Out With the Wisdom

I'm back from my wisdom-tooth removal adventure in Vancouver that wasn't much of an adventure at all. My sleepy pills kept me up most of the first 48 hours, and although I was in not much pain, it's amazing how little you can eat when you can't chew. For someone that works with dogs 6-7 hours a day, and does 1-2 hours of activity besides, I always forget just how much I do eat. I sure hope my pants fit after these two weeks of semi-liquid diet! My wedding dress too for that matter.

I wanted to get over to see Yvette since she is in Vancouver, but I'm such a rural person I couldn't configure the skytrain or buses, let alone under high amounts of pain killer. So I did what I do best: I grumped and tried to make new plans.

For the last year or so, possibly more our landlord has been flip-flopping on whether to sell the property. Now that our lease is coming up again, I think he's thinking about the possibility more strongly. If you're going to sell nice rural property, you should do it in the summer time and I definitely DO NOT want to live in a place that has people coming and going at all times. We're not dirty, but to keep a big four bedroom place in gleaming glory all the time.

So, we're off to look at two different places tonight. One is a little rancher on the outskirts of Langford, where I could get a boarding license. The other is a two bedroom suite with a private yard, much less expensive but I'm not sure if fostering/boarding would be an option. It's definitely going to be a bit of a trade-off, and I really love the farm, but I can't really have Jinks nipping the landlord, plus with Kathleen gone the farm is a little expensive on two.

We shall see. I'm hopeful karma can find us a little piece of peace and quiet that will allow us to continue to foster, even if on a much smaller scale.

Will report in with details. It's an exciting time, but also an anxious one.

A New Place

Our landlord is wobbling on whether to renew the lease, or sell the house, so just in case he decides to sell, I've decided to be productive and start looking now. I'm not worried at about finding a place for the permenants, the great part about being in a dog related job is that people take us more seriously. It's a place to board and/or foster that will be harder. We have our current lease until the end of July, but get married August 3rd so would need something by the middle of July to move before we get married. (Ideally we won't need to move at all, but I always go with a proactive approach.)

If you know anyone that knows anyone that might know a place like this available to rent, please pass it on. The ad is here: http://victoria.en.craigslist.ca/hou/3770236175.html

Here is what's in the ad:

- $1500 Wanted: Dog Friendly, Rural Place for Long Term Drama-Free Tenants

For June or July, or possibly August.

2-3 bedroom place in a more rural type area such as Central Saanich, Metchosin, upper Saanich, on the way to Sooke, Highlands, Mill Bay or possibly as far as Cobble Hill for the right place. We'd really rather not live in a suite. Fenced in yard would be fantastic, if not fenced we would need to fence an area off. Minimal stairs and minimal carpeting is ideal. We aren't fussy with the look of the house, or layout, or age.

We are a married couple with three dogs. Two medium, one small who include one senior greyhound mix approx 50 pounds, one 3 year old Chihuahua mix 10 pounds, and one year old Border Collie, 35 pounds. All dogs are house-trained, crate-trained, non-destructive and quiet. They currently live on farm-type environment so are very used to chcikens, the neighbours cow and goats. I work at a doggy daycare in Langford, so most days my two young dogs come to work with me. My husband is working for an environmental company, but plans to continue his education in the fall.

As part of my job, at times I have 1-2 client dogs staying with me overnights. During the day they attend work with me, so are never left alone or unsupervised. They receive upmost care. At our current place we are sometimes able to foster a dog looking for a new home to call their own and would love to continue this volunteering if possible.

We are only looking for new accomdation as our current landlord has expressed interest in putting our place up for sale. We come with great references.

We are quiet, keep-to-yourself type people who always pay rent on time, don't drink, don't smoke and don't party. Drama-free tenants. We don't mind maintaining property if tools (mower/weed cutter, etc) are provided. We are responsible and professional.

We are more than willing to sign a year lease, or possibly a 2-3 year lease for our perfect place. A bigger/more expensive place might work if we could have a roommate. Looking for around $1500 though, with utilities ideal, but not a deal breaker.

