Epic Fall Dog Walk

See that white line on the drain pipe?
 That is as high  as I go without wigging out.  I
am screwed.

NOTE-
Came back for the second day in a row to give my blog some love and found this unfinished post.  I gave it the once over and bam- two posts in 2 days. Today is Finney's 6th birthday!  If you are a Finney fan, be sure to watch his little Youtube clip at the end where he finds himself out on a log on a pond. Love ya Finn.

Been painting my house. Which is quite a task, since I am a real freak about high ladders and heights.  The dogs, Finn, Beck and latest foster Ginger have all been a bit freaky to. They just don't think it is right that they can see me out the windows, but can't touch me. You would think it they would find it comforting, but no, it is making them nuts.




Anyway, after days of painting the dogs  looked at me all pathetic and whiny and pleading like so I gave in. I took the younguns to school and hit the woods. Hoped they would all chill afterwards.

You know those days when dogs kind of kick up there heels and run with full abandon? Those days that you stick out in you mind of why you like dogs and how much joy they bring you? Those special dog romps that you look back at and can't help but smile?

Yup, it was like that.

First they ran full tilt and crazy like.  Lots of smells and doggie stuff since the last time we were there.


They got crazy stinky at the massive compost pile.

They looked gorgeous among the fall leaves.
There was just that right crisp in the air.
The dogs were getting totally crazy happy fall yucky gross.

Look close and check Beck's toothy stanky grin

We were all contagiously crazy happy.
We didn't see a soul, so I decided to stroll up to  the back of the pond. (yes, dogs are allowed here, but only behind the furthest pond where we were.) We usually avoid this area, as there are usually a lot of people and I try to be a good citizen and respect that not everyone likes dogs, especially  yucky ones.

If you squint  in the very beginning of the video,  you can see that foster dog Ginger is a gold spec just a bit too far away.  I was trying to get a scenic video of her running back to me for her Petfinder bio when.......

Epic Red Neck agility happened.




Finn, as always took a moment to strike a pose and show off how stunning he looks in the fall against coordinating leaves.

Note - Ginger was adopted by a Ginger :))

ya, though I bought food for Valli in the shadow of death

A few days ago I bit the bullet and bought a new camera, but I have been less than thrilled with it .At this point, I am wondering if it is defective, and I most likely will bring it back.





It is hard to capture Valli's gorgeous.



But, it has been great to have a camera. I am trying really hard to get some winning shots of my foster dog Valli.  My neighbors all stop me to ask her about her. Everyone is intrigued with her sweet ways, her piercing amber /green eyes (depending on the light) and her magnificent ears. .

Gorgeous eyes

Valli is a love and she and Beck are as thick as thieves. From the second Beck saw her, that was it for him. They came from the same shelter and I  have to wonder if they knew each other. More likely he recognized her shelter stink, which of course I have since washed off.





Beck doesn't mind if Valli  gives him an at home face lift 



Valli is one of the few dogs that I trolled for. I saw her picture on line, and that was it, I wanted to sponsor her. We are not keeping her, although she fits in her great, repeat- we are not keeping her.

It turns out that Valli has a skin allergy that so far I do not have a total handle on. We knew this when I agreed to take her on. Her hope for a home in the south was slim to none.   She is on a elimination diet, and special shampoo and some anti itch meds from time to time, but still not 100 %. We started on Evo meat and she was doing fine and then I gave her a marrow bone. Next day-red dog.

So what I did next was out of love of animals and not 100 % kosher. Did you know that most good pet stores will take back opened bags of dog food if your dog won't eat it? Before Charlee died she was on a very expensive food and she had barely dented a new bag. It sat untouched in the closet making my stomach turn, encased by bad momories.
So I phoned  the store where I bought the food,  and told them...wait for it...

"My dog stopped eating her food."

It wasn't a lie and it was for rescue. (right?)

Problem was, I am still fragile after loosing my dog, and it took all my wits, every last one of them, to pull this off. Before I left the store I had to repeat myself to at least 3 employees. "Your dog doesn't like this any more" they asked. "she stopped eating it" I replied with a shit  eating grin on the inside.

Someone quick tell me they would have done the same thing. Valli's new bag of food is at the top of the price chain. I was in an inner turmoil at the store, essentially looking Charlee's death right in the face of the employees. I wanted to bolt, laugh and cry hysterically all at the same time.

