Fastest Foster Yet

Well, Panda didn't even get home before she was adopted. (Jerrad and I talked, and we're counting fosters as dogs that are sent to us, so therefore she'll still count :P). Panda hitched a ride over on the ferry with Mike and Miika, and charmed Mike into adopting her. When I got there it was quite obvious he'd already fallen, and she made quite the show of cuddles, tail-wags, kissing face and falling asleep in his lap on the couch. And as I was getting ready to leave with her, not a surprise, Mike decides to adopt Panda as well!!!

So foster #19 I didn't even get a picture of! But she was sure darn cute, friendly in the extreme (it was weird for me to get a friendly TG dog. Not that they aren't friendly, but that usually I get the shy guys to build confidence with). She was a JRT without the attitude of a JRT. Even though it was only for an hour I know she's got that something special everyone is looking for in a dog.

So, Miika will have a friend, Panda will get the daddy she wooed, and I will return to being fosterless until we move into the new place. 2 weeks :) :).

Panda at TG:

Thanks for reminding me dogs know best little girl. I find it amazing that they seem to know when they've met their new families.

New Camera!

My parents are great. For my birthday they gave me money to save a dog -Kaiser-.  For my dad's birthday he wanted to save a dog. I said, "Send the money up to TG, Beckett's got family still up there!" So Dad sent money. They've also helped me go get Kaiser and Adam, visited my place twice when I had a gaggle of dogs (once when I had 7 ---though three were teeny, dumb board dogs, so I counted them as one together :P). And now, as I've been dropping hints that I would like a new camera -the old one is okay but it's batteries keep falling out and the lense is scratched so quite a few pictures that would have been good otherwise get turfed- I get a message on the answering to go pick one out, and they'll reimburse. It's not even Christmas yet!

Apparently I need good pictures to get dogs adopted, so they figure its a 'need'. I just got it yesterday so I'll have to figure out my settings, but a few pics.

The Revealing of the New Camera

Pic taken by Old Camera

New Camera

Pic Taken by Old Camera

I must admit, it still takes a decent picture. Too bad its falling apart :(

 The old Camera

Pic taken by new camera -which hasn't been set up quite properly.

You can see poor Old Camera is falling part on the bottom left!

 Trying out the new camera: Beckett's a Good Stationary Subject. Good definition on the fur :)

 Lemon Says: "Is this going to take long, I want SUPPER!"

I'm looking forward to using the new camera for pics of Panda, and for action shots and since its my day off tomorrow I'm going to play around with its settings in the yard. Although the old camera wasn't too terrible, I bought this one as its supposed to have a quality 'action shot' with not a lot of fuzzy blurs. We'll see. Dogs move fast!

Oh, and a little video to send you onto sweet dreams:

Once a Sheriff Dog, Now a Couch Hog

I just finished school so I'm now getting a little fidgety not having too much to do -except finish of the e-mails for tuggies, make tuggies and start purging for the move. But hey, that isn't enough to fill a day! Okay, so there's still stuff to do. But I find being whack-a-doodle busy is the best way to keep me sane, focused and committed. Too much downtime and I turn into a lazy slob. Of course a weekend here and there is a good reprieve. That said, I'm looking forward to having a house full again. It'll start with Panda, and I'm sure we'll have another somebody from somewhere come Christmas.

I wonder if anyone will be staying in foster over the holidays??

Only time will tell.

My Man Kaiser on a Trial with his New Family

It's true. Happy-go-lucky dogs don't stay around for long. And so, only two weeks after Kaiser's arrival to Canada, he's on a trial. Pretty darn good for a pittie mix! And where else is he trialling, but with the upstairs tenants that live in his foster home!

Regardles of his breed, I spent one day with him and knew he had that awesome happy-go-lucky personality, that he was good with dogs, always wagged his tail for people and a head scratch. That he was a face-kisser, and all around good looking young man. True to his breed he could be a rough player, but he came along fast in foster care, was great with housetraining and was crate-trained easily.

Many thanks to Amber, who fostered him, and in term, introduced him to his most likely forever home. I look forward to more pictures of this great boy, and will hopefully get to meet him at a dog walk sometime in the new year. Good luck in your trial brindle-boy. You will always have a special spot in my heart.

Mr. Kaiser

And #19 Is...

