Run for the Ratties Lure Coursing Event

New Rattitude's Midwest team will be putting on a very fun event in Kenosha Wisconsin that will benefit New Rattitude. The lure coursing event will include a delicious lunch, a store selling New Rattitude's ReTail items and more. Why am I telling my mostly Washington state readers about this? Well you can donate money so a New Rattitude foster dog will get to join in the fun and run the course. If you haven't heard about lure coursing, it is a rat terrier's dream sport. Check out www.lurecoursingfanatics.com to learn more about this fun sport.

Anyhow, for every $5 donated a foster dog will get to run the course along with the other dogs with paying parents. All money raised will go towards the vetting expenses of our rescued rat terriers. To learn more about the event or donate check out the event Webpage at http://www.newrattitude.org/fundraising.htm

Same old same old

Not a whole lot new going on since I last posted. Quimby is still with us and still growing like a weed. Not sure how her app is going to work out so I think I'll be needing to put her on Petfinder soon. She's almost 3 months old now and will be spayed on the 1st and then will be all ready to go to her forever home.

Lucas is still waiting for a good home. He's a sweet little rattie/doxie guy - about 4 years old and really loves lap time and hanging with people. He does fine with the other dogs but gets a bit overwhelmed by Quimby's rambunctious nature.

Jett has a great application and everything is a pass so far. Sometime today his home visit was done so I'm guessing he'll be ready to go home next week sometime.

The old guy who I wanted to rescue ended up being picked up by his family, which wasn't necessarily a good thing as he was showing a lot of signs of neglect. Well, the shelter in that small town knows that if he shows up again at the shelter as a stray that he has a spot with New Rattitude.

Currently in the works is a pull and transport of 3 rescues from high kill shelters in the Midwest. Kanga from Wisconsin was labeled unadoptable because she has luxating patella and was scheduled for euthanasia. I've fostered 4 dogs with New Rattitude so far with this congenital defect and after a quick surgery they bounced back to 100% very quickly. So 1 year old bouncy Ms. Kanga will be fostered with us and we'll take her in for surgery and have her here recuperating with us. The other 2 dogs will be males as right now there are about 5-6 males who are very urgent in IN and IL shelters. Unfortunately we only have room for 2 of them so whomever has the least amount of time left before their put to sleep date will be the ones chosen. The 3 new kiddoes will fly to WA from O'Hare on either the 30th or the 31st of August.

McMuffin, who we had with us for awhile and who is being fostered in Yakima now has a very good application and I think she will be very happy with the couple who have applied. Oh, and 2 - 5 mo. old pups from a high kill shelter in Central CA were rescued and are now here in WA. The boy on the west side of the state has an application and will probably go home next week but Fleck, his brother, is still waiting for a good home.

So I think that's it for this week for the latest WA rat terrier rescue status report. :)

The weekly pupdate

After just a week of fostering here in WA, handsome Mr. Jett has not one but 2 apps interested in him. The first folks who applied will be coming to meet him tomorrow night. He's such a sweet guy, just a little insecure since he's been through so much in his life. With a little time to adjust he will make an incredible family dog.

McMuffin is in her Yakima foster home and doing much better health-wise. She's keeping busy investigating their gopher and mole holes and has proven herself to be quite the huntress. No squirrel is safe under her watch.

Little puppy Quimby is growing like a weed and keeping everyone laughing. That girl ended up with a double dose of personality. What a goofball.

Lucas, the rat terrier/dachshund mix, will be arriving on Monday. He's being transferred from another foster home that is in an area without many adopters. Hopefully this sweet, young, easy going guy will have better luck in Washington. He has the body of a doxie but the head and spots of a rat terrier. Pretty dang cute.

The latest news is that I am in the process of trying to rescue a senior rat terrier, about 11-12 years, and get him to WA to be fostered. His put to sleep date is Saturday so we are crossing our fingers that everything will work out for the transports. We will also have some other dogs coming to WA to fill several open foster spots at other foster parents' homes so stay tuned for who will be heading to the Evergreen State in the next couple weeks!

Thanks to those of you who are watching our foster dogs for us while we go camping. We love our fosters but camping with our own 2 dogs in our tent is more than enough.

Remember Poppy?

Last year we had a really rough summer. Sweet Callista, a dog we rescued from Dallas, came to us with distemper and exposed 3 puppies. Callista, and the puppies Bugsy and Kewpie had to be put to sleep when the disease moved into their brain, but Poppy survived with only a mild case of the disease. It was definitely our family's darkest hours of fostering and I considered quitting at that point because of the emotional toll it had taken on us. We perservered though and since then have been blessed to have rescued another dozen or more dogs.

Her adoptive family just sent me this great video of her that celebrates her first year with them. Enjoy!

Animoto video - Poppy: My cute dog

Jett, Quimby and McMuffin

The dogs arrived from Georgia and everyone is doing great now. Poor McMuffin, who is actually heading to her foster home in Yakima tomorrow, has a whole host of shelter health issues that we are getting under control - ear mites, conjunctivitis, finishing treatment for a respiratory infection, skin issues and bloody stool. In spite of it all she is friendly and playful and some family is going to end up with an absolutely amazing dog once we get her all healthy.

Jett is such a sweet loving guy - about 5 years old and 18 pounds. He doesn't do well with big dogs or with any alpha male dogs but has been getting along great with our personal dogs. He is playful without being hyper, is housetrained, and loves snoozing on a lap. We are pretty fond of the guy.

Quimby is more cute than pictures can show but my lord, she's a little fireball. I took her to a friend's house who has a husky and a golden retriever and both dogs were a little perplexed by this tiny little bouncy thing with very sharp teeth. Maggie, the 1 year old retriever, played with Quimby until both of them were too exhausted to stand and could just bat at each other without actually getting to their feet. I'm guessing that she'll be the alpha of whatever house she ends up at. She is full of terrier 'tude. Jett likes to play with her but sometimes I'll see him walking along, tail between his legs with Quimby hanging from his cheek by her teeth. We have to watch her because the other dogs aren't the type to put her in her place when she gets too rough. Where's Franny when you need her?! LOL.

The photo above shows camera shy Jett and NEVER shy Quimby.

Lucas, a rat terrier dachshund mix, will be arriving on this coming Monday. He has a dachshund body but a rat terrier's markings (white with tan spots) and is great with dogs and people but afraid of children.