Roll with the Punches

The more you do with rescue, the more you realize it is impossible to make everyone happy. Shit happens -shit ALWAYS happens. And its all the more shitty because you're dealing with a life. A life everyone has the best intentions for. And you fall in love with lives -with that face, those eyes, that soul. And the right path to take is never clear. Rescue lives in a mudhole, barely keeping afloat, and not able to see what's on the horizon. Still, we don't give up, regardless how thick that mudhole is sometimes.

And of course there are degrees of shittiness in rescue too.

Whether it be the smaller unfortunate happenstance of having several great applications for a single dog -what I'm currently looking at for Martha, Meshum's TG foster- and having to reject awesome homes in favour of the most awesome home, or the harder option of realizing a dog is defective after they have found what was supposed to be their forever home. Its hard, it isn't fair, and its emotional -as it should be. You can't ask people not to be mad/upset/confused about a family member. And at the same time, even if you ask them to be understanding, there is no way they can understand all that goes on in rescue. Its impossible to be understanding for something you can't grasp. Months in, and I'm barely scratching the surface on what TG has done for YEARS.

What seems to be even more impossible than not having shit happen is rescue, is being able to tell people 'the truth', because its changing every gosh darn minute -such as the puppies, the bus returning to TG, the inconclusive results of a lot of things. Its true, a lot of things can be handled better, much better sometimes, but we just gotta roll with the punches and keep moving forward. Its very unfortunate that we can't see the right path until we take the wrong fork in the road sometimes, but that's also a reality of rescue. And thank goodness TG has been doing it so long, there are less outings on roads less travelled.

But anyway, that's enough of my little rant -now onto the dogs :)

We're a full house this week as Dayo and Graelee joined the pack on Saturday. Dayo cause he isn't sick whatsoever! And Graelee cause I figured it would help Dave and Brian out.

Miss Graelee -Yvette's Favourite Little Spoiled Brat :P

Graelee had a one-week foster to adopt home on the island, but unfortunately she'd need a horrendously expensive and time-consuming surgery (over four months of recovery). Although her awesome family was going to chip-in lots, we really need the TG vets to look at her and figure out the best options. It might be its been a genetic problem for a very long time, and that regardless what procedure happens to the bum leg, it will never be a good leg for her. Its too expensive and life-altering to figure out away from home base -as much as the family is most likely the best to ever come around for her.

That said, Graelee, despite being a stupidly cute pom who looks like she should be a lap-dog, is a running force (even with a bum leg). She's not a frou-frou dog at all. She's easy to have around and will play with anybody. Her only annoying attribute, being a pom mix, is that she gets kind of barky (especially when Beckett won't play with her!). So, the spoiled little princess has been getting a fair bit of correction. She's learning :P She gets it when I give her 'the look', or when the dogs are ripping outside and I'm inside watching them (I flipped the set-up around so that I could watch them from the sofa if I wanted to), and I get up and go to the door. That shuts her up pretty fast now :P

Trunk is still coming along well too. Its been over a week since she's come into foster, and you wouldn't recognize this dog anymore. From the shut down mostly feral ball of stress I picked up out of the van, to the loyal follow-me-everywhere, playful dog she is now. Plus, she's a smart cookie! She knows how to open the sliding glass door to come inside! So I haven't bothered shutting it for the last few days. All the dogs are good and stick close, so they come and go at will with me checking up on them every 10 minutes or so to make sure Trunk hasn't found something stupid to start chewing on. Dayo likes to be wherever Jerrad is -which is usually inside-, so I never have to worry about the little bugger getting in trouble outside :P

A Small List of Trunk's week 1 accomplishments
1) Will walk nearly flawlessly on a leash.
2) Will walk nearly flawlessly on a leash, even on a busy highway type road.
3) Is fine meeting dogs and people on the trails, providing they have good energy. She doesn't like anyone right in her face.
4) Is okay going for a walk all by herself, with no Beckett to follow around! ---This is the most impressive feat for me, since not even Honey could do this by week 2!
5) Has decided she's again housebroken
6) Is crate trained at night and can be left for 2-3 hours crated at home while we're out (she gets car sick, or else she'd probably come with us more often)
7) Doesn't mind new people in the yard/house, and doesn't really hide anymore. She still keeps her distance, but she acknowledges new people and makes some eye contact here and there.

Trunk is also 'the bitch' of the household. She's a good bitch too. Everybody gets that they do what Trunk tells them, and she never has to do anything except be consistent. She makes sure the puppy is on good behaviour -if he starts demand barking for a toy she waps him across the side with her paw, grabs the toy, and takes it out of his reach until he's nice about it again-. Then she gives him back his toy. She also likes to be in charge of the food dishes. She eats, and when she's done, she supervises the rest of the crew (except Ren, who I feed in her crate). She stops Dayo from eating too fast, makes sure Graelee continues to know who is in charge, and generally leaves Beckett to his own food -although if he isn't fast enough she'll finish it off for him!

Trunk's an awesome, true 'dominant' style dog. A MAMA! Funny, cause most people wouldn't consider her dominant at all. She shows no force, she doesn't get in any squabbles, and nearly all of her body language is subtle to the human eye. It just goes to show that true dominance (like being a good mother) is not really thought about. True dominant dogs aren't aggressive. They're like Trunk. They communicate clearly and effectively, and they stop bad behaviours in their tracks. Who could ask for a better babysitter!

Happy



On the move.

Ren's doing awesome as well. She was a little put out that we added another dog to the pack -Dayo she didn't care about-, but after a day they've sorted it out. Graelee is pretty darn subsmissive as far as things go, Ren would just rather not share her newly acquired paradise! There's not much to say about Ren that hasn't been blogged about already. She's easy-going, low-medium energy, and is just enjoying comfy Canadian lifestyle of couches, cuddles and consistent high-grade meals.

Some Ren Shots:

Anti-Social Moment

Discovering Nylabones

Contemplating the Long Jump

In other news, as quickly as Dayo came, he's off to a trial! I met up with Cheryl and Peter yesterday, who were to adopt Graelee. I brought them Ren to see if she'd be a good match -they are an AWESOME home, and as such, I want to showcase my babies to them :P. Although they quite liked Ren, we brought Dayo too and Cheryl fell in puppy-love. So, since they've been approved by TG, I said 'well, you can take him on a trial if you want'. And so, off Dayo went. We'll know in a day or two whether he's a match. It'll either be they NEVER want to part with him again, or he'll be too much 'puppy'.

Dayo shots:

Reuinted

One Happy Puppy

Eating the Dandelions

The Ant Wrangler

And for fun, some Graelee shots:

Frou-Frou Exterior, All-Play Interior

And, of course, the group shots:

Cling-On Crew

 #1 and #2

 Graelee in her usual state of mass-amounts of FUN

Mini TG Reunion?

Fan Club.

Cuddle Club

So yep, the usual revolving door around here, but everyone is content, fairly easy-going, and making things easy on this foster mum. I still have to console Foster-Dad that if Dayo is a match for his trialling family, we'll get to see him grow up :) Either way, we'll be seeing Dayo again -so no tears this time :)

Emily Out