Peanut Butter and Mud (+ Toast Chooses her New Home)

Nope, they aren't two new foster dogs. Its what the girls got up to on their last day before their vacations with Allie and Jenny.

Since it looks like both will be back with me when I get back -if only for a few days-, instead of being mopey, we decided to have a blast this morning.

Everyone gets some PEANUT BUTTER!

Toast also had one of her potential adopters coming to look at her, and yet again, simply a great match -with the bonus of this home having a Golden Retriever around the same age. Do you think Toast had fun with the retriever??

If level of saliva mixed with dirt to create mud is any indication :P
For the moment I've given up trying to decide which home is best for Toast, cause every home so far is ideal. I'm going to make a checklist on the plane and hopefully figure it all out (as if!)

Update: after Marla left with her retriever Noon I thought hard about placing her and all her possibilities, but it was pretty clear from the meet + greet Toast had chosen her new sister and family. They 'clicked'. Toast whined at the gate after they left, even with her usual friends inside. So, Toast was dropped off and adopted this evening. Noon showed her around her new digs and the contract was signed. Be good Toast, I know you will have a blast!

The "I'm Still Running Around with My Head Cut Off, but I Have Such Good Friends it Makes up for it" Blog

Things never go smoothly in rescue, and paired with the fact that nothing ever goes smoothly in getting ready for vacation, you are left with that spinning feeling your head that never really goes away.

Xena's adoption is a no-go as her adopter has found a better suited dog from another rescue. Although this leaves us in a bit of a lurch, no point getting bent out of shape about it. Xena will find a great home, another rescue dog has a great home, and hopefully I get more time to spend with my favourite lazy black dog.

Luckily, as quickly as I was left with a dog and a week off, my good friend and co-worker Allie -who gave Xena her name- volunteered to take Xena for the week. I couldn't have asked for a better temporary pit stop for Xena. Allie is amazing with shyer dog and bringing them out of their shells, so I know my girl is in perfect hands while I'm away.

Toast has had a bucket-load of application forms. One is already a no-go, but she has a place in Duncan, a place here in Victoria, a possible place in Sidney, and an application on Saturna Island. She is one popular scruffy terrier. We're still a little up in the air whether she'll go to a potential adopter for a week trial, or if she'll be boarding with my good friend and Kenobi's foster mum Meshum. Regardless, I feel like I'm choosing between gold piles for her. How do you choose the best home when there are so many homes that are amazing!

Either way, I need to head to work and continue running around with my head cut off for the rest of today until I have sealed the deal on where Toast will hang for the week. And then I need to pack. Oh vacation, I'm so ready to start you, but I need more time to get ready!

Where Did June Go?

Okay, wait a minute, I've got two days to figure everything out before I leave on vacation. Pooper-scooper! Well, luckily we've got most of the dog stuff figured out.

Toast had her first meet+greet last night, and although the current dog was smitten, and the wife was smitten, Toast didn't steal the heart of her potential new daddy, so a no-go there. BUT this family is interested in possibly FOSTERING down the line, so in some ways that's even better! A permenant family for one dog is awesome, but a foster home helps out many more dogs. And a foster home in Oak Bay -the rich part of Victoria- would be killer for getting the foster out and exposed to people who live in great places, are much more than financially stable, and have the possibility of going boating!

Luckily for Toast she had another visitor today -and is becoming exceptional about greeting people with a wagging taill and big smile. She still keeps her distance, but isn't really 'shy' anymore.

Toast's visitor was a potential adopter who had found her off my post on usedvictoria. Toast had fun chasing sticks, going for a small walk, and all-in-all being the great companion she is. The potential-adopter is interested in trialling her, so will fill out an adoption form soon. And even if Toast doesn't work out on her one-week trial, this potential-adopter is ALSO interested in FOSTERING (its the long-term commitment that is scaring her away a bit ---me too). Good foster-mums are built on fear of the future!

Although Toast would probably prefer someone just adopt her already, in the great scheme of things foster homes are better anyway (shhh... don't tell her I said that).

Oh, and Toast had a bath! Clean pictures:







In other news, we've switched over to our next bag of donated food and Xena has had the runs for two days. On Friday we switched her over to RAW -basic chicken and rice- and she's been super bouncy. Outrunning both of the other dogs in the yard, doing extra zoomies, playing with Toast long into the evening. Like a sugar rush -without the sugar. Not hyper, but just not the lazy black girl we've come to know.

