Bios -Please Pass us Along!

Well, its been almost a month since Migo and DimSum came into foster care, and over two months now since Zephyr and Jasmine have been here. These are long fosters compared to my usual, so I'm asking that anyone who happens across the blog, please share one or more of the current fosters. (DimSum has interest, so if you could share one of the others, that would be preferred). Or, you can share this full page :)

First we have: Zephyr

Zephyr is a couch potato supreme. He is also an incredibly EASY dog. He loves to go for walks, but is equally content chilling out and watching a movie. Housetrained, crate-trained, 0 seperation anxiety, and great mellow, calm energy. He would be a great fit for a senior, but also for someone who works 8 hours a day and just wants great company. Zephyr is 45 pounds, but should be closer to 40. He is 7 years old, and in great health except being on the chunky side.


Then we have: Migo

Migo is an awesomely affectionate, cuddle-butt supreme, and great exercise partner. He is a whippet mix. He learns commands quickly and is easy to please. He is great on a leash, would be good off-leash with some training. He is great with all dogs, big and small, and is very playful with both people and dogs. He would love a home with kids, but is truly flexible to any home that will give him ample exercise and cuddle time. Migo is 1 1/2 years old, about 25 pounds (tall and LEAN), though a titch underweight. He has lab-like personality, in a smaller  frame. He is housetrained with frequent access to outside, crate-trained, and would be okay left home for 4-6 hours daily.

Then we have: Jasmine

Jasmine is a very sweet, but tidbit skittish Formosan Mountain dog mix. She is 37 pounds, just turned 8 years old. She lived almost her whole life in a crate, so takes time to transition to living in a house, but comes out of her shell when you give her lots of patience and loving. Jasmine is good on her leash, enjoys going for walks, and laying around your feet. She can be pacey in new environments until she settles in. She truly is an old soul that really deserves that chance to be a true 'house pet' and not sealed away from the world. She would suit a calm, patient person, preferably with another dog or two. She is housetrained with frequent outings, and is crate-trained. Her crate is her safe place, so it is highly recommended her new family be open to having a crate in the house.

And last but not least, we have: DimSum

DimSum is a sweet, sensitive, gentle girl whose only downfall is being shy to strangers. Give her a half an hour and some food, and she warms up just fine. She is a nine month old terrier mix -Airedale-ish-, about 40-45 pounds, will probably fill out around 50. She is good with other dogs, on the submissive side, but will tell off a dog with inappropriate manners. She is super cuddly, playful and affectionate with those she knows -indeed, she's the first one to greet you when you come home! She will need someone who will continue on with her socialization, to make her the best she can be. She could be an only dog, or live with another dog or two.

Need Some Insight

I'm waiting for my parents to arrive, and I've been meaning to write this blog for a bit. It's a question that has no simple answer. When is it appropriate to rehome your dog?

(This does NOT pretain to my dogs.)

My friend, who has had dogs her whole life, who does a high level of training with her dogs, and who is a huge advocate for rescue -indeed fostering as well-, took on a dog a couple of years ago for a client that couldn't handle this dog. This dog is HIGHLY trainable, has SO MUCH potential, but she's truly not a happy dog. When she's in training mode she'll work her tail off, but even doing a solid half hour to an hour of training exercises a day, plus at minimum an hour or twoof strenous exercise, she isn't getting what she needs. She needs to be a 'working' dog, or a sports dog, or a dog that works out in the bush or a ratter, or something. She needs something to do minimum 3-4 hours a day, that works her brain not just her body. Directed activity. She isn't content being a family pet. (Super high-energy, high-drive, and being a terrier, a heck of a lot neurotic.)

She shares the house with two dogs, two kids, two cats, and of course, in a family home, there's kid's friends, and random other dogs, and let's just say, the homelife is chaotic -that's what having school-aged children kind of is-. Of course my friend has committed to her, she would never rehome her to someone that couldn't fufill her needs, and understand her drive, but what it really comes down to, is: Should she search for a better home for her dog?

In this rescue world, people turn up their noses at people who have had to give their dogs up. Or people who haven't thought it through, or worked through it. But this particular dog has been worked on for over two years now, and she wasn't given up when the bad behaviour got tough. So for this dog, for her happiness, what is best? For me, I'm torn. I've known this dog for a couple of years, and although my friends' other dogs are well-balanced, well-trained and deal with the environment, this dog does not. I can visually see she isn't happy most of the time. Her home is high-energy, but she is higher energy, and overstimulated in the chaotic environment with no true outlet. When you're already doing 2-3 hours of exercise in a day, plus playtime with dog siblings, I don't think its truly possible to go above and beyond that for her mum. But, at the same time, she's committed to her, she's family. I don't have an answer for her -and indeed, I think she needs to come to the decision on her own-, but was hoping for some other viewpoints.

For me, if I had never met the dog before, I would be doing the rescue 'she's your responsibility, you do what you need to in order for her needs to be met', but having known her, one of her true 'needs' might be to be an only dog, or only one of two. 

