Inside the house the Dog Days arrived a couple weeks late. With the passing of Sadie and Austin within 2 months of each other this summer, we had a dog shaped hole in our home. Truman was enjoying getting all the attention since Hardy is sleeping most of the time these days. But we were feeling a gap in our lives and our laps - Austin was a cuddlebug who soaked up all the lap time he could get.
A call came out from Oldies But Goodies Cocker Spaniel Rescue (OBG) for fosters to help with the end of summer holiday crunch. Thanks to all the fosters, OBG has not closed to new intakes, but the foster homes are getting full. Since Gloria is not working outside the house she has had time to help with some transports for new dogs and has met several of the new dogs as they are being taken into OBG's care. When the call for fosters cam out, we knew that we had space and love to share with some of these new kids.
The middle of last week we brought Precious and Fallon into our home as temporary fosters who were scheduled to go to a long term foster on this coming Wednesday. If you're paying attention you've noticed that I used the past tense for those plans. Yep.
Precious - I found my forever mommy!!
What are you looking at?
Truman was even enough of a gentleman to show Precious where the food is kept, they're watching Mommy in the pantry getting dinner dished up.
Precious looks so much like Sadie that we are thinking of her as a younger Sadie. Precious does have a new mannerism that we're having a lot of fun watching. Whenever we go to the sliding glass door to let her out, she crouches down, like she's taking a starting position. And as soon as we open the door she goes tearing out the door, across the patio towards the bird feeder. She runs up into the garden a few paces, turns around and runs across the width of the yard. We don't think she's caught any birds yet, but she's scared some of the ground feeders.
Precious has gotten along well with Truman and Simba and leaves Hardy alone, for the most part. We've decided she is filling the hole in our home and we've decided she has found her forever home, we're going to adopt her.
At the same time that Precious came for her "temporary" stay, we also got Fallon for a week before she moved on.
Fallon hanging out looking pretty in the living room.
Gloria got an email from someone in VA. who was interested in adopting Fallon. Yesterday we took Fallon about 1/2 way there and met the potential adopter at a Petsmart for a ""Meet and Greet" to see how Fallon did.
Can I have a forever home too?
You've probably guessed - Fallon has an adoption pending, One of the other OBG volunteers is doing the home check tomorrow and we are making plans to get Fallon down there, assuming the home check passes (a good bet since the same person has adopted 3 other OBG dogs in the past.)
A couple days after Precious and Fallon arrived, we got two girls who were scheduled as long term fosters. They are bonded sisters and one is blind. Since we are experienced with blind dogs, and we had room for a pair, we were a good home for them to come into. The girls are named Bella and Leyla. Bella is a year or two younger, Leyla is the blind girl.
This is Bella chilling out on the loveseat.
Bella getting some Mommy time.
It's hard work being so cute.
Right now she is laying/sleeping in my lap and I need to reach over her to get to the keyboard. She's not adapting too well and we need to keep her crated most of the time to keep her from attacking Leyla, Precious, or Truman. We've had make the decision that our home is not the right place for her, even though she is a cuddlebug. If she could get along with the others then she could stay; but we don't want to keep her in a crate 20 hours a day.
Bella's sister is Leyla, a slightly more mellow girl who doesn't let her blindness slow her down.
Leyla spending some time stretched out in Daddy's office.
Nap time
Is it time for the next photo shoot?
Leyla is another sweetie, but she's nor adapting well to all the other dogs. She's been fighting and we've needed to keep her crated as well. We really want to find them a long term home where they don't have to spend the majority of the day in a crate. But we know that that home is not here.
And along with the new fosters, Truman and Hardy have been great.
Truman is waiting his turn to go outside with Mommy.
We're trying to give them all attention and loving, but going from 2 to 6 in a couple days has decidedly made this into a labor day weekend. It's a labor we chose, and we love, but a labor none the less.
By the way, I'm going to blame all the typos on Bella, she is still asleep in my lap.
I love that you foster rescues! All of my dogs are rescues and one is blind. It's always amazing how well blind dogs learn to "see" their environment and then adapt to their surroundings. What lucky pups! :o)
ReplyDeleteWe were a little scared the first time we got a blind foster, but we've had 4 now. We do a few things to help them out, like put a stair tread in front of a step down we had in out old house, and put a mat outside the back door to let them know when they're in front of the door. But they get on just fine, especially since their primary sense is the sense of smell, and their noses still work. The're not much for playing with toys, but most have been cuddle-bugs who just love sitting in a lap getting attention.
Delete