New Foster Furry

On Friday I am taking Twister to PetCo to meet his probable new "sister"!

I will be sure to post updates and information in my new blog "Fostering for PLR".  I decided to begin a new blog, in order to encompass all of the fosters that I will have over time.  This will mean that I don't have to create a new blog for EACH dog. And while I'm sure they each deserve their own blog, I don't want traffic to skip any particular animal because a link wasn't up to date.

In the mean time, please be sure to check out PittyLoveRescue.org to see all of the animals that are available, and the success stories of the pets that now have forever homes!

Mabel's Last Day

Mabel has a new home with James and Family.  She will be leaving this afternoon with Jenn from Pitty Love Rescue.

Some of you may remember that James was the first person I brought Mabel to have a meet and greet with at Petco.  His girls both loved her and were very comfortable, and I believe he said that he has about 5 acres for her to run and play in.

It's a bittersweet day here in our house.  I'm so happy for Mabel, but we will miss her dearly!  I have made a paw print patio stone with her, and also a paw print that hangs on the fridge!

I will keep updating Mabel's blog whenever I have updates, and as soon as we get a new foster, I will be starting a new blog especially for them!

Pool Fun!

Because of this dreadful heat, Poor Mabel and Twister have been eating ice cubes non-stop.  LOL Our ice maker is nearly emptyy every day, so Christopher decided to get them a Kid Pool.

Mabel Loves it!

She was a little nervous at first, and didn't know if she actually wanted in, but finally

She climbed in with Twister and drank from the "big Bowl"

Mabel and BooBoo Kitty

Another Milestone! We now know for certain that Mabel loves BooBoo and just wants to be his friend.  We also know that BooBoo loves her - when she's sitting still!  LOL

Mabel was on the porch, just sort of hanging out, when BooBoo decided it was his time to go outside.  We told Mabel to sit and stay, while BooBoo walked past her to the door, and she did, perfectly. :)  BooBoo waited at the door, and was not in a hurry to be anywhere, so we let Mabel walk over calmly and say hello.  She sniffed at him, and then sat and waited for his response.  And to out surprise, he bumped her nose!  Yay their friends.  Well, they would be best buds, but Mabel took that as an invitation for a kiss, and BooBoo decided that h doesn't like kisses from tongues that are as big as he is!

BooBoo hissed, but didn't swat, and hunkered by the door.  Mabel backed up, looked at him and whined excitedly.  We let BooBoo outside, and Mabel went back to being lazy on the porch. 

The Pet Expo (Sunday 5/1/2011)

Sunday we all went to the Pet Expo, at the Rochester Armory. It was a rather interesting experience from beginning to end.

Starting off, we learned that Twister is extremely car sick. Not only did he vomit, but he also had diarrhea in the back seat. Poor Mabel was stuck right next to him, with that smell... And she stayed so calm, she just moved over, and stuck her nose to the window.

When we got everything cleaned up and finally arrived at the expo, both dogs were very excited by all the smells. Mabel introduced herself to every dog she saw, and was very polite. She behaved so well, that when we arrived at a booth offering home made dog treats, we gave her extra!

About an hour and a half later, every one was exhausted. We stopped by the Pitty Love table, to say goodbye to Jenn, and Mabel had finally decided that she did not want to be bothered anymore. She got a little snarky with any dog that tried to say hello. But, I must say, she was not mean. She did not bite, or snap, or lunge. She gave a little grown and a woof that basically said "get away from me". And then she sat next to Christopher.

On the way home, they both fell asleep in the truck (Twister on my lap, so that he did not have another accident on the seat - apparently just on my jacket LOL), and were more than happy to go into their crates for nap time when we got home.

Christopher and I took advantage of this time to go grocery shopping, and when we got back, both dogs were still sleeping! I was able to walk right into the living room, and sit down before they even knew anyone was there.

NapTime :)

All in all it was a great day.

Sharing

I wanted to take a minute before bed to mention how great Mabel is at!

Like all dogs, she does not like to have her toys taken from her, especially the rawhide chews!  When Twister tries to steal her chews from her, she gives him a little "Grrr", and he walks away.