What do you think?

Everybody's Off on Sleepovers. I'm Lonely :(

Okay, I was all psyched for my 'weekend off', but only three hours since the fosters have been gone, I'm already feeling quite lonely. Even Migo, who makes me pull my hair out sometimes, I miss. I mean, I'm enjoying my own dogs, but I enjoy them all the time anyway :).

Being normal isn't for me. I'm ready to be the crazy dog person again. On the bright side, I've never cleaned this house so fast. It is indeed much easier and faster without dogs to work around.

We've also continued our lease into September. :) Was hoping to guarantee for longer, but we'll take what we can get. I'm happy we'll get to at the very least, spend the summer at the farm.

Well, better buck up and enjoy myself without my big pack. I kind of need a haircut!

I Promised a Picture

Sorry, its not of the foster dogs. Beckett stole tonight's blog.

One with Nature

Mobbed!!

Tonight was a longer than usual night. I started obedience classes with Lemon, so was at the daycare an hour and a half later than usual. DimSum doesn't come with me on Wednesdays, so by the time I got home (I left at noon, Jerrad was back at four), I took Migo out of the back of the car for his pee. Jerrad went to grab the other dogs. It was dark, and DimSum saunters out and I see her shadow. And I call Lemon out of the cat food, and BAM. It's a crying DimSum frenzy.

SHE'S HERE SHE'S HERE SHE'S HERE!!!!!!!!

And so I was thoroughly mobbed by a crazy terrier puppy whining and jumping and twirling in happiness so much its a wonder she didn't get herself completely wound in her leash. In DimSum's head anyway, I am the best mum ever. Thanks Sum, but I don't know if whoever your new people are, that they will entirely appreciate that kind of greeting.

Still, its nice to come home to on a long day. Though I need to give her a nail trim -jumping with those sharp talons is hard on the hands.

We've also got some interest in DimSum now :) I hope within the next week, week and a half, we have an adoption! Then she can mob someone else silly with her happy terrier 'welcome back' routine.

More pictures soon, I promise.

Emily Out

A Weekend "Off"

I have such a great bunch of dog friends. They definitely make my day when I'm getting a little down. ALL of the fosters have sleepovers lined up.

Migo is bunking in with Jessica's crew. He will hopefully learn some manners from her bitchy female dogs :)

Jasmine is hanging with Sherry, who understands she might be a bit of a transitional mess for the first day. It'll be a good experience for Jasmine though. Sherry is one of the few people I trust with the shyer/fearful/hard to transition dogs. She knows what she's doing!

Zephyr is going to be hanging out with Josh, the human brother of Kaiser's dad. Everybody has their fingers crossed Josh will want to keep Zephyr. They are both shy, quiet types.

DimSum is going to be hanging out with.... dun dun dun... Chowmein! Linda has generously offered to take her for the weekend, and the girls will have a reunion on the big fenced in acreage.

I will technically still be 'home', so I am here as back-up, but I'm hoping everyone (myself included) has a good weekend vacation. Until then, we'll be enjoying our walks, I'll be continuing with the spring cleaning, and working on some more people interaction with DimSum. She's not quite as 'terrier' as Chowmein was, so isn't quite as confident as Chow was when she left. But she's getting there. Once the initial 'you're scary' wears off, I find she's more affectionate than Chow was. ---I get mauled everyday when I come home. She loves me more than my own dogs.

Hopefully some more pictures this week. I get lazy once the dogs have been here for awhile :P
Emily Out

Baths and Bugs

It happens at least once a year since fostering. Somebody brings them in.

The elusive... flea!

For something I can't see, they sure leave nasty bites! So, it was strip down all the fabric, do laundry like crazy. Tomorrow Jerrad will take the dogs all out of the house for a couple of hours and I will do the yearly 'flea spray'. Everything will be fine. My legs will be itchy, but whatever. That's kind of life on the farm with dogs for you. Also, I'm pretty sure the culprit was Lemon! Migo, Zephyr and Jas all have their anti-flea-tick stuff, DimSum had her bath and although really dirty, no bugs in sight. Everybody has been checked and picked through and with the exception of the TUAPAS, bathed. Beckett has his flea tick control, but at times we forgot the monthly date, he has never had them either. I think his longer coat helps. It's too much work to get in there! Lemon, regardless of her flea and tick control, manages to cart them in a lot. She's low to the ground and short but not too short of hair.  She's just a walking flea magnet. When we're at the vet in May for the yearly check-up, we'll try her out on something different.

On the bright side, I've started the spring cleaning, so everything was going to get topsy turvy for the 'big clean' anyway.

