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Articles by DougB

Piney Mountain Foster Care

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Marie and I have been providing canine foster care to dogs since June of 2012. coolaroo line-up, canine foster careWe find it to be a very rewarding experience. Some posts to this blog promote animal fostering, offer training tips and cover canine health issues. I will post the stories about our foster dogs, articles about what we’ve learned as foster care providers, and some links to the organizations we work with.

But it doesn’t stop there. I’ve been busy setting up Facebook pages for each of the foster dogs where I can post short bits of information, pictures and videos about each dog. Why not just do all this on the web site? In a word: traffic.

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Cheyanne

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Cheyanne is a really sweet girl who had a rough time with her heartworm treatment.  But she got through it and went on to be adopted into a great family.

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Intensive Care for Cheyanne

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Today Cheyanne went in for her final step in the medication for heart worm treatment: the second injection deep into her back muscles. The vet tech tells me that these injections are not very painful, so the dog is not sedated for each procedure, but the aftermath is. Cheyanne is in enough pain now that […]

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Allan Douglas Allan Douglas was the pen name used by Douglas Allan Bittinger as a freelance writer in writing newspaper & magazine articles and web content on a variety of subjects from woodworking, to computers, from parenting to robotics. There are few topics that he could not write about. He went on to write several […]

Food Guarding In Dogs and How To Deal With It

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Dogs tend to protect or “guard” things they feel are most important to them, things they feel they can’t do without. Some will guard toys, some food, some will “guard” or become vicious when others approach their people. Guarding is rarely a desirable trait. Food guarding is dangerous to other dogs and to the people […]

Piney Mountain Foster Care

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Marie and I have been providing canine foster care to dogs since June of 2012. We find it to be a very rewarding experience. Some posts to this blog promote animal fostering, offer training tips and cover canine health issues. I will post the stories about our foster dogs, articles about what we’ve learned as […]

Hercules

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Hercules is a Boxer mix on loan through the Foster Dog Program at Newport Animal Shelter. He tested positive for heart worms and was taken off the adoptable list. We’re trying to change that and help him get a loving forever home. When it’s cold, our foster dogs sleep in crates in my heated workshop. […]

Rhonda: Queen of the Hill

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Having finished the weekly radio radio program I produce first thing every Monday, I took The Kids on a walk and went past the mailbox to send the program disk out to the radio station. Then we went up to the shop yard for some play time with Cheyanne and Rhonda. Cochise refused to go […]

Malachi: Foster Dog

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Malachi is an unusual dog.  Highly energetic, very talkative, and when he barks, he sounds like a turkey gobbling.  He’s so funny! Search Results for: Malachi Speak! Do Dogs Talk? Understanding Dog-speak Posted on: August 3, 2019 by: DougB Comments: Leave a comment Originally published Feb. 14, 2017 When us dogs talk, most of what […]

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Piney Mountain Foster Care is a small, all volunteer, non-profit kennel facility located on 4 acres of mountainside property in Edwina Tennessee. We got our start in 2012 by caring for dogs going through heartworm treatment.  We still do this and other medical care.  We also work with dogs with behavioral issues.  But we are […]

 

Silly Sun Puppies

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Blondie-Cochise 131129 Sun Puppies-800The sun is shining again today, as it did yesterday, but not for a long time before that. Blondie and Cochise are making the most of it: or trying to.

The sun has not yet swung around far enough to admit much of the sunbeam through the window, just a strip in front of the sofa. They’re not allowed ON the sofa and they know it. So I put the snuggle-bed over in the sunshine for Cochise when they came in from their last exercise time and he was shivering. It’s cold out. The cold doesn’t bother Blondie, she has a heavier coat.

Cochise curled into the bed, felt the warmth of the sunshine and moaned with pleasure. Blondie stood nearby and looked at him enviously. She poked at him with her nose. He yawned at her (which in dog-speak does not mean he’s tired – in this case it was “go away you’re bothering me”).

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Malachi: Foster Dog

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Malachi is an unusual dog.  Highly energetic, very talkative, and when he barks, he sounds like a turkey gobbling.  He’s so funny!

Search Results for: Malachi

Speak! Do Dogs Talk? Understanding Dog-speak

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Originally published Feb. 14, 2017 When us dogs talk, most of what we say is not said vocally. Some of what we say comes through body language: the position of our head and body, how we hold our ears, the shape of our eyes, things like that. But some of us are quite expressive vocally […]

More About Doug

Allan Douglas Allan Douglas was the pen name used by Douglas Allan Bittinger as a freelance writer in writing newspaper & magazine articles and web content on a variety of subjects from woodworking, to computers, from parenting to robotics. There are few topics that he could not write about. He went on to write several […]

Rhonda: Queen of the Hill

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Having finished the weekly radio radio program I produce first thing every Monday, I took The Kids on a walk and went past the mailbox to send the program disk out to the radio station. Then we went up to the shop yard for some play time with Cheyanne and Rhonda. Cochise refused to go […]

