Odds and Sods

Things have been going smoothly over this way. We've added Gypsy (a co-worker's foster dog) to our ranks for the week while her foster-mum is on vacation, and as of Monday we've added 2 new foster dogs from California. (More on them in the next few days).

The extremely nutshell version of them is: I was a goober and posted a 'this dog would never be put down where I live' type reply on a picture of a dog from a high-kill shelter in CA. In a bizarre, wonderful, and somewhat oddball series of events, the dog I posted that comment too ended up here, along with two other dogs from the same pound. (MEMO: do not post on high-kill pictures!)

A third dog hitched a ride last minute all travel expenses paid. So, despite the fact that I'm not quite sure what I've gotten myself into yet, I somehow managed to save 3 little souls from a long walk. Thus I welcome Chula, Amelia, and Antoinette to Canada.

Antoinette: the picture I posted on! She was pulled only hours before she would have been euthanized.

Chula's Intake Picture. Alanna, the awesome rescuer that helped me bring them up said "Well, two of them could ride together, do you want to save another." I was done for right then -especially with this picture, and the fact she had not even two weeks to live.

Amelia. #3 that hitched a ride last minute. As cute as she is, there are HUNDREDS just like her in the shelters in CA, so her chances of making it out were super slim. As far as I know she didn't even have a decent intake photo. She is now being fostered by my co-worker and good friend Allie.

I promise I will write another post describing the complex series of events, but for now, I am a partial angel (at least to these three), and 3/4 of a fool.

That said, I already have some interest in Chula/Antoinette, so we'll see where that leads. Hopefully I'm just a quick bridge between two amazing Chi mixes, and a great new Canadian home.

And now some non-Chi based tidbits.

1. With so many little dogs around Trunk has decided she's going to be one too. Which worked fine until she decided she both wanted to snuggle right on my chest, and got the hang of 'jumping up'. When a 5 pound dog doesn't even hit your knees jumping up, this isn't a problem, but when the jumping place for paws to land for a 40 pound love bug is your bladder, its not so much fun anymore. I guess that means I get to train some jumping out of her. Whoop.

2. Ren, Trunk and Gypsy now get the priviledge of coming back to bed with me after the morning pee. (6:00am is much to early for me these days! I'm getting lazy! Or maybe I'm just staying up later.)

Either way Ren has decided she VERY much likes my bed, so much so that sometimes during the day I see her prance back and forth by the closed bedroom door and try to peer under the door. Of course, with carpet, and with loads of clean (and probably some dirty) underwear, no dog is allowed unsupervised in the room. With crate-training and proper supervision, everyone is housetrained, and I want to keep it that way. So what happens when I get dressed. Ren decides she'd rather stay in bed.

Fine. Let her stay in bed. I saw her pee and poo not two hours ago, and she hasn't eaten yet. Close the door to the bedroom. Of course, 5 minutes later she decides to start whining like a moron. In a break of her protest, I throw the door open and offer her to come back out with the rest of the gang. No-no, she throws herself back in bed. Fine. Close the door. The whining commences again. Fool me once, shame on me, twice, you're a goner.

So, I throw the door open again, grab Ren firmly by the collar and escort her, with no graceful intentions and plop her on her sorry butt outside in the yard. No voice, no 'come on', no time to start an argument. There is no common ground here. It's my way. And to be fair, I don't have a lot of rules to begin with.

House Rules

a) Absolutely no nuissance barking, non-sense barking, demand-barking, or barking-to-hear-your-own-voice barking. Barking is reserved for the once or twice alert bark, the middle-of-play bark, the happy to see you bark. IE: the bark that conveys something besdies annoyance.

and b) there is no demanding of anything in this house. Everything is mine -I've paid for it. You're sharing it with me, and I'm glad to share it with you, but you're little 'entitlement' issues are not going to work here!

(In Ren's case, seperation anxiety symptoms when I'm right in the house are basically just demanding gestures. I know because she's a) fine being crated while I'm in the room, and b) fine being crated when I go to work. She might whine for a minute or so, but she quits when she figures no one is around to listen to her throw a fit. IE: she demanded I both be with her and on the bed. NOPE!

c) everyone is to get along with each other. You share the water bowl, the couch, the toys, the people. If you're the smallest, you better not have attitude cause I'm not going to help you out of a jam you got yourself into. (Unless of course it begins to go too far).
d) You come inside in a timely manner when I ask

e) You are polite to the landlords and their dogs. As much as everything that is in this place is mine, that is there's and you have absolutely no claim on it.

That's not to say I'm a complete meannie. After a lesson or two they get I mean business. I guess Ren just plum forgot, or she didn't realize my business also extended to my bedroom. For example, at this point (except for the new trouble spot of jumping up) I just have to give Trunk 'the look' or move towards her with the right intention, and she backs off, which means I really have to do absolutely nothing in the end.

There's a chance or two to take the appropriate action, and as long as dogs are well-behaved, they have the choice of where they hang out, whether they want to be outside or not (lately I've been leaving to door open and most of them come and go as they please with me checking up every few minutes), and who they want to play with. Kind of like school -sometimes the principal needs to get involved, but a lot of the time the 'threat' of the principal is enough to smarten kids up.

---For now Ren still feels like she deserves both my bed, and me whenever she wants it. I have a homecheck for her tonight, where if all goes smoothly she'll get to be a pampered only pooch, who will be able to lay in a big cushy bed all she darn well pleases. Until then, she'll have to play by my rules. (Which I don't find all that unfair.)

Gypsy too had a few rules to learn. She's used to owning the yard I guess, cause when Claire came out she had a right little barking fit. I picked her up, and gave her to Claire to hold.

AHHHHH, She's touching me!!!!!!

After that, miss barky-princess was no more. At this point I think she's forgiven me, but now when Andy or Claire come in the yard and she opens her mouth to start her stupid 'ITS MY YARD!' battle cry, she looks to make sure I'm no where in sight first, and spotting me closes that mouth and looks down right upset. I'll take a barking-victory over her not having a bruised ego :P

I find it kind of ironic that picking her up -something that usually gives a dog more power- turns Gypsy into a small dog. I guess she's smart and realizes that a person probably could bite her head off. She is definitely a fairly smart dog all things considered :)

And some pictures from the last few days:

Gypsy and her BIG BROWN eyes

 Trunk's head -not to be confused with Beckett's head.

Antoinette -about as big as Jerrad's shoe.

 Chula -mid-scratch

Kisses for Jerrad

Spooning

Beckett (L) and Trunk (R) Not a whole lot of different from behind!

Gypsy Sun-Tanning

Five Foxy Female Foster Friends (Try Saying that 5 times fast!)

 Antoinette: "Beckett's the biggest, he'll protect me :) "

We're not "Imports" We're Ghosts!

And, to most things 'import' related, I see both sides. But having these girls on my lap currently, and knowing that their other option was being tossed lifeless into a barrel, I'll say "Shove it". If a home will adopt my girls instead of going to a breeder for Chi or designer Chi mixes, I'll count myself a small victory -and two lives-. At the same time, I don't plan to make a habit out of it.