Pushing ahead

I haven't had one good thing to say all week, so I just haven't said anything.  Bubba came back on Thursday after another cat incident in the neighborhood where he was living.  According to the adopter, who had seen Bubba grab and shake her own cat, this one was an attack by the cat (not hers), when they were outdoors.  Even though the cat started it, Bubba was going to finish it, and it was more than she could deal with and I can't blame her.  He is now definitely "no cats" and the same goes for any other dog I have.  I took the new boxer girl to the SPCA to cat-test early in the week.  She was ok, but not good enough to actually live with one so that pretty much cemented my opinions on trying to adopt my dogs to cat people.  Not going to happen-- it's not worth the effort on my part, adopters generally won't put out any effort, and it's not worth the risk to the cats and, consequently, to the dog's reputation. 

I'm going out to Pet Supplies Plus tomorrow afternoon with probably 3 dogs, and to Keswick Vineyard on Sunday afternoon. Some home schooler called this morning looking to get rid of her rottie, I told her all I could do was post the dog's pictures, and so far I haven't received anything.

Today I decided to get back to basics.  I took pictures of the boxer, now named Gracie, for the websites and wrote a bio for her.  I did new write ups for Belle, Bubba, and Buddy.  I answered email inquires about King.  I sent an email to someone who is looking for a boxer.  I wrote to a couple shar pei rescue groups and asked them either take Belle or cross-post her on their websites.

I rearranged dogs a bit, putting all 5 of the under 60 pound dogs together in the big kennel (Gracie, Teddy, Belle, Jeremey, and Sunny), and 5 of the larger dogs in the dog yard (Trooper, Buddy, King, TJ, and Buck).  Bubba moved over to the kennel we call the Doll House, next to Sparky, and Tasha came indoors.  All the bigger dogs had pasture time as did our own dogs, and the small dogs worked themselves up to a frenzy playing together in the kennel late this afternoon. 

All is quiet this evening.  I made baked beans and cornbread for dinner, warm comfort food on a very cool, fall evening.

Cats, dogs, and rabbits

Well, Bubba wasn't returned after all. I got an email Sunday morning saying that they would not be returning him, they are in love with him and are going to try to work through the cat problem.  I'm glad and I admire them for that but it brings up a recurring problem that I have with adoptions.  I had tested Bubba with cats and he was as good as any dog I've tried, but you just never know until they get into a home with them.  Then the people and the cat have to do their part too.  Generally I find that it's the people who are not willing to do what is necessary to make it work, namely, to modify every one's living arrangements in whatever way is necessary to provide the cat with a safe and secure living environment.  That may mean that neither the cat nor the dog has free roam of the entire house right from the start, and it may mean months, not days, of acclimation.

I am sick of people insisting that everything has to be perfect from the start with no effort on their part, whether it is with their cat or anything else.  Few if any cats are ever going to be happy about a dog moving into their home. Consequently, cat ownership has put people into a do not adopt category for me unless they can convince me that THEY can make it work.  I don't want any one's cat to get hurt and I don't want my dogs bounced around either. 

Yesterday I met a nice young couple who wanted to adopt and were interested in Buddy.  They have no cats but they live with a pet rabbit in a townhouse, with no fenced yard.  Get real.  I suppose that with the right dog and the right people they might be able to make it work, but the odds are against them and I can't see putting a dog into that position.  There is a time and a place for everything, and that is not the time and place for a young shepherd. 

I did meet another couple yesterday, however, who I would adopt to in a minute.  They were interested in King and then they met Buddy and TJ too.  They are already three time adopters.  I hope to adopt someone to them soon.  Whichever dog they decide on will have a good home. 

Aside from that meeting, the best thing that came from yesterday's adoption event, was, well, two things really.  1.  TJ made his debut and did very well with people and other dogs; I was very happy about that.  2.  VGSR's photographer took these pictures of Buddy, TJ, and Tasha. I also took King yesterday, but we already had some great pics of him. 

This week I need to get the new boxer girl and Buck to the vet for vaccines and TJ needs a heartworm test. 

And, in spite of my rant above, I also need to test the boxer girl with cats, and I need to test Tasha with small dogs.  It may be time for the final mowing of the season and it is also time to get on some fall maintenance projects that need to be completed in my outdoor dog facilities before it gets seriously cold. 

At least I now have all the dogs I've committed to taking at this point.  We are currently at 12 fosters and I've promised not to take any more until after Thanksgiving.  Any one that I get adopted now is one less that I'll have to board when we go away for Thanksgiving.

