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Sasha Steele: Notes on a foster dog

Sasha is a sweet, smart, and loving girl who holds much promise.

Last updated: February 24, 2018

Base Info:

Sasha

  • Arrival date: February 16, 2018
  • Breed: Border Collie mix
  • Sex: Female
  • Age: 7 months
  • Weight: 40 pounds(?)
  • Spay/Neutered: No
  • General Health: Good.
  • Temperament: Sweet and playful

History

Picked up as a stray running at large by Newport Animal Control, she was not claimed nor adopted and was in danger of being put down, so they called Steele Away Home. We did not have any open fosters but a transport was leaving in a few days: that would open up some homes. Cedarwood Veterinary Hospital agreed to board her until a foster opened up. And here she is!

Known Issues & Progress

Sasha looks to be in good shape and is a sweet tempered, friendly little thing. The folks at Cedarwood say she is SUPER smart and has already learned several commands.

Sasha is an Aussie in temperament: that makes her smart and active. She will never be a good apartment dog, but for someone with some room to play she will be a great family companion. From what I can see so far, she should be good with kids too: she’s active, but not violent.

People Skills

Sasha has done well. She has proven to be affectionate and obedient — most of the time. Sometimes she develops “selective hearing” when I call her and she’s doing something fun. She knows”come”, “off”, “sit”, “fetch”, and “play”.

She can be excited and bouncy when she first comes out of her pen, but settles down nicely once she’s run off some of that energy. She has been friendly and accepting of everyone who has visited here.

When I’m sitting in a chair outside, supervising a “free play” period, Sasha often swings by and lays across my lap to get some head pets before going back to play with the others.

Gets Along With Other Dogs

Yes. She is eager to play with everyone. Sasha and Josephine have already had a successful play session. The older dogs may not appreciate her exuberance, but so far she is sensitive to this and scales back when she got to be annoying to Josie. (Video below)

Housebreaking

I’ve started working with her on this using her pen. She has come to prefer not to poop in her pen. As long as I’m consistent with her play times she complies.

She is good in a crate.

Miscellaneous

She gets bored in her pen and likes to toss around her water dish. That makes it hard to be sure she always has access to water. I gave her a chew toy and a ropey toy hoping she’d play with those instead. She seized on the ropey toy and immediately used it like a golf club to smack her freshly filled water dish across the pen. (sigh)

I have a plan … see Water Dish-Toy video below.

Feb 24th: Sasha left us today. Another foster home had a dog they could not handle. All the foster homes are full, so it was decided to trade one of my well-behaved girls for the one who needs more work. Sasha was selected for the trade. She’ll do fine there, Sasha gets along with everyone.

Gallery

In roughly chronological order, newest at the bottom. Click the thumbnails to enlarge.
Some pictures are linked to Doggy Tales about Sasha, click those to open the related story.

Sasha says, “Let’s PLAY Josie!”

Josie has the high ground over Sasha.

Solving Sasha’s penchant for water dish tossing. (click for vid)

Between play sessions, they still want to play.

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Kringle Steele: Notes on a foster dog

Kringle is energetic and can empty a bowl of kibble faster than anyone I’ve seen.

Last updated: Mar. 10, 2018

Base Info:

  • Arrival date: February 16, 2018
  • Breed: Boxer Mix
  • Sex: Female
  • Age: 2-3 years
  • Weight: 45 Pounds
  • Spay/Neutered: Yes: March 12, 2018
  • General Health: Good
  • Temperament: Good

History

Kringle was picked up by Newport Animal Control as a stray. She was held, but no owner came to claim her. No one was willing to adopt either and she was in danger of being put down, so N.A.C. called Steele Away Home and asked us to take her. We needed to board her at Cedarwood Veterinary Hospital until a foster home became available. Cedarwood also treated her for a bad case of worms.

Known Issues & Progress

Kringle is excitable and effervescent when first let out of her pen, but it takes only a short time of running and playing for her to calm down and be enjoyable to work with. With a little training she should become a good companion.

People Skills

Kringle is high energy at first, but she calms down and is a sweet gal. Obedient too, she’s learning her commands.

