Josephine: Notes on a foster failure

Posted on: April 12, 2017 by: Doug Comments: 11 Comments

Josephine first came to our attention when the Humane Society of Jefferson County posted an urgent plea for rescue or foster of a female beagle mix who was so terrified by the “shelter” environment that she was at risk. My wife, Marie, decided we needed to help this poor thing. After some communication through Facebook, we drove out to pick her up for fostering.

Age: Approximately 9 months (as of May 2017).

History: Picked up as a stray by Animal Control in April. She was terrified of everything. The shelter environment only made that worse. She was placed into foster care to give her a peaceful environment and to work on her fear issues.

Health: Initially, her health was quite poor: the vet wasn’t sure she would survive. By the time she came here her health was much improved except for a fungal skin condition brought on by anxiety, which is being treated. She has been spayed, wormed, and is current on vaccinations.

Personality: Once she calmed down she has become a playful, spunky, silly, lovable girl. She craves attention (loves a gentle belly rub) and seeks it from people she trusts. Josie is friendly and playful with all of our dogs, even those 3 times her size! She is fearless and open with all of them.

The Gatorgate Incident

Posted on: February 17, 2017 by: Doug

I was working on a plumbing problem at Mom’s house (which is on a corner of our property) and needed a tool from my shop. Blondie, Cochise and Gator were out in the play yard. As I walked up the shop driveway Gator was shadowing me inside the fence. I got the tool and went back to Mom’s house. When done under her sink I looked out her kitchen window in time to see Gator scampering up the hill toward my house OUTSIDE the play yard fence.

I ran outside and called Gator, who ran back down toward me — until he caught sight of Blondie standing at the end of the Judge’s driveway across the road. Then he took off to join her and they skipped merrily up that driveway together.

The Great Crate Swap

Posted on: February 10, 2017 by: Cochise BigDog

Cochise, on crate swapping — Cochise tells the tale

The weatherguessers were saying it was going to get cold. Too cold for Spencer to be outside: he needed to come inside with the rest of us for the night. That is not a problem, but it does mean some rearranging needs to be done. Spencer is a big boy and needs appropriate accommodations.

Large and Medium crates

We have three Retriever brand transport boxes that we use as crates. There are several reasons for that.

Tinker’s Revenge

Posted on: January 2, 2017 by: Doug

It was New Years day but it was also a Sunday so, as we always do on Sunday, we secured the dogs and went off to church. With travel there and back, Sunday school and the worship service we are gone about three hours.

For Blondie Bear and Cochise, that is no problem: they are tankers and can hold their bladders for a full day if they must. Like when it rains. They HATE going out in a hard rain. But for Tinker, three hours is quite a while and he will be dancing around and running for the back door as soon as we come in the front door. He IS reliable, he’s just uncomfortable at that point.

So all the dogs got a time in the yard while Marie and I took care of some things around the house. Then we readied to go to my Mom’s house to visit with my half-brother and his family, who had driven in from Nebraska the night before for a Christmas celebration with Mom and her grand-daughters.

We thought about securing the dogs again, but it was no longer raining, it was not especially cold, and Mom’s house is actually on our property, just outside the dog fence. They can keep tabs on us if they are in the yard. At the very least they like to bark at us in warning about the dangers of willingly entering a home where not one but TWO cats live.

Cochise’s Bedtime Dilemma

Posted on: December 30, 2016 by: Doug

Last night Cochise had a bedtime dilemma.

Cochise and Blondie Bear are permanent residents. Tinker, Jasmine and Gator are foster dogs. We offer multiple dog beds but who sleeps on what can be kind of fluid during the day and evening. Everyone is okay with that.

In the living room are a pair of beds made from a donated futon pad. These are favored when Marie and I are in the living room or kitchen, and are big enough that they can be shared when necessary.

At bedtime, however, each dog has a definite preference.

Christmas in the Dog House

Posted on: December 25, 2016 by: Doug

In many homes Christmas morning is met with the squeals and giggles of children tearing wrapping paper to discover what treasures hide within. At our house it’s a little … different.