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Piney Mountain Foster Care is a small, all volunteer, non-profit kennel facility located on 4 acres of mountainside property in Edwina Tennessee. We got our start in 2012 by caring for dogs going through heartworm treatment.  We still do this and other medical care.  We also work with dogs with behavioral issues.  But we are […]

Bath Day in the Dog House

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The Dogtor is in

Today was bath day in the Dog House.

bath day for the dogsOn our property is an old mobile home. It serves as my workshop, storage space, can be used to contain dogs; crated or not, and has an office and bathroom in it. It still has many of the comforts of home because it used to be home. When we moved out and I gutted it to be what it is today, I left the bathtub in the bathroom next to my office. That is our Dog Wash. This saves a lot of wear and tear on the tub and bathroom in our home.

Janet is going to ride The Bus (Rolling Rescue) this afternoon as she is transported out east to find her forever home. But all dogs need a bath before boarding the bus. As long as I was bathing Janet, I figured I might as well bathe all three dogs. Our two could use it too; more so than Janet actually. Janet has a penchant for getting muddy, but her fur seems to repel the dirt and she stays quite clean.

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Janet Rides, Blondie Mourns

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foster dogs, dogs, janetThis morning Janet was loaded into the truck to accompany Marie into town. Janet will be getting her first Immeticide shot today to kill her heartworms. Blondie was on the porch watching. As Marie pulled out Blondie stood and made her low, mournful “ArrrooOOOmmm” sound several times (it’s similar to the sound of a cow lowing). I assumed she wanted to go for a ride too, except she made no attempt to get off the porch, and she never goes to work with Marie. She should not expect that.

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Belle: Foster Dog

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Belle’s story is a sad one.  She had a checkered history before she came here.  We found her to be cuddly and companionable, never aggressive.  She was heartworm positive and here for treatment.  I took her to the shelter so the vet there could give her the first injection, but she reacted to the needle stick by snapping at the vet, so he ordered Belle destroyed.

We were devastated.

Influences: A Dog Tale

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The Dogtor is in

I’ve been working at mowing the embankment behind/beside (take your pick) the shop yard. Prior to that I let Janet (new foster dog) out to play with the others. As usual, Cochise hid inside while Blondie and Janet roughhoused. I watched for a while: they were not being too rough so I left them to play and went inside to set up race recordings for the next few weeks. I left the door open, and the hooligans raced in and out and round and round. On my wooden floors it sounded like a horse track.

Scheduling done, I brought Blondie inside the shop (she has a tendency to escape from the yard and run off if not supervised). Cochise went outside (he’s a good boy and can be trusted). I was going to put Janet back in the Guest Quarters, but decided to see what she would do if I left her with Cochise while I went to get the mower and cut the bank. “You’re in charge Cochise, take good care of her.”

Cochise and Janet dogs
From left: Janet, Cochise, pile of logs.

They were very good together. Quite calm. They walked around and explored things – together – at one point they did a little trotting, but mostly they sat on the dock and watched me work.

I went out the wooden gate and did the edging along the upper driveway and the side yard. After I put the mower away and went back to the shop, both dogs were laying in the rocks by the pen gate watching to catch glimpses of me. Very calm and peaceful.

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Making a Break For It (Again!)

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Blondie, dog, escape artist
My “baby girl” Blondie

We have had a real problem with Blondie exploiting any weakness she finds in a fence and making a break for the wild woods. As a result I have taken to tethering her in the shop yard or locking her inside the shop if I have to step away for a bit – like to go get the mail or do some gardening. After her last escape I spent a morning tightening up the fencing, bolstering posts, and sealing up the lower edges where she (or something) had pulled up the pins that hold the fence to the ground. I eliminated all the potential escape routes I could find. But she is strong as a bear, and it constantly surprises me what she’s capable of.

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Jim: Foster Dog

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Jim has a penchant for standing in tall grass.  His brindle coloring does a great job of camouflaging him!

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Giving

As a small 501(c)(3) Public Charity, Piney Mountain Foster Care depends on private individuals and small businesses who are willing to join us in our mission more than any other source.  By donating to our General Operations you buy nutritious food, healthy snacks, and provide comfortable and safe accommodation to our foster dogs.  Your gifts […]

Jasper Goes Houdini on Us

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Jasper got out of his pen and ran off. He was gone about 4 hours. HairyFace went out to track him down (on foot). That was doomed to failure, but Jasper did get returned safely. This story has a happy ending, let’s state that right up front. Hairy wasn’t sure how he got out, but […]

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Piney Mountain Foster Care is a small, all volunteer, non-profit kennel facility located on 4 acres of mountainside property in Edwina Tennessee. We got our start in 2012 by caring for dogs going through heartworm treatment.  We still do this and other medical care.  We also work with dogs with behavioral issues.  But we are […]