Panda. A TG girl. Cause its about darn time I got another TG foster. I think she's on the bus on her way, so I feel a little safe in announcing her.

Annoyingly, I also found her look alike. In Cali, four months old, wearing a sweater donated by someone so she wouldn't freeze to death before they could euthanize her. If she isn't saved by Wednesday, I'll save her freezing little butt.

Affectionately calling her Rattie. She's a (Toy) Rat Terrier Mix of some sort. Pictures. They do me in. Its the sweater and eyes combination. Guhh.

As you keep fostering you realize you have the capability, that the good ones don't stay very long, and the ones you want to get the heck out for some reason just have to stay that much longer. You start to realize things go round in circles, that you love it, and that it becomes monotonous. And that "I'm doing such a good thing" feeling wears off real quick to the point of "you deserve more than the world has given you, so hear, lean on my shoulder awhile, and then get your cute little butt to a real home!"

People often ask me "how do you give them up" and I go "If I didn't give them up I'd have 20 now."

I can not have twenty dogs. There are days when that foster feeling creeps over me for Lemon too, but then I realize she's as crazy as I am. That's right, we're crazy.

Panda will be my 19th foster this year, not counting the 5 dogs I've saved but not fostered, and the few 'here for a few days temporary' foster dogs.

To be perfectly honest, I'm actually more sane when I've got a few extra dogs kicking around. It's when I don't have any that I've lost my mind. Even when we hit the new house (soon, so soon!) my limit will still stay at 6. 6 is a very nice manageable number (providing you don't have 4 crazy huskies or something) that I can still do my homework and life around. It's not 'bootcamp', and its not TG, but a middle-of-the-road kind of foster home.

Which now includes.

Lemon: The Cute One

Beckett: The Blind One



Ah, Revisiting Some Pooches

It's true, 8:30pm comes around and my head turns to goobly-gouk. There is absolutely no way to manage to do anything correctly, and so, for about two hours before I throw myself into bed for another night, its the time to surf dogs, cuddle dogs, watch stupid movies, think about doing the laundry and in general, doing shit-all. Even if I have a gazillion things to do -like the crushing pile of masters rewrites, or e-mailing about tuggies, or tying my shoes, my brain just can not continue to sort all the information. It goes: "I QUIT!" and I become a laptop zombie.

Lately, I've been making my head quit before I actually finish everything that I want to, but in a way, it keeps me sane as the more I have to do, the less I get myself in trouble with having extra time.

Anyway, long story short, tonight 8:30 hit, I'd surfed through numerous Cali shelters without any picture sucking me down for another foster (oh dreaded 'yet'). I found two possibles, that if not adopted in a week or so, I'll consider seriously, but I really doubt they'll be close to euthanization. Words to eat though, as that's what happened with Adam.

Tuesday, 4 Year old Corgi/Cattle Dog Mix. @ Baldwin Park Shelter

How can you say no to that SMILE!

Second is ID#A511406 -I'm going to Call her Silver as I'd rather her name not be equivilant to a phone number. She's a five month old Chi X. Looks like a minature Pit Bull. She's @ Devore Shelter, which is notorious for having dogs freeze to death at the shelters -and they let it happen so that they don't have to euthanize! This is Silver:

Anyway, surfed those guys, (about 700 different dogs altogether!!), checked my rescue sites (I'm SO glad TG is updating daily or more than daily now. It's amazing how addicted am I to that blog and those pictures!), played a horrible game of scrabble against the machine and not-surprisingly lost.

Got an e-mail for a homecheck, figured out the Bus Run was this weekend, and went, oh hey, why not. So, might be getting somebody sooner than later. With only one extra running around it doesn't seem to be an issue whatsoever. And maybe that'll keep me from saying 'yes to the dog' (did I mention if I had cable, instead of dogs I'd be endlessly watching wedding dress and debt shows?)

Will keep you updated on that front.

But posting a pic to my facebook wall, I went surfing through some old foster pictures too. First off, over the last few days I've really been missing Trunk. So when I found this pic, I was nailed.

Me and my girl.