Thanks so much for reading our ad, and we're looking forward to finding a place to call home.
Emily

Wisdom Teeth

I will be MIA for Friday, Saturday, Sunday and most of Monday as I'm off to get my wisdom teeth out! I wasn't worried until today, but I just realized I've never really been put under. It's kind of scary. I will try to be brave.

A big thank-you to Cheryl and Peter for keeping care of the little Floofy Goof this weekend, and a big thank-you to Jerrad for having the our dogs, as well as Cinderella for the weekend. He is quick to remind me "Jinks is your dog." Beckett and Lemon are apparently OUR dogs, but Jinks is mine. Go figure, she thinks the exact same thing! I hope she isn't a superbrat for him. I've stocked him with whistly balls ("Whistlers"), so he should be able to have her reliable off-leash in quieter areas.

I'm leaving her in good amounts of tiredness though. Day of daycare, an hour of agility, and a hour run on the beach with her ball. I haven't been away from my Jinks dog since Christmas. We are a stupidly bonded pair at this point -or maybe just me to her. I'm sure I'll have more separation anxiety from her than she from me. I love all my dogs, but I'm beginning to understand the connection people always comment on when you have with a working dog. It's just a level or two above, but it is much more work! (Go figure hey.)

Emily Out!

Adoption, Adopting Fallout and a Weekend Away

First of all, Riley has been adopted! I haven't placed a dog I haven't personally homechecked in quite awhile (except a few on the mainland) so I was a little more anxious than usual. But after the first night I get this awesome update!

Hi Emily

Just wanted you to know that Riley seems to be settling in quite well.  He had noproblem with sleeping in his new crate and seems to be enjoying his country walks. He certainly is a beautiful dog and so well behaved, someone in his past spent time on obedience training.  Sherry suggested you would be a good source for an agility or obstacle class , not sure which would suit him best, perhaps you have some suggestions. If you feel it is appropriate please let his previous owner know that he has found a good home with us and we have already fallen in love with him. 

Way to go Riley :) I hope you do get to do some agility, I think you'll really enjoy it.



Cinderella had an awesome homecheck, but the owners got cold feet. A combination of things lead to their decision to not adopt Cinderella, but that just means her perfect family is still somewhere out there, looking just for her. For Mel who responded to the last post, she's still available :) She's a quirky little devil. Some moments she wants to be right next to you, and the next she's decided "no thanks, I don't like to be fawned over." I see a bit of a terrier personality. Things on her terms :P She's a dog who as of yet, doesn't see any importance or reward in being loyal or "a person's dog". She is her own dog. She will bond though.



Tomorrow evening I leave for a long weekend in Vancouver. Unfortunately, it's not a vacation trip, but a trip to get a double set of wisdom teeth out. My parents will be the victims that have to deal with me doped up and sore. Jerrad is more than happy to pawn me off on them for that time. Floof is going to go visit with Peter, Cheryl, Suhki and Veda for the weekend, since he can not hold his bladder reliably for more than 4-5 hours and Jerrad works 6 hours days. Our dogs and Cinderella will be okay for a few days home for 6 hours. 



I am hoping I might get to visit with Yvette for a few hours, if I'm not too sore/cranky/doped up.



For now, off to work. It's been quite busy with number of dogs, and private training sessions lately which is good, but I'm starting to feel a little burnt out. 

A Little Yellow Dog Loving

It's been an eventful weekend. I'm looking forward to Riley heading to his new home tomorrow, and by the feel of Cinderella's homecheck this evening it looks like she'll probably get her new home this week too :) I'm looking forward to a week or two with just our guys, plus honorary long-term member Floof. Floof has  been here a month now. Not long in term of general fostering, but the longest stay here in quite some time.

He's enjoying himself. Lemon is enjoying him. They are definitely cute together :)

Mutiny

Some days nothing wants to work. Car has decided the brakes need work. Dogs have decided it is a sleep day. Apparently I ran Jinks and Riley too much yesterday -Jinks' brain is still mush-, and after a half an hour chuck-it run in the morning, those two high energy dogs have plunked themselves in their crate and do not want to go anywhere. Jinks gives me dirty looks when I open her door. Riley doesn't budge when I open his.  Thanks high-energy dogs. It's a bloody beautiful day and no one wants to go anywhere with me! (To be fair, I'm usually at training for 5-6 hours on Saturdays now, and today is my first day of no classes for two weeks.) I guess they all figured even though I had the day off from work, they'd rather not take the day off from sleep.