At first, I was worried that she might have a little bit of resource aggression, so I watched her very closely.  I realized quickly that she just didn't want Twister snatching her things.  He can climb on her, lay next to her, even tug on her ears, while she has a chew, and she is just fine, until he tries to take hold of it.

Mabel does not act this way with other toys, such as the rope, or the football.  She has been playing tug-a-war with Twister quite often.  She also does not act aggressive about her food.  Surprisingly, after being an only dog in her last foster home with Angela, she is not bothered by sharing.  She and Twister have a few times traded bowls at meal time - which of course I try to discourage, mostly because they are on two very different foods at this stage.

But today we had a breakthrough that surprised me greatly!  Mabel had her chew, and Twister was being - well, a puppy!  He wanted that chew, and nothing we could do would deter him.  He even had a time out in his crate because he was aggravating her so badly.  Finally he learned, and just laid next to Mabel with one toy or another, and we figured that was the end of it.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Twister pounced on Mabel's head, and got her to wrestle with him, and drop the chew.  As they rolled around, Twister saw his chance, and snatched the rawhide!  Mabel went to grab it back from him, but instead just sniffed it, turned around, and came to sit on the couch.  I was so proud!  Mabel was told how happy we were, and what a good girl she was.

Now  only hope that Twister gives her some peace and quiet tomorrow, so she can enjoy her rawhide! :)

Our First Day (Saturday 4/23)

Mabel arrived about 4pm.  She was so happy to see us, we knew for sure that she remembered us from the visit.  Twister was so overly excited that we had to keep him in his crate for the first 15 minutes. :)

She walked around the yard with Jenn, from Pitty Love Rescue, and seemed content.  However after Jenn left, Mabel was a bit anxious.  She did not understand why her friend just left her here.  Almost immediately she began cuddling with us on the couch for reassurance, and shortly afterwards was playing and running around with Twister.

Mabel is teaching Twister manners also.  I hope I don't jinx it by saying that he has calmed down extremely, now that he has a big sister to tell him to "quit it" when he gets rowdy.  Twister gets a bit jealous when Mabel has a hoof to chew on, even though he has his own, and tries to bribe Mabel to trade, by bringing her other toys...  So far she has not fallen for it.

Poor Mabel would not go #2, no matter how many times we took her out (She finally went this morning).  It seemed like she just couldn't find the right spot.  Now, in hindsight, I know that she wanted privacy.  Her chosen spot this morning was behind the basketball hoot, where she could peek her head around to see me, but was pretty sure I could not see her business.  I couldn't. LOL


Last night was a little nerve-wracking for her, I think.  She did not want to go to sleep in her crate, instead, when we said "bedtime" she would curl up on the couch, and give us sad eyes.  We got her into the crate, and covered it up, so she would not be distracted.  She whined for about 15 minutes, and then settled down just fine.  She slept through the whole night with no problems.

Today (Sunday), Mabel and Twister will be alone for just a few hours while we go to dinner for Easter.  I'm the anxious one now, wondering how she will handle us leaving.  But it's good practice for Tomorrow and every other week day, when we will be at work.

A Message (Friday 4/22)

Today I received a great e-mail from Mabel's current Foster Mom, and I just wanted to share it with everyone:


"Hi Donna,
I just wanted to drop you a quick note about Mabel. I heard through your blog you would be fostering her and I am very glad that someone as excited about Mabel as you is able to take her. I love her very much, unfortunately my roommates situation has changed and I am not in a position to keep Mabel without help (i go to Buffalo for school).

She loves to cuddle and is very expressive emotionally (will pout if she has to). She listens very well but stay will probably be a problem as she gets used to you. She was very traumatized when we first got her and needed to keep people in sight. She is much better now but may revert a bit. She is very good with her crate (i use the word bed with her) and will sleep in there if you dont want her in your bed but she loves to sleep with people. If you put her in there right as people or leaving or right after playing or a walk she'll bark a bit because she's wound up.

She loves tennis balls and behaves very well at Ellison park. She knows off, stay, sit, here and bed. Her walking on the leash has improved immensely. I use heel and back when she pulls; she seems to respond better to verbal commands (back) than a quick pull on the leash. She is ALWAYS very excited at first.

She hates to be yelled at! But is very responsive to hugs and kisses.

I will miss her very much. Wish I could adopt her...