Xena has her trial coming up too. On Tuesday I'll take her over on the ferry. Hopefully this one will be a straight adoption ;)

So, despite the fact that i'm rushing around like a crazed chicken with her head cut off, I'm realizing that its probably the last few days of the girls being together. They've become best-friends, cuddle-buddies, fetchers (Xena always being nice and letting Toast get the ball) and great family companions. If someone wanted two dogs and Xena wasn't already being adopted, I'd be the first to jump up and say "Take Xena and Toast -they're awesome together".

So, some pictures of my shy girls not being so shy.






You two haven't been here very long, but you've made a lasting impression.

Weigh-In! Black and Whites, and Getting Adoptions Processes Started

We've gotten in the habit of weighing ourselves every two-three weeks over this way (mostly cause a wee bit of competition doesn't hurt the waistline), so we decided to formally weigh the dogs. My weight-estimating wasn't too shabby either!

Toast isn't so sure about getting weighed.


Emily's weight guesstimate: 29 pounds
Toast's weight: 28 pounds

Beckett never looks like he's having a lot of fun on camera, but he doesn't actually mind being picked up.



Emily's guess: 50
Beckett's weight: 45.5 (apparently I don't know how to convert kg to lbs, cause I've always thought he was not quite 50 but he's been just over 45 pounds for nearly three years!)

Xena: What the hell are you doing to me. Oh well, too lazy to complain.


Emily's guess: 61 pounds
Xena weight: 58 pounds

So everybody is slightly lighter than I thought -including me (gotta love when that happens). Jerrad isn't revealing anything!

I've also been fiddling with the camera, and tried taking some black and whites. Beckett's look silly as he's pretty much black and white to begin with, but here are the two of the girls:





Toast looks cuter, but you know, she usually does!

And now, both girls have adoptions applications in the works, and I'm finding my mediocre name-memory skills falling apart. I can't imagine how Yvette manages to put all these e-mails to the right dogs. Its especially awkward when the previous e-mail is deleted and there's only a reply -without a dog's name-. Either way, Xena (who is going to be "Gemma") is heading over to Vancouver on Tuesday for a trial while I'm on vacation. Toast has an application, and after I posted some info about her on usedvictoria -and Carol of Victoria Adoptables so kindly put the TG dogs up on her site- there's been some more interest in her.

Since she needs confidence building, I've invited an interested young woman out for a walk with us -with the understanding that a walk really means nothing in the process-, and her true application will come visit her on Sunday to see if she'll be a good match. It's a good life Toast -boating, camping, living near the beach! Here's hoping you make you a good impression! Ahh, sometimes you wish you could be adopted ;P

Oh, and a video of the dogs being silly-goof-balls in the morning while Jerrad's trying to sleep. Shh... I got them going a bit ;)

Toaster-Pup

Well, it looks nearly official. Xena is being adopted! A cat, a big yard, and a person to herself and a petsitter when that person is away -who couldn't be happy about that.

Which will leave -for the moment- only Toast in foster care here. Which is fine with me, cause we've got vacation coming up :)

Toast is becoming more and more outgoing and more and more dirty as time goes on. We have a giant dirt pit, which is an unused garden patch, and the dogs love to play in it (especially Toast). She'll get in there and dig herself a bed, and then not move if Beckett comes along and covers her over to make a bed for himself.

So the once nicely blonde girl is now dirty-blonde.

Before:



Currently:


But, although she might be dirty (I've bathed her and she just got muddy, so no second bath until she goes for a 2 hour walk afterwards to dry), she's becoming more and more outgoing.

She still has the initial moment of fear, but gets over it quickly, engages with people quickly, and isn't afraid of her own shadow anymore. She's become normal. On the slightly shy side, but normal. And really, I couldn't ask for more than that.

Toast also LOVES to play, although lately Xena has been wearing her out quicker than Toast wears Xena out, so she can get a wee bit grumpy :P She's just not used to Xena being the perkier one !!

Toast and Zena Playing




Girls just wanna have fun ;)

So, with most of the 'work' of getting Toast to a happy, yuppie-puppie place under my belt and her collar, its time to kick back, relax, and enjoy each other. Cause even though a dog might excel at agility, or flyball, or pet therapy, or anything else, that's just extra-curricular on top of a great relationship. You are their trainer, they're coach, they're feeder, their credit card, but first and foremost, you should be their friend.

