The good the bad and the doggie...more puppy pics

The puppies continue to grow, which is the most educational experience I have ever had with dogs. All the books I read don't tell you anything on the first couple weeks of life for the dogs...

The terrible cough/cold Wanda (the mom) came to us with got to the puppies. I had high hopes when she was all the way better that they weren't gonna get it and a day later runny noses and little coughs were every where.

Some of the puppies were obviously sick and some started losing weight. We feed some of them formula now to help keep them stable along with medicine twice a day. Unfortunately Rott Pott, was the sickest and stopped eating entirely, even feeding him bits at a time made him throw up. He added away last Tuesday. Another shot to the heart. I was getting worried every morning to go downstairs to the puppy room.

I try to think about the healthy pups and how fantastic it will be to watch them find forever homes. Regardless this week was a terrible one. I was in a slump but yesterday I went to a mutt strut to support the rescue and saw some of Ruby's (the pregnant dog we saved off the street) puppies 6 months old chubby and happy. It reminded me how amazing rescuing these dogs is and how I am doing the right thing even if its impossibly difficult at times.

So we have our runt captain who is hard to keep healthy and stable but besides that the other six puppies are doing wonderfully so I'm getting high hopes again that we are in the clear...the puppies all have their eyes open and have started to play and show personalities its really just amazing...here's some pics....

Fragile lives adorable pups

So I was totally excited to blog about the millions of insane things that happened since the puppies arrived but it has been hard for me to muster the guts to do it.

We brought home Wanda and nine absolutely itty bitty puppies on Saturday and we did everything we could to make their lives more comfortable. Wanda was pretty sickly, my primary goal has been keeping her fed and giving her all her medicine and TLC.

Unfortunately all the good intentions cannot prevent accidents, one of the puppies had a nose bleed from an accidental bump. We took her to the emergency room but when they are that small, and young there's nothing to be done. She was keep alive by machines and once she was taken off she passed away. Definitely one of the worst moments of my life. It was tragic and made me question everything I've been doing trying to save the dogs...Even though I was told this is common and there's nothing I could have done that would have  changed it I felt devastated.

But after some words of encouragement and understanding, from vets, shelter managers and close friends/family I realized I have eight more puppies that need a safe place to stay, and a mom that needs a nurse :). So I'm back on the case. Wanda is mostly house trained, but she keeps sneaking the occasional poo or pee in the most unlikely of places so that's fun. The good news is she is great with my dog and my cats and children A+++.

She's getting much better, her recovery from what ever doggie flu she had has been slow going but it's finally on its last legs. We have a designated puppy room (heater included) that needs clean up very often. But sitting in there among the little bundles makes me so happy (even if they are smelly as can be). I can't wait till they open their eyes should be just a couple days. Pic below:

 We have temporarily named the pups.

Rott Pott- looks like a mini rott.
Samson- My fav.
Captain- started out the runt of the litter but he's gotten much bigger.
Stanley- formerly Dot because of his one white dot but dot was a girly name.
Terese- Tri colored female.
Diamond- Shes got a diamond on her chest.
Bandita- She has a bit of a zorro mask going.
Speckles- Whines a whole bunch.

Newest Adventure

Hello all!

The summer was not dog less but it was doggy lite for sure. Working a full-time job and performing in the Circus on the weekends makes it hard to keep up with my "gotta save them all" spirit.

 A quick update

Carter ( my jumpy black lab foster ) although initially returned by owners who weren't quite ready for him has found a happy home with a man and his son and a big backyard huzzah!

Ruby's (The dog I found pregnant on the street) puppies have all been adopted. That's 11 happy healthy abnormally large pups finding rescue homes. Ruby is still at the shelter but is actually one of the only dogs I've ever met that seems to like the shelter so she's ok waiting for her forever home.

