Archive for February, 2011

Jack is groomed and vaccinated

Jack - post grooming

Jack - post grooming

After I got the mats off of Jack our foster pup his mood improved greatly. While he was still hesitant, he was more friendly. What a sweet boy he is! Took him for his first vet appointment on Monday afternoon and he got micro chipped and his rabies vaccination. He was friendly and happy at the vet, even after all the pokes!

Then today, he was groomed. The groomer said he was very good, stood nicely and let him work on him. He looks like a completely new dog! A well cared for and loved dog. And he is. And I also suspect that he was loved in his previous home. It is always such a curiosity to me, how these dogs end up in that high kill shelter. He sits nicely when he wants something, is quiet as a mouse in his crate, is good with kids and other dogs, he is nearly perfect! He just had a bad habit of marking (with pee) on things in the house. He keeps his crate dry but I have to keep him close by to prevent him from practicing that. But all in all, he is a dream pup! So happy for him that he gets a second chance.

Jack

Jack arrives full of mats

Jack takes a bath

Jack takes a bath

Well, our newest foster, Jack, arrived on Saturday afternoon. I was shocked by his appearance! He was literally covered in mats.

I tried to give him a bath but it wasn’t possible to get down to his skin, the mats were so tight and close to his body. In the end I just ended up cutting them off, one by one. It took 5 hours, which I spread out over 3 days. He was stressed about it but eventually gave in.

It must have felt so good to get them off of his body – they were pulling on little hairs. Imagine that sensation – little hairs being pulled all over your body – on your belly, arm pits, around your neck, on your legs. He even walked funny because of them. Poor little baby.

pile o' Jack hair

pile o' Jack hair

Checking in on 4 month old Finnegan

Today I had some time and so I swung by my friend’s house to see the puppy she adopted from me. It was the former Fritz, Greta‘s puppy, now named Finnegan. He’s almost 4 months old and looks so much like a pointer it is crazy. But his owners say he has a lot of hound in him too – sniffing everything!

FinneganWhen he first saw me he clearly recognized me – I got the whole greeting, the wiggle, the whine, the frantic licking and jumping up at my face. I felt honored to be remembered. It always warms my heart when my little babies tell me how important I was to them with this sort of dance of puppy love. After our greetings we were chatting about his development, his training and such, and I stood up to leave. Finnegan immediately got up and positioned himself nearby one of his owners, sitting down facing me. I mentioned it seemed that he was telling me that as happy as he was that I was visiting, there was no way he wanted to go with me. Then we got to talking again and walked into the room closer to the door. Finn followed us and I was petting him. I stood up again and opened the door and he walked again closer to his owner and sat down. Again it was crystal clear – he was happy where he was. It touched me so much that he was so bonded to his new pack – my friends have clearly done just what they needed to do to help him become one with their family. He is a well balanced, happy guy. So, thank you J- and J-, and thank you to everyone who adopts a puppy and makes him or her a balanced member of your family. It is such a gift.

FinneganJ responds:

Thanks for stopping by to see Finn! We’re really enjoying him. He is such a love and a cuddler, and I end pretty much every evening on the sofa with him snuggled into my side. I give you lots of credit for giving him a good start in the world. He’s been a confident, well adjusted puppy from the start. I especially appreciate that you exposed them to small crates early so that his transition to crate training was smooth.

Thanks for all the hard work you do.

February 9, 2011 • Tags: , • Posted in: Greta, puppy update, story update • No Comments