on my lap to be petted. The two puppies - Ginger and Pepsi - are estimated to be 11 weeks and 12 weeks old, respectively. They are the same size, and about the same energy level, and they have a great time playing together. The have the basement to themselves, and they're doing much better now about not destroying their kennels. I have been able to get them out to play 3 times a day, and I think that helps a lot to keep them tired. :-) Noelle is staying upstairs with Lacy and Derby, and she's doing great. She gets along with the other dogs and cats, and is just so sweet. I can never move anywhere without tripping over her, because she sticks so close to me. The vet estimated her at 4 months old.
Hunter got here last night, and fits right in! He met all the dogs, except the puppies, last night, and did fine with all of them. He really likes to play with Derby and Lacy. He misses his family though - for the first 20 minutes after they left, he kept going to the window and whining, waiting for them. But I was able to distract him with some games and treats, and he settled down after a bit. He slept on the bed right next to me last night, and seemed to be in a good mood this morning. All the dogs got Kongs filled with peanut butter, carrots, and dog food before I left... sounds pretty gross to me, but the dogs really like it! :-)
Thursday, October 9, 2008
More about my new fosters
I just had to share more about my new fosters. I still haven't taken any pictures, but I did find some pictures of the dogs from when they were at the shelter, so I will post those.
This is Noelle, my deaf pit bull puppy. She is such a great dog - I'm already thinking about adopting her myself. The problem is if I do that, it will be one less dog I can foster in the future. But I'm totally in love with her, so I'm not sure I will be able to give her up. She has a pretty bad cough right now, so she's on antibiotics, and I'm taking her to the vet this afternoon to get her checked out. She is just so loving - she constantly wants to lay at my feet. She's also very low energy - I'm not sure if that's just because she's not feeling well, or if that's her normal activity level, but I'm hoping its her normal activity level. :-) She just follows me around, and every time I stop she lays down by me, and then when I move she gets up and follows me again! She never jumps up on me, and she even appears to be housetrained. Most of the dogs I get to foster haven't had any training - they jump, and bark a lot, and have other undesired behaviors. So when I get one that is either already trained, or just naturally well behaved, I am always very happy. :-) Noelle appears to be a large dog in this picture, but she's actually not very big - around 27 pounds right now.
Next is Pepsi. She's also a pit bull puppy - very young I think, but I'll have to wait for the vet to give me an estimate. She is a very happy, very hyper little girl. She is always so excited to see someone, that she tries to jump into their arms, and her tail just goes crazy wagging! Her and Ginger are about the same size, and while at first Ginger was intimidated by Pepsi, now they're best friends. I let them play together and they have a great time wrestling and playing chase. Whenever I hold Pepsi she settles down and puts her head on my shoulder and cuddles up to me - its so cute. As you can see in this picture, she was scared - see how her mouth is closed, ears back, and the worried look in her eye? I am sure the shelter was a scary place for her to be!
And last is my little Jack Russel mix puppy - Ginger. The cutest dogs are generally the most annoying, and she fits that profile. :-) She is a very loving dog - she just has the ability to destroy her kennel! I have puppy pads in there, since the puppies are not housetrained and are too little to hold it while I'm at work all day. Pepsi is very good about using the puppy pads, and making cleanup easier. Ginger on the other hand, prefers to tear up the puppy pads and newspaper and leave a huge mess everywhere in the kennel to clean up. Other than that, she's a great dog. She has very soft fur, and she loves attention. She also is hilarious to watch when she gets a stuffed toy - she picks it up and shakes it back and forth - definitely a terrier! Again, in the picture below, you can see she was scared when they took it. I will try to get some pictures of the puppies looking happy soon! :-)
Lacy and Derby are still doing well. They both went on long walks last night and walked very well on the leash - no pulling, or at least not much. They're having fun playing together, and I think Lacy will miss Derby once he's gone.
This is Noelle, my deaf pit bull puppy. She is such a great dog - I'm already thinking about adopting her myself. The problem is if I do that, it will be one less dog I can foster in the future. But I'm totally in love with her, so I'm not sure I will be able to give her up. She has a pretty bad cough right now, so she's on antibiotics, and I'm taking her to the vet this afternoon to get her checked out. She is just so loving - she constantly wants to lay at my feet. She's also very low energy - I'm not sure if that's just because she's not feeling well, or if that's her normal activity level, but I'm hoping its her normal activity level. :-) She just follows me around, and every time I stop she lays down by me, and then when I move she gets up and follows me again! She never jumps up on me, and she even appears to be housetrained. Most of the dogs I get to foster haven't had any training - they jump, and bark a lot, and have other undesired behaviors. So when I get one that is either already trained, or just naturally well behaved, I am always very happy. :-) Noelle appears to be a large dog in this picture, but she's actually not very big - around 27 pounds right now.
Next is Pepsi. She's also a pit bull puppy - very young I think, but I'll have to wait for the vet to give me an estimate. She is a very happy, very hyper little girl. She is always so excited to see someone, that she tries to jump into their arms, and her tail just goes crazy wagging! Her and Ginger are about the same size, and while at first Ginger was intimidated by Pepsi, now they're best friends. I let them play together and they have a great time wrestling and playing chase. Whenever I hold Pepsi she settles down and puts her head on my shoulder and cuddles up to me - its so cute. As you can see in this picture, she was scared - see how her mouth is closed, ears back, and the worried look in her eye? I am sure the shelter was a scary place for her to be!
And last is my little Jack Russel mix puppy - Ginger. The cutest dogs are generally the most annoying, and she fits that profile. :-) She is a very loving dog - she just has the ability to destroy her kennel! I have puppy pads in there, since the puppies are not housetrained and are too little to hold it while I'm at work all day. Pepsi is very good about using the puppy pads, and making cleanup easier. Ginger on the other hand, prefers to tear up the puppy pads and newspaper and leave a huge mess everywhere in the kennel to clean up. Other than that, she's a great dog. She has very soft fur, and she loves attention. She also is hilarious to watch when she gets a stuffed toy - she picks it up and shakes it back and forth - definitely a terrier! Again, in the picture below, you can see she was scared when they took it. I will try to get some pictures of the puppies looking happy soon! :-)
Lacy and Derby are still doing well. They both went on long walks last night and walked very well on the leash - no pulling, or at least not much. They're having fun playing together, and I think Lacy will miss Derby once he's gone.
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