Harley- an eight month old Black Lab mix. He was a local stray I didn't get to blog much about, by much I mean at all. He had spent multiple days on the street, had fleas (fun adventure for all the animals and people in the house) as well as scars and some sort of skin condition. Regardless we took him in got him in decent help and fell in love with him but before we could decide whether to just keep him we found him a home that really/needed and want him.
I actually cried he was impossibly hard to give away and if the home hadn't been so wonderful I don't think I could of, but he's in a great place. Wow he was a fantastic animal, already house trained and he knew lots of tricks. We put signs up everywhere and posted him on lost dog websites, I can't imagine the terrible people that didn't wan this dog back but I'm glad he got away from them. He was my first independent rescue and it was very exciting.

Bizmark- My pekingese formal puppy mill resident. We worked on clearing up some of his extreme fears, He had spent all 5 years of his life in a puppy mill crate used as a breeding stud. Although he marked everything in sight the first couple of days, we definitely made amazing progress. He learned that not all people are horrible AND how to walk on a leash and climb stairs for the first time.






Any ways- what inspired me to blog is my newest doggie adventure. Wanda a mixed breed with 9 itty bitty puppies. The shelter was crowded and having a hard time keeping Wanda and her pups healthy, they needed a stress free, illness free environment to level out in. So now I have a total of 11 dogs in the house. The pups will be here at least a couple weeks so hopefully I will have some fun stories to tell their eyes haven't even opened yet....for now I'll post pics of all the pups in this update. I'm sure I'll have more to share soon....

Carter the super foster...

So I have had a foster for almost three weeks now. His name is Carter and he is absolutely hysterical. He had been at one of the shelters I volunteer at for six months, and was jumping up and smacking people in the face with his paws as a greeting (called muzzle punching) this was making every meeting for adoption a disaster. So when I requested to take a dog for a couple weeks that needed some training I was offered this magnificent hyper crazy mutt.

( I take the pics for this rescues website so I remember this dog being just nuts, not one of the ones that you can cuddle up to...)

Right away when I tried to take him to my car I got smacked in the face twice pretty hard, and I thought oh dear what am I getting my self into? It took a half hour to arrange ourselves in the car. But the minute I drove away from the shelter he began to change. He relaxed and sat in the seat like a gentlemen, only bothering me for a belly rub during a stoplight.

Yes, he needed to be taught greeting people with a smack is just not the way to say "I love you" but once he learned that he surprised me everyday with what a nice dog he was. He was instantly buddies with Nik and sweet with my cats. He would pick up shoes and other non-doggy items and all I had to do was tell him to drop it and he would. He only has had one accident in the house (fully house-trained!) and has learned "sit", "Down", "shake" and "wait". His leash walking went from atrocious to decent, and pretty great on a 3 mile run. He sleeps all night long and is fine in his crate. Best part is he's a comic genius, his dopey and floppy demeanor provide my husband and I with laughs every day!! He's like a big puppy with better manners (now at least). So seeing his true colors I started to feel just terrible that this dog doesn't have a home.

Keep in mind, I am not keeping Carter, I want to keep fostering and although he is amazing, for now we are a one dog household. The more I foster the more I learn and the more dogs like Carter I can help. For this guy I have done all the help I can do, he's ready for someone to love.  I guess the only thing holding him back is he is a big black adult dog, I guess that is one of the hardest dogs to get adopted.  But why are people just looking at the outside of the dog? He's personality is wonderful, he is sweet as pie and as non-aggressive as it gets.He is not 100% jump proof but he no longer puts his paws on people, and when he has the occasional jumpy's as soon as I tell him "uh-huh" he sits down and waits for further instruction. I can take a bone out of his mouth. And he loves to cuddle, and put half his body on your lap, this is the kind of dog anyone could love.

So I decided to hold on to him as a foster, as long as I can, its hard to bring him back when I know the shelter makes him crazy. I only have a couple more days, but there are actually a couple applications (one from a cousin of mine) in for him so this might all work out magically. I am not a big hoper/prayer/wisher but I want a good life for this guy. Good news to come....hopefully, pics below...

