A home for Sugar

Sugar is one lucky girl! She's headed for Portland to live forever with her own humans ready to dote on her every need. Puppy classes, great eats, and gets to sleep on the bed. What more could a pup ask for. Thank you Erin and Carter for adopting Sugar. Now Spice can be spoiled even more.

The Sugar and Spice Girls

I was without foster dogs for a couple weeks. Now I have more than enough. The local dog control officer picked up a couple Border Collie pups out for a walk one Sunday, just imagine. So as soon as their "stray" days were up they came home to the farm. After a bath they were more than ready to settle in for the night. I must admit I've been a very very bad foster mom this time around. I've been letting them sleep with me. They aren't that big and there are only two.....

Needless to say time at the computer is low on the to do list. The pups are 8 and 9 weeks old now so will post them on my petfinder.com page in a few days. I feel 10 weeks is a good age to place a young pup. They've had time to learn some house training and recall skills. They learn bite inhibition from their litter mate/s as well as how to act around the older dogs here. I always impress firmly the need for a puppy class asap. Most adopters think it is for them, but it is truly to continue the education of the pup in relating with its own species beyond the dogs it may or may not be living with. We love them so much we often try to turn them into little humans. A quality puppy class keeps an adopter grounded in the fact the pup is a canine animal with a whole set of canine communication skills to learn.

The pups have been coming to work with me, meeting lots of other dogs, playing with cats, and getting love from many different humans too. They are such nice pups it will be difficult to part with them for sure.

The pains of fostering

As if you couldn't tell I fell fast and furious for Miss Hollie Berry. Monday morning after Christmas dog control called to say her owners had contacted them. That meant I had to return this lovely little girl. The worst part is I really fear for the quality of care her owners gave her or the lack of I should say. The day she came home with me she was treated for fleas, I removed numerous ticks, and gave her wormer for obvious reasons. She had many bites around her neck, a couple were deep puncture wounds. Hollie was also underweight. I guess all of that caused me to love her more. But none of it was enough to keep her from going back to her owners. When I see dogs in her condition, especially puppies, it causes such heartache. I wish the best for her. I was able to leave my card with the owners in case they ever want to part with her.

Merry Christmas

All my fosters are placed and all through the house it's too quiet with only the five permanent dogs.

I was able to spring this lovely Catahoula puppy from local dog control for Christmas. Oh my, she's the best gift ever. She's so beautiful, but then I say that about every single one.

We'll name her Hollie Berry, she's a Christmas puppy after all!

The happiest of holidays to all who share love for these precious dogs.

A young Tess

These are puppy pictures of Tess being a true border collie pup in wanting that cat to move. Even as an adult she'll lay and wait for the action to begin. As you can see her ears didn't stay up, she has what I call helicopter ears. She was certainly a cute pup!

Tess

Our Tess is 6 years old, we've had her since she was a pup. She rules the pack and all who enter. Not really but I'm sure she thinks so. This girl puts up with all the visiting dogs and the cats I sometimes foster. She keeps an eye on the laying hens, and "washes" every other dogs food dish after a meal. She could win an award for emptying her dish the fastest.

Tess and I have enjoyed taking freestyle classes. Freestyle is learning to move to music with your dog. If you haven't seen it there are a lot of online videos, check them out. It has become a popular dog sport and is very moving to watch.

Tess has been known to go for a drive to relieve her stress....

Betty Betty

No, that's not a typo, her name is Betty Betty. She's just so special she needs two first names, or that's what I tell everyone. She's a petite little lady that would love nothing more than to herd sheep. Betty is one of our permanent pack, another "flunk" at fostering dog. One of a litter of 7 pups I fostered a couple of years ago Betty was shy and quiet generally hiding when visitors came. During play with a much heavier dog I think her right rear femur bone was cracked. After some good x-rays during her spay surgery we could clearly see the damage. Betty Betty had a FHO surgery which repaired the damage.