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

February 16, 2011 • Tags: , , , • Posted in: fostering dogs, health, story update • 2 Comments

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

February 16, 2011 • Tags: , • Posted in: fostering dogs, health, observations • No Comments

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

Catching up with Jubilee

I received a nice note from the family of Jubilee:

Hi Kristin!!

Hope all is well!! Looks like you made it through another happy journey on being a Foster mom for all the puppies and Momma dog. It truly is a great thing you do for these animals.

Jubilee is doing great!! Completely healthy and a little over 50 pounds now. She is loving all the snow and it’s hard to get her back in every once and awhile (but as long as she is burning off extra energy I’m not complaining). She is 100% done with her crate and loves being free all day with Shena. Jubilee is such an easy going dog and it’s hard not to spoil her (like letting her lay on the couch with you). She is awesome with Delilah and since D is on solids now Jubilee knows where her free treats are (instant vacuum). After the Holidays I am going to scout out some dog play areas. She needs someone more her age and energy level to romp around with, Shena is was way past that point of playing. Keep me in the loop if you ever start up a playtime again.

So from my family to yours Merry X-mas!!

December 24, 2010 • Tags: , , • Posted in: puppy update, story update • No Comments

Story update on Boomer (Moonlight)

We received a lovely note from Boomer’s (formerly Moonlight) family…

Boomer loves the boat! This photo is from mid October.

Boomer has been a delight since the first moment he ran into our home and ran straight to the “toy box”! He has never met a toy he does not like or want to play with!

He is now 11 months and if we had a nickel for every time someone asked us what kind he is we could retire and play with Boomer and Bella all day! Since he is 60 pounds we figure he has something else in his mix beyond German Shepherd and Black Lab. We affectionately call it his “secret sauce”. We think his secret sauce may be Basenji as he has this sweet wrinkle on his forehead, does not really bark, is black with white markings and looks a lot like the Basenji on the main page of one of those dog breed web sites. : )

We have enjoyed taking Boomer to “Dogs Best Friend” for training classes. He is in his fourth 6 week class series! He had two puppy classes, basic obedience and now we are in Advanced Obedience. I think we will take the “Off Leash” class in the spring, too. He is incredibly bright and has been the best or near the best behaved, trained and smartest of all the dogs in all of the classes we have taken. His latest accomplishment this week at class was “a flying lie down”! With him off leash and running away from me I can get him to lie down and stay as he is running away from me. My classmates and instructors consistently comment on what a great dog he is. : )

The small dogs in our classes also love Boomer because he adjusts his “game” to the size of his play partner! We find this charmer as do the instructors and the owners of the small dogs he plays with. The instructors have pulled us from the “big dog play group” a couple of times to have Boomer play with a small dog that was having trouble with some of the other small dogs. He is also wonderful with our rescue house bunny, Kooper!

Boomer in his play area - Note the purple ball hiding under his paw!

Boomer has gone on many adventures with us including several boating adventures, a week “up north” at a cabin with Grandma and a trip to the Christmas tree farm to cut our Christmas tree – where he met and played with his first Mastiff! We are looking forward to taking him snow shoeing with us on our property now that we have so much snow! Boy, he can’t get enough of the snow and being outside! He just sits on “his” hill side and watches all of the wildlife off in the farmers field and runs in the deep snow.

We think the world of our Boomer Moonlight and can’t thank all of the people at H.E.L.P. enough – especially Kristin and family. I think what all of you do is absolutely amazing. You all gave Boomer a great start to life that is so evident in his demeanor and happy, laid back approach to everything and everyone. Bella, our Puggle and Boomer’s sister, was rescued from a shelter and has issues that we continue to work on. I wonder if she had been fostered like Boomer if she would be as balanced as Boomer.

Anyway, perhaps this was more information on your sweet Moonlight than you were seeking! :> We adore him and could go on and on ….

My response:   Thank you for this wonderful email! Thanks also for the warm words for what our family does for our fosters. It means a lot to me. I am grateful that you’ve given him such a wonderful, full, and happy life. Have a great holiday season.
-Kristin

December 18, 2010 • Tags: , , • Posted in: dog ownership, puppy update, story update • No Comments

Greta finds her forever home

Greta has found a forever home!! I don’t have many details but I do know that she has found a home where there are children to play with and people home a lot. She loves it and they love her. So, a happy ending for her. She deserves it!

Last weekend we had a mini reunion of Greta’s pups – 4 of the 5 were in attendance at the Petco puppy playtime I host. The interesting thing was, after the initial happy tail wagging greetings, the four of them fought like madmen!! We literally spent the entire hour pulling little bully puppies off of their sisters and brother. And it wasn’t like there was one who was trouble. It seemed like all of them have learned to “play” that way. I gave it some serious thought and came to the conclusion that their time in my puppy room confined their movements, and Greta’s young age caused her to react like a peer rather than a parent, so they had no choice and weren’t discouraged from acting out their urges to practice social dominance.

Puppies first day outsideMost of my litters have been in the summer where the group spends the majority of the time outside, in a big fenced space with trees and rocks to hide in. They can romp and run if they want, or wrestle, or just get away from the group. But stuck inside in one room, with a mama who not only allowed the fighting but participated in it created a little group of monsters!! The funny thing was, they reacted with submission to puppies not of their group. And one little dog helped the group realize there were other ways to play. She taught them that running and chasing was a game worth participating in. So it seems, Greta’s group has some learning to do – they need to learn other methods of interacting and playing that don’t involve fighting and wrestling.

December 17, 2010 • Tags: , , , , • Posted in: development, dog adoption, Greta, puppy update, pups, story update • No Comments