Of course there is always the truth and I tried that. I called a few times on the phone, and hung up before I could get out the words "my dog died can I swap out her food." Then I cried.  A lot.

It's weird the things we can and cannot do, the scams we will and won't pull, and just how great I felt leaving that parking lot with food that we hope will make Valli better.

I will continue to try to get  great pictures of Valli. So far the best ones are on her Petfinder bio, but even they don't capture the essence of her.
 
This picture that I shot of my former foster pup Piper (Layla) in her  new home, on her new bed, with her new toy sure does though.
 
 
 

If you made it this far, you are in  for a treat. 

"Male Collie gives birth to Border Collie x"

Finney would have made a great Mom

1 2 3 4 5

It's been 3 weeks since we said goodbye to Charlee and I am not going to get all sappy,  at least not at this moment in time, check me in about 20 minutes. I  have been keeping busy with my daughters who were  in a play. That has taken a good chunk of my time and has been responsible for lots of warm fuzzies and pride but I was very happy it wrapped this past weekend.  Aside from lots of driving I helped wrangle 24 kids for 4 of the 8 performances. Bascially that means I did a lot of shussing, and  helped kids backstage make  their cues. Have  to say, wrangling dogs is much easier.  

I love my dogs, but I did not grow them in my belly.

Charlee was my  best friend, but  not my child, which I think is a healthy way to live, but not so much when you are down a best friend.  Our new dog Beck has been working really hard at the landing the BFF  job, but he is no Charlee, and being a BFF takes longer than a few weeks. Beck is a perfect snuggler and source of much comfort and many smiles around here, but he has a long way to go. Each time I get a dog, it becomes more doggie to me. Try to follow my logic here. Loosing my childhood Golden Ginger was a tragedy. She was family long before the rest of the world caught on that dogs were family. She succumbed much to young to a horrible oozing leg cancer.  My traumatized parents never got another dog.  Dina, my first dog as an adult took another  piece of my heart and soul with her when she went.    When Charlee came she was the dog.  Charlee was very much the dog and it took years for her to slowly move up my emotional ladder.  Finney is definitely the dog, but Beck is vieying for a bit more. Heart dogs rarely come along more than once in a lifetime and I have had 2 already. I fear I have reached my quota, but I love how hard he is trying.   Last night in group class I used Beck for a  little demo on stay, which he is still fuzzy on. Beck  pulled a Charlee and lay down and play dead with his paws straight up in the air with his tail going-just for a laugh. . Some would say that Charlee was in that room for those few seconds, but I think she knew another comic when she met one and his fun nature is why she picked him. I love a dog with a sense of humor.

Everyone wants to know if  Finney misses Charlee. I should think not. He may have loved  the way they played and ran together and played herding dog games, but I doubt he misses her bossy bitchy ways. Sweet Finney is very sensitive and he was upset because we were upset, but Finn is just fine. The kids have taken to leash walking him on their own accord and giving him extra one on one time, and Finney is appreciating it all over the town.

People do all sorts of crazy things from grief and we currently have not 1, not 2, not 3 but Four foster dogs.

Actually, that is not exactly true, because I just placed Lana, now Kaya. She lives in my neighborhood and hope to see her soon in group class. She is sister to Layla.

Layla is just about 4 months old and weighs  33 pounds She is a  big sweet pup who will be big sweet dog. Layla adores me, and I hope she finds her people soon because she makes me feel bad that I don't have more time for her. She would much prefer to be in my lap or sleeping on my feet than spending so much time in a crate. Layla sticks so close to me in fact that I have perfected the foster dog shuffle walk.   I have taken to taking small close together steps so she doesn't' send me flying.

Meet Valli. Isn't she gorgeous? I saw pictures of her one day when I was trolling CARA's carami.org, web site, where most of our Canine Commitment dogs come from, and I could not get her out of my head. I am totally this dog's fairy DOG mother. She NEVER would have gotten adopted down there,. as she is suffering from some sort of skin allergy. She saw the Vet in MI a few times and all the usual skin nasties were ruled out.  We think it is a combo of poor quality food, shelter stress, and the kennel's  harsh cleaning chemicals. You can add skin allergy to something that I now have first hand knowledge of and can relate better to when my clients face the same thing. She seemed to do better right away, and she recently started scratching again. We are on an elimination diet and we started with Evo meat and medicated baths.