Frost and fog

Saturday morning was the coldest night since some day back in April.  We had to scrape frost off the windshields of two cars.  One had my canoe tied to it thanks to some advance planning the night before.  The full moon was still up but the sun was not.  Clay had an open house to get to at work, so we dropped off one car down by the Palmyra bridge and then he dropped me and the canoe at the Rt. 600 bridge on the Rivanna river on his way into town.  It was just beginning to get light, light enough to see the fog rising off the water-a perfect setting for a pre-Halloween float trip. 

It should come as no surprise that I had the river to myself--no other people, no other boats.  I expected that, of course, but there were plenty of other surprises.  Much of the wildlife knows our habits and they clearly didn't expect to see me floating through the fog that early on a cold morning.  Just after starting out I encountered a gaggle of about a dozen geese along the shore.  They took to the water at first and talked about it amongst themselves for a bit before taking flight all at once, beating the water with their wings and alerting everything around us.  It was still too dark for a picture, even if I had been fast enough with the camera, which I wasn't. 

I expected to see deer, but only saw two.  They may still have been bedded down.  I did encounter one big buck having a morning drink.  I didn't see him until he turned to run and might well have passed him by completely unseen if he hadn't moved. 

The water level had dropped enough that I had to do some paddling to make much progress, but I would stop paddling occasionally to pour myself a cup of coffee.  On one such occasion I floated aimlessly but silently towards a very busy kingfisher perched on a limb sticking up from the middle of the river.  It was a spot where the water was shallow, a perfect location from which to ply his trade.  He perched, looked, and then dove into the water, presumably grabbing and devouring something tasty.

I saw either a lot of osprey or the same one repeatedly but didn't see any fishing action out of them.  There were more geese, lots of ducks, and one more deer spotting.  The sun came up eventually and the fog lifted to reveal a beautiful clear, crisp, fall morning.  We are in that 6 week period on the fall that mirrors the 6 beautiful weeks of spring, sandwiched between the miserable humidity of the summers and the muddy winters that are Virginia. 

The entire trip was about 3 hours that morning.  If the water drops much more I'll need to paddle more and pick my route more carefully to avoid being grounded.  I left the beer cooler at home for this trip, needing instead a canoe-friendly coffee mug or cup holder.

The final surprise came near the end of the trip, near a bend in the river, past the sandy beach and just before the Palmyra bridge where my pick up car was waiting.  I saw something slide off a log on the eastern bank of the river.  I first thought it may have been a turtle, but it wasn't a sunny spot where a turtle might have been warming itself, and it just slipped into the water, no plop, no sound.  I drifted closer and saw the unmistakable round (and surprised) face of a river otter staring at me, and another one lolling on its back just behind the same log he had slipped off a few moments before.  They disappeared silently and almost instantaneously, into a burrow in the river bank.  A perfect ending to a perfect trip. 

New faces

TJ has really blossomed the last couple of days. I moved him over with other dogs, just females at first, and then with the boys as well. He's fine. Very friendly, happy, and relaxed now that he's settled in with others. He hasn't jumped the dog yard fence and he crates without a problem too. He's really a nice, nice dog, and quite a handsome one too.

The new brindle boxer girl needs a name.  Her rescuer had been calling her Tiger, but I don't think that's really appropriate, apart from her markings, because she is a sweet little girl.  She came from my doggie dealer (shown below) last Friday, who saved her from the life of a trailer park dog. 

She came in the house last night and has quickly learned how do the stairs and the crate.  She whined a bit when left alone crated in the office last night, so Molly had to babysit. 

She met the gang of Trooper, Trooper Jr. (Buddy), Sunny, and Jeremey today without problem.  She's a pretty boxer girl, to the extent boxers can be called "pretty" anyway. 

Finally, there is Buck.  He is the only dog I had committed to take and I had put him off for several weeks due to space.  Buck impressed Linda and that impressed me.  He had obviously been some one's dog.  He was already neutered when he was found as a stray, but no one claimed him.  She pulled him so he didn't get put down.  He's a Great Pyrenees mix, we think possibly with some Border Collie.  He's got a BC's intelligent look.  He's well mannered, friendly, and good with other dogs. 

Buck needs a good brushing and I haven't gotten any good pics of him yet.  Fortunately he has the coat to make it as an outdoor dog for a while until I can find him a home.