Chi-hua-wow and bundles of joy...

Just to get this out in the open cause I know your wondering: Ruby and her puppies are healthy and wonderful hanging out at the rescue. I get to see them twice a week which is heartwarming. Last time I went in Ruby's tail thumped on the floor: She recognized me and was happy to see me, it was such a nice moment. They will stay at the rescue waiting for a foster to take them all, or till they hit 8 weeks and are adoptable. At that point I'm sure they will fly out the window like hot cakes. What I truly want is Ruby to get a good home. Momma's are much harder to place than babies. (I'll post some pup pics at the bottom).

So I've decided, and I know this won't make me the most popular kid on the blogblock, I will only post when I have something to post about. Thankfully today I have some exciting news.

Tomorrow I get my next pet project literally, I am gonna take a dog home from a rescue for a couple weeks to work on his over zealous jumping behavior. Seems as though every time someone wants to meet this awesome buddy he tackles them, playfully, but big dogs have to learn how to be gentle. Its a reality I am learning in the dog world, the bigger the dog, the less acceptable bad doggie behavior is. And it makes sense a little one nips you and you're like "lame and ow." A big one tries to take a chunk out of you and its a traumatic experience. I get it completely but without training the dogs never well. So here I come to save the day!!!

Newest dog fun for Nik is I enrolled her in a Nosework class where she learns super-police sniffing dog-type games for mental stimulus: VERY FUN and effective.

Also, I have started answering training help questions from craiglist. There are poor people on there that are desperate for help and advice and I am no expert, but I might as well let them in on what I know. I helped a person with a Chihuahua recently who wouldn't eat anything but one kind of wet food. The Chihuahua was unhealthy, missing teeth and over breed, and this person was kind enough to take it in. I was able to give this very nice lady some advice on to how to get her personal doggie rescue project to expand her pallet, without hurting her barren gums.  (One of my best out of many ideas was mixing the old food with other food slowly starting at 90% old and 10% new and moving the percentages slowly, blending them together in a food processor if needed. Along with feeding this recently bred mama some puppy food for extra nutrition.)  I hope the information helped, either way the owner thanked me saying: "Thanks so much for all your emails puts a smile on my face that I'm not alone when it comes to caring for animals. Have a wonderful blessed day! " So if nothing I get some warm fuzzies and I helped another dog enthusiast feel less helpless and alone....

Here's a couple extra pup pics from your viewing pleasure:

Saved 12 dogs in one rescue

So I don't want to blog when I have nothing to write. But for the last couple of days I have had so much to write I have been too excited to touch a key board...

This is how I spent my Friday the 13th:

Let me try to make a long story short. My Husband and I were about to go roller/blading/skating with the dog (Me on my Skates, Dan on his blades, and Nik on her feet), then I see this golden retriever type in the middle of the side walk a block away from the house. I tell my husband who has Nik's leash to stop, a dog on the street is not always friendly and can easily feel cornered so I wanted to keep Nik far away. (She want's to play with anything that moves!)  I have some treats which I try to entice the stray with, but although she hesitates, she ends up scampering away.

Now, I have tried to catch a stray dog before, and it ending in me falling flat on my face on concrete. You cannot catch a dog if it is sprinting away, so I sadly tell Dan (my husband) "We can't catch her lets get reorganized and move on."

Then the stray in question pops her head around the corner and I realize, this dog needs help, something about her super tucked tail and her body being pancaked to the ground, touched my heart and I said "We have to save this dog."

So Dan stayed out on the block slowly roller-blading and keeping tabs on the dog, while I change out my skates (I am not a fantastic Street skater yet!), put our dog away, and get some supplies: Treats, slip lead and mental composition.