 Next up we will try s Venison and sweet potato. Anyone wanting to donate towards her bag of food and medical care is encouraged to so. We (me and the rescue) agreed to take her on even though her skin issue was not under control down South. Valli has a few interested parties who saw her pics on Twitter, so stay tuned and think good healing thoughts for her. By the way, she is a BLAST and really fun to hang around with.



I love to take pictures on the way home
to show how much the dogs blossom.




Last but not least is Cayenne. She is 5 months old and most likely Aussie x Spaniel. When my daughter's and I we went to Tender Touch to pick up Valli, 9 days ago, there was Cayenne all shut down and shy and smelling like urine, looking at us with her deep soulful eyes. My girls fell for her sweet ways right away, but I was  crazy  reluctant to take her. She made # 4! and in the kennel setting it was hard to tell her level of fear and shyness. Let's hear it for gut feelings because Cayenne is totally fine. She has a soft personality, but is not shy at all with people or dogs. Whereever I take Cayenne, people stop me to ohh and ahh over her intense cuteness. She is one dog who does not photograph nearly as cute as she actually is. Her big soulful almond eyes are killers. I can't show you Cayenne's bio, because she is still not listed. "Someone" (cough cough--no it's not me) in the rescue may adopt her and she may never get to the web site. That is a real plus of doing rescue. The gems are hand picked. My middle daughter wants to trade Beck in for. Sorry honey!

Cayenne left and Layla right. Both super dooper sweet pups.
Looks like the same make up artist did both their eyes.

We also had another foster dog that I chose not to write about. Not all dogs coming into any rescue at any given time are going to be "ok". We referred to her as  "basement dog", because she spent a good portion of her two week stay with us  down stairs. She did not come from CARA by the way, and the people who sent her were very surprised that the sweet dog they knew did not adjust to life in Maine. Her crime was not only being quite barrier aggressive, but she guarded from the other dogs and attacked a puppy. The puppy was not hurt, but I had a bad gut feeling about her and she never got a second chance. Now, it is common knowledge that dogs will do things when stressed that they will no do other times, BUT, there is a good chance that any dog will be stressed again. The clincher was that Finney wanted nothing to do with her and Beck and Charlee hated her. I have come to rely heavily on Finney's assessments in regards to other dogs. He has never been wrong.

Best wishes "Basement dog" I hope things work out for you.
 
_______________
 
The Maine Dog community,  and Golden lovers everywhere,  and anyone who has ever met my friend Suzan   in person or  on line mourn the loss of Logan who died yesterday after a very short battle with Mouth Melanoma.

 

 

Loosing a young service dog is tragic.  My heart breaks for her.

The List and/or There is Superstition and/or Is Beck our co-pilot?

Recently I spent a mindless few hours watching a way stoopid Lifetime movie on Hulu, and it got me thinking in all sorts of directions that had nothing what so ever to do with the story line. Thank you ADHD. The gist of the story was that a woman was looking for a man, and she had a list of 10 things that she wanted to find in a mate. I think to a degree, we all have lists in our heads, or maybe even on paper, of things we want and things we don't want. There are  things we can  accept and things we cannot.  There are things we will settle for and things that we won't.  I think this applies not only to partners, but to animals also.
When it comes to dogs, I am very  conscious of my  mental list of wants  and cannot haves.

I remember when we adopted Charlee , I got an earful from the rescue about what I had listed on the application of  what I wanted in a dog. "She is a rescue" I was told, "pick a few things, don't be unrealistic."

Charlee met the two most important things on my then must have list. She was good with and approved by my older dog who was succumbing slowly to a brain tumor, and she was good with my kids. 


When we got Finney, at the top of my list was a dog who could work with me to help reactive dogs. Finn has helped hundreds and hundreds of dogs, both in private sessions and in group classes and I thank him for that.



Which leads up to the now. I am not actively looking for a dog. My long range plan is to get a puppy out of one of my favorite dogs when she comes into her next heat. Time line is  late summer early fall. These pups hit all the things on my new extensive and really almost border line insane updated list. The wonderful line of Spaniels are  super sweet and ubber versatile.



At the top of the next dog list, they need to be able to work and carry their weight around here as Charlee and Finney have. This many sound harsh, but I don't have room in my house for a freeloader dog. I need a dog who can come to work with me as demo dog, and I want a dog to train and compete in multiple venues.

