Bruno

I should start out with some background, at least as much as I know. Bruno was seized and ultimately surrendered to the county as a result of a neglect case. He and his mate, Luna, and four six-month old pups, were kept in a basement room without food or water, living in their own excrement, inches deep on the floor. A bag of food was occasionally tossed in, unopened, and the dogs survived on that as best they could. The female, Luna, gave birth in the county shelter while the court case was pending to another litter of puppies, only three of which survived. The four six-month old pups from the prior litter have been placed in other foster homes. Luna is still with me, along with her three pups, who will adopted out after they are weaned. But Bruno is ready for a home now.

Bruno is such an easy foster that I've been neglecting him and focusing more effort on some of the other dogs. But it's time to get Bruno a home. He's got an appointment to be neutered on Thursday. I gave him a bath outdoors this afternoon. He was really good about it, no squirming or trying to get away. It probably felt good on a hot afternoon and it removed a lot of his old coat. Bruno has been eating well, with a lot of skin and coat supplements because he had been badly neglected in his former home and his coat was dull. He's also putting on some badly needed weight.

They were told by the former owner that Bruno is nine years old. I don't think he looks or acts like nine, but it seems that he had a better life at some point. Bruno is the most well socialized of the dogs that were seized, he is good with dogs and very outgoing with people. He was fantastic about the bath and he seems fine being crated. He has met all the dogs around here, including the fosters and has been good with all of them. He is prone to resource guarding, food especially, as a result of the neglect he suffered with the prior owner. Food, and even water, were scarce commodities in his former hellhole. When he first arrived here he had a tank full of water but still tried to guard it from the other dogs, not knowing if there would ever be more. He was the same way with food so I was feeding him in a crate when other dogs were around.

I think Bruno knew care and love at some time, however, because he's a very nice dog. He's friendly and outgoing. When I go to feed him he debates whether to go for the food immediately or try to get some petting and attention from me. He wants it and needs it, he's a German Shepherd. I don't know how long he lived in those horrific conditions, but he came through it with his sweet personality still intact. Bruno is available for adoption through Promises Animal Rescue.

You will notice that little tuft of hair under
his left eye. All I can say about it is that
it's unique.

Bruno was amazingly good about the bath.
I soaped him up a couple of times,
and rinsed him off thoroughly.

My elevated dog washing station is a real back saver.

Journey, taking baby steps

I haven't posted anything about Journey since we got him, mostly because there hasn't been anything much to say. I've been keeping him crated for the most part, with walks around the yard 4-5 times each day. He's been perfect in the crate, he pees each time we go out, and he poops on two of the daily walks. When we get back to the house, he immediately goes to his crate. I've been leaving the leash attached to his harness all the time so I don't have to scare him by getting too close, just close enough to reach for the leash.

So far, so good, but it's not a lot of progress. I've been leaving the crate open at times, and whenever I do he takes one of the nice dog beds in the kitchen and lays there quite contentedly. When Clay is home he makes forays down the hall and peeks into the front room but Arby chases him out.

I saw him chewing on a blanket in his crate one day, and sometimes he's chewed a bit on the leash. He was quite happy to have a hard nylabone and a couple similar chew toys. Now he has one or two in his crate and there's a couple laying around on the dog beds in the kitchen as well.

If I'm in the kitchen, invariably two or three of the girls are with me and Journey has been making overtures of play with them. No one has quite taken him up on it yet, but they are getting close. He's very submissive towards the other dogs, not the least sign of aggression from him. He really still is a puppy, although he doesn't look like one and doesn't quite know how to act like one.

And then there's us. Clay is doing better with him than I am. I yell too much, but I'm careful to never direct it at him. Still, he sees me as a monster. He's better if you sit in a chair and reach out to him. He will reach out to you and even I've gotten a nose touch. Once again, it will probably be the power of the pack, interactions with the other dogs and letting him see them interact with me, that will make a breakthrough happen. Although we aren't there yet, and he may look very serious and distrustful still, when the other dogs are around his tail is wagging like crazy. That's something.

More of the Tiny Troopers

Luna and the Tiny Troopers will be available for adoption through Promises Animal Rescue after the pups are weaned and Luna is spayed. The Tiny Troopers are five weeks old today. They will have their first vaccines at six weeks of age. I believe in letting the puppies learn as much as possible from their mother and litter mates, so I expect to keep them until they are ten weeks old or so.

There are two females and one male. The one on the left
with the more pronounced brown spots on the ears is a male.
The little black faced one on the right is a female, which
means that the one front right is a female also.

Luna continues to do a great job with the puppies.

See the brown spots on the ears?
This is the male.

This is the black face female, barely any markings.

Female, very little brown on the ears.

This is the male, he also has more white on his chest.

These pups have a strong biscuit hustling game.
They will be a hit at bars and breweries.

Simon is off the market

Clay and I have been together for almost 24 years. We met before the age of smart phones and dating apps. Although I have a smart phone now, I've never had the occasion to use a dating app so I don't know how well, or not, they work. If they work as well for people as a little internet exposure did for Simon, they would be well worth whatever they cost to join and use. I suspect that Simon has a lot more going for him than many people do, however.

Simon meeting Abita

So Simon had a number of interested people and several applications that could have provided excellent homes for him. When faced with that situation, I'll always go with someone who has a track record that I know firsthand. Simon's adopters had adopted two of my former fosters. A couple of years ago they adopted Clyde, a large male Great Dane that had been rescued from someone suspected of supplying dogs to a dog fighting ring. And last summer they adopted one of Della's puppies, Abita. When they indicated an interest in Simon that made the decision an easy one, at least for me.

They drove down from northern Virginia Friday afternoon and we met at Green Dogs. Abita came along and had her official birthday portrait taken because they had been unable to attend the event last weekend. Clay and I and Simon went to meet them and Simon went home with them.

I told them that it took Simon a couple of days to warm up, and I expect he will take his time again. But, he has met several new people since coming here and has seemed a little more at ease and faster to warm up to them than when he first came here straight out of a shelter, so I hope it will be a relatively easy transition for him. He's a dear, sweet dog, I wish him a long and happy life with Clyde, Abita, and their entire family.