Gets Along With Other Dogs

Good. She got to play with Josephine, got too rough, Josie told her to back off … and she did: calmed right down, then walked away to find something else to do (video below)

Kringle has been in the yard with all the house dogs, no issues with any of them.

Kringle and Lucy got a play time together (video below).

Miscellaneous

Kringle is gentle on her bedding.

Gallery

In roughly chronological order, newest at the bottom. Click the thumbnails to enlarge.
Some pictures are linked to Doggy Tales about Kringle, click those to open the related story or video.

Josie is not sure about playing with Kringle

Kringle comes on too strong for Josie’s comfort. (video)

Enjoying sunshine and a chew toy.

If you let me inside, I’ll let you play with my toy.

Kringle got a Coolaroo for her pen.

Kringle and Sasha get a play date (video)

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Mystery Steele: Notes on a foster dog

Mystery is a chocolate lab, husky mix, but she is definitely a Husky in build and personality. If you like the quirky, independent personality of this breed, you’ll love Mystery.

Last updated: February 12, 2018

Base Info:

  • Arrived here: January 11th, 2018
  • Breed: Chocolate Husky
  • Sex: Female
  • Age: Approx 2 years
  • Weight: Approx 60 pounds
  • Spay/Neutered: Yes: Feb 9, 2017
  • General Health: Good. Other than being in need of a good brushing, her fur, skin and teeth look to be in good shape. I see no sign of injury or disease.
  • Temperament: Good. She is lovey and affectionate with people. Accepting of strangers. She plays well with our other dogs now: was a bit guarded when she first arrived due to kennel stress.

History

Mystery was picked up as a stray and taken to Newport Animal Control in November 2017. Because Huskies do not do well in close confinement, she became stressed, depressed, and aggressive. N.A.C. management asked Steele Away Home to take her in so she could get out of that environment and regain her sanity.

Known Issues & Progress

Mystery is a Husky. Huskies have a personality all their own. I’ve worked with Huskies in a shelter environment before and they do NOT do well in close confinement. It’s heartbreaking to see how fast this spirited, independent breed sinks into depression when incarcerated. That was the case with Mystery. She came to Piney Mountain because we have a large, fenced play yard and big pens for our fosters to live in until they can begin house training.

Upon arrival (yesterday), she was fine with me: friendly and obedient, but when other dogs came near her pen she would bare her teeth and charge the fencing to warn them off. Some of them did not take too kindly to that attitude!

I’ve given her several solo play sessions in the yard – which she enjoys immensely — and she is calming down already.

After a few weeks she is able to play with the other dogs in the yard. She’s a bit too rowdy for Josephine’s taste (Josie is our smallest) but she’s not being mean, just big and bouncy.

Housebreaking

Doing well. There have been no incidents in the bunkhouse. Even when in her pen, she will avoid defiling her 10′ x10′ space as long as I let her out regularly. She usually needs to run a couple of laps to get her bowels moving … then slams on the brakes and assumes the position. She’s funny.

When I’ve got her loose in the bunkhouse she has not shown any tendency to chew things up or get into things. She’s curious, but not invasive.

Gets Along With Other Dogs

Not so good at the start, but that changed as she felt less stressed.

After a few days to decompress, Mystery wanted to play with her roomie: Angel. That went well. She and angel have had several play sessions together (see vids below).

Mystery HAS become possessive of my attentions and will warn off other dogs if I’m in her pen with her. If I’m in the yard with both her and another dog, there are no issues. She also shows food-guarding behavior with dogs — not with me.

People Skills

Very good. She is friendly and comes when called. She does not jump up on me (much) and she walks well on a tether/leash. She has had some training before.

It got to a point where when leash-walking her between Bunkhouse and play yard she’d be dragging me along. I put her in a Walk-Right! ™ harness and that cleared up right away. Then, one night, she chewed the harness off. I’ve ordered another, but in the mean time she is responding better to a “slow” command and tug on the collar-mounted leash. She learned and remembers even without the harness.

I got the harness, but don’t need it. Mystery now walks very well on a leash and collar.

Miscellaneous

Mystery is a typical Husky, and as such can be more of a handful to manage than most other breeds. Huskies tend to be highly intelligent, deviously clever, independent thinkers, and OPINIONATED. They are also hilariously entertaining and devoted family dogs. To manage a Husky, you need firm boundaries and a good routine. Let a Husky decide she’s in charge of the household and you’ll have a frustrating challenge on your hands.