Next dog needs to be able to tolerate and hopefully enjoy the revolving door of kids and dogs. Next dog needs to get along with Charlee and Finney, and next dog preferably will be quite a bit smaller than current dogs.  There is more but it is pickey-unie and I will spare you.

So who turns up?

Beck.

Is Beck supposed to be our co-pilot?

Beck came to us not even close to fitting in. He resource guarded everything. people,  food,  toys and space in my house. My dogs didn't like him and he started out a wild jumping bean. Beck is the  first dog ever to come in my house and  openly challenge Charlee.  Not to worry, he has had a mega attitude adjustment.  Beck  was leash reactive and even got a bit scary with Buck, another male foster dog we had. Then there is that thing about jumping over my outside gate, which he has done half a dozen times. Said gate is over 5 and a half feet tall. The last time he tried it, I had run out to the car to get something and the dog  wanted to come  with.  Beck got his paw wedged in a top picket and he was dangling and screaming, hanging off of  the ground.  I broke my fence to release him.  Fell back, flat back on my ass.

Dog was fine.

My doggie must have list is exhaustive and Beck has stepped up to meet them all. He has a nice food and toy drive, he is smart and athletic , he is fabulous with my kids , great in the car and my dogs do like him. He has turned into a tremendous puppy uncle and baby sitter of other young foster dog in need of a good time.

He has a nice biddable temperament. His learning style is smack dab in the middle between my two dogs, not to fast and not too slow, but just right. His leash reactivity seems minor and very trainable and he has improved about a million percent.

He loves all of us equal -unusual for any dog!

Beck loves people, I mean he loves people. He will wag his tail at anyone he sees at any distance.

Beck was so wired when he first got here, he didn't nap for close to 2 weeks. He just stood up and watched. The dog  is an ace napper and cuddlier now, and sleeping right now curled up next to my middle daughter, Finney and me.


My son has asked for us to keep him for his 18th birthday presnt. Many (and I mean many) of our foster dogs take an instant dislike to my son. I think in part it is because he is male and tall and the other part is that his room is down stairs and he startles the fosters a lot when he comes upstairs for mid night snacks. Beck adores him. My son at times has anger issues and Beck goes over to him and puts his head in his lap, which is a behavior that I have trained autism assist dogs  to do., It is very grounding for people, and dogs need a certain temperament to stand the heat so to speak.

This is the one thing that really kills me and makes me re-evaluate and rethink placing him.


Around here, I have pushed the Charlee's gonna die panic button close to a dozen times. All for good reason. Dog has more lives than a cat.  This is what she looked like in August.

Aside from having the tumor on her toe that the vet and I thought was cancer, she had lost a ton of weight and a good portion of her fur. The vet thinks cancer would have killed her already. Turns out the loss of fur was from too much soloxine , the meds she has taken for 10 yeas to regulate her thyroid. Charlee is  wonderful and fat and fluffy and most of the fur is back now.  Wow huh?

Charlee AKA Old Ironsides, doesn't' appear to be going anywhere any time soon -and that is  GREAT!

Beck has had several inquiries and none have been a good fit. The last email I read did sound fine and after I read it, I cried for about 10 solid minutes. Everyone one who meets him or reads about him tells me that this is my dog. Us animal people have that thing where we think our dogs we are supposed to  find us.  My friend Jo tells me "what else does this dog have to do, he has told you a million times over he is your dog. "

Here is where I get totally weird. I feel if I place Beck,  Charlee will  die and if I keep him she will live.

I know that is totally whack, but it is the brain circle fart that keeps poluting  my head and I keep  coming around to it.

Oh what to do, what to do.

Do you have Lists?

How likely are you to follow them?

How likely  are you to follow your heart?

Charlee has done helped hundreds of kids
learn how to be safe around dogs.
Love her.

1, 2, 3, 4, crazy

Last night Camp Bow Wow hosted a very successful first ever adoption event for Canine Commitment  appropriately called Canines and Cupids. It was supposed to be closer to Valentine's Day, but the event was snowed out. The owners of Camp Bow had an impressive spread of food that included beer and wine. The 2 small glasses of wine that I had may account for me bringing home

                                                                            Stella.


She is the sweetest, softest dog you could ever meet. I met Stella and her kennel mate Skye  last Saturday when I drove to Portsmouth to meet a transport that ran late. Two of the dogs came from a shelter in Alabama and were sprung on their last possible day on earth just before they were to be euthanized. The third had a similar story and was headed to a new home. Since all three were girls and I am not totally with out love and sympathy for my own female dog Charlee, and really I do have some sense in my head, I dropped all three off at the kennel the next day as planned. Little Stella pulled at our heart strings last weekend, but after all, we were taking home two puppies and I had no idea what that was going to entail.