Not much else to report today. With running around all weekend, I'm a tidbit cranky -it doesn't feel like I got my weekend-. My parents are going to come out next weekend, so I'm trying to shuffle some fosters off on people. Puppies and parents just don't go together. Jasmine and Migo have weekend places to head to. Hopefully Zephyr will find a place to land too, but he's the easiest one, so I'm not too worried. I need to go through my contacts to see who DimSum might be good with for the weekend. She could really use the 'adventure' of having to bond to someone else for a weekend, but I want to make sure its the right kind of stimulus for her. Have a couple days to prepare :)

I have to admit, it would be nice to have a weekend off so to speak. I enjoy everyone here, but I'd really like to be able to take a long bath, possibly do some shopping, and do some 'normal girl' activities.  I'm sure after being 'normal' for a weekend, it'll be a welcome return to dog world, but you have to be normal every now and again to truly enjoy the dog world :)

Anyone want to have DimSum for the weekend? Friday evening to Sunday evening ish. She's a good girl, just nervous for the first hour or so with new people. Good with dogs though :)

Best,
Emily

Playdate with Tegan

After a weekend of running around for dog stuff, -I'm not surprised to know we used a whole tank of gas running back and forth!- it was nice to have an afternoon with Tegan, and her people David and Sheila. We brought the whole crew over to their fenced in acreage. Migo, DimSum and Lemon ran around with Tegan like a pack of young dogs, Beckett lounged out in the shade grateful for some quiet time, and Zephyr and Jasmine went exploring in the bushes for awhile. Jasmine was quite content, Zephyr not so much once he found out he wasn't allowed inside! Zephyr is really an indoor dog. He'd make a faublous apartment dog. Lounge outdoors, yeah right, where's the couch!

DimSum had a meet+greet this morning. She was very hesitant, even when the McDonalds came out. We're doing a second meet+greet to get to the dogs acquainted, so we'll she if she progresses any. She however, did super well with David and Sheila. Part of it was most likely having the big pack around, but a different energy too. The people for the meet+greet had good energy, David and Sheila just have a very calm prescence about them. I think what worked best for DimSum was that she wasn't verbally engaged with much. So she moved to curious faster.

Migo did well too. He is getting good about not guarding his toys. He is allowed to do a warning behaviour -hey, I'm playing with this-, such as the low growl or small air snap. If he goes bigger than that, he is corrected. He still has the want to hoard his toys though, so its important not to let him sit with a toy for too long. He's also proving not to be as high energy as people think. After a half hour playdate with 'the pack' he lay down on the grass and hung out for awhile. He'd be an awesome condo dog to take to a dog park, and go home and just hang out with. Actually, I think he'd almost be better without a yard -the walks will do him better than running around in a yard ever could-.

And here are some pictures from the day:

Migo calm and tired after a half hour play session.

Photogenic Migo

Watch Mi....Go!!!!

After the toy.

Jasmine blending in. She enjoyed her time :)

DimSum getting to know Sheila, while Lemon plays lapdog with David.

Lemon

Migo and Tegan between play bouts.

Tegan: "It's like having a birthday party!"

Beckett ambling. He was glad the puppies wore each other out instead of him.

DimSum looking a little bit like Simba on pride rock, but instead, its "The Stump"

Happy Migo practicing his sit.

Tegan of the LONG, LONG tail.

Pooped out Migo.

Sheila brings out the hotdogs! SWARM!

Everybody wants some hotdogs!

And a video!!
Even shyer dog DimSum is all over Sheila!

Toast Adopted -Take 2

About a year ago, Toast came to foster care with me, became a 'terrier', and found her home with a great woman and her golden retriever. Unfortunately, as sometimes happens in a happy tail, there is a bump in the road. Toast's mum is very sick, and has to go to the hosiptals for many weeks, possibly many months, for treatment. So Toast, although very happy, and well-cared for must find another home. :(

Bring in a family that applied for Toast last year, just after she was adopted. They waited to find their dog, and only a little while ago, applied with Turtle Gardens again. Two days after their homecheck was completed, the plea for Toast came in. So, the dog they wanted, somehow circled back to them.

And here Toast is: on the ferry, going home with her brand new family. Good luck in your new home Toaster pup, and a big thank-you to Toast's first mum for giving her great skills and care for the time she was with you.

Weekend O'Hoy -We're Going to be Busy!

Usually the weekend is the time where I get to go on some long walks, clean the house, and catch up on stuff and here and there, be a little extra lazy. This weekend, we're going to be busy! They'll still be long walks, and I really need to clean the house (its shedding winter coat time...) but we'll be running around like silly people.

We go pick up Toast Saturday morning and bring her to the ferry to meet her most-likely new family. She has foster back-up on the mainland if for whatever reason its not a match. After that, we run to grab Brojack from Meshum and tote him around to two different meet+greets. Throw in an extra long walk for the dogs, and we'll call that a Saturday.

Sunday I have a meet+greet with DimSum, and have the Sunday morning huge pack walk with Meshum, daycare clients and about 12-15 dogs unless our group grows again. Then clean the house, and hopefully a playdate or two that I've been trying to get to. Chances are, we might have something else dog related in the afternoon, as DimSum has some interest now, and Brojack has lots.

