New fosters

Last week I brought home a sweet but shy female named Birdie. She's the probable dobie/pit mix on the right in the picture below, and she wasn't doing well at the shelter. She was scared to death, but she didn't seem to be a fear biter. Nevertheless, she wasn't going to do well being put up for adoption because she would bark ferociously as stangers approach her. The good news is that it doesn't seem to take much to move from "stranger" to "trusted friend." I brought her home as a foster from the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA to see if I can get her better socialized. Ideally, I'd like to get her to the point that she's not scared of strangers and then return her to the SPCA to be adopted.


Justin (as in "just in time") was originally in a shelter somewhere near Richmond, Chesterfield maybe. I don't know how he came to be there, but he was adopted out by an apartment dweller. The landlord changed his mind about allowing her to have a dog and she was in the process of returning the dog to the shelter when a volunteer from another rescue group found the tearful woman in the parking lot with Justin. This other volunteer ended up taking the dog home, but she contacted VGSR about taking on the dog.

I drove to Richmond today to pick up Justin and he is a wonderful dog. He was a bit intimidated by me at first but he later tried to climb over the crates in the back of the van to get up to the front seat with me on the drive home. He will get a lot of interest from potential adopters if I put him on the VGSR website. However, I have two potential placements for him that I know of already. It would be nice to place him that way so I can't have to deal with all the emails and inquiries from marginal applicants.

Six dogs in two weeks

This is a record rate of placement for me, 6 dogs in 2 weeks. Here's some news and updates on their stories:

From the new home of Marine (now known as Sarge): Hi everyone! So glad to be able to share happy things with you. I appreciate so very much what you do and how well things have worked out for me personally. I am just beside myself with happiness. . . . they are a never
ending source of delight.

From Frisky's new mom (fostering became adopting): Ok I admit it I'm a foster failure...I'm keeping her. She's a really good girl no accidents in the house so far and just a great girl. I may have to change her name to shadow since she follows me EVERYWHERE. I have a problem getting out the door in the morning to go to work because she keeps trying to squeeze out the door with me.

From Filly's new home: She is still struggling with stairs, down is easier than up. For up she hesitates and then almost throws herself up the stairs - or cries for Miles to carry her. She indicates when she wants/needs to piddle and seems happy - we're very happy.

Brady went to his new home on Friday so they would have the entire weekend to spend with him. He has a 8 year old boy of his own and parents who had a life-long experience chasing after a husky. I'm thinking that Brady should be a piece of cake after that.

Samson went to his new home last Saturday. He lives on a 65 acre farm that his new dad uses to grow fresh vegetables for a food bank. He's a good man and has had dogs all his life. Samson probably bonded with his new owner within 10 minutes of my leaving, and hopefully Samson will have found his home at last.

From Tippy's new home, where she has a big brother named Mo: Hi all, just wanted to thank you for two wonderful dogs. Mo barks and jumps when other dogs come around. He did the same when he first met Tippy. She gave him a look that seemed to say “tell someone who cares” and ignored his behavior. By the time we made the trip around the parking lot at Pets Mart, Mo was in love and Tippy was looking at him saying well I guess you’re ok, but pushing me around isn’t going to happen.

Mo is 90 pounds of raw muscle and Tippy is a very petite maybe 50+ pound female. She was not impressed and let him know it would take more than muscles to win her heart. When we got home he brought her every toy he had in the house, her reaction was, that’s nice and walked off. She was too busy checking out every room and everything to play with him. But she did want to keep him in site without him knowing she was interested. Tippy was treated to a light lunch and a trip to the Eaton Doggie Spa. Then it was nap time and they went into their crates. Of course the crates are in the living room where else would you keep them?? Both were tired and are sleeping as I type.

Six dogs in two weeks is wonderful, but of course they could all come back tomorrow. Let's hope not. I was very, very happy with all of the adopters and what they had to offer each dog. It sounds like neither of the two rotties mentioned in my last post will be coming my way after all. However, there is a new young male shepherd heading here this week.

A tool and a trap

Online photographs, and internet generally, have really revolutionized dog rescue. Actually, it might be more accurate to say that it has created dog rescue. Sure, people were pulling dogs from shelters and finding them homes prior to the internet, but now many dogs are rescued from far away and moved long distances to their new homes. Breed-specific rescue groups have formed, such as Virginia German Shepherd Rescue, that make concerted efforts to rescue and re-home all of that breed's adoptable dogs found in shelters. Other groups that take on a variety of pure bred and mixed breed dogs have the ability to showcase their fosters to a national audience of online adopters.

The importance of the photograph can not be overstated. I have had dogs posted on the web with great pictures that get little response. For some reason, changing the picture just for the sake of change, will often bring in email from interested adopters. It is not an exaggeration to say that a good photograph can save a dog's life. That is particularly true if the dog is in a shelter with limited time. It is also true for dogs coming into rescue.

There is one woman from whom I will take dogs sight unseen. Everyone else must send pictures. (It's like the old saying: "In God we trust, everyone else must pay cash.") I've been burned by enough people who have misrepresented a dog's age, breed, size, or other characteristics, that I always want to see a picture before agreeing to take in a dog.