Oh, and cause I'm feeling like bragging a bit today:
Toast before:


Toast now:


Yep, she's definitely dirtier, and the first picture she looks cuter, but in the first one she also looks tense and worried. Nothing like that in the second :). Not that TG didn't do a great deal of good for her (they did more than one could ever ask!), but its nice to see the progress :)


Cheers,
Emily

Two Great Girls

My girls have blossomed.

Xena came to a carwash with me on Sunday and was great with everyone coming up to her . She won't usually approach a stranger on her own, but doesn't mind people coming to give her a scratch. Unless they have barky little dogs and then she cowers! Its fairly funny watching a bigger, black female with intense eyes cower from a chihuahua.

She'll take gentle petting, is quick to lean into someone, and genuinely looks happy. She's come a long way from the ball of stress that came two and a bit weeks ago. She's also playing a little at daycare with very submissive dogs (including Beckett's #2 girlfriend Piper the Border Collie Mix). ---Beckett's #1 girlfriend is Citta, a purebred, unspayed german sheppard :P

She loves to play with toys (usually in her own little corner, being 'Xena World'). Her transition to happy house pet is pretty much complete! Oh, and Deb pulled me out with her to agility last night for confidence building. She's not usually food motivated at home, but you get the hotdogs or Meshum's leftover steak pieces out and suddenly she's quite keen to do anything. So we did some jumps. Slightly terrified at first, but after a dozen jumps she kind of went 'okay, this is boring, I've done this before, let's do something else?' So we tried the dog-walk a few times -at the pace of a snail-, with hotdogs moving her forward and called it a night.

Although I doubt she'll ever be an agility star, there is something about agility that brings shy dogs out of their comfort zones. Xena really became a more outgoing girl, if even just for the hour and a half. Even if you don't want to compete, I would definitely recommend taking a course (just not with a mostly-blind dog like Beckett:P) as it improves relationship, trust, builds confidence, and brings out focus.

Just be patient -do everything on a leash if need be (what I've done so far with the fosters) and remember that every little step forward is indeed a step forward.

In other exciting news: Xena has a prospective home!!! She's passed cats101 (although will still need to be monitored at all times with any new pet -dog or cat-) to allow time to run its course. My fingers are crossed for you big girl.

Pics of Xena in the backyard, and in her 'chair'.









Toast has also come a really long ways -more than I thought she would in a lot of ways. She's becoming more and more terrier and more and more happy the longer she's in foster care. However, Toast is experiencing a small downside as well. The more outgoing she's becoming, the more clingy she's becoming too and she's developing a bit of seperation anxiety. She's had it since she's gotten here, but over the last few days its been getting worse -to the point where I went to go get groceries for maybe 30 minutes and came back to her barking her head off (whereas before she would usually just whine for 15-20 minutes and settle). So, all things in balance. I can't make Toast super outgoing while at the same time making her unable to deal without having a person around. I mean, there are families that are around most of the time, but there's things called: groceries, the odd supper out, movie night, etc, that she's going to have to learn to deal with, even with the most 'at home' family.

********* This is where my situation somewhat fails. Foster dogs get to hang with me most of the time, since they come to work with me, hang in the yard with me, I bring work home and have to stay home with those dogs, so they get used to having a person around almost all of the time. (If I have work dogs, I don't do dinners out, movies, etc) So, for current and future foster dogs, I'm hoping to come up with a solution where a few hours, at least a couple times a week, they're without me. Whether that be at another caregivers, or finding some volunteers to walk them, or just practicing that they need to be inside on their own while I read a book outside, I will make sure I give them ample opportunity to become 'okay' on their own (or at the most, with another dog or two). This way they have the time on their own, but I'm closeby if I have to shut down any barking, etc.

As the motto in agility goes. "Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results." So I will try to make her more outgoing -or at least the same amount she is now, cause she's at a pretty good level now-, but try to minimize her neediness.

So I've taken the new approach of basically ignoring Toast at almost all times. Tough love, but the more she's shown she doesn't need me to function, the less the seperation anxiety will be -hopefully. Seperation anxiety is a tricky beast to deal with, but I hope we can stop it at the whining stage as that's a liveable stage that most dogs have. 15-20 minutes is normal for dogs to be antsy at. The dogs upstairs have a 10 minute mini-fit when they're people go away and then are quiet the rest of the time.

