Our Fosters of 2015

It was a slow but good year for us. Typically we foster about 12 dogs a year but this year we just had 5. Part of that is we are only fostering 1 dog at a time now - something to preserve our sanity and keep things calmer and happier for our 4 personal dogs. But also, we didn't get the number of applications that we have in past years and dogs who I would have thought we'd only have for a couple weeks stayed with us for several months. That's okay though because we enjoyed our time with all of them.

But here they are - the five kiddos that we rescued in 2015 and happily all have been adopted into great homes.

Rigby: Rigby with his big brother before heading out for a rainy Northwest walk

Magill: he came to the 2015 Rattiefest with his family. A happy, happy boy.

Gus: he started as a sick little puppy but now is a big healthy guy. Here he is visiting Makeda and Mingus Cafe with his family.

Lizzy: Sweet "dizzy Miss Lizzy" is best pals with her human brother

Harrison: Big boy Harrison is newly adopted and has a furry older brother who has more energy than he does!

Our first dog of 2016 arrives next weekend and we will be sharing him with you soon.

Lizzy's Adopted!

Lizzy found a great family! While I will miss her rat hunting skills I'm so happy she'll be heading to a home where she'll be a true part of the family.

Little Miss came to us in July this summer and I was a little surprised that it took so long to find a good fit. I think the issue is that so many people applied for her based solely on her looks and without an understanding that there is more to a terrier than cuteness. While Lizzy isn't a difficult girl, she's a true hunter, energetic, and very smart. She isn't a dog who can sit around in the house all day and then sit with her human on the couch all night.

At her new home she'll get to go to work with dog regularly, has a 6 year old to help wear her out, a fully fenced large back yard, and a nearby grandma who is interested in spending time with her as well. They carefully weighed the decision of bringing Lizzy into their home and all members of the family were equal partners in the decision making process.

So I'm very happy that on Sunday sweet girl will be heading to her new home. We'll miss her joyful little prance but know that she'll be moving on to a home where she'll be loved and cherished. The one who won't be happy to see her go is Harrison, who will miss his wrestling/bitey face partner.

The Deadly Miss L

Lizzy has done it again and this time I saw the whole thing go down. The dogs were all standing at the sliding door waiting to go out when I noticed a good sized rat at the base of a tree halfway across the yard. I opened the door, hoping that one of the 5 dogs shooting into the yard would actually catch it instead of the normal 3 Stooges type of routine that often happens. Four of the dogs headed for the tree but Lizzy was smart and shot across the lawn to cut off the rat before it could get to the fence.

The ill fated prey. 

She shook it against the fence and then took her victory lap around the yard with the other dogs all on her heels, hoping for a piece of the prize. Her and Harrison played tug for a bit but once they realized it was dead all the fun went out of it and they stood around nonchalantly, not super interested but also not ready to let Sal and Chima move in for the steal.

Lizzy, Queen of the kill

Lizzy is a very good ratter. She is fast, quiet and calculating when she hunts and happily unlike Chima and Salinas she isn't interested in eating her catches once she kills them.

Inspecting the rat with Harrison. Both seemed a bit disappointed that it was dead. 

So good work, Lizzy. Because we have 2 neighbors with tons of crap in their back yard, long grass and big brush piles we are in need of a dog who actually catches the rats instead of trying to yell them them to death.

It does look like she got a small nip on her snout - not sure if it was from the rat or from one of the other dogs during the frenzy - but we cleaned and disinfected the cut and will keep an eye on it.

Loving Lizzy

I mentioned that Harrison is a big Lizzy fan. Like Lizzy, Harrison loves to run and play - makes sense since they are very close to the same age and both active kiddos. Yesterday and today it was Wrestlemania non-stop. Plenty of bitey face, wrestling on the couch and then chasing each other around the room.

After Lizzy got over Harrison's size (he weighs almost 3 times as much as she does) she realized that this was what she had been missing so much. Rough and tumble play, play, PLAY!

It's nice that they are able to wear each other out which makes for nice snuggly dogs in the evening who are happy to crash on the couch.

Of course, the rest of the dogs aren't real happy about all this rambunctious play. Especially Frodo and Chima who are both the fun police. In the video below Chima let's Harrison know what she thinks of him.

Meeting Harry

Harrison arrived Sunday afternoon and we started out his foster care adventure with introductions to the other dogs in the house.

We started with Lizzy because she is the most active and my guess was that they would be great pals. Lizzy can be fear reactive with unknown dogs who are larger than her so initially Harrison's size and intensity freaked her out and she was very growly and snappy with him. To help her relax we put Harry on a short leash so that he could be kept in one spot with limited leaping in the air. Lizzy, who was off leash was then free to move as far away from him as she needed to be to feel comfortable and could sneak in for butt sniffs to get to know him. I brought out a high value treat with me to so that they both had to divide their focus between each other and the yummy stuff in my treat bag. It also started an association for Lizzy that she gets paid well for being brave and meeting a new big dog. 

Lizzy cautiously approaches for a sniff, standing beneath me for some extra security

It took about 5 minutes of us standing in the rain and Lizzy carefully assessing Harrison and then she started throwing him play invitations. I don't think they've stopped playing since then.

BFF's

With some dogs just meeting 1 new dog is exhausting and as much as they can handle but Harrison was doing well so one by one the other dogs came out and met him. Lizzy provided a good distraction because she kept trying to get him to play while the other dogs checked him out.