Satin Balls

One of the first people I got to know when I started going to VGSR outings was a woman named Sheila Grimes. She and her family were involved in the rescue and had started about the same time as me, although I had the impression that they were already old hands at this. Sheila smoked, and I was still enjoying some second hand smoke at that point, so we often found ourselves outside together. (Sheila later took a female rottie and litter of newborn pups from me and raised them, making rottie lovers out of her family and many other people in the process.)

I'm not exactly sure how this came up, but it's not unusual to have a shepherd who is painfully thin and needs to gain weight. I probably had such a dog and Sheila told me about Satin Balls. I went home, did a search on the internet and readily turned up the recipe. According to the website I first found, the name "Satin Balls" refers to a dog named Satin who inspired the creation of the recipe.

These are the basic ingredients:

10 pounds hamburger, (high fat content is both cheaper and better)
1 large box Total cereal
1 dozen raw eggs
1 jar wheat germ
1 jar unsulfered molasses
1 box oatmeal
4 packets, unflavored gelatin
Vegetable oil, flaxseed oil, whatever

I put the eggs, shells and all, in a blender with the gelatin and some vegetable oil. Blend that mixture then dump all the ingredients together and mix by hand. Add as much oil as needed to make it workable. The gelatin will cause it all to set up pretty firmly once it's all mixed. Refrigerate or freeze, depending on how much you are going to use before the raw hamburger would go bad. I added some canned pumpkin this time because I had it, it's full of fiber and helps make a well formed stool. (I spend way too much time focused on dog poop.)

It's a great recipe for putting weight on a dog. Rather than making it into balls, I usually press it down on the bottom of a food bowl and cover it with dry dog food and press the dog food into the hamburger mixture. The dog has to eat his way down to the meat so he ends up consuming the dog food as well. It's particularly good for dogs who aren't avid consumers of whatever dry food you are trying to get them to eat.

I mixed up a batch Friday evening primarily for King, although he is slowly putting on weight and is looking better.

In other news, Buddy came back, Bubba is coming back, and I took in a boxer and Pyrenees mix on Friday.

The bachelor's dog

This is TJ. He was given up to me last Saturday on the eve of his family's move. Until they can sell their house here and buy another one in their new city, they are moving into the parents' basement--a husband and wife and two children under the age of two, no room for the dog unless they put up a pen in the backyard.  I certainly wasn't looking to take in another dog now, but I really didn't know what was going to happen to this guy if I didn't.

The dog, age 6, pre-dated the wife and kids and at one time led a good life as a bachelor's dog. By all accounts he got along with the wife and kids, and still seemed happy, but as often happens, he had become largely relegated to the backyard and a portion of the walkout basement. A young man's dog often goes the way of his motorcycle, jeep, or boat after he gets married and the babies start coming. Priorities changed, and I suspect that the demands of supporting a family necessitated the move.

He wasn't happy about it, and neither was the dog, but it was probably the best thing for the dog. He deserves a home with room for him, where he's a priority too, and a full fledged member of the family. And he's young enough still that he has a good chance at a second life.

TJ pulled a German Shepherd hunger strike, but only for one day. Now he's eating, settled in, and getting accustomed to the routine around here. He's in a kennel next to Sparky and in a crate next to Sparky at night. He seems healthy, his weight is good. He needs a heartworm test and I think he may need to be neutered still. I'll have to check, but I wanted him to get to trust me before I get too familiar with him.

[Later]  I've moved TJ in with Sunny.  He seems fine with female dogs but I haven't tried him with a male yet.  He's relaxed now, doesn't seem distraught, and he does appear to be neutered so I'll probably take him out to an adoption event on Sunday.

His former family will probably get another dog someday, when their kids are older, and I'm sure they will provide a dog with a good home.

Mail bag

These are pictures of a former foster, a boxer named Diesel, from his vacation at the beach.

Diesel is one of several really sweet boxers who have sold me on the breed.

Speaking of boxers, there is one waiting for me with my SW VA doggie dealer as soon as I can arrange to pick her up.

Diesel's companion is a smaller boxer named Vader. The two dogs play constantly and had a great time at the beach.

I also received these pictures from a double adopter. This guy had adopted Ricco from me a few years back. Ricco (left) has pannus, which our Zachary also has, and requires two types of eye drops daily. He also had an older female beagle and when Mattie died he contacted me about getting another shepherd.

