Well what a whirlwind with these foster puppies I have. I thought it was crazy when I initially got them…the crazy with the rescue has continued.
I mentioned how energetic the puppies I have are…crazy with energy. They are jumpy and a lot of work just to get them outside as it’s been one at a time for me because they are so bouncy. While I’m trying to get one out of the kennel door, the other pup will run at the door full speed ahead. It’s a workout for me!!
Next problem, Olive figured out how to scale the fence…she seriously, just started climbing it. Then Twiggy figured out how to jump on the kennel that’s in the space and then jump over the fence. Well, that wasn’t going to work.
Thankfully all of us who are fostering dogs in this round are together on a Messenger group. We’ve messaged our challenges, sharing advice but mostly sharing woes. It turns out that everyone is having some of the same problems. It was so awesome to have a safe place to share some of the puppy antics and frustrations.
The group seemed to be a story topper group with lots of “can you believe what my dog just did”…” well my dog just….”. It was one of those situations where you have laugh!
One of the other gals who is a seasoned foster mom told me to strap a tarp over the pen. That worked perfectly. It worked perfectly until the two figured out how to get out of that…then it went to this…
I felt so bad about them spending part of their day like this but…they just had surgery. They weren’t supposed to be romping around. They weren’t supposed to be scaling over pens. Oh, my word. I kept them like this except for bathroom outings, outings for walks, and a little bit of out time…but they had to go back to this to keep them safe.
I’m especially nervous and careful about this since I had Bianca and her surgery went bad.
Thankfully there were a lot of moment like this…
I had to laugh as one of the fosters said she was tired of picking up shredded puppy pads…I was doing the exact same thing when my phone beeped. I stopped in the middle to read the message.
All of the behaviors are normal for their age but doing all of that at once…well, it’s a lot. I’m not used to such big puppies either. They were energetic.
There are two other fosters…I have two females, another volunteer has two females and another has two males.
For the fosters the process kind of goes like this…
1-take care of the pups and get to know them
2-take pictures and write up an introduction for them
3- dog gets listed
4- go to the vet appointments
5-applications come in
6-process applications
7-find final home
8-dog goes to furever home
Steps 2-5 are sometimes a little jumbled. With that in mind, early in the week I told myself I needed to scramble and get nice pictures of the dogs for their listing. Everyone else had earlier vet appointments and I figured they would have all of their stuff in and I wouldn’t. I wanted to make sure I had my pictures and write-up ready for the volunteer that manages the Facebook group for HEART. I did that on Tuesday. It turns out I was the first one to have mine in. My dogs got listed first.
If there is a log of initial interest, we sometimes don’t put the dogs on Petfinder but this time around they were put on the Facebook page and on Petfinder. Happily applications started coming in.
By the time Tuesday night rolled around, Twiggy had a home…
Then Wednesday Twiggy and Olive went to the vet. Olive had been having a few piddles indicating she might have a UTI. I guessed right. She did. The girls were super sleepy from the time I picked them up until bedtime. Twiggy ended up puking up her food.
By Wednesday afternoon, Olive had her new home lined up too!! It’s so fun calling the families to let them know their application was approved and they can get a puppy…SO FUN!
I was super thankful for the Wednesday break from them being at the vet and then them being drugged from their surgery. WHEW! Wednesday evening gave me a look at how the dogs will be once they are older, split up, and have a little maturity. They were awesome!!
Then Wednesday night things got dicey at the rescue. The other dogs were listed by then. Applications came in and requested Olive but she was already taken-were they interested in one of the other pups…and on and on it went. It was a crazy scramble lining up dogs with people. As crazy as it was…it was a good crazy! It’s always good to see people wanting our pups. I think we might still have one from this litter waiting for a home. I had trouble keeping up as I was already being contacted about fostering more once my gals were picked up.
On Saturday both of my girls went to their furever homes. What a relief. I am so happy with the families that got these two. We stressed to adopters that the pups from this litter really needed extra guidance and training. Both adopters had classes lined up. I’m so thankful that they went to great homes!!
Rosie and Izzy gave me the look Rosie has on her face more than once. I read it as a “what the heck did you get us into” look. She would sit on this chair to try to get away from the pups…Izzy would even try to get away from them. They just had a lot of energy!!
Here Rosie is on the the recliner and Izzy on the couch trying to avoid the pups.
I have never had such a topsy-turvy week of puppy care…but on Sunday I got more dogs. Watch for an update on them coming soon. It’s been a revolving door with HEART this week with several dogs in and several out. I’m hoping this week has more going out than coming in. We’ll see.
Olive and Twiggy sound like such characters haha I had to smile at the photos of Rosie and Izzy staying out of their way!
I have a 4 year old beagle and then we got a wire haired terrier mutt last summer, all 3 of my dogs are rescued. The mutt is only about 18months old and adores me. But Ruby and I have a special bond too. The mutt gets very jealous of Ruby and puts Ruby’s muzzle in her mouth. Ruby is patient and kind and just waits her out. Your dogs are sweethearts to put up with Olive and Twiggy. It sounds as if you had quite a week with these latest. Hopefully that doesn’t happen too often.
The look on Rosie’s face made me laugh. She is probably very happy they are gone. I am surprised Izzy didn’t join them. Guess she didn’t like being outnumbered by the two of them. Hope the new dogs are calmer.
You are doing a wonderful job fostering pups! I wish I could do it but right now both my husband and I are dealing with health problems so it swill because while before we can foster
I laughed out loud when I saw Rosie on that chair and then to see Izzy and Rosie on top of the recliners, OH MY! Poor babies and YOU! Glad they went to good homes!
I hope the next puppies are not quite so rambunctious!
And no worries about the blog, we will be as patient as need be! You are very worth the wait!