Its difficult with a rental situation where we have people living above us, to work on it as much as possible, but we'll do all thats possible for the situation. The hardest part with Toast is that she's completely crate-trained while anyone is indoors (even if she's in a different room). She'll zonk out there for a midday nap and we've taken to have her sleep and eat in there so she doesn't steal Beckett's food! Baby steps. Either way, its minimal at this stage, and is secondary to her being happy 99% of the time. I'm pretty sure she'd like a family that was around most of the time though, or at least had another couple of dogs to hang around with while they were out. The whining might not go away, but I'm determined (and damn near sure) that it won't go beyond that point again.

Funnily enough, she's fine in the car on her own. Go figure -but its getting too hot in the midday to bring her in the car!

Regardless of the little flaws, Toast is also nearing the tail end of foster-boot camp. She's a good housepet, isn't so shy anymore. She freaks for all of 10 seconds, then realizing nothing is after her is right up in people's faces trying to lick them to death. How we get the initial ten seconds out, I've yet to discover, but I'll take ten seconds of stupid terrier for all the good things afterwards. Now its just time for her to find a family that's willing to keep up her confidence building.

Profile


On the hunt for the ball


And a small video of Toast learning to play fetch. Unfortunately blogger is being ridiculous and not letting me load it, so please follow the link :)

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150217379103671&saved

Toscana, Pepita and Learning to Ask New Questions

Its true, I'm a usedvictoria junkie right before bedtime. I cruise the dogs, always on the hunt for that 'illusive' second dog of mine that's firmly just in my imagination. I think it comes down to: when I saw Beckett's picture, I knew he was my dog. I tried to talk myself out of him -choose a more rental friendly looking dog, something more trained, something not so 'wild', but the picture did it. For better or for worse the picture alone went "I am your dog."

The picture that did it:


So when I was surfing the usedvic ads (a ton of puppies, a lot of old dogs, some people looking for help, or puppies, or whatnot) I happened upon what I thought to be Yayis' sister.

I fostered Yayis back in March and she was only with me for four days before she found a home of her own, but she is still the best-looking (besides my biased opinion of Beckett) that I have ever come across. She's unique, slender, gorgeous colouring, and tall. She's a real 'looker' of a dog that people really do stop and stare at. (Luckily for me, she was glued to Jerrad, so I never got to know her enough to want to keep her :P)

Yayis



So when I found this: http://www.usedvictoria.com/classified-ad/My-Dog-Needs-a-New-Home_15052121 my mouth kind of dropped.



Toscana is Yayis's direct sister. They lived the start of their short lives in a garbage dump in Mexico. I was pretty sure the adopters needed to sign forms that they would be returned to Laura if they weren't working out (and I was right about that). Unfortunately, Toscana's current owners refused for the longest time to give her back saying they wanted to get a return on their investment in her, and that they didn't care who'd adopt her and if we wanted her back we'd have to pay the 200 they were asking.

It was only this evening, after the Humane Society of Cozumel got involved (the rescue they came from in Mexico) that Toscana is being returned, thankfully without any fuss -apparently the wife wanted to return her, the husband not? Regardless, there are contracts in place for exactly this reason. BUT to go to court over the contract, the dog would have to be given up in the first place, which isn't right for the dog. People are assholes sometimes.

I was secretely hoping Toscana would come into foster care here, but with one week of vacation coming up, two (GREAT) fosters already, and three little board dogs until Wednesday, it wasn't meant to be. So Toscana will go on the hunt for a great new (SCREENED) family and not tempt me into getting a second dog by coming into foster care here. This is for the best on all accounts, but who knows, she might just be waiting for me when I get back :P I trust fate on these things.

So, just as Laura and I had figured out Toscana, along came this ad.
http://www.usedvictoria.com/classified-ad/Loving-puppy_15072048

Pepita is one of the seven dogs Laura brought over as well.


Luckily, after putting the ad up, Pepita's current people phoned for help in screening potential new adopters. What it came down to was a full-time job and too many hours in a crate. So, although she will have to find a new home, at least we don't have to try to bust her out of her current situation and see her go to a home that doesn't understand how to work with very shy/nervous dogs.

