Goodbye, sweet Deuce!

Rusty's Legacy had adoption day today and we were to bring Deuce and Gentle Ben down. People were clamoring over Deuce as we brought him in. Of course! He is a sweet cuddle bug!!! By the time we got back, he had been adopted! Yay Deuce! You go, sweet boy, and have a fantastic life!!!

Gentle Ben came back home with us. He does have an approved adoption application. We have been told that he may go home in another day or so.

Here's sweet Gentle Ben on the way home.

You've gotta have Faith.

Annnnnd we had Faith AND her owner was found!!! I don't know if I should chalk it up to a small town or my big mouth or what, but I mentioned to someone about her last night, then they connected tonight when their friend said that their dog was missing...that it was this girl! Her name is NOT Faith, but in my mind it still is!

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Yesterday, on the way to bring my son to do a project for school (due today, it didn't get done. :-X ), we were on the interstate. Speed limit 70mph. I had just passed a truck around a corner. In the middle of the interstate, I saw her. A dog. Limping. Bewildered. In shock, it appeared.

My first instinct was to pull over. I slowed down and pulled off to the side of the road. A pick up truck stopped on the opposite side (in the middle of the interstate, where she had lingered to). ALL of the cars behind us stopped. Even the tractor trailer. Looking back now, that is absolutely amazing to me. However, somehow, I had faith that they would.

The owner of the other truck asked me if the dog was mine. I was said no, she isn't. He said he would take her, but he had other dogs in his truck and he wasn't sure what would happen. I told him that I would take her. This kind young main (mid 20's, if I had to guess), walked across the interstate, picked her up gently without hesitation and put her in the back of my Jeep. Surprising, but I had faith that he would. He was a kind soul. You could see it in his eyes and demeanor. Whoever you are out there, thank you for helping save this little girl.

The back of my jeep was full of fishing stuff since that was part of the project. I asked my son to come sit in the back with her and comfort her on the trip to...wherever we were going. At that time, I really didn't know WHERE we taking her or what we were doing with her. I just knew that she deserved better than what she had been given and we were not leaving her on the side of the road where she had been thrown out like a bag of trash. My son got in the back with her, trying to calm her down, comfort her and keep her happy. She was so sweet and gentle. I had faith that it would be okay. (We have had a negative reaction from a dog that we did not know before and injured dogs can be unpredictable, but we did not see any other option at the time.)

By the way, the kind soul above? He also followed us all of the way to the next exit, very closely. I had my flashers on and my son in the far back of the jeep, enclosed, but I was not at all comfortable with it and I think this young man knew it. Again, what a kind soul, deserving of many thanks.

My phone, about to die, made the call to the only contact that I could think of, one of the kindest souls that I know, Jeri, of a local rescue. I left a message, I probably sounded frantic. What do I do? I don't know who to take her to or what to do. I just knew that what was done to this girl was not humane and I was determined not to let her die that way. And Jeri called back with answers. I had faith that she would, even though I hated asking her to help take on this problem.

She made calls and we headed to a local vet with her. She was such a good girl the entire time. Obviously in pain, but she mostly just cuddled with my son in the back. When they brought the stretcher out for her, she was a little unsure, but really so good. She never made a peep, nipped, yelped or anything. My oldest (14) kept telling her what a good girl she is. We believe she is a boxer mix. She weighs approx. 45lbs.

She has a dislocated hip. Care will run around $800. The vet is letting payments be made, all money due by December 1. The rescue has started a ChipIn and I have Faith that we can raise the money. Please donate a dollar or two (or more, if you are so inclined) and share this link far and wide. I have faith that we can show this little girl that all humans are NOT bad.

Thank you for sharing, donating or even just reading and sending a positive thought for whom we call "Faith" in our home and hearts. (I do not know what the official rescue name for her is/will be. She is Faith to us until we hear otherwise.) It is very much appreciated!

If you prefer to donate directly to her, she is at Crestview in Marion, NC and is the I-40 dog under Rusty's Legacy rescue. If you think you might want to adopt her once she has healed, please contact Rusty's Legacy. Once this is all said and done, she is spayed and well, she will need a forever home.

Foster #5 Deuce & Gentle Ben, pitty puppies

It doesn't get much cuter than that!!!

I decided to take a foster break. That lasted just about 2 1/2 weeks. Whoops!

I know that we have local rescues, but until now, I had been fostering for a rescue about 35 minutes away for a rescue that I think very highly of. I had also put in contacts with a local rescue, but due to illnesses and fragility, she prefers to keep little puppies in her home.

