Have van, will rescue

Well, the van rolls again.   A new pump for the power steering system and few more minor things got me an inspection sticker that is good for another year.  We picked it up pre-dawn on Saturday morning, for the start of a long and high mileage day. 

Before leaving home, however, Biscuit was picked up by a potential adopter for a weekend home visit.  He was happy, ran straight to the vehicles, and willingly, eagerly even, hopped into an open crate.  Biscuit is a good dog.  I've probably never had a foster so well behaved indoors or one who was already so well adapted to living with humans.  He attached himself to me and has been making himself at home here, but he will be happier in a home where he's the only dog. 

He needs a strong pack leader but he's more than willing to accept a human in that role.  I hope this will be the home for him, but if not, his home is out there. 

I loaded up Jeremy and Max in the two crates in the van and we drove to Gainesville for a VGSR adoption event.  The dogs were fine, but the store was not.  The current store manager is a bitch.  I don't know if she doesn't like dogs, doesn't like big dogs, or what, but she's been giving us crap about taking too much space in the store at adoption events.  They limited us to bringing 8 dogs.  Ok, I can sort of see that.  We are indoors for the winter and it can be rather crowded at times between our fosters, our volunteers, and potential adopters visiting with their dogs.  We actually had only 7 dogs there yesterday and they were never all there at the same time.  But they also moved us to an aisle in the front of the store where there is no space at all.  It was obviously her way of saying "going away, I don't want you here."  Petsmart's corporate policy is to be friendly to and to encourage rescue (knowing that adopters often drop a few hundred dollars in their store if they adopt a dog).  However, individual store managers vary considerably.  It's a good location for us, and we'll go back in the spring as soon as it's decent to be outside, but we will be trying some new locations up there for the rest of the winter.

Needless to say, the trip was for nought, except that I did meet a potential adopter that I liked very much.  I'll be looking for a dog for her. 

Jeremy is looking better these days, growing a bit more coat finally, but his skin still appears red and inflamed.  I'm taking him back to the vet next week and we'll try one of their limited ingredient diets to get his allergy under control. This is an old pic of him, the shaved spots from the heartworm treatment have filled in and his coat is a bit thicker, but still not where it needs to be.  If Biscuit gets adopted, I'd like to move Jeremy indoors where I can bathe him more regularly and work on his housetraining and other manners.  He's a bit of a nuisance barker outside, so it would be more peaceful with him inside.

I only stayed in Gainesville for 2 hours and then came home because I wanted to be back in time to pick up Panini when there was still some daylight. She is a former foster, we had called her Flirt.  Her adopters were not able to care for her anymore.  She has some problems and we'll be seeing a vet this week.  She's a Great Dane but weighs only 84 pounds.  She was always very thin but now she's rather emaciated.  She's also got a growth on her belly that needs to be looked at.  Sweet girl though.  We put the long sleeved tshirt on her to keep her warmer.  I'm feeding her Zachary's raw food, mixed with dry, along with some digestive enzymes because she doesn't seem to be absorbing any nutrients from her food. I'll also be introducing her to Zach's raw chicken backs. 

I haven't been to a vet's office in a couple weeks, but we'll be making up for it this week.