When Marie and I got home from church we walked down to my Mom’s house where we met up with my brother and sister-in-law who drove in from South Carolina for Christmas lunch. She runs a restaurant and brought the food. A tasty meal and a good visit with family we don’t get to see often.

Then Marie and I returned to our house to open presents with The Kids. There was no wrapping paper on their gifts (much of that is toxic if eaten), but they didn’t mind. Wrapping paper just confuses them.

The squeaker squirrel was a special gift intended for Tinker (because he does SO love squeaker toys) so we rescued it from Jazzy before she could do it harm and gave it to Tinker. It instantly became his favorite toy!

Gator the Adventurous Pibble

Posted on: December 23, 2016 by: Doug Comments: 1 Comment

Gator is an adventurer.

He lived with a family before, but they weren’t around enough to suit Gator. Gator is also a pit bull. That term strikes fear into some people, but that is due to misinformation. In fact that term isn’t even a breed of dog: just a label hung on any dog with a short, muscular build and blocky head. Through this, and breed specific legislation, much harm is done in the name of ignorance. The proper name for this dog is Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and they are historically superb family dogs. At one time they were called Nanny Dogs, not Pit Bull, and were the favored choice as a companion animal for a family’s children. But I digress.

Being a Staffie, Gator needs a lot of attention and affection. He is happy to give the same, as well. He apparently wasn’t getting that where he was living and be broke out of his fencing and went adventuring.

Tinker Takes the Sofa After Squeakasaurous Incident

Posted on: December 13, 2016 by: Doug

Cochise, on DST — Cochise tells the tale

It was a couple of nights before Tinker got his HW treatment. NiceLady was looking for Tinker. He was not in his usual spot in the hallway. She checked the snuggle beds in the bedroom, she checked in the den, she checked the futon beds in the picture box watching room, she checked the blankets around the eating table.

No Tinker.

She turned on a lamp … there he was! Too well camouflaged to see in the semi-dark.

In our house we have a “no dogs on the people furniture” rule. It’s only fair: they have a sofa, a chair and a bed. We have like 6 snuggle beds and an assortment of blankets scattered around the house.

But earlier that evening Tinker had been playing with the squeakasaurus:

The Pibble House-guest

Posted on: December 9, 2016 by: Cochise BigDog

Vega is a Pibble. A Pibble that was rescued from the local shelter. A rescued Pibble that was sent to a foster home to be loved and cared for until the Rescue can find him a Forever Home.

Unfortunately, Vega chose not to remain in his kennel at his foster home. He decided to go have himself a walk-about. That was not in his care plan!

So Vega came to stay with us just until his pen could be repaired and reinforced to prevent future walk-abouts.

His first evening here, he stayed outdoors in his pen. He didn’t want to stay in his pen, he wanted to go on a walk-about and he tried to make a hole to fulfill that desire. HairyFace caught him, patched the damage and said, “Do not do that. Bad boy.”

Vega watched intently as Hairy undid what Vega had done. He made no attempt to interfere, just watched and emitted a soft, low growl. Not aggression, just telling Hairy that he did not appreciate the intervention.

But he has since stayed in his kennel. Mostly.

Life at The Rock

Posted on: December 8, 2016 by: Doug

We hit our high temp for the day (38°) at 5:30 a.m. – it’s gonna be THAT kind of day today. But it IS December, so we have to expect a few of those now and then. The weather guessers are saying that tomorrow night we could get down in the teens, so I’m going to spend some time shutting off outside water and draining hoses. Then we have to find a way to pack 6 large dogs into our small house for a night or two to ride out the cold snap.

For those who don’t know, Marie and I are engaged in canine rescue and fostering. We have fenced in a large (1/3 acre) play yard and have two 10’ x 10’ pens with roofs, pea gravel floors and igloo style dog houses. We have adopted two of our foster dogs, Blondie Bear and Cochise, who serve as mentors to the other foster dogs. At the moment we have another 4 fosters ranging from 50-ish pounds to around 80 pounds. The two biggest fosters (80 lbs: Gator and Vega) are residing in the outdoor kennels. Tinker is a full-fledged house dog, Jasmine is in training and doing well. Our latest addition is Vega.