Kansas

We've been on a bit of a fostering hiatus lately since we've been really busy and adjusting to new work schedules (despite the economy both the hubs and I have managed to to transition to new jobs in the last several months without any down time).  Anyway, I couldn't say no anymore when I got an email, sent specifically to me that said

PLEASE ANYONE EUTH DAY MONDAY

So even though we're still crazy busy (even busier, actually, we just started doing a boot camp class this week), we decided that we've got things under control enough to take Kansas in (my conscience wouldn't let me do anything else).

Sunday afternoon the one year old Aussie named Kansas made the trip from Pittsfield, IL up to Chicagoland along with a Dalmatian and Chocolate Lab.  And on Monday instead of being put down he got put under to get neutered and got to wake up afterward and come home with me.  He already got a bath and once I finish brushing the burrs out of his fur he'll be good as new!

Kansas has been great so far.  He is super, super sweet and gentle.  He's been great with Lenny and Waldo - Waldo actually isn't afraid of Kansas and will come into the same room as him to hang out instead of just watching everything from the top of the stairs.

Kansas showing off how good he is with the cats

Kansas is already house trained; he's not quite crate trained yet, but every time he's crated he cries and barks for shorter periods of time before calming down and taking a nap.  Right now he sticks to my leg like glue when we go out in the yard or for a walk, but I think as he gets more comfortable he'll become more confident and start exploring on his own a bit more.  I'm really excited to watch his personality really start to come out.

 

Kansas and Dash hanging out together

Foster Wall of Fame

This is a collection of pictures featuring some of our fosters from the last 3 years.

Not to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty proud of the fact that we don't even have room to showcase all of our foster dogs, even with 20 frames.

This project was really inexpensive and easy to do.  I bought all of these picture frames at the dollar store, Ikea and Hobby Lobby and didn't pay more than $3 for any of them - most were only $1.  I got no more than two of any one frame and didn't really pay attention to the color of the frames because a can of spray paint solved that problem.

To get all of the frames to hang neatly on the wall and avoid putting a thousand holes in the wall, I carefully laid out a pattern.  I traced each picture frame on a piece of paper, marked where a nail would go to hang the frame and labelled it so I would know which was which.

Using painter's tape to hold them in place, I took all of the paper cut out frames and laid them out on my dining room table, rearranging until I came up with a pattern I liked.  I measured the size of the rectangle the frames created all together.

Using a level, yard stick and more painters tape I marked the edges of the large rectangle on the wall.  Then I moved all of the cut outs from my dining room table to the wall.  I put the nails where I had marked on the cut outs and then put the frames up - this is easiest if you put in all the nails through the cut outs and then remove/replace the cut outs/frames one by one so you don't get confused about what goes where.  I think I only ended up having to fix one or two of the placements when it was all said and done - not bad if you ask me!  I put all of the extra pictures I had printed in a photo album to keep on the entryway table (which you can sort of see in this less than stellar photograph).

I like seeing all the fun pictures and adorable faces.  And I think it looks great on the wall and is a nice conversation piece, too.

Keep an Eye on Your Olive Oyl

Because Bluto is swinging by!  Almost four weeks ago I picked him up after work.  Bluto is an Australian Shepherd and I would guess about a year old.  Even though he had just been neutered when I got him he was go-go-go!  I knew he and Dash would be buds and we'd probably have to stop them from wrestling since Bluto was supposed to stay quiet for a week or two to recover from surgery (yeah, right!).

Bluto is a confident dog; not fearful at all.  But he was really stressed the first few days with us.  And I can't really blame him.  On Sunday he made the trek from Pittsfield, IL to the suburbs of Chicago.  On Monday morning he was neutered and got a few remaining vaccines and in the evening I picked him up and brought him home.  It's a lot to take in!  So even though Bluto was wanting to play with Dash and exploring the house he would.not.stop.panting.  At all.  Or sit still.  For four days.  The e-collar he was wearing was just soaking wet with drool from all the panting, so we were constantly refilling the water bowl so he wouldn't get dehydrated.

Aside from the frantic panting I could really see Bluto's potential.  He was very smart and generally well mannered (except for the thrashing when you'd try to crate or leash him - ha!), not to mention gorgeous!  By Thursday Bluto started to relax a little bit and he was doing great by Saturday.  Which worked out well for him, because he got adopted that day, just a week after arriving to us.  It also kept us out of trouble, because I think if we had Bluto for too long we would have a really hard time letting him go.  I mean come on, then we'd have matching orange/grey sets of both our cats and dogs!  That would also make fostering trickier though, so it really was for the best.

Bluto, now named Harley, has a shepherd mix doggie sister and a teenage human sister, both of whom he's going to have lots of fun playing with!

Side note: Okay, so Bluto is the name of Popeye's nemesis.  Basically Bluto has a crush on Olive Oyl, Popeye's girlfriend, and keeps trying to kidnap her.  Um, what?!  That's practically cartoon date rape!  Anyway, I was kind of surprised by it because I never noticed when I watched Popeye as a kid.  So weird!

Southern Comfort

Alice finally went home to her forever family on Saturday.  It was a long time coming; a delayed spay appointment and prearranged vacation meant Alice's new parents had to wait nearly a month to meet her.  They have incredible patience!