Since this guy was a repeat adopter, a really good home, and had taken a dog with a known medical problem, I was damn sure going to find him a great dog. He ended up with Hannibal, the other half of the Hannibal and Nemo pair that I had acquired from a backyard breeder through the intervention of another former adopter. I know I wrote a blog post about Hannibal and Nemo but I can't locate it now to link it here. [Found it, thanks to Bonnie, here's the first post about Hannibal and Nemo.]

Anyway, Hannibal and Nemo are two gorgeous young shepherds. Nemo is now Huck, and was adopted by a couple who have become VGSR volunteers. Hannibal and Ricco (shown here) have become friends and they lead a good life.

Breathing room

Last week may have been my busiest dog week ever.  Four dogs and our cat were at the vet. The entire population was treated with Revolution and three days of Panacure.  I had four dogs getting twice daily medication. I started the week with 13 fosters and ended with 14 on Saturday night. But Sunday seems to have made it all worthwhile. 

Luke was at the vet on Monday because of an ear infection.  Both ears were infected with yeast and he had dug at one of them enough to make it bleed.  Although they weren't as bad as Rocky's, they were headed down that road.  He was back at the vet on Friday where they did a deep ear cleaning under anesthesia.  They also put in some staples to close the self-inflicted cut he had done by scratching.  He seemed happier and more comfortable when he got home and I left him and Tasha together for the weekend.  On Sunday afternoon Luke was picked up by a woman I've known for years who is going to foster home.  She will provide a great foster home for him. 

Bubba would have gone home from the Gainesville adoption event last weekend, but I had realized that I hadn't finished his course of doxycycline for Lyme disease.  He was back at the vet on Monday too.  His vaccines were boostered and we got more doxy.  The woman and little girl who wanted him came out to Front Royal yesterday afternoon, adopted him, and took him home from there. 

I left home yesterday morning about 8:00 a.m. for the Front Royal adoption event at noon.  Near Front Royal is a place called Browntown, which is home to a couple who had met King last weekend and were interested in him.  They have a two year old Saint Bernard and three cats.  I spent an hour or so there and ended up leaving King with the understanding that they would either bring him back to me in Front Royal or stop by themselves near closing time to do the adoption.  They had him long enough to determine that he wasn't going to be easy with the cats so he came back.  Except for the cat thing I think he would have been fine.  Once again, he's better behaved than I would have thought. 

I took Holly to Front Royal yesterday too.  I never did get any pictures of Holly, which is a shame because she is a beautiful girl.  She went home with someone yesterday, a prior VGSR adopter, who brought along their shepherd and their 10 year old female boxer.  Both dogs looked good and were well behaved.  Both the adults in the home are runners so she will get plenty of exercise.  I liked them, they liked her, so she has a new home.

One of my former fosters, a rottie named Roxie, came by at the end of the Front Royal adoption event to visit.  She looked great, except for being fat, but was obviously very happy.  It's always great to see them happy in a new home.

I didn't get back home until about 5:30.  I unloaded King and Trooper (Troop had just gone along for the ride yesterday), and got everyone fed and prepared the adoption paperwork for Buddy.  A young couple had met Buddy in Richmond two weeks ago.  They wanted him but were out of town last week.  They drove here as soon as their flight landed in Richmond yesterday afternoon, with just a stop at a pet store to pick up dog food.  Buddy is very shy, but he will come around quickly with someone working with him, and loving on him, one-on-one. 

The other foster who is now gone from here is Buster.  I had taken him to meet a woman on Thursday.  She and her dog loved him and wanted to keep him, but she leaves tomorrow for Florida for 2-3 months for a job.  However, she found someone who will take him and work with him during that time, specifically train him around livestock, as she seems to be a horse person and has cattle grazing very near her house. 

That's five less dogs around here this morning, which makes a big difference in food, cleaning, medication, exercise, and just keeping the lid on the noise around here.  Actually, there's just 4 less, because I took in TJ.  More on him later.

From pillar to post

A diagram of Tasha's life would look like this:
Home --->; Shelter --->; Rescue --->; Home --->; Rescue --->; ?

Tasha, shown here as a young dog in 2004, was the product of a Louisa County backyard breeder. I first met her at the shelter after a call from a volunteer who goes out there several times a week to walk dogs. Tasha's early life was hardly one of luxury, but she was basically treated well and well cared for, to the limits of her owner's circumstances and ability. From what I understand and recall, the young woman who owned Tasha had better taste in dogs than in boyfriends. A domestic split occurred, the young female owner moved out and young female rottie ended up in the shelter facing euthanization or possibly worse.

