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

Fosters are to child birth as I am to Hoarders

February vacation was nuts.

Remind me about this winter of the foster dogs next time I think "oh, OK, poor thing, sure I can foster just.one.more."  Don't just remind me, whack me on the head with  a mallet, or a shovel. Shake me, do something.  I am pretty sure this is a stage I needed to go through and it will soon  pass.  File under just because  you can doesn't mean you should.

For those keeping track. There are my two dogs, and 2 fosters, Beck and Stella.  Beck is still worming his way into our hearts. Every heart except for my middle daughter, so we will see.  Stella has a trial this weekend at a wonderful home of a friend of friend.  I am sure they will love her, but there are young kids, so you never know how these things will turn out. Please everyone think good thoughts for her.  It is amazing to think that she went from her last day on earth in a horrid southern shelter to a super home and new life  in Maine.




We still have puppies Lady and Lego and at 11 weeks they have reached that stage that I refer to in my puppy classes as "OMG HAVE YOU SEEN THE WORLD!!!"  That is when a light seems to click on and pups go from super snuggly, adorable, sweet, cuddly sit in your lap lumps, to pin balls.  It is normal puppy stuff, but they are getting  bold,.  They are you know,  normal pups. Oh and did I mention they sleep less and need to run more?  They are cuter than ever and in a weird twist of fate, the puppy that I returned was the first one adopted. That will teach me!

A friend's dog stayed here over vacation, and guess what, he wasn't a huge fan of the fosters, so he got separate leash walks.  Know what else?  Bryce the big puppy didn't work out in his foster to adopt placement and he came back today. Seems there was the issue with the resident Springer with  guarding .
Did I already mention that I am on my second case of paper towels?

Not looking for sympathy, after all fostering is rewarding in and of itself, but I did want a record of my insanity to remind myself not to do this again.  I think in a way, taking on new fosters is not unlike forgetting the pain of child birth.

Maybe that was why my camera broke, so I can't look back at the all the cute and want to do this again.  Maybe the universe did me a favor.  When you look into the face of a sweet puppy.....oh rats, I am not fooling anyone. I those love those little pin balls.

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.

Meet the fosters, Beck and Kingsley

Our two new foster dogs arrived on schedule  this past weekend. These two dogs are heart stealing super nice dogs ,and I have to admit, that either would fit in here. My girls know that no dogs can stay unless it can be a working dog.  Both dogs are sweet and smart and fun to be around, and both have big brains and either (or both!)  would love to stay here forever.


It is hard for me to pick a favorite, but my daughters had "their" dogs picked out before the dogs  even left Mississippi.

There has been no waffling, although both will admit to me in private that they do like the other dog.

Leaving the kennel, both lucky dogs already had "their"  kid. 

My youngest is square in camp Beck. Beck is about 1 years old and clearly some sort of Border Collie mix What he is mixed with is anyone's guess. Best guess is a wee bit of English Setter mixed in to the   un spayed around town wandering mutt. Beck has been in the CARA shelter since September. He is a bit goofy and has already been taken down more than a notch by my dogs. He has some growing up and maturing to do. Beck is a clean slate as far as training goes and does not even know sit. I have been hand feeding him and I expect him to know lots by the end of next week. Beck has a nice toy drive and is quite biddable. He is an excellent jumper on people. You can tell the dog spent a lot of time jumping on the kennel bars to be noticed. He can walk on his hind legs and would most likely make a nice agility prospect and fun Freestyle/obedience dog, or super cool active pet dog. As the saying goes, he is all boy, even though he is not all boy if you get my drift. Beck's signature and endearing move is to come up to you, place his back on your legs, melt into your feet in a puddle of adorable after he sits up and begs to kiss you.

Charlee tolerated Beck on her deck,
 but evil eyed him to jump off the other side,
instead of letting him  down the stairs.

You may have noticed by now that Beck  is black and white and has heavy ticking like Charlee. That is all they have in common and they do not actually look alike.


Why don't you believe me?

Who doesn't like a dog who loves a good car ride?

Middle daughter changed Buck's name to Kingsley and we think it fits him perfect. He has a wonderful temperament with people and especially other dogs -which will be really hard for me to pass up! I can't even tell you how I love to watch him be mauled by Beck one second, and then watch him turn it around to play. When he is evil eyed by Charlee, Kingsley will offer all sorts of appeasement and please let's just be pals displays. Charlee really likes him, which is not something I can say for the other rude boy. An adorable, smart dog who gets along well with kids, and dogs? I have been looking for such an animal for quite a while. Kingsley is about 2 years old and his (puke) people moved and left him outside where he sat for 2 days loyally waiting for them to come home. Today I will work on the rasta mats behind his ears.

Diamond in the ruff

Rescue dogs do not show their true selves for quite a while, so I am sure my initial assessments will evolve, but I know what I like and I really like both these guys.  Kingsley seems he would fit in to any active home, while Mr Beck (the rock and roll Becks, not the other one) will need a more careful placement. Kingsley has already generated interest, and my older daughter has already pleaded for him, which has led to "that's not fair" tears from the younger sister. Who tells me "what kind of dog trainer only has 2 dogs. You need more dogs and it has to be an even number."
Hello young daughter, we are committed to a puppy in the fall, how could you forget?