As somewhat expected, Jasmine's potential person has decided she's 'too old', Migo has no applications, and neither does Zephyr. Everyone is getting along fairly well. Zephyr isn't very fond of Migo, so usually just puts himself to bed when Migo is out playing. DimSum loves Beckett a little too much, but he's surviving the lick-assaults (she spent three hours grooming him last night!).

And other than that, Jerrad has Zephyr off leash in the still-not-completely-fenced-in-yard and he's doing great. If I didn't know better, I would think I'm falling for dog #3. But Zephyr deserves somewhere less chaotic (and with a whole lot less Migo) for the long haul.

Maybe pictures this weekend, maybe not. Fingers crossed we make some matches!

Oh matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match!

Island Dogz Does Away with Trials

I don't want to toot my own horn, but I got some exciting news today! Island Dogz, who Zephyr and Jasmine are with, have decided to abandon the 'trial period' and move to an 'adopt or not' policy. Of course, there is always time for a meet+greet with the dog and new owner to say yay or nay, but the two week trial period has been chucked out the door!

This I am thankful for :) Hopefully I won't have to deal with many more 'maybe' people :) Of course, the reality of rescue is that sometimes a match doesn't work out for whatever reason, but now there's no easy road out.

I was also asked recently if I would be on the board of the directors for Island Dogz, however, I politely turned them down. I'm a foster mum, and I love what I do, but I don't want to be apart of making important decisions. I want to lie on the couch with a fuzzball and go for a bunch of walks.

But mostly, I want to continue to be a free-spirit, not tied down to one rescue over another, free to see a face and go 'I need to foster that dog', but of course, staying loyal to Turtle Gardens, my heart rescue at the same time (the one rescue I'm not super picky about who they send me!)

So, I'm happy tonight, although a bit of a chicken with her head cut off organizing meet+greets and homechecks this weekend. DimSum has a possible, and I have a few running arounds to do for Brojack. Brojack really should just come foster with me -it would be much easier to take him places not having to pick him up and drop him off all the time!

But I rant. Tonight I say YAY. NO MORE TRIALS!

This and That in the Foster Front

Well, we've hit a pretty good routine and things continue to go well. Jasmine has good days, and has the odd off-day, but is comfortable and happy. Migo is working on his guarding, and is doing well with a combination of positive and negative reinforcement. Being a teenage boy, he needs to make sure his boundaries are crystal clear, and usually with teenage boys, that means being a meanie to them sometimes to make sure they get the point. While working on behaviours like this, I like to try a 'say no (negative), but say yes to something else right away. (positive).

IE: You are NOT allowed to guard your toys, but you ARE allowed to play with me, or you ARE allowed to pratice your sit in order to get your toy back. Just saying no, they don't understand how to redirect the behaviour. You need to give them another outlet. Say no -loud and clear-, but then say, let's do this instead. Also, in my still limited readings and understandings, it is not in the best interest of the dog to have his toy taken away for guarding. After all, he is trying behaviour out in order to keep the bone, and could escalate. So, the toy is removed immediately upon the smallest of guarding behaviours, and given back quickly afterwards. As if to say 'You share your toys, you keep your toys.' He is getting it.

He won't guard with Lemon anymore -she tore a strip off him when he tried-. He doesn't guard from people, so its easy to work through. He's just at the stage where he's a teenage boy whose settled in with a lot of confidene. Now he's testing how far he can get. Too bad Migo, you're not going to get very far here! As many fosters before you would tell you: I'm a bitch! Sometimes 'fair' doesn't come into the equation.

DimSum has also become fairly people social providing the people have the right energy. I've been networking her and had a request for a meet+greet that kind of interestingly was only a 3 minute drive from our farm on another fairly big acreage property. So, although she didn't put in an application, I decided to treat it as a challenge for DimSum. She did quite well, she would sniff the lady and stay close, but wouldn't allow her to touch. If the lady had of had food, it would be have been a different story. I was quite proud of this shy, slightly fearful girl though! To even hang out close by to a new person within a few minutes is a really good sign. I'm unsure if the woman who saw her will put in a application, but I think it would be a good set-up for DimSum. Nice big yard, other dogs. More than anything, I'm just glad DimSum passed her 'challenge' of having to deal with a new person interested in her! Now I have an idea of what to look for when she gets her official meet+greets.

And Zephyr continues to be his awesome self. He'll have the odd cranky moment but he totally understands the 'evil eye' from me. So, we understand each other, and he's cuddly, so he almost feels like another Beckett. Less playful Beckett, but very similiar energy. He's decided the couch is the safest spot -his foster mum is grumpy just like him sometimes, so when foster mum is on the couch, there is no craziness allowed on the couch!

DimSum has a prospect now.
Nothing for Migo.
Jasmine has a prospect, but just in the initial stages, so we'll have to see on that.
Nothing for Zephyr either, but I hold out some hope that maybe the people who wanted Brojack will want him instead. But, out of everybody, I don't mind if he stays.

Brojack has a few applications we're working through. He's popular and he should be!