Photos are a double edged sword, however. Once I see one, it makes it twice as hard to decline to take in a dog. Last week I was hit with two requests to take in rottweilers. Now, we are planning a trip to NYC in July, so I'm trying very hard NOT to take in more dogs right now. But when I see faces like these two, I've very hard pressed to turn them down. The two pics on the right are a young male rottie in Pennsylvania who will be coming next weekend along with a German Shepherd pup. The beautiful girl on the left is in WV and may be coming early next week, perhaps with a litter of mixed breed puppies. Apparently the "SUCKER" tattoo on my forehead is visible for quite some distance.

New homes for Filly, Frisky?

Last Sunday I drove to Front Royal, VA, for a VGSR adoption event. It's about 2.5 hours but was well worth the trip at the end of the day.

Filly was adopted by a very nice couple from Maryland who have been driving to VGSR adoption events for several weeks now, anxious and actively looking for a dog. Filly, you may recall, is a skinny little shepherd with a big attitude. It didn't matter that she was a newcomer to the pack; she moved in and took charge. I swear, only a female shepherd could pull it off.

She has a retired daddy now and mom was going to be home for her first couple weeks to help with the bonding and training. She will be a handful, but she is pretty sweet and they have time and apparently needed a dog that would keep the household lively. They got one.

Frisky spent the day at the end of a leash held by a new volunteer from that area. Apparently they bonded when no one was looking and she ended up taking Frisky home to "foster." I've only heard from her once since then, but things seemed to be going well. Hopefully the foster will turn into an adopter so I won't have to worry about and decide how to spell Frisky's name.

She's a great dog, went through some very bad health problems before I got her, so she really deserves a permanent place in the home of a true dog lover. Finally, perhaps the best news of the day was a lead on a possible new home for Samson. I could use more days like this.

The power of luck

Two weeks ago the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA had an adoption event. They invited a few other rescue groups and shelters, and I went with some of my dogs. They generally have a lot of visitors at those events, and it was a beautiful day so I had high hopes. However, as luck would have it, I didn't get much interest in the five dogs I took that day: Chance, Brady, Teddy, Frisky, and Filly. Perhaps it was such a nice day that everyone stayed home and mowed their grass. It's been raining almost daily around here and mowing opportunities have been few and far between.

Still, it was a nice event. We had a lot of volunteers come out to help that I hadn't seen in a while, including some former adopters, always nice to see. Brady was charming; he really works the crowd. Teddy was shy but got a lot of attention from volunteers and finally warmed up and got his confidence up. Frisky was uncharacteristically barky and Filly was just herself (more on her in a later post).

The real star of the day was Chance, who loves outings, loves people, and gives hugs to everyone who passes by. One of the VGSR volunteers met Chance at an adoption event in Gainesville a few weeks ago and may want to give him a try. She's looking for a new dog to train for therapy work and Chance does seem to have the temperament for it anyway. She likes big, goofy dogs, and won't be too fussed about a few household goods that may suffer in the course of his training.

Back to the matter of luck. I think that adoption events are pretty much always a matter of luck. It's a question of the right person coming along at the right time and seeing the right dog. It is hit and miss, but sometimes the payoff comes later. Last Saturday I went out with Animal Connections on their weekly Saturday outing at the Barrack's Road Shopping Center in Charlottesville. I took just Brady and Teddy. As luck would have it, a man happened to stop by the grocery store where we were set up. He recognized Brady from having seen him at the CASPCA event the week before. I gave him my number and his wife called that evening wanting to arrange a meeting.

I drove Brady to Crozet on Monday, met the couple and their 8 year old son, recently moved from Wisconsin. Nice folks and Brady is a nice dog, so they hit it off. I'm taking him to their place to do the adoption on Friday evening so they will have all weekend to spend with him. Wish us luck.

Kids have dirty faces

Cassie is a rottie that we adopted to a wonderful young couple here in Charlottesville. They both graduated from UVA, moved to Georgia for a couple years, had a baby girl, and are now back living in northern Virginia.

They have not one, but two large dogs. Both Cassie and Cooper were adopted from us. These folks started new careers, moved twice, and had a baby, all without dumping their dogs.

These are seemingly impossible feats for so many people these days, who dump their dogs along with all other aspects of their single lives when they buy that first mini-van.

I'm sure it wasn't always easy, but then, neither is giving up your dog, or at least it shouldn't be.

A transfer and a promotion

Don't be excited by the title. I don't have a job yet and we are not moving. It's about a dog. Big surprise.

You may recall that I recently took in a VGSR return named Marine. His first owner was a young marine who committed suicide and the second owner was a cop with no realization of what was involved in owning a dog. I took him back from the cop because his orginal foster home was full. I didn't figure I'd have him long because he's a good looking young male, always in high demand.

He was returned to us at the last Gainesville adoption event (See, "A pretty good day", Sunday, May 24, 2009), where a young woman came to meet some of our foster dogs. She was interested in my Chance. So interested, in fact, that she drove down here to meet him. One of the things I liked most about her was that she was open to finding the right dog, regardless of breed even though she had been interested in shepherds orginally.

She settled on Marine, I arranged for a home visit in Reston (Thanks, Bob), and we met at the end of the week in Culpeper to do the adoption paperwork and transfer the dog. Marine moved right in with few transition problems. He now has a new home and an upgrade in title -- Sarge.

The email at the end of the first day sounded wonderful, they had had a great day, but that is the honeymoon period so I waited until another email today before finally considering him to be adopted. Sarge doesn't need to be crated at night, he is friendly to absolutely everyone, and the adopter is still planning to take him for training. The boyfriend's female shepherd has some adjusting to do, but it didn't sound like anything that can't be worked out by the dogs themselves.