Little Gifts

As a foster carer I'd be really upset to be excluded from fostering if I had an FF. I don't think carers can help developing a strong connection with certain animals but hopefully they are assessed as suitable adopters in the same way all other potential adopters are. Of course the number of dogs permanently in a household may then change a carer's capacity to continue fostering. Mind you, it still shocks me how many dogs some of you own/support in your households. I know three is my limit!

Go Molly! And yes, we need pics please!

Well that's rather wierd. Hopefully Pippa enjoyed the car ride though?

It was a great story and so refreshing to see that any dog could be special to one of these diggers. I know my girl is very in tune with my health and the moods I have related to it and does things to 'help'. Others have said the same about their dogs. How amazing if some of the wonderful rescue dogs out there could be connected with their heart human through this.

How did OHs body fare after that rather active greeting? Did the shirt survive? And I hope you were just as exuberant with your welcome home to him! :D

Mine likes the catch part but then just holds them gently in her mouth. She has no idea about the munching and swallowing part. It's very funny to see tails and feet dangling from her mouth but probably not much fun for the mice.

I'm so sorry Baifra. This is a lot for you to bare. What a beautiful, happy girl Jessie was.

Julz I just saw this. So very sorry that such a young and beautiful girl is gone. Hugs to you and your family and Indie. xxx

My heart girl was by far the worst destroyer of any dog that has ever come in to my home. It took at least 3 years before we started leaving things below bench height again. Now when I see a foster dog trying to chew the corners off something I just laugh and say "Mate, Stusy already beat you to it!"

I currently have a foster dog who is used to toileting on concrete and I actually think it is grosser. There is at least something organic about the pooing on the grass and given we have concrete pathways everywhere there has previously not been a problem with walking on a land mine in bare feet! He never goes to the toilet when we walk but if he did and if it hit a public path I would be removing it immediately like I do with poo that might be done on grass. My poo, my problem.

Oh dear. I can think of a no more stressful situation for any animal than to be carted to a market, stuck in a cage or confined space for several hours on display and exposed to all those different hands and noises, probably in the heat. How does that have an animal's best interests at heart? I wont even take my dogs to my small local market for a walk because I think it is sensory overload. This is really an archaic way to sell any small animal and it has to encourage people looking for an easy way to make money. That we don't need.

I think I could have a soft spot for Scout!

What a beautiful face! Aren't they such amazing creatures!

Oh T they are beautiful!

In the last one I hope you can see how he has filled out and improved in general condition. Still loads of extra wrinkles but he is happier in himself and I think he looks much better body wise. I do wish I had a noise metre to check how many decibels he snores at though!

Right we have some more pics. In the first one I had him try on a coat I'd knitted for Stussy that ended up too big for her. Then of course it is time for an embarrassing photo of someone with yoghurt face!

I'm sorry Sir WJ. Do you have other mementos of your babies that can give you comfort? It is almost a year since my old girl was given her wings and I still forget she is gone. I'm not upset by that any more though. I had planned to go back fostering after she passed but couldn't quite bring myself to doing it until Jan/Feb this year when Ams put out a call for help. After she came and checked us out I had several dreams with my old girl featuring in them. I'd never ever dreamed about her before even when she was alive. In one dream I was trying to catch up with her, following her through a dark and crowded room. The dream ended with a tragedy but she was by my side and we were both calm knowing we were about to die. I took it as a sign she was upset with me fostering and I nearly changed my mind. Since having our first foster dog though we haven't looked back and there have been no more dreams. I think it was just my insecurities about it all because in real life she would never consider herself replaceable. She was always top dog in her mind and I can imagine her welcoming a new dog into the house telling it all the rules then giving it a good licking. She remains with us in spirit everyday I guess but I'm happy not to 'see' her and her old failing body.

If it is not illegal for a cat to wander then there is no point to what ifs. A tragic incident is still a painful loss. I don't think any animal lover wants to experience their animal being attacked or even their animal attacking another. The best we can do is learn from our experiences and truly know our animals because you can risk minimise but you can't control everything.

This happened to me. A neighbours deaf cat decided to have a nap next to our compost bin, which is in a seperate fenced area from our backyard. The dogs came in with me (SBTs), spotted the cat, the cat panicked and the dogs pounced. They were all trapped in a corner of the fence with the compost bin on the other side so it was very difficult to save the cat. I did eventually and ran it across the road to another neighbour who is a vet. There were no obvious puncture wounds but the cat still passed away. The owner's had quite a number of cats so weren't overly worried. We buried the cat at their place and I bought them loads of food and toys for their remaining cats. I felt absolutely horrible and I know it was just an unfortunate situation but the owners could've made it very difficult for me still.

One of my dreams if I ever win lotto is to run a homestyle overflow shelter for dogs who needed to do their quarantine or who were awaiting a foster carer placement or who were in transit, etc. Free of charge to rescue of course! I can see there being a need to provide a dog with somewhere home like as soon as possible after becoming a rescue and while quarantine and transitory arrangements impact on this I'm sure with time and money something value adding could be achieved. If time in quarantine can also provide contact and stimulation for the dog then his personality can be assessed and plans for his future can be made. I think it must be very hard for a foster carer to provide this while also keeping their own or other foster dogs safe during that waiting period. I suspect a lot of sad dogs and sad carers are simply counting the days till it is all over. It can be done in hospitals for humans so I'm sure it can be done for dogs too.

I gave my new foster pei his first bath yesterday. We went to a groomer for a malaseb wash and he was a bit stressed while there but when we got out of the car he jumped out and practically kissed the ground he was so thankful to be 'home'. Once inside and joined by our dogs he went beserk. I have never seen him move so fast - prancing, pouncing, throwing toys around, up and down the stairs and around the house (as close to a zoomy as he was going to get). I wish I spoke dog and knew what he was really thinking!

Goodbye sweet boy. So sorry for your loss Ellz. xxx

What a beautiful boy. Goodbye Nic. Rest in peace beautiful soul.

I think I see some faeries too!

I still can't get my head around the fact people are continuing to pay large amounts of money on a bitsa! I wish they realised how much they are being ripped off. Would they buy a fake Gucci handbag for more than they could buy the real thing? I am currently fostering a beautiful shar pei boy who was bought through a pet shop. I can imagine how excited his 'breeders' were with this wrinkled bundle and probably charged a fortune for this 'rare breed'. Yep so rare that they have their own dedicated rescue groups to handle the numbers needing to be rehomed, including puppies. Same as those 'rare' blue staffies! People are being ripped off financially and being lied to about the real breed of dog and what its needs will be, dogs are being abused by going to the wrong homes for them, probably without the basic vet work and clearly there are opportunists out there who will continue to make a living out of breeding and selling these amazing animals and continuing this ugly cycle of pain. The fact a pet shop is willing to sell a dog with unclear parentage that may end up being seized and destroyed is yet another example of how little they care for the animal itself and should be reported for abuse. If they are in the pet industry they have no excuse for not knowing what the legislation in their state/area is.