Also, if anyone has been reading the TG blog (mostly likely hey ;) ), Toast, who I fostered over a year ago is being returned due to the illness of her mother. Toast has a potential home already lined up, and a foster back up on the mainland. I'm not 100% sure yet, but Toast's K9 sister Noon, if she needs, is welcome here in foster camp with me. We'll make sure those two are well taken care of!

And a few funny pictures from the last couple of days:

DimSum contemplates on how to get through Zephyr in order to play with Lemon...

DimSum gets a better look at how she is supposed to get to Lemon...

Zephyr gives the hard stare. He is not going to let DimSum over to Lemon...

DimSum decides if she can't get to Lemon, she might as well have a snooze.

There's a good feeling in the air! I hope that means some families are getting closer to finding their furever friends :)

Emily Out

Tell Me What You Need in Your Forever Home --a Honeymoon story

Having confident dogs and shy dogs are two completely different fostering experiences. With shy dogs, the first couple of weeks are usually like pulling teeth to get things to happen. The dogs are shedding their fears, their worries, they are gaining new positive experiences, they are getting comfortable in their own skin. Hopefully they are becoming 'confident'. With confident dogs like Migo though, sometimes it's a bit of the opposite. The first week or two, they are great dogs. They are on their best behaviour so to speak. And then... they settle in.

In the last few days, Migo has become settled, and so, the honeymoon period is over. Migo's hidden secret is that he's a bad guarder (with other dogs only) of his toys, and has the potential to be guardy over his person too. He's given Beckett a pretty mean tell off (it's a good thing Beckett didn't clobber him back), and he's tried with Lemon --much to his surprise, she told him off fast, efficiently, and had him running for cover. (That's what you get when you mess with the female dog of the house!) He raises his lips and snarls whenever a dog is passing him and his 'toy' (really, whatever he has between his paws he thinks he has to protect or have it stolen.) But, it's better to know now!

This way, he is telling me what he needs in a forever home. He either needs to be an only dog (what I think would make him happiest), or he needs dog-experienced people who understand how to redirect behaviour. His behaviour isn't serious, but it is indeed a 'problem' so to speak. I am confident he won't become a problem to have here, and that I can work on it. But to be honest, its one more thing I'd really rather not deal with.

This isn't to say Migo is bad with other dogs (he's very playful, take the toys away and he's awesome), or that he can't live with other dogs, or that his guarding his a huge issue that can't be overcome, it's just that I think he would be happiest not having to share. To be a dog that goes and plays with other dogs -maybe even daycare-, but comes home, and has people and stuff and a home all to himself. Migo has always been one in more than a dozen, a dog that has never had individualized attention. He's different than DimSum and most of the shy dogs -he doesn't look to other dogs for guidance-. He is confident, he loves people, he is happy-go-lucky. And doesn't he deserve, after all this time, to be the only one doted on?

Of course he will stay here until he finds his home (please soon!), but it would be very much appreciated if everyone that visits this blog would please share Migo's picture to anyone they know who wants a young, active, silly dog. He is the kind of dog that can go play off-leash (with some recall training), and go to daycare, and do all those 'dog-social' things people want, but really wants some people of his own to spoil him and train him and give his mind new things to do.

Please Family, you must be out there!

PS: Zephyr says he'd like a home where he's allowed to sleep on the couch, other than that, he's not picky :)

Give me Dogs, Send back some People

I want to start this blog off by saying, I have met MANY terrific people throughout my fostering adventures. Other foster mums, adopters, people generally interested and spreading the word. I get to see Chula and Netty frequently, and same with Suhki. Kaiser, who I didn't directly foster, but did save, and his mum have become good friends of mine. Miranda has even saved her own dog from the same shelter Kaiser was at now. The cycle continues positively. But sometimes, well, lately, a lot of the time, the 'people' end of rescue is frustrating me.

Such as: Migo's most-likely home bailing before they even met him.
Such as: Jasmine failing trail.
Such as: the 3 e-mails I've had regarding adopting DimSum to be a property guardian, to be leashed up in a yard all day. Get a security system! Not a slightly shy terrier mix. Not a dog period.

To ice the cake very recently we did a great homecheck for Jasmine. They wanted to straight up adopt her, they'd work through the big issue of hard transitioning period. We had a volunteer go all the way up to Courtney to do the homecheck, everything was ready to go. And then, only a day or two before the meeting to pick her up, the husband decides he doesn't really want a second dog. Seriously... no offence, but if you didn't want a dog, why did you make us jump through all the bloody hoops! Adopters complain about jumping through hoops to adopt a dog, but rescue does the same. Either way, I'm glad it doesn't really effect Jasmine, as she didn't move or anything. It's just... FRUSTRATING.

