Olivia

Most dogs end up with us because they have been neglected, abused, or abandoned.  Because of this, most of them also come with baggage, mental, physical, or both.  But every now and then, a dog like Olivia, our latest foster, comes along.  She and her brother had been in a nice home well loved and well cared for their entire lives.  Life got tough for their "mom" and sadly, she lost her home.  It was a tragic day for her when she had to say goodbye to her two dogs that she had shared her life with for the past 4 years.  Olivia is a middle aged, well behaved, mild mannered, and healthy dog.  She'd never seen the inside of a shelter or known hunger or loneliness.  The odd part was, she didn't fit in very well here.  I guess our house caters more to the troubled souls.  She was a spoiled dog, used to a quiet life.  She was depressed being away from her brother and her home and refused to eat.   Luckily, her time with us was to be short. 

I had a potential adopter that I had approved an application on months ago.  His references were wonderful.  His wish for the "perfect dog" was what held us up.  I appreciated his honesty in what he could handle.  This would be his first dog as an adult.  He admitted that he didn't know how to train a dog and he probably couldn't meet the needs of a dog with issues.  He also hoped for a settled dog, a little older, that wouldn't be bouncing off the walls all the time.  That in itself is a tall order for a boxer!  He'd told me that he was willing to wait for the right dog to come along, no matter how long it took.  I thought of him when I found out that we were getting this pair of dogs, although part of me figured he'd gone elsewhere to find his dog.  Little did I know, he had been following our rescue on facebook all along.  I didn't get a chance to reach out to him before he contacted me.  He too thought that either Olivia or her brother, Harley, might be a great fit for him. 

Olivia was clearly missing her life and after only a day was getting overly attached to me.  She never left my side and snapped at Jax and Dixie when they came near me.  I thought that if she was going to attach herself to someone, it may as well be her new family, if possible.  I'd hate to get her comfortable and then uproot her again.  So, I took her over to meet the adopter, who is only minutes from us.  It was love at first sight.  I came home alone.  Olivia stayed for the weekend.  I picked her up one more time to get her vetted and micro chipped, but she never came back to our house.  It was the fasted adoption I'd ever done. 

Her new family reports that she has finally started eating and coming out of her shell.  She lives with two guys and one of their girlfriends is there most of the time.  They have family and friends over often and everyone just adores Olivia.  She is once again a spoiled, happy girl. 

My May

Each of the last three years, I have done around 40 blog posts.  This year, I'm on track to hit just 16.  My time has been more consumed by work than ever before due to some restructuring of the operation as well as some technology failures.  I spend countless hours staring at my computer leaving me with no desire to log in when I get home.  I hate that I have been neglecting my writing because my blog is very important to me.  It's my memory bank.  I already regret not writing more about Brodie and Gracie (who's antics could have filled weeks of blogging). They were just as important to me as any of my other dogs and yet years from now, I will have less left of them.  I need to make writing a priority again. 

Since Haven left (she is doing wonderfully in her new home by the way) we have had Boo come and go.  Boo has been in our rescue for over 3 months now.  His foster mom went on a 3 week vacation out of the country and instead of boarding, he came to stay with us.  Boo is deaf and has some major issues.  The poor boy spent an entire year in a shelter.  That is both horrendous and miraculous.  Extended shelter life is incredibly hard on any dog, let alone a special needs dog.  The miraculous part is that after all that time, he actually made it out alive.  He was finally adopted and not a year later his adopter became critically ill and poor Boo faced homelessness yet again.  That is when he came to our rescue, along with his little pal, a miniature schnauzer, who was adopted almost instantly.  Boo, like many deaf dogs, struggles with extreme anxiety.  He came to us to work on some training and to learn some dog play manners.  He had only been around females and most of them were small.  His play was quite aggressive.  Dixie loves difficult dogs because it gives her a job.  She got to work on him right away, spending literally hours the first night encouraging play and correcting anything that got out of hand. In the short time he was here, his manners improved incredibly.  Boo's foster mom is new to fostering and I applaud her for not giving up on him.  He is a lot to handle, even for someone with experience.  We offered to keep him, but she absolutely adores him and couldn't wait to have him back.  She asked only for my advice and I sent him back to her with all I could think of.  She swears that she won't adopt him, but only because she is older and she feels he needs someone young.  She says that he will likely outlive her.  She doesn't trust her family with the responsibility of him and doesn't want him to lose another home.  Of course, our little rescue family would make sure that he always had a good home, but I understand and respect her decision.  She even decided to foster another dog so that Boo would have a companion.  Anxiety issues aside, what an amazing temperament he has.  He was awesome with Livi, my 2 year old niece.  He was gentle and adored the attention she covered him in.  I don't often recommend deaf dogs to families with small children, but Boo Boo is an exception to the "rule". 



Handsome Boo Boo!

Spending time with Livi. 

We also got a special visitor over Memorial Day weekend.  Bella!  Oh, and she brought Jen with her;-)  This was the first time that we have had a former foster back to visit.  Although Bella was with us for 6 months, she had already been gone for 8.  I wondered if she would remember us, the dogs, her former home.  And with certainty, the answer is yes.  She sure did!  It was a fun reunion.  Dixie went absolutely crazy, to the point of obsessing.  (Of all the fosters, Bella's departure was by far the most traumatic for Dixie and I will never forget the mournful howling.  I had never heard her do it before, and I haven't heard it since.)   After the initial excitement, Bella made her self quite at home.  It was neat to see how she remembered little things, like that the best place for hunting is behind the shed and that the robot pool cleaner is her nemesis.  We had a nice long weekend of eating, drinking and relaxing.  Our biggest decisions were whether to lounge on the couch or out by the pool.  It was great!  As you can see by the pictures, the dogs had fun too!  It was just a big blur of white fur when they got to playing. 

Little Bella all tuckered out.

I expect our next foster, Harley, this coming weekend.  It will have been two full weeks of no foster dog in the house, the biggest gap we've had in a long time.