So, for noon I'm getting back into my pajamas and calling it a couch day. If I had of known you were all going to be exhausted, boring and ignore me I would have left you all with Jerrad for the weekend. (Next weekend, and I'm sure they'll all be twerps for him!)

The only one that wants to do anything today is Beckett. The senior dog. Go figure. And of course, by the time Jerrad gets home at about 3:30pm they'll be ready to go, which will mean two hours out and about and a fiance going "why didn't you exercise them?" It's all a ploy.

In good news:
1) Looks like Riley is being adopted! He'll go home to his retired couple, no kid home right beside 160 acres of beautiful woods to romp in. They have lots of lab experience and it's possible he might be back at daycare once a week while he settles in.

2) Cinderella is over her jetlag and is quite friendly now. She will fit in just about anywhere that is truly willing to get through the first week which might be very hard. You just have to let her come to you on her own terms. Don't force the relationship. Once she's decided she likes you, you're in for life. She is still a sensitive little sprite. A loud word is enough to get her to stop anything she is doing. She'll need very kind training.

3) Floof might -and that's a BIG might- get a home with one of the founders of his rescue. Her own little chi boy is quite selective in his playmates, but could use the right playmate to bring him out of his shell with other dogs. She has been watching all my videos of Floof interacting so well with all my dogs -he's perfectly dog social-. Her dog is overly people affectionate. Floof and he are opposites. Floof isn't horrible with people by any means, but he isn't a social butterfly type. With a meet+greet and a possible trial night, Floof might find himself a home where he can help another dog, and in turn that other dog can help him. It's still a BIG might at this point. It has to work for everyone involved.

4) Cinderella has some interest, though nothing on the homecheck front quite yet. Thankfully she is showing me signs that she's ready for her new home when they show up.

For now, I'm scheduled for cuddle time with Floof, Lemon and Cinderella. Hard life!

Jetlag

Just like Neela was a few weeks ago, Cinderella has been on complete jetlag since she came yesterday. No surprise, it's a very long flight! The time is all switched around, the weather is colder, there's lots of strange, scary things and other dogs. Lots to deal with. Makes sense just to sleep for a few days. No complaining here! It's kind of nice to have her crate door open and she goes and sleeps for 2-3 hours, gets up, asks to go out to go pee (it's kind of nice that she asks, a lot of the Taiwanese are on strict no pee no play for a few days since they aren't really house trained) and then promptly returns to her open crate to catch some more zzzzzs. A nice easy girl. I'm guessing since she has no baby teeth left that she's a little older than the guesstimate of six months, but one can never really be sure.

She's a cute little one:

She's maybe sixteen pounds tops. I would be very surprised if she grew to be more than 20-22.
I haven't seen enough of her personality come out to figure out what she would really need in a home, but she doesn't seem a hard one so could probably fit most places that would do all the things people need to do with puppies. I'll learn more over the next few days.

In other news, Neela, now Tula is doing well in her new home. She was happy to see me when I came by for a little visit which was nice. Though we spent only a week together and a few of those days were really jetlagged it's nice to be remembered.

Riley had a homecheck tcompleted oday by his rescue, so we're off for a meet + greet sometime soon. Fingers crossed they're his forever home. Poor guy has been let down twice before in not even two years of life.

No interest yet for the Floofster. Victoria is flooded with small dogs these days, mostly from California, so maybe they're getting a little harder to place since there's just SO many.

Oh well, not like he adds any trouble here. I'm just worried he's starting to get attached.

For now, off to agility with the Jinksmister. It's really neat being exposed to whole new worlds of people with dogs through dog sports. It's also a bad influence at times since any time I meet with someone really good, they usually seem to say: "Get two, it makes going out to competitions more worthwhile."

As if I need another Jinks!!