An Adoption and an Addition

I bet you can't say the title three times fast :)

To start off the long, semi-hectic day Allie went home. It'll take her a bit to settle in, but I know she's in good hands. I'm sure she pined for us for awhile. Allie was my hardest foster to date -she was abused for her short life, spent time in one of the worst hellhole shelters in the states, she was bred for moola and dumped, and eventually came here. I was almost 100% certainly the first person she's ever trusted. Though it took weeks of patience, and time, and pushing just a little bit everyday, she eventually became my needy shadow. There were mornings when I was her human trampoline, and squealing happiness when I came home after work. She blossomed, but still has a ways to go.

As far as Allie was concerned, I was her person.

What's weirdest is that through it all, I don't think I ever really bonded with Allie. With most of my fosters, although they are most welcome in my home and they all become my buddies, most of them don't get under my skin. It's like I push them away just a little bit so that I don't fall in love. It makes it so that they seem to understand they aren't here forever, and they transition faster too I hear, but I would have thought leaving Allie in her forever home would have been harder than it was.

I'm not quite sure why I didn't really bond with Allie, considering Allie needed the most work and came the furthest, but she just never felt like mine. She felt like my project. Today I'm a little sad that I didn't get to know her just a little bit more. Didn't think of her more of my happy spaniel than my work in progress. But I'm so glad she has her family though! She will blossom into the dog she always wanted to be. The silly, spinning spaniel. Good luck Allie!

PS: For the record, I think the only dog I've really bonded with was Trunk. Although I must admit, Alvin and I developed a close relationship too. I only really developed my relationship with Lemon once it was obvious Beckett was keeping her :P

Some Allie shots:

It's too bad I didn't get many shots of her without her leash on. The last week and a half, she was completely leash free inside. Small regrets...

Anyway, after Allie's drop off, we headed home to wait for the TG crew to get to the island.

Now, as per usual, I had a draft pick. And I was getting kind of excited, because the draftpick hadn't changed for about two weeks (unheard of!) But, Jacky, a shepx was adopted right before the bus came down. So, I get the call from Lisa and basically say "Just send me somebody. You know what I can and can't handle."

So, my new foster is CHOWMEIN!

But, before we get to the first update, we needed to get to the pick-up!

We met up with Denise and crew, and lickity split, had Kova, Karma (now Tegan), and Brojack set to go. Kova and Karma are adopted, and Brojack is fostering with my friend and co-worker Meshum. He's already got potential interest, from the restaurant owner right beside the daycare! We'll see where that goes, but he seems like such a nice boy! He came complete with puncture wound to the face from a small dog. Jeez, that small dog must have been right peeved! Must have been stepped on or something.

And we might possibly be seeing Karma/Tegan at daycare -her parents want to make sure her dog socialization is still kept up, and being an only dog, she'll need some playmates. Yep, that's what daycare is for! (We're got TONS of pups right now, so she'll fit in no problem).

Fala went to foster to adopt with Cheryl, Peter and TG alum Suhki-Dayo. She's pretty darn cute! And nice and sturdy. I betcha her and Suhki are going to have a blast -at least once the initial fatigue of bus run wears off. I'll know in a few days. I'm leaning hard to a yes :) If not, I'll be tempted to go snatch her and foster her here on the island! Her and Lemon could have some good times.

After everyone headed out with their new pooches, Jerrad and I put ChowMein and Dex the beagle lab mix in the car, dropped Dex off to his new people, and headed home with intentions of a huge walk with our Chowmein girl, who is a terrier cross, and having fostered a few of them, I know they need the burn.

BUT, I lucked out and Chowmein is so exhausted she came home, found a comfy spot and has been zonked out since. She is on the very submissive side -submissive peeing when meeting my dogs-, but after a minute or so got over it. She has good communication skills, just submissive. Sometimes they need to get used to Beckett being mostly blind -he can get too close on initial contact for a polite greeting-. Chowmein is on the shy side too, but warming up really fast. I've got kisses already :) She's kind of unsure about the chickens, but came out of her shell once we hit the farm and were away from lots of people and traffic. We'll see how the energy level goes in the next couple of days, but so far, I think I might have lucked out -I'm going to jinx it now I know!

She's also a lot bigger than I originally thought. I was thinking Toast/Honey size, about 25-30 pounds. But at six months, ChowMein is almost as big as Beckett, though not quite as tall (YET!) and weighs at least 40 pounds. I'm thinking she might be a sharpei/airedale mix, as I have no idea what made her big with terrier hair. She's SO unique looking. And a complete sweetie. She's going to get some looks wherever I take her, and I plan to take her lots of places. Allie was a dog you couldn't take tons of places, -she was a plan your move dog- but I plan to do it all with Chowmein. She's young, she can be pushed faster most likely. And the more places she goes, the more people see her. Exposure, exposure, exposure.

And some pics of Chowmein from the foster front. Unfortunately she's the same color as my floor, so I can't turn the flash on, or she'll blend right in! The camera doesn't differentiate between her and the floor :S Oh well, outside pictures soon.

Welcome Chowmein!
(for those who like to keep count to keep themselves sane like I do, foster #24)

SCRATCH!

Oh Boy, LONG day. Stretch out :)

Lemon is peeved that YET AGAIN a dog isn't interested in playing with her!

Beckett and Lemon sizing up a sleeping Chowmein

More updates to come! I'm excited that for a week or two I don't have any boarding or other foster dogs, so I get to put some focus into one. Maybe some time to train the Lemon dog too.