I brush her daily and she’s looking much better. She loves the brushing too. She talks to me constantly while I’m doing it. That is SO cute!

Feb 12: After a dog gets fixed I like to take them for a “just for fun” truck ride so they don’t come t think that getting in the truck means someone is going to cut parts off them.

Today I had errands to run, so I took Mystery Steele with me: she was spayed last Friday but is feeling better now. She was not at all hesitant, hopped right up into the truck and settled herself on the passenger seat. She rides really well!

One of my stops was Tractor Supply Co. in Newport. She went in with me and did a superb job of staying right beside me, never pulling on the leash, never toying with products, never having to be coaxed to come along, quite calm when I stopped to speak to a store employee. I was SO proud of her! We even met a Weimaraner puppy who was a bit bouncy and overly friendly, but both did well and were quite civil to one another.

Gallery

In roughly chronological order, newest at the bottom. Click the thumbnails to enlarge.
Some pictures are linked to Doggy Tales about Mystery, click those to open the related story or video.


Looking better after a good brushing

Wanna Play?

Mystery has a great sense of humor.

This girl can really run — and loves it!

The next day I let Mystery and her roomie, Angel, out to play in the snow:

Mystery and Angel get a long play day in especially nice weather.

Mystery has decided to challenge Blondie for the Grand Dame position. (click-vid)

Mystery likes to munch and wander at breakfast time (click-vid)

Enjoying a Big Bone

She rides well. Calm. Sometimes needs petting to reassure her all is well.

Definitely a husky, such a derp!

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Ellie Mae: Notes On A Rescue Dog

Ellie has had kind of a tough row to hoe over the past few months. We don’t know what her life was like before, but mid-summer she showed up at the home of a local resident: Deb. Deb did the responsible thing and tried to get her back together with her family — except no one ever came forward to claim her. But Ellie is a sweet, gentle girl, so Deb hung onto her.

After a while that got to be inconvenient. Mostly because Ellie chased her cat and the cat never came back. Hound dog, small furry creature that runs; maybe not the best combo.

When the local animal shelter re-opened, Deb took Ellie down there. A shelter employee decided to take Ellie home because her husband hunts coons. But they found out that THIS hound don’t hunt, (at least not for him) so Ellie came back to the shelter.

The shelter contacted Amy (our intake person) and asked if Steele Away Home -Canine Foster and Rescue could help find Ellie Mae a new home.

Nutmeg Steele: Notes on a Foster Dog

Nutmeg Steele arrived today.

She appears to be a Black & Tan Hound. She is as sweet as can be.

We were told she’s 3 years old. The vet at her spaying said 6 months. Jen and I think more like just under a year.

She gets along with other dogs, she gets along with cats, not so good with chickens, and she rides well. We’re told she’s a “gate climber”, but we’re not sure what that means. She’ll be on a long lead when in the yard until we know if she’ll be going “over the wall” at her first opportunity. She is a little timid at first with people, but warms up quickly and becomes affectionate. Did I mention that she’s really sweet? This Nutmeg is sweet as sugar.

Shiloh Steele: Notes On a Rescue Dog

Shiloh arrived here on the evening of July 28th, 2017. I picked her up from the mobile spay/neuter clinic after her surgery. Fortunately I used a large transport box for this because it took hours before she was able to stand and walk about on her own. I have a loading dock on my workshop, so I just slid the box from the back of my pick-up onto the dock and into the workshop and let her rest until she was ready.

Shiloh’s Backstory

Sylvia Steele: Notes On A Rescue Dog

SylviaSylvia is a 7 year old Shar Pei mix with a checkered past. She is affectionate but not clingy. She shares the yard with most other dogs, but does not usually engage in play other than running.

She’s kind of a loner.

Last updated: Nov 11, 2017

Fast Facts

  • She has been spayed and all her shots are up to date except rabies and she is on heartworm preventative.
  • She has been crate trained and pee pad trained.
  • Sylvie currently bunks in a pen and has had multiple neighbors: male and female. She has gotten along just fine with all of them.
  • Amy says Sylvia gets along great with CATS.
  • She does show strong alpha-dog tendencies including an insistence on peeing on all the spots the male dogs have marked.

