Foster girls

I've had my current fosters, Abby and Xochi, longer than I should have. They are both young, attractive dogs. The truth is that I've been neglecting them. I take care of them and they've had each other as company, so they aren't really suffering, but I haven't been doing what I should to get them adopted. Partly it's the season (holidays, lousy weather), and partly it's me (preoccupation with the house projects). But that needs to change.

I took Abby to a Promises Adoption event on Sunday. She was actually pretty good there. She loves people, loves attention, and will sit and look very cute if she even thinks you might have a treat. Abby and I don't always get along. She looks cute and sweet, but she can be a real bitch with other dogs. Theo won't go into the dog yard with her any more and I don't ask him to after the way I've seen her go after him. She's not overtly aggressive towards other dogs, but she is very dominant and possessive when it comes to resources, be it food or attention.

She will need an assertive owner who is prepared to do some training and she would be best as an only dog. She will not be a dog park dog. She appears to be a shepherd/hound mix of some sort, but there's no laid back hound personality there. The female shepherd force is strong in this one. She's smart though, and very food motivated, so she should be a faster learner, the problem is that I haven't been teaching her anything.
























I didn't take Xochi on Sunday because someone had come to the house on Friday who wanted to adopt her. They came back on Monday afternoon and took her home.

I had been neglecting Xochi's education too, and Abby was taking up the slack, which wasn't really good for Xochi. Xochi is pure puppy, loves everything and everyone. She's good with other dogs but her energy level and enthusiasm wasn't always welcome around some of our older dogs around here.

She went to a home with just one other dog, old enough to teach her but still young enough to play with her. She's a great dog with a lot of potential, but she also needed someone to work with her and I just haven't been doing that. I wish her the best in her new home.

I really need to stick to taking fosters that are a bit older, and I really think I'm going to lay off the shepherds for a while. Even nice ones are rather high maintenance dogs and we have enough of them around here without taking in more. My bad attitude is due in part to the mud and rainy weather, I know, but we won't know how much until spring.