Zoe Foster

Zoe - showing off her bad leg

Zoe is still here and probably will be as she has had no interest.  The rescue owner wants to have her leg amputated because she thinks she will get adopted that way.  I hate to have it done unless it is truly needed.  She walks and runs and jumps just fine with it.  I am thinking of taking her to my vet for a 2nd opinion, but will have to pay for it myself.  Zoe also is very jumpy and very mouthy.  I normally train my dogs with positive reinforcement, but that did not work for Zoe's biting so I am ashamed to say that I resorted to a nose tap and that is working much better. I know her behavior comes from being in the shelter her whole life until she came here. It is hard to get the pups that have been in the shelter for so long because they are so crazy. She is a smart little pup and has learned sit, down and touch quickly.  She has not mastered loose leash walking yet, but she is not a strong puller so walking her is not an issue.  I am trying to get her trained well in case she is not adopted and ends up staying here.  I actually have thought of keeping her,  but that would put an end to fostering as there is just not enough room in my house or money in my pocket for another dog.  It might be nice to have the same dogs in the house for a while and just be able to work with them.  Lexi and Lacey both need some training time too.  I will have to think on this.

Pitfall of Fostering

Lucky Dog Rescue posted a blog about fosters backing out and sending dogs back to her.  I posted a comment and I thought I would write about it here. 

Fostering dogs is not always an easy thing to do.  I have had 17 dogs come through my house in the last 15 months.  Most of them have had intestinal infections. This is a lot of yucky cleanup for several days and a trip to the vet to see what is going on.  I have had all kinds of worms and coccidia. I have had to put my dogs on Interceptor year round because the worms are now in the soil in my yard and apparently can live for a long time.My carpet bit the dust late last fall and my kitchen floor is not far behind.  There are puppy teeth marks on most of my furniture.  I have had dogs with broken legs that required amputation and I have had puppies with severe mange that required long term treatment.  Last summer I had two pups that I agreed to take temporarily because they were becoming kennel crazy - they were not a lot of fun when they got here.  Add to that the underlying stress of always worrying about how this is affecting my own dogs and I can understand why some fosters send their dogs back to the rescues.  We have had it happen to our rescue.  Sometimes a dog is not safe around other dogs or children and they have to go back.  You never know what a dog is going to be like until you have it for several days. No one told me any of this when I started fostering, probably because no one would foster if they knew what was coming.  Some days I think I am insane for doing this.  And then I adopt out another dog to a great family and immediately e-mail the shelter that we pull from in the south and tell them I have an empty crate - send me a dog.  Not everyone is cut out for fostering - I am glad that I am.

Deliiah Adopted - Lucy Here

Delilah was adopted August 7. I cried all the way home.  I get so attached to puppies.  Anyway she went to a great home in the country.

Lucy

Lucy snuggling with two of my grandnieces

Lucy came in this past Sunday - she looks so much like Delilah that I thought they were siblings, but the sending shelter said they were found 15 miles apart.  After being here a couple of days I can see Lucy is much more outgoing and is not afraid of a lot of the things that Delilah was.  She is also loves to be snuggled where Delilah liked to lay by you and be petted.  I am hoping she isn't here too long so I won't get too attached to her.  We have been busy with rescue events, but is is helping to move our pups so we can bring more in.  It does take up a lot of weekend time!

Adoptions Way Down.

Delilah still waiting for forever home

Well we have only had one application on Delilah and it was from a family with three very young children.  Our rescue will not adopt out puppies to families with young children because we usually get them back.  We have many pups in our rescue now and the shelter we pull from has so many they need to find rescue for.  It just breaks my heart when I see them.  There is a little black pup that we are pretty sure is Delilahs sister.  I am working on Black Dog Dad to let me bring her up.  But so far it's a big no.  I don't think he would be so against it if dogs were moving, but with adoptions so slow he is afraid we will not be able to find a home for her.  Delilah came in with a litter of six shep mixes and one boxer mix and so far only two pups have been adopted and it's been almost three weeks.  Last year at this time most of them would be adopted.  Most of the pups I brought up were around six months old and they were usually gone within two or three weeks. Unfortunately the economy is really affecting the people that would adopt, but now can't afford it.  It just sucks!