Haha, I need to get somebody adopted to have some ups, as this road is getting kind of rocky! I think I'm just feeling a little defeated. I know my dogs will get adopted. I know they will find their awesome families. They're out there. I would just like a little less bull-shit before we get to them :)

On a brighter note, its been a good weekend with the dogs. We did a homecheck for Brojack (he has a few applications) and without thinking about it, I brought Zephyr along as he didn't join us for a group walk (we only have room for 5 of the current 6 dogs in the car...). They quite liked Zephyr, and Zephyr quite liked them. So maybe :) It would make my day to see Zephyr be adopted the first out of the current group, as I seriously thought/still think he will be the last to go of my current fosters. I also had a phone call with another of Brojack's applicants. It's nice to see such a fantastic dog get fantastic applications. A lot of the time its the really pretty ones that get a lot of applications, regardless if they're excellent temperments or not.

Saturday we went out to the lake twice and did two 6-7km loops. We had Migo out in his 'adopt-me' vest and stopped to talk with somebody every few minutes. I gotta get me one of these vests for my non Ocean-Dog dogs. Though, not on the shy dogs like DimSum, she would HATE that kind of direct attention.

Migo sports his 'adopt-me' vest.

We also did Mount Work today with Meshum and a bunch of clients from the daycare, and I admit, I'm a little out of shape, but it was Beckett who surprised me most. We made it 3/4 up the mountain and although I know he would have made it all the way I could tell he was totally spent. So, I decided to head back with him early. I waddled for about 20 minutes before he got back up to a slower pace. It's so hard to believe he's starting to get old. That he can't do it all. Best guess is that he's 7, but with his background and possibly not a great upbringing, he might physically be a couple of years older. His annual vetting is in May, so we'll see what they assume his internal age to be.

You know when the tail is completely down, he's totally exhausted.
Beckett shortly after we turned around on the mountain.

Here are some pictures of our adventures this weekend. Despite the roadblocks for me, they are all happy, well-adjusted, happy that it's warm out. I don't have a complaint about any of them -well, Migo is a bit too active for everybody, but that's really not a 'problem'--. Anyway the pictures. The happy side of rescue!

Cheeky Lemon Brat

DimSum Hanging with her Favourite Friend

I find it absolutely hillarious when you see direct copying behaviour.
DimSum wants to be just like Beckett!

The terrier is here! Confident on her walk :)

Tired near the end of the walk. Looking goofy.

I love when they can stand with pride and say "I am here!"

Getting Kisses.

Migo and DimSum gang up on the kisses!

Trying to get them to stop kissing is difficult!

Beckett, exhausted after Mount Work. He does look like age is starting to catch up to him.

Cashe, also with TG, being fostered with Meshum. She wasn't too fond of being on leash! She wanted to run off-leash with everyone else, but doesn't have the recall yet to do so safety. She's a happy little thing though. Also busy, busy, busy! I bet even after the big hike, she played all afternoon.

To another week. Hopefully one filled with less false starts. :)
The dogs will keep me thinking positively, so all is good on the foster front.

Emily Out

Routine -and Some Tidbits about Seperation Anxiety

Everybody is doing really well in foster care. Jasmine continues to be comfortable, non-whiny, but has the odd bad day or morning that she starts the frantic pace. After making sure it's not a pee or poo issue, I put her back to bed and she happily stays there with the door open. She is welcome to come out when she's feeling better/more relaxed. The other dogs don't really pick up her stress, but I want the majority of her experiences in the home to be positive. The more she is allowed to pace/be whiney, the more she'll find those acceptable behaviours. Of course they're part of her getting past some past life troubles, but the more she can be comfortable, the less 'bad days' she has. In the week she's been back, she's only had one off morning, and by afternoon she was feeling better. Bottom line: it's working for her.

Zephyr has turned cuddly on me, and is a frequent couch potato with me when I get home from work. If he was more playful with other dogs (he'll dance around with Lemon here and there, but everyone else he just ignores), he'd remind me even more of Beckett. Zephyr's an excellent dog. He has excellent dog skills that have been refined here. He is excellent on his leash, excellent in a crate -right now as I'm writing he's decided 8:30 is much too early to get out of bed on Saturday morning and has returned to his crate for another snooze.

He's a dog that will do well pretty much anywhere. I'm hoping someone else will see that soon. But I enjoy him, and I wouldn't be against the long, long fostering.

DimSum and Migo are also doing well. DimSum has almost become a full 'terrier' type dog now. She, like Chowmein, doesn't have that real edge a terrier has, but she's turned into a bit of a bug, and you can really see her personality come out. She's basically Chowmein without the super cockiness Chow had a couple of weeks in. And absolutely not one sign of guarding anything.

Migo is driving me a little nuts, but he is still a good boy. His biggest problem here is that he (most of the time) doesn't understand he is to play appropriately inside. He is a ping-pong ball. From one piece of furniture to the next, from toy to dog, to wall. Bounce, bounce, bounce. Lemon has given up telling him off. Beckett just ignores him and wants nothing to do with him. I have DimSum and Migo on schedules that don't see them out together except for at night, so luckily he's drained by then, but my patience is wearing thin sometimes with him. Now don't get me wrong, he's a good dog, he's not 'high-energy', indeed he's more of a happy medium energy, but he needs to learn the difference from outside/daycare play and inside play. Like a child who doesn't understand his or her 'inside voice'.