Now don't get me wrong. I LOVE Lemon with all my stinking heart, and she is the better dog for the total circumstances, and she makes me laugh like crazy and Beckett is even crazier about her, but there was, and always will be something about Trunk that I very much doubt will come around again anytime soon. Trunk was my heart dog. If there wasn't another dog, if we didn't rent in a very restricted pet-rentals place, and if I were single (or not I guess) Trunk would have stayed. She took a piece of me when she went and even now I catch myself at times wishing I would have kept her. She was different with me too. With me, there wasn't one hesitance, one piece of shyness, one fear. In the short time we were together she trusted me completely, and I too, trusted her completely in return. Heck, there are times when I don't even trust Beckett! (But then again, can you ever trust a mostly blind husky with a love for running?)

Trunk Happily Running in the Yard

But, although there are times that I am sad that she isn't a permenant fixture in my life, there are also the times when I think how much of blast she must be having in Tofino with her new brother Baloo, and how by not adopting her, we fell in love with a maniac ChihuahuaX who will continue to grow as more and more fosters come and give her life experience. And even though she's gone, I still have a part of her here with me, through pictures, and through experience, and through all the funny moments she brought us.

One of my favourites, BTW is crating anybody with her. One yelp and Trunk did the whining in for a few hours! Graelee didn't stand a chance! Trunk was the ultimate babysitter, my cuddle-beast, the dog I couldn't get enough of. I don't think she missed a single shift at the daycare, she was always with me. And now, she's giving that to someone else, but am I ever glad she came. Although I won't go steal her back, there will always be a spot for her back here. And this I think is why I'll never (never say never though right) get number 3. Because if Trunk ever needed another home, she would come back here and I would adopt her in a heartbeat.

There are some that leave bigger pawprints in your heart than others, but all of them get you someway. And, to finish off not-so-sappily, I've (in my 8:30-10:30pm gobbly-gouk hours) put together a calendar of some of my foster dogs this year. --Not everyone can fit!

Jan-December.

Now to turn it in. Goodnight :)

Tuggie Links -and Adoptions!

Okay, I finally managed to find some good tuggie links. These are for the square, basket weave sort of tuggie, that's more durable. A basic braid is still a good choice for small dogs, and a basic braid with a lot of ends left loose drives cats looney (in a good way).

Here are the links:

 http://youtu.be/XwCNn5Gnn6M - box stitch then: finishing box stitch -
 http://youtu.be/S4xFEb4ZHsc
 http://youtu.be/UtWWA6MQXGE
 http://youtu.be/I0SqmQNV2yU
I will be answering requests for tuggies this evening. (I got Christmas colored fabric, so am pretty excited!)

Also, things in the dog department have slowed. Chata, Kane and Lady, who were all on one week trial, were all officially adopted yesterday!!!! I'm hoping to get family photos soon :) Adam has had his home-visits, and I have offered him to one family as of this morning. I just got confirmation back that "YES, WE DEFINITELY WANT TO ADD ADAM TO OUR HOME!" He'll go home sometime this week :)

Also, because I think people are generally interested about 'numbers', here is a breakdown of costs associated with bring the five dogs (Kaiser included) over.

Chata, Kane and Lady -who came through People Loving Pets
$250 per dog for pull/boarding with Alanna/vet check for $750
$300 for Jutta's plane ride/hotel stay/crates/dog transport for a Total: $1050.00
Adoption Fees: $350.00 for Kane, $350.00 for Lady, $300.00 for Chata (discount as she was picked out and adopted before coming here, so I wouldn't have to pay to feed her,etc). Total: $1000.00

Money Out: $1050.00
Money In:    $1050.00
__________________
Funds:         -$50.00

Price to save three dogs lives: $50 (I can definitely live with that!) Plus, I have an extra crate now.

Adam:
$80 for pull and transport to boarding.
$80 for boarding.
$30 for de-fleaing, a month's worth of advantage and feeding raw for two weeks
$80 divided by 2 for $40 for us to transport him to and from Vancouver
Total: $230
Adoption Fee: $350

Money out: $230
Money in:   $350
______________
Total: +$120.00

However, there's a big difference with Kaiser, which goes to show that this is definitely not a money making game.