If you have any questions about her I am happy to help. I really want the best for her and will continue to talk about her, put flyers up and keep her FB page up until she is adopted permanently.

Thanks so much,

Angela"


And I wanted to also say Thank You to Angela for taking Mabel in when she needed her the most, for the work you've done with her, and for providing me with so much valuable information about her.

I hope we can keep in touch!

The Decision (Weds 4/20)

Tuesday came along, and I was so anxious that I had to e-mail Jenn from Pitty Love Rescue and find out if a decision had been made about Mabel coming to stay with us.

Jenn responded back almost immediately that the board meeting was not until Tuesday evening, but that she would let me know as soon as possible on Wednesday.  She also mentioned that she had a concern about the separation gate we had.  It was just a small (24" high) baby gate, that was perfectly suited to keep the puppy out of the kitchen, but Mabel could easily jump it, or possibly knock it down.

Well, wouldn't it just figure... we had already thought about that, because it was mentioned during the home visit.  And we had already purchased a taller gate with a screw attachment that was much sturdier! 
I made sure to let her know that we had also thought about that concern, and that the gate would be installed as soon as possible.

She seemed very please to hear that fact, and said that she would get back to me Weds, as soon as she could.

Waiting....  The gate was installed Tuesday night...  More waiting...  I was so excited, I could barely wait until Wednesday morning.

And of course, I e-mailed Jenn first thing Wednesday morning, and let her know that the gate was installed already, and that I was really trying not to pester her.  When I finally heard back, it was GREAT News!

Mabel will be coming to stay with us this weekend... AND there is a family interested in adopting her!  That means that Mabel might have a forever home very soon!  I'm so happy for her, and I can't wait for her to come and stay with us, so that we can start introducing her to cats, and leash walking, which are 2 things she still has some issues with.

More to come on Saturday, once we get settled in!

Meeting Mabel (Saturday 4/16)

On Saturday, we were privileged to have a visit from a young lady named Mabel!

Mabel is a year-and-a-half old Pit Bull mix, who has had a run of bad luck over the last few months.  I first heard of her through her FaceBook page called Rescue Mabel.  It showed up on my side panel, as "Someone you might like to know"... or whatever they call that category now back in January.  I clicked on the link, thinking that it was a lost dog notice on some one's personal page.

To my horror, it turned out to be a page that was started to find this lovely girl a home.  She had been left in her crate in a dumpster, and abandoned!  Poor girl was terrified, all alone, and in need of someone to love her.  I wanted to bring her home with me immediately.

But Mabel already had a foster home at this point.  I knew there was only so much that I could do for her, so I commented on her page saying how beautiful she was, and checked back on her from time to time.  I was not in a position to adopt her permanently, because, oddly enough, my SO and I had just put a rather large deposit down on an American Staffodshire Terrier puppy with a breeder out of state.  I knew that a new dog, who may or may not have emotional issues and a brand new puppy may be too much for even this dog lover.  So I watched and waited, and all seemed to be going well for her.

Mabel's page also shared postings from her rescue agency, Pitty Love Rescue, so I became a fan of their page also.  Last week, I saw a post that Mabel was in need of a new :)home.  I almost cried...  This poor girl had been through enough this year, hadn't she?  So I called my SO at work, and told him what the post said, and told him I wanted to foster her.  Can you believe he didn't even question it?  Go ahead he said, get all the information, and apply.  So I did.

The application was quite long.  I was terrified that we wouldn't be approved, for whatever reason, and that Mabel would end up in a boarding kennel, or (stars forbid) worse.  E-mail after e-mail, and a few days later we were able to have a home visit with Mabel and one of the Rescuers Jenn.

We were ecstatic!  We had been warned that she may not be good with cats, and we have one, so we were prepared with the cat in the kitchen and the gate up.  Mabel was great.  She played and wrestled with Twister our Am-Staff (Who is now 12 weeks old, and very nearly potty trained), and although she was very curious about BooBoo-Kitty :) She was never aggressive or overly agitated by him.  And she could pass for Twister's Twin!

The home visit went great.  Jenn told us there was a board meeting process, and that we had to get final approval, but that she would let us know on Tuesday or Wednesday.  When she left, we were discussing where to put the crate, and whether we should buy a taller gate... Just in case!