Well, I saw a call go out for a local rescue that they had a sudden influx of puppies. This rescue happens to be literally a couple of roads down from me, just 2 minutes from our house, tops. So I thought, why not? I put the word out, made the call and that evening these two sweet, tiny pups with their little grunts and puppy breath were sleeping in our house.

Oh. my. goodness! are they sweet?! They came with their problems that they need help with, namely antibiotics for a respiratory infection, salve for their pressure wounds (due to being too many pups in too small of a space) and formula (due to really being too small to eat solid food, yet).

They came here three days ago and they are doing so much better already. Crawling around more, no more grunting and they are attempting to eat solid food without the formula. Their job right now is to sleep, eat and grow and mine is to feed them and keep them clean, basically.

And my biggest challenge right now is not holding them and snuggling them! hahaha They are so sweet and snuggly and just adorable.

This will be our longest foster as we should have them for 4-6 weeks since they will need to be vaccinated twice before they can be adopted out. They are still fairly young (hence the formula and such) and you can tell it when they are walking around.

Gentle Ben already has an approved adoption application so when he is old enough to go, he already has a home waiting for him! WOOT!!!

I'm tired and I feel guilty.

I brought Marnie & Rocket back yesterday. They were for sure our cutest fosters, but also our hardest. They were potty trained which was good. Unfortunately, they did not want to be inside. Like, at all. And I will not leave pups outside. That's not how they are supposed to be and we didn't get our yard fenced in just so we could leave animals outside. HOWEVER, I let them out as often as I was comfortable. More than, really. They couldn't be in long without crying to go out. Even in the rain. It was exhausting. Especially at night. As much as I don't like them to be out much during the day, I hate it at night. The big bad dark night and all things unknown out there like boogey men and scary monsters!

No, seriously, one night, Marnie cried so much that I gave in FOUR times to getting up and letting her go out to potty. FOUR TIMES!!! It was the night before they were ready to go back and I was so. dang. ready!!!

Yet they were sweet and cute and loved to cuddle and play. They weren't used to being inside and were happier outside. It was hard for all involved, I'm afraid. They weren't unhappy, I don't think. They were just happier outside. Especially Marnie.

They were due back on my 15 year wedding anniversary. My husband very sweetly suggested that I just go up by myself and he would stay home with the toddler. The rest of the crew was at school. I'm not sure I've ever dropped pups off before alone or I just don't remember. The puppies "only" woke up to go out two times that night, but it had been raining for days and they were so muddy and wet puppy stinky. I wanted them to find a home, of course so I wanted the first impression to be great and there was a guy that wanted me to call him so he could be there when we arrived back to the rescue (they had put him in touch with me). I bathed them and put pretty kerchiefs on them, etc., etc.

And we got there and I got the crate out of my van and they heard the other dogs and they got scared. And my eyes got damp. What?! No. I was okay for these pups to be going back. It had been a long two weeks and they had been harder to deal with than babies. At least with babies, I could contain them somewhat and nurse them back to sleep! BUT my eyes got damp. I'm sure it was the rain. That must have been what made my heart twinge a little, too. I got them in and stumbled and stuttered trying to explain who I was and what I brought back. The rescue coordinator came out and knew so I was able to just give some pets and cuddles and not talk so much.

And that was my hardest fostering, in more ways than way. Good luck, sweet Marnie and Rocket. May you find your forever homes very soon.

Litter #4 - Australian Shepherd x Australian Cattle Dog - Rocket & Marnie

I was taking a nap with my sick toddler who had kept me up the night before from coughing and tossing and turning and the phone woke me up. It was J telling me that they really needed a foster for some puppies, could I please come get them today. Yes, of course. It was not a good day for it, but I switched some things around and we went to get them.

We pulled in and saw these two fluffy puppies in the back of someones vehicle in a crate. I said out loud to the kids "Oh! I hope those are the puppies!!!" We got up on the porch just as J came out, pointed to me and told the lady "Oh, there's your foster now!" and it was for the fluffy pups!!! I definitely did a squee!!! These are for sure our cutest fosters, yet!

They are two girls named Rocket & Marnie (they came with those names). They are australian shepherd x australian cattle dog. Rocket looks more like the cattle dog and Marnie more like the shepherd.

The story is the lady's son is a truck driver for Lowe's, was out in the country and saw a guy getting ready to shoot these puppies because he didn't want them so he took them. 1)WHO does that?!!!! 2)Why not just take some responsibility and get your dog fixed so you no longer have litters that you don't want?! 3)Another example of the human race disgusting me!!!

They are 6 weeks old right now and we have them for two weeks. They are just as sweet as can be and so fluffy! SQUEEEE!