Throughout the week it isn't really a problem with Migo, as part of his stint in foster care is making sure he is crated 4-5 hours a day (even if I'm home) to minimize the possibility for seperation anxiety. It is not realistic that most adoptive families are home 24/7, so it is in the dog's best interest to be okay spending time alone. Both Migo and DimSum do this alternating times. Jas and Zephyr have always liked their crates, so they just stay home, and when I'm gone I close them. Neither of those two have a lick of seperation anxiety and haven't from the start. But with the young ones, it's important I don't foster the idea that I'm around ALL THE TIME. Sure, sometimes I am here when they are away, and sometimes I just want to let them out, but they aren't really my dogs, I need to do the best I can by them in order for them to transition smoothly to their new families.

So Migo goes for a half hour walk in the morning with everyone, and comes back and is crated about 8-12:30. He then goes to daycare in the afternoon, then comes out for his hour walk after work and is out for an hour or two at night with the other dogs, when he is calm and tired, and not bouncing off the walls. Most of the time he finds a cushion with Beckett and zonks while Lemon and DimSum are having playtime round 2.

DimSum goes for the same small walk, and then comes out and stays out until about 12:30 or so, and then is away until about 4:00pm when Jerrad gets home from school. Then out for the walk. Then she's with the other dogs till bed. She'll start having some daycare days too, but is quite content with her morning, and walk. She's also a dog that is great with her family, but doesn't make new friends fast.

I'm sure there are questions as to why the dogs are away when I am home to watch them. It's a fair question. In the beginning, I pretty much never put the dogs away or even alone. Honey developed a bit of seperation anxiety near the end of her foster stay with me, and at about the two week mark with her sister Toast, Toast had quite a bit of seperation anxiety -boy could she howl-. But, when I went to address the issue, I found that really, I created the issue. To her, I'd been around all the time for two weeks, and suddenly was going somewhere without her. It was in her routine that I was there all the time.

So I've changed my patterns, learned from that experience. I've found that the 4-5 hours of time they are away from me makes them better dogs for it and because I am home for the first couple of days, I can easily pop in to check that they are okay, or settle down any noise. I can work on it basically. We don't necessarily start right away with 4-5 hours either, but build up to it.

It also helps if a movie comes out that I'd like to go see, or if the car has issues like a couple days ago, when circumstances made it so that everyone was stuck home for about 5-6 hours. This is just another form of training -being away from their people.

If you start the seperation period right as they come, they are much less likely to develop seperation anxiety than if you spend a week or two straight with them and suddenly start going away. They are creatures of habit, like us, and resist change.

If you already have some problems with seperation anxiety, I suggest starting a gradual departure. Even if its just to a different room and closing the door. One hour, two hours, build it to what you need. Putter around the garden by yourself, play endless spider solitaire. Declare some independence. You give them what they need: companionship, exercise, training. But you also have to give them a sense of being okay on their own -and you the ability to do more except stay home with the dogs.

Seperation anxiety is a HUGE pain the butt. So hopefully, this process will help out the dogs when they go into new homes. And that's really, to me, what fostering is about. Setting the dogs up for success!

It's Spring, Where's my Applications :)

I'm just being impatient today. I have three homechecks this week, none of them for my dogs, so I know the adoptions are indeed picking up. I'm enjoying everyone here, they are all great dogs. I'm just eager for them to find their forever homes. And hopefully, now that the weather is better, it'll happen soon :) Foster bootcamp is fun, but I know the real happiness is in finding that special family. Especially for dogs like Zephyr and Migo, who are easy dogs. Opposite ends of energy, but both very easy dogs. Jas will take time to find someone who will deal with the transition period. DimSum is pretty much ready to go too, but isn't quite as easy as the boys. She's no longer a 'dog-experienced' only type dog though.

Not much new to report. Back at work, Migo's doing well, I've taught him to sit (with food), won't do it without the reinforcement yet. DimSum will join us at daycare shortly as she has developed a lot of confidence in her initial greetings with other dogs so should be fine meeting with 20+ dogs at a time now.

She's still on the timid side, but with Beckett around, its helping her out a lot. Beckett is quite exhausted! DimSum is crazy in love with him, Migo is crazy in love with him, of course Lemon is crazy in love with him. There's just not quite enough Beckett energy to go around. ?Ironically, its Zephyr who knows when he steal the bed (the 'playing bed') and take a minute or two to look slightly mean to scare off the pups. I knew he liked Beckett sometimes :)

Zephyr continues to do well. Jasmine is still having good days. She has the odd moment of 'OMG', but quickly puts herself to bed to calm down. I haven't had to help her along yet to calm her down.

Also, now that the weather is cooler, I'm thinking about doing a weekly group walk with whoever would like to come, or has people interested in meeting some dogs for adoption, etc, etc.

Oh, and I have a homecheck for Cubby (Lisa's foster boy) tonight. Hope it goes well :)

Probably not much more to report this week, but hopefully lots of pictures over the weekend.
Emily Out

Sleeping on the Job

Caught!