I get out the door and there is no Dan in sight so I just start sprinting in the direction I last saw him, and I find him and our lady stray in a front yard (not ours). Dan heads back to get shoes on and I spend a long time observing our new friend and throwing her treats. I realize at this point she is pregnant for sure!!! Then after many failed gentle attempts I get a leash on her, no luck with the slip lead because she cowered intensely if anything was over her head. Dan and I decide no matter what we will see this dog through her pregnancy to a good home. She seems to be extremely scared of people especially men, and had an old chain around her neck. Not a choke chain just an ace hardware chain all dingy and dark. There were no posters and no owners looking for her and there continues not to be.

We decide to take her to one of my favorite rescues to see if she had a micro-chip. She jumped in the car with us and Nik, and off we went. On the way she ate a couple hot dogs out of my hands, I was very proud of her! At the rescue of course there was no chip, but there were some amazing caring people. The rescue decided straight-up to take her in, they looked her over and decided she was gonna give birth any minute so she was definitely needed a safe place to have her pups. I offered my home, but they were happy to have her and I was happy to know she was in a safe place, so everyone was happy. I named her Ruby and said I would be by soon to visit her. They thanked me for saving her and agreed to text me when the she gave birth. It was hard to leave her there but I knew they were much better prepared for an extremely pregnant dog that has been on the street with questionable health.

So fast forward to Monday, I got the text that the puppies were coming and I headed over as soon as I could. By the time I got there around 2pm Ruby had been in labor since 11am and given birth to 6 healthy puppies. They were beautiful. I observed the next two being birthed which was amazing and then the worker that was helping out, thought Ruby might be finished and went to have a well deserved break. As he walked out my moment appeared.

I was about to suit up, with booties and gloves to help get Ruby more comfortable when I saw her lay on one of her pups. So I called for a buddy, suited up fast and got in to the room. I got the puppy out and safe, but within seconds there were two more pups on their way out. The first one (#9) came out fine, only needed a little tug to help Ruby out, but the next one (#10) was a moment I'll never forget.

 The pup was obviously struggling and not breathing right, I remembered the worker saying he had to help a couple of the dogs to breath so I knew it was time for action. I realized it was my time to shine, the pup was struggling less and going limp. I pressed gently on the pups chest and it coughed and then started breathing and moving again...I was there at the moment it gained life and almost lost it.....WOW....just wow. Puppy eleven appeared about 30 minutes later, healthy and whiny. What a big litter, I am so happy for Ruby, and so pleased Dan and I saved her from giving birth or dying pregnant on the streets. We saved 12 dogs that day. I'll attach some puppy photos for those interested:

Just when I feel lost and directionless in my whole "helping dogs in need" quest, the dogs in need find me. I am truly blessed to have been part of the birth and nothing is better than hands on experience.  Stay tuned. My dog adventures seem to be getting much more exciting!

Meaningful Mutts

Yesterday I had a full dog day. I started out at Animal Control then ended up at one of my favorite rescues. For every minute of Volunteering I learn so much about dogs, how we interact with them and how they would like to be interacted with.

For example, I am used to dealing with mostly fearful, or shy dogs (which is sometimes the step right before aggression it must be handled with care), so I usually crouch down on the floor, and toss out some yummy treats for the dog. I crouch down to make myself smaller, which is something dogs do for each other when they are trying to get along. I also try no to face the dog which is even less intimidating. Usually it takes about 10 minutes but then I have a new buddy. Word to the wise, if you are gonna adopt a dog give the perspective pooch some time in a room with you before deciding the dog is not a match, when they first come in they need time to acclimate themselves to being out of their runs or kennels. Best idea is to let them come to you...

I was having a hard time with an exuberant, frantic, playful dog who was being a bit nippy and pushy, and it wasn't until I talked to the volunteer leader that I discovered I was "auto-piloting" my intro. This dog was happy to sniff my feet and jump all over me, I definitely didn't need to be smaller or give it access to passionately lick and bop my face or pull at my arms. This dog was in no way aggressive but it needed a intro to match its energy and mood. It is a very nice thing to see dogs in a shelter so happy-go-lucky and in need of a rousing game of tug, and not a quiet gentle statuesque human.