Holiday cards and emails

One aspect of the Solstice holiday season that I don't dislike is the fact that people send me pictures of former foster dogs.  Some still send actual cards, in the mail.  It's a quaint tradition, which, much like check writing, is rapidly giving way to digital communication.  But I don't mind receiving hard copy pics, and I've gotten a few so far this year, along with some via email. 

These are two of my former fosters.  On the left is Hannibal.  He came in along with Nemo (who is now Huck).  On the right end of the sofa is Ricco.  It was about this time last year that Hannibal was adopted.  Fortunately the adopter has a chair of his own because the sofa is fully filled with shepherd. 

This is Toquima, formerly Brutus, named after the adopters' favorite mountain range in Nevada. He is shown in this picture with the only stuffed toy that he did not immediately destroy.  He's a great looking dog and he has a great life, two parents who are active people and who both work from home. 

This is Tippy (my former foster) and Mo (another VGSR adopted dog), with Santa, (Tippy in Santa's lap). 

These folks moved to New York, have a great, dog-friendly house and yard, and got involved with a GSD rescue group up there. 

Tippy is a sweet girl, but is very much in charge of her pack, including any new fosters that come home.  That is actually great, it is really makes it a lot easier to foster if one of your own dogs does the work for you.  Our Molly did that when she was a foster.  She ran her kennel like a well-oiled machine, broke in the new fosters, and quickly got them with the program, HER program.  

The handsome dog in this picture is Kai, short for Malachi (yes, Heather, that's your dog).  Kai is a big goof, and that pretty much says it all.  Kai's daddy is a VGSR volunteer and I'm always happy to pass off one of my foster dogs to him at an adoption event.  I don't have to worry about a dog that Paul is handling.  He stays on top of the dog and will take it outside for a good run too. 

I seem to have lost the picture postcard of Shayna, Rocky, and Shika, but here is a similar pic I swiped from Shayna's Facebook page.  Rocky (on the left) appeared in a lot of blog posts over this past year.  He had terrible ear infections that had burst open through his face.  His ear canals were completely fused shut.  He had two operations and two weeks of intensive care and treatment at the vet school at Va Tech.  His extensive medical expenses were paid for fully by donations thanks in very large part to two women I know here in Charlottesville who hit up their friends for money (both women have also adopted dogs from me).  A former VGSR volunteer who now lives in Utah drove out here and adopted Rocky.  Rocky is now a certified therapy dog, and an all around good guy.  Although he is still alive and hopefully will be for many years to come, it is not too early to start calling him Saint Rocky.

The card I wait for every year arrived yesterday.  The old girl in the lower left corner of this picture is Maggie.  Her parents had twin girls this year so Maggie has had to share their time and attention for the first time in almost 10 years that she's been with them.  Maggie was our first foster dog.  She was a young, loving, very pregnant rottie from the Louisa County shelter.  She delivered 10 puppies a week after we got her.  None of us knew what we were doing, but we managed to raise 6 of the pups, one of which is our boy Bremo.  She will always have a special place in our hearts.