Archive for the ‘Sweetie’ Category
Puppy update on Miley
Here is a note received from one of Sweetie‘s puppy families. Kaylee and her family adopted a pup we called her Ryan, they renamed her Miley. This is from their daughter, Miley’s owner. Thanks Kaylee!
Hey, Miley (Ryan) is doing really good!! I can’t believe she’s one already! I love Miley!! We named her Miley now!!!! I try to take her on a walk everyday!!! I feed her at 3:00 pm. everyday! My Mom feeds her at 5:00am. everyday, and Miley goes in my Mom’s room and licks face at 5:00am. everyday!!!! She sleeps in my room since I got her a really big bed! She’s up to my knee, and I am “58″ and a foot and a half from the ground to my knee! Miley weighs 40lbs! She’s still a little skittish around some kids. But she’s doing really good! She can jump through 2 hula-hoops, sit, lay down,shake, and lots more! She loves to bark at other dogs when they walk by! I can’t pick her up anymore! Miley grew a lot since we got her! When I come home from school she jumps on me like she hasn’t seen me in a year! She does it when we come home from the store too! I’ll try to send you some pictures of when we first got her and what she looks like now! Thank you for Miley! She is the best dog ever! She fits in our family perfectly!
From, Kaylee
Happy birthday to Sweetie’s puppies
We received a note from one of Sweetie‘s adoptive families reminding us it is that litter’s birthday! Thanks for the reminder, Barb… here is her note and a photo of Mia.
Mia is one year old
I know you’re busy with a new litter of (very cute) puppies, but we thought today would be a perfect day to let you know how Mia‘s doing, since it’s her first birthday. I’ve also attached her official first birthday portrait
Mia is loving agility training! She is a natural born jumper. She will jump over hurdles and through tires all day. She even likes the tunnel. She has turned out to be pretty skittish (new things really rock her world – don’t leave a cabinet door open, or empty a room of furniture for the carpet cleaners – these really freak her out). Agility class has really helped her be more comfortable with noise and change, but it’s an ongoing issue.
Puppies are coming! Puppies are coming!
The phone rang early this morning. H.E.L.P. has a mama dog and her seven 4-week old pups in need. As is often the case, we know very little about this group, but we will soon enough – they will be here in a few hours!
Here is what we do know. The mama is believed to be a 40lb Golden Retreiver mix. She had her litter of pups four weeks ago and is coing to us via the same shelter in Fulton County Illinois that brought Sweetie and Annie into our lives. If you haven’t, you should read up on their stories here on CanineFostering.com.
So put CanineFostering.com back on your daily reading list – we will be writing, posting photos & videos of this new fostering experience!
Sienna bounds like a doe
Here is another update on a puppy from the Sweetie litter we fostered in the summer of 2008. Little Cookie has grown into a fine Sienna! Here is a note and photo from her forever family…
Sienna smiles in 2009
I adopted Sienna a/k/a Cookie several months back. She’s close to 8 months now and doing great. She’s a beautiful teen pup (around 40 lb. now) but much sweeter than a human teenager. Sienna is still the best dog ever. She’s so smart and so good. She only chews her rawhide bones or toys (occasionally a cat toy), but not our shoes or anything else (yet). She knows how to roll over and leave it (leaving her food or anything else until we say okay – save for live animals); she’s been doing these tricks for awhile. I wish I had the time and resources to get her into agility or something fun like that – she would be so good at it. We take her for plenty of walks so she can release some energy and so I can feel like I’m getting a work out. We have a little lake near our house that makes for a good mile or so walk there and back, and she loves chasing the ducks away. She loves making us run after her with a frisbee in her mouth, thus we have yet to teach her to catch a frisbee and bring it back. You should see how fast she is. She leaps and bounds like a doe. Another reason she’d be great at agility. She still goes to my mom’s house once a week for play dates, as my mom is still unemployed and has an older dog (Buddy, purebred white cocker). Sienna’s helped teach him good pack behavior, since he was always a loner dog before meeting her. `Although she has tons of energy, she loves to sleep and cuddle too. She still sleeps in bed with me. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The Foxhound in Mia shows through
Another pup from Sweetie was little Oreo. Here is an update from her forever family along with a photo…
Mia today
Mia is now almost 8 months old and only 28 pounds – about 20 pounds smaller than we thought she’d be, but really a perfect size! Her foxhound genes are very apparent. She loves to chase the squirrels in our backyard and whines almost as if she’s in pain at the door to be let out to chase them. She loves to ride in the car and is a very good traveler, very alert to see where we’re going, but curling up on the seat to sleep if she realizes it’s going to be a long trip. She’s past chewing things that aren’t hers, but she still likes to “find” socks and carry them around. It’s funny to see the guilty look on her face when she gets caught with them, drops them and comes in close to apologize by rolling over on her back as if to say, “got to love me!”
Adopting Mia was the best decision for us. As my 10-year-old daughter says, “Mia is the perfect puppy for our family”! Her start in a foster home, with a family we think, is a big reason why her transition into our family was so easy.
-Barb K.
Up Next on Canine Fostering
Sweetie, our summer foster mama
As the story of Annie and her puppies comes to a close, do not fret! I will continue posting but the focus will change. I will give updates on the puppies (with photos!) and Annie and how they are doing in their new homes. I will also be posting on our previous fosters and how they are doing today, 8 months later. And finally, I will be including more information about our dogs (3 of which are rescues) as well as training tips.
So, keep checking in! We will also be hosting another dog family shortly…of course.
Day ten update
Annie is becoming a part of our family like our summer mama, Sweetie, never could. Sweetie was so sick the entire time we had her, only really getting over her giardia and coccidea near the end of her time with us.
Annie loves to chew her Kongs. She loves you to throw them and she loves to chase them and then to chew chew chew them. She is surprisingly good with all people. Even though her pups are only 10 days old today she allowed my friend Cathy into her puppy room to look at her babies! This is unheard of. Of course Cathy knows dogs and loves bully breeds so that was probably part of it. But Annie has been friendly to anyone she’s met. If she gets a sniff first then she is all tail and butt wags! She especially loves all the kids she’s met, showing immediate friendliness toward them. She loves to run, she walks well on a leash and she loves cuddling. When it is her time for a forever family, she will make someone a great companion.
About the puppies – they are 10 days old so their eyes are ready to open any day now. They are still all closed but I suspect that soon they will open. The ears follow a few days later. Once eyes and ears are open puppies get really noisy! These puppies are getting really big, but there are two who are smaller then the rest. I’d call them the “runts” but they are thriving along with the rest of the litter.
Good Books and What They Don’t Say
I love my books. I have used two to help me understand what things to expect as I work with my foster mamas. Neither of these books are the definitive, must-have reads that some of my books are to me. But they are sound books with good advice and they are books I happened to have around or were able to find on a quick run to the bookstore. They are:
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However, there are some things that they don’t tell you in books:
• Mama dogs have loose stools, like soft serve ice cream (sorry, sort of gross) especially if you’re feeding them a rich diet. Expect this and don’t assume there is anything wrong unless it is clear that the mama is lethargic or unwell, or if the poop stinks to the high heavens of if there is blood in the stool. All of these are signs of illness (likely parasites) and need to be addressed by the vet. A good rule of thumb is to get a stool sample tested by the vet right when the mama arrives and another a few weeks later. Don’t assume a clear sample is really clear. Some of these parasites take awhile to show up. And don’t assume that you can’t catch what the mama has. Many parasites are transmittable to humans. Something I learned all too well over the summer when I caught giardia from Sweetie. The treatment was effective and I’m fine now but the medication was so strong it literally took me months to feel normal in my gut again.
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