Give A Dog A Home

It's been much too long since I've posted. Why? Probably because there's too much to tell, and I feel overwhelmed when I sit down to write a post! But they're all good things--I'm just really busy with filling wholesale orders for my business, helping at the shelter, and family stuff.

At the shelter, I'm working with the dogs and helping them with graphic design projects. I designed their logo, newsletter, and most of their publications and marketing materials. For this, they have put me on a small monthly retainer, which is so nice of them. I keep telling them I'd do it for free anyway, but the retainer makes them feel better about asking me for things. I really enjoy the graphic design projects--but my first love is still the dogs.

Reese was a young German shepherd who had been abandoned by his owner. The animal control officers found him living in filthy conditions, covered with more fleas than they'd ever seen on one animal. Reese's tail had been run over months ago, but his owner had not done anything about it, so it was festering and infected. Our shelter had him on the operating table within 10 minutes of his arrival. Poor Reese lost his tail, his boy parts, and his fleas, all at the same time. But now, this beautiful dog lives on a 30-acre ranch with horses and a human who is a horse and dog trainer. I adored this dog, went to the shelter to work with him every chance I got, then cried happy tears when I heard he'd been adopted.

This is 2-year old Liz, with her adorable perpetually windblown ears. She spent 6 months at a shelter to the south of us, and then 6 months at a shelter to the north of us. Both shelters wanted to put her down, not because she had any issues but because she's a pitbull and time was running out. Our shelter brought her here, where we will find her a home, come heck or high water. Our shelter has a success rate of 93.75%, which is so awesome.

Notice the adoption jacket both dogs are wearing? My younger daughter is taking a class in entrepreneurship at her high school, which requires that she start a small business. With my help, she is making and selling these adoption jackets. We opened her Etsy shop two weeks ago, and she has already sold 8 jackets! A portion of all sales will go to our animal shelter. Click here to go to Give A Dog A Home on Etsy. Enter coupon code--oursforayear--to get free shipping!

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Variety is the Spice of Life

Lately, I've been volunteering at the animal shelter on Monday and Friday mornings. My schedule is really tight, but I tell myself that I can give up a few hours a week. Sometimes, it can be difficult to get there, but the variety of dogs I'm exposed to at the shelter keeps me going. No surprise, this tiny chi was adopted right away. Good thing because I was tempted to take this little flower bud home myself!

Juju is a 10-year old pug. Lucky that I don't know who her previous owner was because I wouldn't have been nice to him/her. Juju is about twice the size she should be, and her nails were so long that she had to walk on the sides of her paws. I'd like to meet Juju's previous owner alright--in the back of a dark alley! But a dog park friend of mine, already a pug owner, has taken Juju home as a foster--thank goodness for kind people like her! Juju has been bathed, her skin folds have been swabbed out, and her nails have been clipped. Going forward, she'll get the daily exercise she so badly needs and hopefully get down to a healthy weight.

The area around the shelter is very industrial and run down, not the prettiest scenery. But I've come to appreciate these big cement blockades--they make a great leash walking practice course. I like weaving back and forth through them, changing directions unexpectedly to keep the dogs' attention on me. Pictured is Bo, a 9-year old Gordon setter who is recovering from Lyme disease.

I'm always surprised by how scared dogs are of this car wash balloon guy. Big, tough pitbull Major was completely freaked out by the blowing advertisement. I could not get him to walk past it, so we ended up having to cross the street to get around it. Makes me realize how important guide dog puppy training was--I know Cabana could walk by it without a flinch.

This is 12-year old Chili. He walks on 3 legs but gets around well in spite of his handicap. The shelter is paying for surgery to correct his hind leg, and he'll need a 6-week recovery foster. I think it's awesome that they are willing to spend the money on a senior dog like Chili. He deserves to live the rest of his life in comfort and good health. Yep, volunteering is definitely worth any time I can give.

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A New Foster - Kira

Yesterday, we went to my husband's company picnic, where we had a great barbecue lunch. Because there was so much food leftover, they encouraged us to make "doggy bags" to bring home. My vegetarian family members were quite dismayed when they saw that all I had packed in my doggy bag was a barbecued chicken wing, a big frankfurter, and a couple thin slices of sirloin steak.

The reason I brought nothing but meat home was because right after the picnic, we'd be picking up our new foster puppy, Kira. I knew those high-value treats would come in handy.

Kira is a 6-month old German shepherd puppy that was picked up as a stray. She was brought into the shelter and infected the whole place before the staff realized she had parvo. They rushed her to emergency vet services, where she recovered for the next couple weeks. Now, after decontaminating the whole shelter, no small task, the staff has to keep Kira in isolation since she will be shedding the virus for at least 3 more weeks. The staff are not able to interact with Kira, due to the risk of having unvaccinated puppies coming into the shelter. So, poor Kira has been unable to be around other dogs or humans for the duration.

A shelter staff member emailed me and told me about the situation--I suppose they know a sucker when they see one. Is it that obvious?!

