Monday, May 25, 2009

Noah, Jimmy & Melissa

First a note about the "Video of the Day/Week/Whatever." No, Harry is not back. I was trying to clean up some video off of my Flip camera and found this of Harry, back when he was still semi-hairless. He was trying to get up enough courage to walk across a glass-topped table to get to me, sitting in the other recliner. It wasnt until later that I realized he had no way of knowing that the surface was solid because when he looked down, all he could see was a lot farther down than the top of the table.

But he looked so cute, I had to process the video and get it posted. I'm always a sucker for puppy video! And I really liked Harry. I miss him.

I told Ashley that with the trip to France and Italy coming up next month, I didn't want to commit to taking foster dogs long-term, so she's using me as emergency overnight or short-term foster arrangements.

Noah.jpg (81206 bytes)First we had Noah, a sweet little Corgi mix. He was delivered to the SPCA thrift shop from the vet, where he'd just been neutered (though you'd never know it). I picked him up there to bring home with me. He arrived wearing one of those big collars, but as soon as I removed that, he was thrilled to be free. He got along very well with all of our dogs (Lester was still here then and loved playing with him, though he was madly in lust with Sheila).

He was absolutely no problem to have here and in the morning I took him back to the thrift shop, where his "real" foster home would be picking him up.

I think the day after Noah left was when Lester packed her bags and got ready to go to Boston.

Shortly after Lester left and we were settling back into having only two dogs again, Jimmy came for another overnighter.

Jimmy.jpg (68780 bytes)Jimmy was also a Corgi mix, but with a longer tail (Noah had a little stub that was always wagging) and an odd shaped head for his body. Another real sweetie.

He was here overnight and then all the next day, while waiting for his foster mom to get home from work. He got along well with the other dogs too.

When his new foster Mom was home (2 blocks from here), I got him on a leash and we walked over there. She has a huge pit bull of her own (in a tiny apartment), as well as a cat. The two dogs met on the lawn in front of her place and seemed to get into playing, so we gathered up the leashes to take them upstairs.

That was when I discovered that Jimmy was terrified of stairs. I got him about four of five steps up and he leaped off into space. Fortunately he was wearing a harness, not a collar. Picking him up and carrying him like a piece of luggage finally got him up to the second floor. I wasn't sure how the foster Mom was going to handle taking the dogs for walks, but she reports that Jimmy has become a real pro at going up and down stairs.

After I dropped Jimmy off, I went to the supermarket and while I was there, I got a text message from Ashley asking if I could take a dog for the weekend. I said yes. She neglected to tell me she meant now, so it was a surprise to arrive home and find Melissa here.

Melissa2.jpg (68869 bytes)

Melissa is younger than Lester and taller than Sheila. She's a real bull in a china shop, wanting to check out everything, the higher up the more attractive. I've had to weight down the dog food bin with a cast iron frying pan to keep her from lifting up the lid. She's also a great incentive for making sure that the kitchen counter is kept clear of any pieces of food. She's not discriminating. Real food or garbage (e.g. strawberry remnants) all go to the floor and if they are appetizing enough, she'll eat them.

She's also a real magician. I put her in the cage last night and listened to her bark and howl for half an hour. Then the noise stopped and I heard Lizzie growling. Melissa was standing at the door of the living room and Lizzie was letting her know she was not welcome. She disappeared and I decided to just leave her alone, figuring she'd sleep in my chair (she did). But when I got up in the morning, I checked both doors to the cage and both are still locked. I don't have a clue how she got out. I'm going to try it again tonight and see if she still manages to get out...then maybe I'll suggest selling her to the circus!!!

One thing about taking short-term fosters is that you don't have them long enough to get really attached and they do add a lot of fun to your life. I love watching the interaction between the new foster and our dogs. After awhile you feel like you're "thinking in dog" instead of thinking in human, when you watch how they communicate with each other.

I prefer the dogs who stay longer, especially the puppies, but for awhile, short-term fosters are OK too.

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