I hope these misshaps only make Laura stronger, as the dogs she's brought up are some of the best looking I've seen (and TG dogs are great looking too). Loca -one of the seven who was adopted by a client at our daycare is an amazing and come so far out of her shyness she is hardly the same dog. If they needed to give her up I'd take her in a heartbeat.

As many of my high school teachers have asked me "What is the morel of the story?"

In this case, I think its that, as rescues, we need to ask a lot of questions to make sure the dogs are going to be safe for their lifespans. Its not enough to check a box asking if you would keep a dog if your job changed, your location changed, your marriage changed. And this doesn't come down to just paper. It comes down to the people doing the screenings asking the hard questions. You might not know where you're going to be 10 years from now, and its not fair to ask people to do so, but its your responsibility to make sure the potential adopter is willing and able commit to what the dog needs for now -and for the future. I might have adopted Beckett when I was 18, renting, and in school, but I knew and still know that he can only be left home at max 8 hours a day (most of the time 6), that he needs at least an hour walk EVERY SINGLE DAY, (closer to 3 hours when we first got him) and that it is my responsibility to provide food, water and medical care.

If that infringes on fancy clothes, suppers out, or gas money, that's what I'll do to keep him. I'll live in crummy places if I need to, work odd split shifts to accomodate him if I need to, and whether Jerrad likes it or not, if we were ever to seperate, Beckett would be mine (or be a 'shared' dog if we lived in the same city). These are things you need to realize before you commit to a dog, and your dog has to come before anything else (before you a lot of the time). The only thing a dog shouldn't come before is the safety of your children.

So, here's to asking some hard questions at home checks/meet+greets I am apart of. Because a dog isn't just for the now.

So tonight I'll return to hunting my usedvictoria ads, and petfinder for that illusive second dog that'll scream 'I'm your dog', and I might eventually fail fostering, but like all the good things (that make live wonderful, but don't help the finanaces :P) they will tell me when they're ready to happen.

However, there are a two pictures that I keep going back to these days. ;)

Cody is a BC from Turtle Gardens who I've had my eye since he's come in. One of these days I'll probably get him into foster -maybe the next one, maybe not until 9 months or more down the road. He'll be difficult, he'll probably need a month or more in "foster-finishing-school", and he might drive me bonkers along the way, but I just have this gut feeling about him.



The second dog is from TUAPA in Taiwan, and there's a great possibility that Island Dogz (who I fostered Tine for) could bring her up someday. This is the picture I look at everyday (similiar to how I used to look at Beckett's picture). Everytime I look at her picture I go "She might be the one". (If she was a TG dog she would have been down here and into fostering by now, but I have to be patient to bring her from Taiwan with a group I've only fostered one dog for!)

Jasmine


I know this time around though, that it has to be more than just a picture (there's a lot more life to fit into now), but with a little faith who knows.

But here's to all of us foster people who are brave (and perhaps silly) enough to enjoy dogs that won't stay that long, to help them on their way, and be pit spots and classrooms and etiquette school. To rescue people in general who can take the bumps in the road, and to knowing when you've done all that you can do -even though it might never be enough. Who might fail a day, or a session, or hit rather large potholes along the way, but refuse to fail the dogs in our care. Who refuse to be negative even though there's so much to be negative about. To all of us who can love and let go, and to those of us who can't and still make wonderful homes.

Most sincerely,
Emily

The Lazy Life of Xena

One of the things I like most about fostering is challenging myself with different personalities, breeds, temperments and finding new ways of making things work. I enjoy finding new ways to bring dogs out of their shells, engage their minds, and become good house pets to find their new families. My dear Xena however, has proved to be a big fat zero in the challenge department ---which is rubbing off on me and making me lazy!

Xena is basically like me, in dog-form. She's lazy unless she has motivation not to be lazy, she likes hanging out and observing, she can be a bitch (an appropriate bitch mind you, no aggression whatsoever, just a 'you'll pay attention to me' attitude) and she gets random fits of crazy energy at weird times -usually right before bed. She also gets grumbly when supper doesn't go down around 7pm (I am notorious for becoming the biggest bitch when I'm super hungry). She's even-tempered, go-with-the-flow, will adjust to anything kind of dog. And hopefully she'll find her home soon :)

Some pics of Xena being lazy.