As a side note, the poodle, Bandit, that I got from a customer got adopted to "the best home ever" according to the adoption manager. He had to have a lot of dental work (16 teeth removed! WOW!!!) and I wonder if the other people knew that and couldn't afford it and that's the true reason that they relinquished him. Either way, he got adopted within less than a week and I'm glad they are thrilled with where he went!

Goodbye Charlie & Sage

They are leaving Wednesday. The antibiotics worked well and they are feeling great. They are such great big, smooshy, cuddly goobers. We have really enjoyed having them here. It was rough when we found out that they were sick and when we realized that our poodle got the kennel cough from them, too :-( but we hope that they have a great new home soon! They are due to go be fixed Thursday morning.

I think we will be taking a little foster break after this to make sure Zoey recovers from the kennel cough completely.

How much is that doggie in the window?

Yesterday was...an interesting day at work. I am still processing. Or trying to. This has nothing to do with mail, really. It was just an avenue to enable what happened yesterday, I think. I'm still kind of feeling like I have whiplash from the events of the day.

I was near the end of a route and it's one that I've only subbed less than a handful of times. I probably had 30-45 minutes to go and I had a registered package that needed to be signed for. Wugh. So I pulled in and the lady must have been expecting me because she came right out. I will preface this by saying animals are the thing that I *always* see and comment on. I just do. Possibly because I see them and interact with them more than people...or possibly because I like them more than people. ;-)

Anyway, she was signing, I looked up and saw a puppy looking out of her window...and smiling. Seriously. Smiling, people!!! It appeared to be a poodle, like our Zoey. So I struck up a conversation, asking how old it was, etc.

"How cute! How old?"

"5 years old?

"5! Years? He's tiny!!! How sweet!"

"He's a teacup poodle...and...I'm thinking about getting rid of him if you know anyone that would want him."

*paranoid glancing around* Am I on candied camera? Is someone testing me? AGAIN? "Hmmm...my husband might kill me if I bring home another dog from work. BUT if someone *paranoid look* did want him, how much are you asking for a rehoming fee?"

"Oh hon, nothing. I just need to find a home for him."

Lesson learned. Never, ever, again, ask on the mail route, how much is that doggie in the window!

Longer longer longer story short, her kids are almost grown, her husband is a trucker and she cannot take two dogs out on the road. She has a chi that she is very attached to due to a near death experience with the neighbors dog and she has nursed the chi basically back to life from death of being ripped apart. I understand why she is more attached to the chi. I have no idea how long she had the poodle, but it didn't sound like long or that perhaps she wasn't attached to him.

It ended with me giving her my number and telling her to talk to her husband and give me a call. Because she had mentioned making sure, otherwise he would have been in my jeep immediately. She said okay, I'll call you in a few minutes.

She wasn't joking. I had time to call my sister in-law to tell her to talk me out of it, tell me I was crazy or something. You see, we've actually been looking for another poodle. But not a 2 1/2 lb stuffed toy! haha For the record, my sister in-law didn't help talk me out of it at all. *sigh* I had to hang up with her to answer the call for the lady who wanted to know how soon I could come get him.

So he's flipping adorable. He is more than SQUEEEE! worthy. He loves to play and he has a rain coat that he insists on wearing when he goes outside in the rain and he is just a funny little personality.

The problem is that by the time I got back to the post office, I had convinced myself that he was just too small for our family. My sister in-law and brother were interested in him so we brought him to visit. He had great fun with my niece poodle ;-) but ultimately they decided that they didn't want another dog at this time.

I need to decide what to do. We're more than slightly attached already. Which is crazy because I went in to this KNOWING that we were not keeping him and telling the kids that. BUT we are getting attached. Dangit, we are getting attached. AND we do not do this. We don't do it with foster dogs. I made plans on our course of action when we got home so that I wouldn't get attached. So that we would treat him like a foster dog (where we get *sort of* attached, but not the same way that we would our own pup). Yet, we are getting attached. *sigh* Whether this means that he is our next family member or not, I do not know. I'm scared to even think that, to be honest. He's just so small and cute and I'm so afraid of falling for another dog. *sigh*

What I DO know about him:
He is 5yrs old.

He is approx. 2 1/2 lbs.

He has an occasional slight limp that they have no idea why.

He is NOT neutered (that will be fixed ASAP).

He likes women more than men.

He is very cuddly.

He is potty trained.

He is so small, he has to wear a cat coller. *snicker*

He loves to play.

He has been fed people food and "potted meat" (I assume this is Spam?) and doesn't know that he is supposed to eat people food. I need help with this one. *sigh*