Which brings us to how I got 6 dogs in my house. All the attendees at last night's event were already approved applicants. A few of those people came specifically to meet my pups who uhmmm....uuhhmmm...didn't show well. They played much rougher than the others, and were much bigger than the other cute little snugglers who did get a home. We are all ok with that. My ginormous pups have nice out going temperaments, and won't be in rescue long. I watched Stella for a few hours interact so gently and sweetly with all the people and pups . The kicker was when I first got there and she recognized me straight off before I even realized who she was. She greeted me like a long lost friend. Insert melty heart. Just didn't have the heart to send her back to the kennel again until we had an open foster spot for her.



If you have been reading my rantings for long, you will remember we had a little foster (Evon) that we loved so much we adopted her to my cousin who named her Stella. These dogs look a lot alike and again, if you have been reading long, you know I am a weirdo for "signs". I even have my kids doing it, and my middle daughter rallied to foster Stella last weekend. She threw the whole signs thing right back in my face, and she wasn't at all surprised when I came home with her last night.



Beck waited patiently in the car after his training class last night. He wasn't invited to the event because no one there was approved for him. He is all that and a slice of pie, but I am holding out for just the right placement. Two of my three kids are rallying pretty hard to keep him. My son , who doesn't' usually get that involved with the dogs has his own personal snuggle buddy. Beck ADORES him. Honestly, if my kid wasn't turning 18  (OMD 18!) and we weren't making plans for him to go to Job Corp and leave the nest soon, I would consider it.



By the way, Camp Bow Wow houses an area pet food pantry and they have dog and cat pet food available free on Mondays. They ask that you call ahead first just to be sure they are stocked. They also accept donations for the pet food pantry.



A big huge thank you to Camp Bow Wow for hosting our event. Watching some of the dogs make their forever connections last night was quite rewarding, and I even woke up this morning with the warm fuzzies.



And by the way, I am not that crazy, Birdey has a meet and greet today and Stella met a wonderful couple last night who even brought their sweet cat to the adoption event. We introduced them successfully, and they may take her home for a trial this weekend. Who ever gets her will be very lucky.


Update- we are back to 1, 2, 3 crazy.  Birdey has been adopted! 2/19

Not Wordless Wednesday -We haz puppies!

We're fostering  BIG puppies!

We took these two -- I placed the darker pup this morning.  My youngest has taken on the light pup as hers. She told me today that she wants to save dogs and "be a better person."  awwwww! Birdey walks her to school every day.

Bruce and Birdey share the humunga tongue.

 

When Bruce went home,  we took their  brother Bryce.

There are big pups and will be big dogs. I guess 80 plus pounds. 

They weigh about 28 pounds at 12 weeks old.

Beck is an EXCELLENT puppy uncle.  Beck is WICKED smart and athletic and a perfect cuddle buddy/side kick.  He loves the car and my kids and my dogs don't even dislike him, but we are not in a good place to add another dog right now . Finn has a bump on his front leg that needs to come off before I take on more expenses.  BUT, he is REALLY tempting. 

Pups were 12 weeks old this past Saturday. They were bonkers, happy!, enthusiastic (ya, that's it enthusiastic), when we went to Tender Touch to pick out just 2 to foster.

All three, Beck, Birdey, and Bryce are available for adoption from Canine Commitment

February sucks reasons to be cheerful

We loved these dog's ears so much we will foster her soon along with a few PUPPIES!
Gotta love that!

We LOVED  Roosie's first night of school and
  LOVE that he is going to do Rally!

We loved fostering and placing this wonderful dog now named "Lucky",
 even it if was in an ice storm.

We love visiting Strive. 

We love off leash romps.

We love poop picker uppers. Good dog Milo!

We love Charlee and hot pink winter coats.

We love Beck and think he is a phenom.  More on him soon!

We loved seeing Gooddogz/owner trained  service dog Barley at a Nose work class.

We love our Dog Powered service dog friends!








If you  want to feel more more love, you can click the images to embigger them.
February is a dark, dreary, depressing, month.  I just found out that the whole state of Maine should be taking vitaimin D. Off to the store.