An End and Some Beginnings

Today was big day for Samish. It was the end of his stay in foster care with our family and the beginning of his life with his new family.

I had all this things packed to go last night - a couple belly bands until he can behave, his favorite stuffed dragon, his blankie, records, kibble and canned food, samples of his supplements... That left this morning for just hanging out and having fun.

The costume looks more like a penguin puking up a dog, than a dog dressed as a penguin.

Oh, the look of disillusionment on that face!

Yesterday at work I bought a polar fleece that looked like a penguin out of the clearance section and so this morning, since Samish was the only one that it would fit, he had to humor me and try it on. He was pretty patient considering it had a hood which flattened his ears down. He definitely didn't think it counted as hanging out and having fun though. So we did some training, which he enjoys, and he ran around the back yard chasing leaves with Frodo.

Then it was off to drive him to his new home.  When we arrived they had toys, a new crate, food, and even a special new blanket his mom had made for him in a place of honor on the couch.  Pretty sure Samish will be in heaven there.  He likes being the center of attention and he had to share the limelight with 3 other dogs here. He tolerated this well, but you could tell he thought he was being deprived of as much lap time and play time with the humans as he was sure he needed.  In his new home he’ll be the only dog who gets to hang with his humans all the time. Pretty nice digs for this sweet little stray.

And taking a foster home marks a time of beginnings for us too.  We close a chapter with one foster and then start preparing for the next.  On Friday 4 new dogs will be transported from Central California shelters up to New Rattitude foster homes in the Pacific Northwest.  One dog will be getting off in Portland, Oregon and the other three will continue on up to the Seattle-Tacoma area.  Two dogs will spend the night with us and then head north to their Seattle home but one dog will be staying on as our next foster.

Since I have the day off work I like to get everything ready for the next foster and the batch of dogs coming north on the “rescue railroad.”  A new file was set up to keep our new foster’s records in.  Samish’s 2 crates were cleared of blankets, cleaned and reloaded with new clean blankets. 

 Then I cleaned and sanitized three crates for picking up the transport dogs.  They too were loaded with crate pads and blankets and are stacked in a corner of the basement, ready for duty on Friday.  The big 700 series crate that the transport dogs overnight in was cleaned and the bedspread used in it was washed and fluffed and put back in the crate.  I think we’re ready!

So stay tuned for an introduction of the newest foster kiddo to join our crew.  You’ll also want to peek at the blog, “A day in the life of a New Rattitude Foster Dog” for intros of the two Seattle foster dogs.