Sylvia’s Story

Sylvia is one of 20+ dogs taken to the Humane Society of Jefferson County after Animal Control removed them all from a single hoarding situation. Most of them are Shar Pei mixes. All of them exhibited some degree of fearfulness. Some of them had never had ANY human contact and had had to fight for the little food that was occasionally tossed out for them. During Sylvia’s stay she tested positive for heartworm and the shelter was not equipped to properly care for a dog going through HW treatment so they appealed to Steele Away Home – Canine Foster and Rescue for help. But not before she stole the hearts of the shelter staff.

Sylvia and another dog in the group had recently given birth to litters of puppies. The other momma dog attacked Sylvia’s litter and killed several of them and wounded Sylvie. The other momma had to be euthanized because of her “killer” behavior, leaving her pups motherless so the staff tried giving them to Sylvia. She eagerly adopted them and mothered them until weaned. But she needed special accommodations because she was so protective she’d charge the fencing if any dog was walked by. Once her foster mother duties were completed, she went into foster care herself for treatment.

Amy Huff was her first foster home and brought her a long ways from the terrified, defensive dog she was. Amy had cats, which Sylvie got along with just fine, but no dogs. Sylvie needed more group interaction, so Amy began bringing Sylvie here to play in our yard, meet our dogs and to meet me. That went well and after a few weeks of visits, Sylvie came here to live, and I’ve been working on socializing her further.

Sylvia is now quite accepting and friendly with both me and my wife, Marie, and has been friendly to strangers who visited. She has gotten along well with all of our dogs … except Blondie Bear. At first Sylvie ignored Blondie while they were in the yard together. But after a while Sylvie decided to challenge her:

I needed to step in quickly to avert a potential fight. That antagonism continues, but only toward Blondie Bear – and we don’t know why. Blondie is the sweetest, most gentle thing you can imagine.

This means she cannot come in our house because Blondie lives in the house, so further house-manners training is out of the program unless I can resolve this. She does, however, dance on her fencing with a toy clutched in her mouth when the others are in the yard, “I want to play too, I want to play too. See: I have a TOY! Let me play too.” She really wants to get along, but her insecurity gets the better of her on the rare occasion.

Sylvia plays with “The Gang” in the yard. Cochise is missing: he’s taking a nap. (This was shot a while back)

She plays better with Julian when Josie is not in the mix. She doesn’t like to compete for the attention of her playmate.

As you can see, Sylvie can play well with others.

Enjoying a dip in her pool

Sylvia knows how to cool off on a hot July afternoon! She stayed in there for the longest time, then stepped out, shook off, and went to sunbathe on the doggie-cabin’s front porch.

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Josephine: Notes on a foster failure

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.

Lego Steele: Notes On A Rescue Dog

This is a foster dog diary post about Lego. New information will be added to the end of this post so all info on this dog is kept in one place and in chronological order.

Last Updated: March 31, 2017

Lego’s History

The story we got was that her family got another family dog after having Lego for almost 4 years. Lego did not get along with the new dog right away, so they got rid of Lego.

Intake Information

  • Arrived here: March 27
  • Breed: Black Lab
  • Age: 3 years (will be 4 in June)
  • Sex: Female
  • Spayed: Yes
  • Weight: @60 lbs
  • Health: Very good. Shots are all up to date and she looks great!
  • Personality: Energetic and playful. She LOVES belly rubs.

Charlie & Joey Steele: Foster dog notes

This is a foster dog diary post. New information will be added to the end of this post so all info is kept in one place and in chronological order.

Last Updated: March 27, 2017

Charlie and Joey’s History

Charlie
Charlie

My name is Charlie and I have a story to tell you.

My brother, Joey, and I are young: not even 8 months old. I lived in a pen with two male dogs, one of them my brother.

We didn’t have food bowls. The people who took care of us threw food on the ground for us to compete over. We had minimal shelter and our bellies hurt because we had worms. Nobody gave us any love and little attention. They only looked at us from far away. They never opened the pen or cleaned it. Some would say it was disgusting, but it was all we had known.