The first day of having a new dog in the house is always traumatic. With every foster, I think, "HOW did I get myself into this?" With Kira, I felt that 10 times stronger than with any other, including Francie! First of all, Kira is a puppy and has not been taught anything. Plus, you can tell by her torn right ear that she must have had a hard life as a stray, perhaps even been attacked by another dog. So she can be fearful around other dogs, and about life in general--and her response to fear is barking--LOUD barking. Top that off with the fact that she has been sequestered for the past several weeks and forced to live in her own filth, perhaps the reason why she pees every time I put her in the crate. Finally, because she is still shedding the parvo, she is not allowed to step foot off our property--no walks, no parks, nothing except running around our small backyard.

Another huge difference with Kira and our other fosters is that I had no prior relationship with her and hardly any information. With Seamus and especially with Francie, I had worked with them at the shelter for weeks before to bringing them home as fosters. This time, we are working entirely from scratch.

After wanting so badly to call the shelter several times in the past 24 hours to say we couldn't handle fostering this dog, I think we are making some progress. I feel we need to give it at least 3 days before we throw in the towel. My husband and I didn't get any sleep last night, though, so whether we can last for 72 hours may depend on whether we get any rest tonight.

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Quarantine for Francie

For the past two months, I have been going to the animal shelter six days a week to work with Francie. Sometimes, we go for a hike, other times we play Chuck-It at the park. When it's too hot to walk or play fetch, we mostly snuggle in the shade of a tree. I started doing this because Francie was floundering. She had lost a lot of weight (she was already skinny to begin with), wasn't eating her meals, didn't wag her tail, rarely sniffed anything, and seemed to be constantly pacing.

I knew what Francie needed was consistency and plenty of exercise, so that's what I tried to give her. Now, she is eating her meals and seems truly happy when we are out together. She is extremely affectionate and sweet. Look at that happy face in the pool!

The first three minutes with Francie have always been a challenge because she is beside herself with kennel stress, excitement that someone has come for her, and anxiety from all the other dogs in the adjoining kennels barking and going bonkers. She doesn't know what to do with herself, and so she bites the leash. After all this time, I know exactly what she's going to do, so I don't allow her to do it. I grab her collar before she can go after the leash in my hand, I clip the leash on, and we exit the kennels as quickly and safely as possible. We've got our routine down pat.

Today, as usual, I went to walk Francie, and as I started to go into the kennels to get her, one of our animal control officers stopped me. She said Francie had bitten her arm and had to be quarantined for 10 days because of rabies or whatever. The bite was purely accidental (as usual, she was trying to bite the leash), but still, due to rules and regulations, I am not allowed to be anywhere near Francie for the next 10 days.

So I went home and showered. But then, because there is a lot of ugly political stuff going down at the shelter this week, I got scared. There has been talk about having to euthanize half the animals at the shelter due to budget cuts. In a panic, I quickly got dressed and drove back to the shelter to make sure Francie was still there and still breathing.

Thankfully, I saw that she was alive, in the quarantine kennel behind the building. I found the shelter director, and I asked her to promise me that they would not put Francie down. She assured me that they would not euthanize her, but it broke my heart to see Francie back there, cooped up and not able to do much of anything. Francie could see me and hear my voice, and she started yelping and whining. The one hour that she looks forward to each day has been taken from her. She's being quarantined for a behavior that is caused by kennel stress. And yet, the consequence for that behavior is to confine her and cause even further kennel stress. How is that right?

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Hike at Mount Burdell

Yesterday, Cabana and I met our friend Bucky and his owner for a hike at Mount Burdell. (My camera lens is dirty; can you see the big smudge next to Cabana?) Every time we get together with them, it seems like it's foggy, drizzly, or raining. But that's okay, we still have a good time anyway.

"Cabana, come!" Dogs are allowed off-leash here, and Cabana did a fabulous job of coming when called. Having an extremely food-motivated dog like Cabana can have its downside, but it's definitely a plus in the recall department.

There weren't many other dogs out, but we did meet this foxy little guy.

I said, "Whippet, whippet good."

I think Cabana had a great time, don't you?

Here's a little shelter update. I got an email from Seamus/Buster's new owner, telling me how much they adore him. She sent me this photo, saying that Seamus thinks he's their third child. They put him in the far back seat, but he always climbs into the middle seat, in between the twin girls. We're planning to get together soon. I miss that guy!

Also, Loki was adopted last week. In fact, she had 3 groups of people wanting her! Several people have been interested in Francie. Two of them were crazy people, though, and there was no way we were letting her go home with them. But one very promising couple, who were extremely pitbull experienced and dog savvy, even took her home for a trial run, but it didn't work out. Sigh, she was a bit too much for their current dog, a blue heeler mix. Double sigh. I'll be showing Francie this weekend at the Cuddle Shuttle mobile adoption truck, so I've got big hopes for her. She just needs the right person....

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