Kaiser:
$200 for pull and transport to boarding. Includes his vaccinations, neutering and vet exam.
$325 for boarding (he was there almost a month before he found transport, which isn't atypical)
$200 for transport to Canada
Total: $725.00
However, we did get some general sponsorship
$250 in donations.
Total now: -$475.00

Saving Kaiser was my 'birthday present' and is now an Island Dogz 'dog', so no monies for him will be coming back. (That's okay though, it was in the plans!) However, even if his adoption fee was about $300, there's no way to make money. It just goes to show that like most rescues, even if you make a slight profit (like with Adam), it ALWAYS has to go back into saving someone who needs vet attention, or needs longer care before adoption.

In other great news, a rescue took Casper (the white albino boy of the last post) in! So Casper won't have to spend his final days in a dark, cold shelter. Even with the darkness in this world, I marvel at the kind people as well. The people like Yvette and Dave of TG, Lisa the foster head, the people dedicated to seniors like Carol of Saints, and Jean and her lovely senior crew and whoever took Casper in. These are people who I admire, look up to and thank again and again.

And I know there is no way to save them all -regardless of where they are from. But, hopefully, the few I can save will go on to live happy, bright lives with families who could never part with them.

Also, this 4some (Adam, Lady, Kane & Chata) went way too smoothly. Not a single bump in the darn road -minus Adam having fleas-. Three had trials before they even arrived, so I didn't even have to bring them home (a good thing considering we aren't moved into the farm yet), and Adam had 4 applications within a week. Plus, he's such a good little house dog. AND HOUSETRAINED! As much as this pleases me, it's probably going to push me to do the California thing again! I can never completely win right ;) If it goes wrong, it goes wrong, if it goes right, I'm too tempted to do it again.

But I have to keep reminding myself, something will go wrong eventually, so I should probably quit while I'm ahead (or at least, can jump out of the hole!). Why is it so darn hard with certain faces though.

And also, a big thank-you to everyone whose shown their support for Casper, or for California rescue, and anything that I do. I've very thankful for those who read this blog, and support me, even if from afar.

Many thanks,
Emily

So Fricking ANGRY

Okay, I won't rant a lot, I swear.

Suffice to say, I fell in love with another picture/video, but know I'm not in any position to do anything until everyone is officially adopted (I'm heading to a homecheck with Adam in 20 minutes -hooray!). I'm going to try really hard not to take any more of my 'technical own' on as once I can foster 'fur sure' I want to get back to TG!!!!! (Funnily enough, I think the fact that he reminded me of White Spot is what sold me!) Anyway posting Casper on my facebook, the video tore into a few of us, and we decided to pitch in to save Casper.

Casper's a 6 year old deaf, albino mutt. He's ridiculously good-looking, (to us anyway) and the fact that's he's six and deaf did not mean very good things in general. 6 might not be old to you or me, but in a high-kill shelter, let me tell you, six is OLD. But not old enough to get senior pity!

Unfortunately, as I was making arrangements to pull him -many thanks to Piper for her amazing offer to help bring him up! (Okay, not so much offer and request accepted ;) -I'm pushy, what can I say), someone phoned into the shelter to say that Casper's people had surrended him as he has TERMINAL CANCER. Terminal freaking CANCER. They dumped their dog that has days/weeks, maybe a month to live, and couldn't do him the curtosy of paying his fee to be put down in their arms. $100 or so. Could not pay the bloody minimal dollars to have their boy die warm in their arms and loved. NOOOOOO, they had to dump him. Make his final days more painful than they already are. Why not just whack him with a shovel and do him the curtosy of not suffering in his final moments. (okay, that might be a bit extreme)

I know it happens all the time, that senior dogs get dumped, that 'problem' dogs get dumped, but for the love of pete, if you know your dog only has death knocking on the door, you DO NOT dump them (especially without informing potential people that he has terminal cancer!)

Anyway, I rant -I apologize, I said I wouldn't. Unfortunately I can't do anything for poor Casper. He's in no condition to travel over the border, and its doubtful anyone will take on a dog that's at death's door. So, I write this post in honour of Casper.

Please, if you can take a moment, watch Casper's video, and think of your own dogs, and promise, please promise, you will never dump them because they are sick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbbejyJ81xs

Tonight I hug my dogs close -even Adam, who has grown a small obsession with barking at his reflection and is slowly driving me a little nutty-, and promise them, this relationship is until death do us part, no matter how hard that might be.

Dear Casper, even if it was over a thousand miles away, you were loved.