We're Made for Each Other

Guess who Wanted to Go for a Walk Today?

Although yesterday was some tough slogging on the DimSum (who I keep trying to call Chow) walking front, she surprised the beejeezus out of me today. She jumped in the car ready to go, and when we landed for our first walk, jumped out happy and ready to go again. No poking, no prodding, no being a mean foster mum and making her get over it.

Take a look!



She still has a ways to go with passing people -she puts the breaks on and we have to tug her along a bit-, but she's getting curious too. She gets past them enough that she thinks they're far enough away and turns back to check them out. Soon she'll get closer and closer.

Also, another mile in foster care... becoming a McDonalds addict. Check out DimSum and Lemon sharing the french fries...

In other news, Jasmine is back in foster care, and although she didn't recognize me, she definitely recognized Jerrad. It took her all of 20 seconds for her to get comfortable with us. We were going to walk her until she dropped, but we all did about 6km and called it enough for a day. She's come back like she never left. No wild pacing, no whining, she's already laying down with the other dogs like she used to. I'm sure we'll have some of Jasmine's bad days in the future, but for now, all things are good. She's a little bit like a war survivor. She has a lot of good days, but when they're bad, she's better off just staying in bed most of the day. Sigh. It's hard with the dogs that think they've landed here forever. If only an adopter could see what I see now. This is the dog she would become -and even better probably- given proper patience and time.

And, cause it wouldn't be a blog without a couple pictures, here are some from today's outing.

A Shot of Migo that shows just how small (but tall!) he is.

DimSum hangs in the backseat on the way to the beach.

Getting some DimSum loving on the trail.

Me and the Girls.

Jasmine Returns

No applications for anybody in the works, so I'm just going to enjoy my crew, work on the confidence building with DimSum, and hopefully do some work with Jasmine too (though she hasn't jumped at any weird noise yet since she's been back).

And that's it for Saturday!

Foster Pack Out

Good Friday

I so love spring. By 4:30 today we'd already done two big walks. For our first walk, we took DimSum for her first real hike, where people would have to pass her by, and where there were many dogs to pass by too. For the first half-hour she was going through the panic typically seen in a dog that doesn't know what to do, but by about 30-40 minutes in, she was getting much better. By the end, she was feeling much more confident.

The pictures tell the story better:

Hesitant at the start.

Not sure what to do, looking for direction.

Hunkered down pose. Not feeling very good about this walk thing.

Lemon gives Sum some advice.

Feeling much better, but still slightly hunched, and tail slightly tucked, but much progress!

Here's a little video from the end of our walk too:

She came home utterly exhausted. Sure, it's only an hour, but when you're scared, all the adrenaline is pumping and you work that much harder. That hardest part for today, was a few people on the trails trying to reassure her, or harrassing Jerrad for pulling her along when she hunkered down. Of course I know they mean the best, but I'm not trying to be mean, I'm trying to move her forward. And I know she's ready. She hasn't really be out the past few days, because I didn't think she was ready. Either or, we all got through it.

Also, a thank-you to Jerrad for usually doing the first walk with a new dog. Jerrad is by-far more patient than I am, his handling skills might not be quite the same, but DimSum needs better patience than better handling at this stage. Tonight we will go back out, and do the same hour loop with her. It is my hope that 2 of these kinds of walks a day for 4-5 days straight will get her desensitized enough to not be bothered by other people on the trails. By 30 minutes in, she was fine with the dogs -although would still cower a bit if a big, big dog wanted to interact-, but is still going to need lots of exposure to people. Luckily, I don't think DimSum has had any huge negative experiences with people, just that she hasn't had much exposure at all. It's all new!

Anyway, after our first walk we went home and crashed for a couple of hours. And then, we had a play-date with my old boss Deb, her dogs, and Danielle with Izzy, another Ocean Dog Rescue. Since I didn't want to overdo it with DimSum in one day, I put her to bed, and we took Migo and Zephyr out with us.

We also had Zephyr drag his leash for most of the walk. He did very well! Take a peak!

 I admit, I'm getting a little attached to the older guy. Not enough to adopt him, but I'll be sad (and glad too) to see him go. Granted, that might not be for awhile. So I'll enjoy him while he's here :) Semi-senior, the dog everybody really wants, but doesn't realize it.

Happy on his Walk

Smiling.

Migo also did very well, especially considering all the running dogs he couldn't play with because he needed to stay on his leash. I didn't get many pictures of him today, as I was always holding his leash, but hopefully Deb and/or Danielle got some good shots of him.

Here are the few I got:

And a cute one of Migo and Zephyr!

We're Adoptable!

And, cause I love dog photos, some of my better shots of the day of the dogs we went all out, all rescues themselves.

Deb's boy Eyesome tearing up the park.

Izzy can fly!

Foster loves his puddle.

Foster and Izzy take 5 seconds to rest before flying off again.

Foster brings back his ball like a pro.

Glava is after Eyesome.