And a few of the girls being silly this morning. Since Sail has gone to Lisa they've been a lot goofier. Toast has started to play tug, and whenever the laundry is out Xena has to start a sock collection. I've gone through my socks and have hidden ones with holes around the house so if she gets bored and finds one it doesn't matter. She doesn't chew on them, just collects them and sucks on them -and throws them up into the air and catches them too.







And of course, after my ranty blog about Toast taking some things slower, she's decided she'll walk properly on a leash if I just tie the leash to my pants instead of holding onto the leash. Go figure I was the one who needed to be trained :P

Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Emily

The Trials of Toast

Toast (AKA: Toaster-pup) is a great little terrier, no doubt about it she'll make someone a very happy owner. However, its sometimes difficult to work with her when I think of Honey -her sister- and how fast Honey made progress. One shouldn't pick a 'better' sister, but in terms of intelligence, Honey wins paws down. However, Toast wins in liveability -she's less damaging to unsuspecting socks, stuffies and life in general. --You always pay in some way for a smart dog :P Although I'd rather work with Honey, I'd much rather have Toast on a longer basis.

Toast is her own dog and I have to get over it for her sake. She's funny, opionated, easy to distract, and doesn't come with the chewing obsession Honey had.

Toast is making a ton of progress too, but even after a week and a few days, I can tell she probably won't ever be that completely outgoing social butterfly both Tucker and Honey turned into. She's middle-of-the-road compared to what Honey was (before and after), and is learning everyday. However, Toast doesn't really catch on quick which is making her progress slower (not really 'slow'). She'll come a long way from what she was, but I doubt she'll go up to perfect strangers for quite some time. At least if they don't have REALLY tasty snacks.

Somethings that annoy me with Toast:

Example: Leashed walks.
Toast walks well on leash, but has the really annoying habit of not turning on slight corners, or swerving me into bizarre things so I don't walk into her. I don't want to turn off her 'checking in' with me, so I don't want to give a real correction with the leash when she does so. My 'bright idea' of just walking into her a few times and she'll smarten up totally backfired. Instead of smartening her up and not walking in front of me, Toast has decided when I walk into her -even lightly- she's in a severe amount of trouble and buckles down into the 'she's going to kill me' mode. So, instead of not walking right in front of me, or swerving in front of me, she's doing both that and getting freaked out. I'd take her off the harness (which is part of the problem, dogs naturally walk in front with a harness and its hard to correct), but when dogs got into 'omg they're going to kill me' mode, a collar alone can easily slip off. Oh well, onto the next tactic.

Moving Places:
Toast loves her walks, likes daycare, and in general wants to go wherever I go, but heaven forbid you try to get her to move anywhere without a leash. Downstairs, upstairs, sideways, two steps to her left. You can move her when it doesn't matter if she moves or not, but when push comes to shove Toast is a 'omg, what the hell is happening, catch me if you can' machine. Regardless how much practice we seem to be doing when it doesn't matter, when I actually want to go anywhere with her it becomes a small event. All with time, I know, but I'd rather not take 10 minutes in the yard before going for a half hour walk with her. --But I'm being a bit of a bitch :S

The good thing about Toast over her sister though is that she springs back almost instanteously. Whether she's scolded, 10 minutes later she'll do the same thing and be corrected again, or whether she's praised, all the dots just don't connect. This makes training harder, but it means that any setback is quickly overcome. I can be harder on her than Honey (who took things quite personally).

Beckett has found this with her too. She's his 'annoying little sister', always wanting to play with him even at moments when he'd rather not: AKA, trying to find a poop spot in the yard, or curled up for his afternoon snooze. He's told her off well (and appropriately) a few times, but they go through the motion at least once or twice a day.

Toast trying to get Beckett to play when he's sleeping. Amazing Xena hasn't told her off already.

The annoying little sister is everywhere! And oh so sneaky.

Toast mopey for maybe a whole minute after being told off by Beckett.
\
"I'm sorry, can we cuddle instead."

Overall though, Toast is doing awesome and I'm just playing favourites. She's pretty damn adorable and a good cuddler, so I forgive her for not being the smartest bulb in the shed. Smart, shiny bulbs always keep you on your toes anyway, and lately I've been feeling a little lazy (I think because Xena is rubbing off on me!) She'll be easier to find a home for than Honey was, so I doubt she'll be here too much longer ( :( ).