Pre-holiday stress

My pre-holiday, pre-travel stress out began this week.  Wednesday it peaked with bad stomach pain, very little sleep, and a deteriorating disposition.  So I haven't posted anything this week, anything I wrote would have been dark and ugly so I figure it's best to keep that to myself.  There have been a few good things this week anyway.

Hobby (left) seems to be working out in his new home.  I heard from him after day two and all was well at that point and no new since then, which is probably good news.  This was the initial report I received:

By the end of the 1st night he was following me around wherever I would go and laying next to me while I worked. He is attached at the hip now and letting me approach him to pet him, play with him or whatever. Once he habituated to all the new "city noises" (cars, people, sirens, etc.) he's taken to his new home very nicely. He was eating the 1st night and I've had absolutely no problems with him at all (except that he loves his toys so much that he destroys them pretty quickly!, haha). He's doing better than I had even anticipated. Also, I'm so surprised that he was such a barker before. Honestly, he hasn't made a peep and seems to be quite comfortable in his new home!
I expected Hobby to be a pretty easy dog and although he's wary of strangers at first, I knew he would warm up quickly to the only person around.  He is a German Shepherd Dog after all. 









Trace (left) is being adopted on Sunday from the adoption event in Front Royal.  I need to work Sunday if we are to leave on Tuesday, but it was a good time and place to meet for Trace's adoption and who knows, maybe I'll have some luck with someone else as well.  I'll take Thora, Mercedes, and someone else in addition to Trace. 

Cole (right) is doing well in his new home too, and they are going to make it official as soon as I get the paperwork in the mail, which I must do. 

I didn't get the boxer neutered, didn't get Mercedes spayed, I really didn't accomplish squat in terms of the dogs.  It seems that I really didn't do much except work this week.  Some weeks are like that, I guess. I've had a number of requests to take dogs that I've had to turn down this week too, and that always bums me out.  At this point in the season I don't want to replace fosters who get adopted.  I'd really like to get my numbers down for the winter so I can get everyone into one of the two sheds at night at least. 

This picture is Rocky.  Rocky is really a medical miracle.  He's the one who came to us in such terrible shape.  His ear canals were fused shut and had to be surgically removed.  He was at the vet hospital at Virginia Tech for two weeks.  I'm not going to re-post all the gory details of his past, but you can read about them here, and here, and here and in many other posts on this blog.

Rocky recovered, was adopted, and moved to Utah where he became certified as a therapy dog.  He has recently moved to Texas due to his person's job change and he just had his first therapy gig at a nursing home down there.  This is Shayna's account of their day (lifted from her Facebook update):

Rocky did good at the nursing home. Now he has two schnauzer girl friends. I was surprised he was so nice to them, he's usually rough on little dogs but they were respectful of his space so that made a difference.
One man had his hand gnarled in a fist (stroke maybe?) and was petting his head and face with a closed fist. When I gave him treats so he would lean in closer I noticed the man's hand was flat open petting Rocky's back. Amazing what petting a dog will do!

Even bad weeks have their bright spots.