When Mike and Patty arrived at our house Alice warmed right up to them and gave out lots of her signature kisses. 

An hour or two later and the new family headed home way down south (okay, it's more like halfway down Illinois, but still quite the long haul to get a new pup!).  Mike and Patty were super nice; we know they're going to spoil Alice and that she'll have a fabulous life with them.

Being bashful about a new collar

On their way home Mike and Patty even sent me some pictures of Alice sleeping in the backseat of their Corvette (um, awesome!). 

Later on they called to say that Alice and her big (and I do mean big) sister Holly the Great Dane were getting along nicely.  And Alice is now named Savanna.

The house is a little quieter; we had Alice nearly 2 months and she and Dash wrestled nearly every waking moment of that.  We're really happy that Alice is going to have a canine companion in her forever home!  And of course we know she's going to get loved to pieces by her humans!

Hunk of Love

I just found out Hunk got adopted - woohoo!  Hunk was actually adopted by a neighbor of another volunteer at the rescue and is now named Charley. His new family has 3 older kids and a cat to keep him busy.  The cast came off and his leg healed up just fine.  Looks like he's enjoying the snow, too!

I'm All Ears

Alice has definitely made herself right at home over the last 2 weeks.  She and Dash love playing together and she's really good with the cats; I think Dash tries to chase them more than she does!

But what really let me know that Alice was feeling at home was that after a few days her left ear starting sticking up.  Like, straight up.  So now she has one ear up and one ear tipped down and it is a-freaking-dorable. 

Totally quirky to match her personality and looks.  Speaking of which, Alice still loves looking in the mirror.  I have never seen a dog spend so much time staring at themselves and the rest of the world through a mirror.  She's not obsessive or anything, just once in a while she'll wander by the mirrors by the front door and pause for a moment or two.  I always wonder what she's thinking.  Okay, let's be honest here, I wonder what all of the animals are thinking all of the time.

Side note: Tonight I got some snuggle time in with almost all of the animals.  I invited Dash onto the couch with me and then Lenny decided to join us.  But before this could be captured on film, Thomas thought it would be even more hilarious to try and toss Alice in, too.  We don't usually allow fosters on the couch, so this was a special exception.  Once Alice was added to the mix Lenny decided it was no longer safe to lay on my tummy and moved a little further up on the couch.

Don't act like you're not jealous of my super awesome made-by-me-in-high-school fleecy pants

Anyway, back to Alice.  Her new favorite toy is whichever one Dash is playing with.  She'll constantly walk over to him and literally take a toy out of his mouth and walk away with it while poor Dash just watches - he's so good at sharing!  Here's how it usually goes down:

Dash doing his very best impression of the saddest dog in the world, let's see a close-up

Very convincing, Dash, very convincing

Last night Dash had a toy but Alice couldn't quite reach it because he was next to the coffee table and she actually cried before finally squishing herself in and taking the toy.  To be fair, Alice isn't a thief all the time.  Dash will often take toys from her and she's fine with it and they also like to play tug of war.  I think it's just that baby phase where the most interesting thing is the thing someone else has.

 So that's what's going on with our critters; can you handle all that cuteness?!

Cyrene Update

I got an update on Cyrene from her forever family - woohoo!  Her new name is Saphire and this is what they had to say:

Just wanted to send you a quick note on Saphire.... She is an awesome dog that has fit in well with our family, she is very well behaved in all situations and has developed excellent leash manners - she has made friends with my running group and she loves tagging along in the morning for the kids' school drop off... Saphire is very good with the kids and very caring and watchful of the baby. 

She is just a great dog and we are happy to have her... thank you.

 Saphire's family sent along a few new pictures, too!

I'm so happy for Saphire and her family; they're just perfect for each other.  We wish them all the best!

Hello, Alice!

Just a half a day after Hunk got dropped off to go to his new foster home I picked up Alice.  She came up on Saturday on a transport all the way from Kansas in a series of ten legs to get her from there to here.  Alice and her brother Alex are purebred Aussies that someone who lived on a farm bought as puppies.  After a few months they realized that two young Aussies are kind of a lot of work and decided they didn't want them anymore.

In early December a good samaritan took them in until they could be placed into a rescue.  So now at 8 months old Alice is with us and her brother is in a foster home, too.

Alice was a little nervous and a little stinky when I got her home, so after a quick run in the yard I took her upstairs to the bathtub for a quick torture session bath.  After that, some food and a good nap she was already a totally different dog.

Now she's picking up every toy she can fit in her little mouth and either chewing on it, rolling it or proudly parading it around the room.  Mirrors are fascinating to her; she keeps walking past our floor to ceiling mirrors by the front door and pausing.  And when I first got her home she spent about a minute just staring at her reflection in the oven.  I'm not sure if it's because she hasn't really encountered mirrors before or if she thinks it's her brother since they look alike, so to me it's both cute and a little sad, because I wonder if she misses Alex when she sees her reflection.

Alice loves to give little kisses and is enjoying exploring the house.  By now I think she's sniffed nearly every square inch of space that she's allowed to be in.  Dash and Alice even started wresting and playing a little on Alice's first night with us.  The two of them are having so much fun running in the yard and playing in the house.

We'll learn more about Alice's personality after we have her a little longer, but we do know that she is super sweet and super adorable.

Welcome, Alice!