We took her in from the shelter and Tasha's life took a dramatic turn for the better. She was adopted by a yuppie--a dog-loving young man, great job, going places professionally. She moved to a lake-front house, claimed her spot on the sofa, and had dinner cooked for her most evenings. He traveled a lot, but had someone hired to take care of the house and dogs.

There came a time, however, when his professional success no longer benefited his dogs. He took a job on the left coast; it was a great job, a real career advancement, but one that had no room for the dogs. He kept his house here, mostly because he couldn't sell it, and the dogs occupied it alone, with daily visits from a caretaker. The other dog in this story is a German Shepherd Dog named Luke. Both shepherds and rotties are very people-oriented dogs, and they were living alone, but at least they had each other for company.

The news arrived via email that the dogs were being returned, without much advance notice and at a time when I was already full of dogs. It's easier to understand and even sympathize with the person who had to give up his dogs due to a downturn in his own life. I find it more difficult to feel bad for a guy who's become so successful that his dogs suffer for it.

Tasha is now probably 8 years old, Luke is even older. Their standard of living took a giant step backward by coming back to foster care and living in my kennels. However, Luke is moving to a senior-friendly foster home this weekend so things are looking up for him again. Except for an ear infection and being a bit overweight, he is basically healthy and surprisingly playful. He will be in good hands and will be fine, although when and where he will be adopted again is a huge unknown.

Tasha will be ok too. I'll take care of her and do my best to find her a home. But I can't help but feel bad for a dog who, like so many others, has once again found herself homeless due to the vagaries of chance and the fortune of others.

We humans often feel controlled by events and circumstances rather than being in control of them, but consider Tasha's tale: she had a decent home in the beginning and lost it because of her human; she then had a great home for several years, but lost it, again because of her human. Different reasons, but same result for the dog.

Reunions before partings

Buddy and Holly came to me together.  I think Holly is Buddy's mother.  They are very close and he is very dependent on her--too much so, actually, so I've kept them apart since Holly's spay surgery last week.  They have a similar howl-like bark that they do when it gets dark and they want to come inside.  Holly has been coming into the house since her surgery and Buddy has been going into a crate in Sparky's shed. 

Buddy is being adopted on Sunday and I hope that Holly will be moving to another foster home on Sunday.  So I put them back together for a reunion today, in the big kennel with Sunny.  Buddy and Holly were happy to see each other, but it was Buddy and Sunny who really took off playing together.  This video is of the two shepherds eating together.  I separated Sunny for feeding because although Holly will share a food bowl with Buddy, she will not extend the same courtesy to Sunny. 

The other two dogs that come to me as a pair are Luke (GSD) and Tasha (rottie).  They were no where near as dependent, but they were bonded.  Luke has ear infections so he's been coming inside to facilitate medication and healing.  When I moved Buddy over with Holly and Sunny, I moved Tasha into the dog yard with Trooper and King.  Today, Luke went back to the vet for a thorough ear cleaning under anesthesia.  When he got home with Clay this evening I put him into the dog yard with Tasha.  Luke will be moving to another foster home on Sunday. 

Yesterday I made contact with a woman up in Orange who was interested in Buster.  We spoke on the phone Wednesday evening and she sounded great.  Thursday was expected to be a rain day, and my one non-dog day of the week, but the rain moved out early so Buster and I drove up to Orange in the afternoon.  She has a 7 year old dog that had come from the Madison County shelter.  He is the spitting image of Buster, except that he's about 3/4ths of Buster's size.  The two boys have the same play style and they hit it off.  Buster spent the night there and he's there still.  The woman wants him, but she's leaving for a job in Florida on Tuesday (flying) and will be gone at least 2 months.  We are both looking for long term boarding/training options.  Failing that, he'll come back for a reunion with Trooper Sunday evening and I'll have another long term foster. 

Yes, we have a cat

I've been to the vet every day this week.  Today it was Eleanor's turn. 

Eleanor is sort of like Teddy.  I've never been mean to either of them but they have both always been scared of me.  I yell too much for them, but that's the only way I've ever been able to handle all the dogs around here.  Eleanor is semi-feral and lives mostly under our house.  She lays on the front porch in the sun and will come up to the window to call someone when she wants to eat, but that's as close as she will come to voluntary contact with a human.  She has good shelter under the porch and seems to be able to get back into the crawlspace under the house where the furnace is located because we've heard her in that area during the winter.  I've also set up a dog house on the front porch for her in the winter, with a heating pad, rug, and blanket, although I'm not sure she uses it much. 

