Little Gifts

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.

I had an OES who we used to wash outside in a huge tin tub as a family affair. She was so excited about being bathed that she would sit in it while it slowly filled anticipating how much fun it was all going to be. One of us would stand in the tub with her and the other would stand outside and the soaping would commence on the wriggling fur monster. All three of us would be soaking wet and soaped up. Unfortunately by the time the rinse cycle came around she had had enough and we would have to engage a third human to keep her in the tub for the final bit. Once she was soap free the zooming would commence. If we were lucky we got a towel near her as she veered in our direction. Most of the time it was the wind that dried her off. Mum would then make the mistake of giving her a treat for being such a good dog. She'd go and bury it and come back with dirty paws and snout. We'd all wonder why we bothered. It was the same every time!

It's all good Staffyluv - Ams has Malaseb supplies and my local groomers does very cheap Malaseb washes. I'm taking him to the groomers first as I have realised my laundry sink will not be suitable for him and our bath is too enclosed if he is not a bath fan. So first time will be at the groomers where I can comfort him if needed and if he does ok then I reckon I will do it at mum's with my sister's help. I really don't want to stress him out and have that affect his health. T he loves his nose kisses - he gets loads so I'll add a few extra with your name on them! He has the softest squishiest nose! HugUrPup I originally felt like you did but Oscar knows no different and manages his extra skin very well. I think the extra skin covering his eyes limits him the most when doing new things and going to new places but that is going to be addressed. It certainly doesn't stop him eating or playing! It does make him hot and it does trap fluff and grime so I check him over every day when he has his massage for any spots that are grotty or red. I think if he was protected from overheating from the weather and play, and washed regularly he would be fine and not require any powdering or special care even for his deepest wrinkles. The ones around the base of his tail are extremely deep but he is healthy within himself so has no sores or ingrown hairs. I hope my massaging also creates some air flow in those spots. I expected him to need a lot more maintenance but he requires very little extra help. Zug Zug it is likely he will have a brow lift to help him see. He has lovely red/brown eyes under there! Someone out there is going to adore this little man and all his extra wrinkles!

Well Oscar and I have been over to say hi to the parents, had a walk down the park and picked up the sunday paper. Now one of us is snoring his head off by the front door. And Ams, as you can see I still can't put his harness on properly!

He pulls the best faces!

Keep at it!

I'm so very sorry Sas. I hope life is wonderful for you over the bridge big boy. XXX

GO SAM!!!!

I am very textural and just love it when a crisp photo makes you want to touch their fur or stroke their whiskers. Amazing shots T! Although one of the meerkats has a goober near his eyes I want to pick off.....

You know what I find sad about all this is that the new owner has no idea of Pups routine with you, what he likes, etc and you have all this amazing photographic history of him that the owner wont get to see. What a loss. Good on you for giving this little man such a great start in life! I've loved watching him and your dogs grow through the photos!

I've just gone through this with a 7 month old foster boy. The only treat I could motivate him with was lamb puffs. What I did was get him to first look at me using the lamb puffs, then when he was ok with that I used the lure of the lamb pufs to get him walk to heel without the leash on. We did this loads just wandering around the backyard with his eye on those lamb puffs. I also had to get him to sniff the leash quite a bit until he saw it was no threat. Next while he was focussed on the food I clipped the leash on. It took a few goes because of his fear. I had to leave the leash draped up over my should rather than hanging, so really we were just continuing the walk to heel with the leash clipped on but not in use. After a few days of this I tried straightening up and holding the leash. When he started to stop and panic I would go back to the 'look at me' then 'heel' again - things he felt safe and familiar with. After two weeks of this every day we left the yard. He seized up a bit when I went to put the harness and leash on but then got caught up in the excitement of leaving the house with the other dogs. First walk he dropped and froze several times and I had to coax him back up with lamb puffs and 'look at me' then 'heel' again. By our third walk outside the yard but still with the other dogs he was first out of the front gate and didn't stop once. It was a slow process but it was important to be consistent and simply go back a step if things got too much for the dog. He is now in his forever home and still needed to walk with another dog for anxiety reasons last I heard. Hopefully he will transition to solo walking. One good thing about this approach was that I never had him pull on the lead - he was never in a rush to be too far away from those treats! Edited to add that you might want to try a harness for walking. I think they give the owner better control and are safer from escape and feel more comfortable for the dog too - I generally use Puppia soft harnesses that look like little crop top singlets. If I was an upset dog I could think of nothing worse than having something yanking on my neck.

Don't let one idiot put you off doing something you have a passion for. Since being on DOL I have also offered monies for dogs in the rescue threads as sometimes money can help to transport, short term kennel or vet work a particular dog that has found its way into your heart. I've never had to be chased by someone for the money as like you I know what I'm doing and do it willingly. I had an incident where I tried several times to get a dog released to me and transported interstate to me but the pound just kept telling me the dog was taken. It ended up on the PTS list and I put my money towards a local group rescuing it at the last minute. Unfortunately someone broke into that pound and the dog I loved plus some other bull breed types were stolen, probably for fighting. Ever since then I knew I had to stay out of the pound threads and generally my monthly donations go to a handful of rescue groups and individual rescuers that I have a fondness for (rather than specific animals). I am now fostering myself again and have some new ideas on ways to make some money so I can continue to donate as well as foster because it is something that makes me feel good about the world. Every little bit helps when it is in the right hands. So Kendra I hope you can continue to do what makes you feel good too. Get that crazy PMer blocked and report them to Troy as well as provide the details to Pound List as suggested above. And thank you for doing your bit to make a difference.