Tippy and Rocky

Tippy was one of my fosters. From the date on her pictures, it seems that she must have been adopted out about a year ago. She has since moved to New York with her brother, Mo, and they have a huge, fenced backyard to play in now. Tippy's humans have gotten involved with fostering for a local rescue group, which I think is wonderful. It is very gratifying to see someone not only adopt but also move on to fostering or helping out the rescue effort in some way. Not everyone can foster, but anyone who wants to help can find something they can do.

With the move and the new house and fenced yard, Tippy & Mo are now able to take in fosters. The first one they planned to get got adopted before coming to their place, but they recently brought home a female GSD in need of a foster home. Tippy is a small shepherd, but she's a female shepherd and is fully in charge of big brother Mo and her entire domain. But she seemed to accept the female foster and set about showing her the ropes. She helped the new girl overcome her fear of the bath by repeatedly hopping in and out of the tub with her toy. Eventually the foster dog got the idea and ended up a cleaner and better smelling dog.

The humans have a cat in addition to Mo and Tippy. The new foster took off chasing the cat the other day and Tippy took off after them. But Tippy wasn't joining in the chase of the cat. Instead, she intercepted the much larger foster dog, decked her, and saved the feline's day. Mom was very proud.

Today Rocky passed his therapy dog certification test. I had thought the re-try wasn't going to be until September, but they did it today and he nailed it. As I said before, Rocky can hold his own in swapping stories of aches, pains, and medical procedures. The great thing about that dog is that he never let it get him down. He was always such a happy and loving dog, ready to let anyone love on him. I expect he will enjoy his new job. It's a more leisurely activity than the forced marches and Shayna and Shika call "hikes."