These two pics were taken when she was younger, somewhat better socialized, and we lived up in Catharpin, with only cat-friendly dogs.  She loved our first rottie, Jack. 

Our house has termites and today we had the treatment done.  I was told to not let the cat come in contact with the ground until the chemicals had dried, so I needed to get Eleanor to come in prior to the treatment.  We started a couple weeks ago setting a trap baited with tuna on the front porch.  We caught a neighbor's cat, twice, and finally got Eleanor a few days ago. 

Since we had her indoors, finally, I scheduled a vet visit because she was due.  We got vaccines, wormer, and Frontline, although she didn't show any signs of parasites or even fleas. 

I released her when we got back home.  She'd be a great barn cat if we had a great barn.

Busy week at the vet

Because I have a few dogs who may move next weekend, I thought I'd better make sure everyone was fully vetted.  Bubba needed boosters on a couple vaccines and I realized that I had never finished his course of doxycycline for Lyme Disease, I had been giving it to King instead.  King had been on it as well for a shorter period of time before his heartworm treatment, but I kept giving it to King instead of Bubba.  That is a hazard of having too many dogs with too many medications. 

So I got enough doxy to start over again with it for Bubba; better safe than sorry.  I also got enough Panacure to worm everyone again.  Buddy and Holly were due to a second treatment of that and I'm just going to do them all based on the assumption that they've been sharing.  I'm also going to pick up enough Revolution to treat everyone because several of the dogs are doing some unexplained scratching. 

Luke went to the vet with Bubba.  He has a history of chronic ear infections and they have flared up again.  Apparently it's just yeast, but he has scratched up his ear so we have antibiotics for the cuts on his skin and miconazole drops for the ear canals.  Another VGSR foster home has offered to take in Luke next weekend.  She has a senior shepherd herself and can give him a better foster home than I can right now.  I'd trust her with any dog, any time, and I know she will find him a home eventually. 

Tomorrow I'm taking in King for a follow up check up after his heartworm treatment.  He met some potential adopters on Sunday.  They have a Saint Bernard and 3 cats that we will be meeting next Sunday.  I'm also taking Jeremy back to the vet, his skin still looks bad and I suspect he's going to need some further treatment of some sort.

I also made an appointment for our cat, Eleanor, on Wednesday.  I think that will address all of our immediate veterinary needs.  At least I hope so. 

The pictures here are not really related to this post, but they are a few pics of former fosters that have recently come my way.  The gorgeous German Shepherd on the upper left is Huck, formerly Nemo, who was rescued along with his brother, Hannibal, from life on a chain thanks to a former adopter.  Huck has completed a basic obedience course and even passed the CGC (Canine Good Citizen) test. His new adopters are now VGSR volunteers too.   

The next two pics are of a former foster rottie named Sable.  The one on the top right was from a "Blessing of the Animals" event.  Bernie's head is in the foreground, and apparently Bernie allowed the minister to touch him, which is a privilege extended to few, but he saw Sable doing it so he must have figured it was all right, or wanted to see what it was all about anyway.  The next pic is Sable in her garden. 

The next pic on the right is Cassie, kissing one of her new twins.  Cassie's dad called me last week, it seems she suffered a pinched nerve or something like that in her neck and was in quite a bit of pain. Another former foster rottie, Stoney, has had a similar problem from time to time. Cassie was getting pain meds, anti-inflammatories, and muscle relaxers, plus lots of rest and TLC, all of which seemed to be making her feel better.  Cassie is a very maternal rottweiler.  This household also has my former foster Hydro, now Cooper.  Those children are not going to grow up being afraid of big dogs.

Finally, the pic below is Daphne, another rottie who has been unofficially adopted for some time now.  We just made it official after another vet visit last week.  She seems to be responding to the thyroid medication.  She lives with Stoney and their mom, Mary Jane, who dotes on them both.  Daphne is a doll.
 

There were a lot more rotties than shepherds in the pics today.  I have a very busy week with the shepherds at the vet and next Sunday with some possible adoptions.  If I can get the number of shepherds down, I can concentrate on some non-shepherds for a while.  An application came in to the SPCA for Buster today!  I'll contact them and check it out tomorrow.