Frodo is less than impressed

Typically I would put the dog who just met the new dog inside before bring out out the next dog but Harrison clearly wasn't bothered by the intros so I let the other dogs stay outside.

Harrison gives Chima a sniff and she's decided to tolerate it

Chima sniffed him a couple times and then ignored him. Sal snapped when he got too rambunctious and let him know right away that she wasn't going to take any punk puppy bullshit from him. Frodo and him did the circuit of marking every shrub and blade of grass in the yard to show who was the man of the yard.

Sal feels much better having some distance between her and Harrison

It was really yucky weather for an intro but unless I planned on crating the poor guy 24/7, it had to be done so everyone could get along in the house. Meeting oustide is so much easier for the dogs because they feel like they have room to move away if their feeling stressed. 

Snoozing

While I've had a lot of posts about Lizzy's busy side, I haven't posted as much about what a snuggler she is. If I am ever on the couch she makes sure to be right beside me for some snuggle time. She even snores sometimes which is ridiculously cute.

These photos are from last night when she was snoozing next to Salinas. Salinas is usually pretty grumpy about other dogs getting in her space when she's sleeping so this was a rare occurrence.

Snoozetime

Salinas and Lizzy

Lizzy the Cat

When it comes to snuggling comfort doesn't seem to be the first priority for Lizzy. Unlike the other dogs who are looking for the softest, warmest spot, Lizzy's main goal is to be closer to her person than any of the other dogs.

In the past she has attempted to steal the spot closest to me by laying down on top of the dog currently there. Needless to say that didn't go over well.

So now she tries to curl up on your shoulder or chest or even on top of your computer keyboard, much like a cat. And since Chima often grabs the spot next to me that means Lizzy spends much of her down time on my shoulder.

Silly girl can definitely claim that she has created the spot closest to me. I guess that I should be happy that 23 pound Chima doesn't try this approach when another dog grabs the spot by my side first.

Don't Rain on my Parade

Chima and Salinas hate when it rains. In fact Chima gets quite dramatic about it which is out of character. Typically the biggest reaction you see out of her (unless she sees a rodent) is a head tilt. But Lizzy is another story. While I can't say that rain is her favorite kind of weather she doesn't let it slow her down one bit.

She still tears around the yard full speed doing zoomies, skidding in the mud as she takes a tight corner. She still throws herself into shrubs that she sees a bird go into, and she still digs around in the dirt under the bird feeder looking for stray sunflower seeds the birds have missed. 

Extra spots on that belly

The result is a mud splattered girl who ends up getting rinsed off in the tub multiple times a day when it rains. And when it comes to tub time Lizzy will agree with Chima that there isn't much worse than a bath.  

Drying Off

With the autumn rains starting to fall, it has been pretty muddy in our back yard where we have several areas of freshly turned soil.

Of course these are some of the dogs' favorite spots to run through and no one manages to get muddier than Miss Lizzy.

Last week she came in after a potty break and had mud up to her elbows so she had to get cleaned off in the tub before she could run loose in the house again. She was not amused but what was amusing was how she finished "drying" herself off on the couch. As with all that Lizzy does, there was much goofiness involved.

Lizzy and Frodo

For the most part Lizzy is respectful of my older dogs and listens when they tell her to take it down a notch. If that happens she just bounces off to see if anyone else is interested in playing with her - or even just tolerating her while she "plays at" them.

Lizzy and Frodo

However our 10 year old dog Frodo is quite the curmudgeon. Age really has nothing to do with it as he has been uptight since he emerged from puppyhood - he knows how he likes things and he doesn't like other dogs messing with him. He will tolerate Chima and Sal who like to come up and lick his face occasionally but with fosters he lets them know they need to stay outside of his very large bubble of personal space.

Lizzy however is a curious little girl and while she mostly listens to him, when he does something interesting she can't help herself and has to inspect.

I thought it was so cute when Frodo had burrowed under a pile of 3 freshly washed blankets that he had pulled out of the laundry basket and arranged on top of a dog bed. Lizzy came over to inspect his handiwork and Frodo was not amused.

A Visit From Rigby

Rigby came to visit with us for an evening while he parents went out with family and it was so great to see him. He was a gentleman as always and was even very patient with little Lizzy.

In fact for awhile he was quite fascinated by her and even played with her a bit until he decided he had enough. For older dogs Lizzy is best in small doses.

While Rigby was excited to see us and visit he was definitely ready to go home with mom and dad when they arrived which is always a happy thing to see.

Lizzy's Frog

Lizzy loves toys. In fact, she enjoys them so much that I should capitalize that. She LOVES toys.

So when the Barkbox came in the mail over the weekend while the other dogs were taste testing the treats she was the one who scored the plush frog prince toy.

Froggy's "before" picture

Froggy's "after" picture

Around and around the room she threw him, squeaking away and occasionally stopping for a quick death shake and then finally settling in to de-crown him. While she was at it she also removed his arms and tag for good measure. And after she finished that job she just gummed him into a soggy mess. His body is still intact although his squeaker just rattles now instead of squeaking.

He's had a rough day and a little too much love.

Lizzy doesn't mind though. She LOVES her frog and wants to take him everywhere. I haven't been letting her take him outside and at first she always goes into a panic at being without him - throwing herself at the sliding door melodramatically. I imagine her yelling "Froooooooooggggggyyyy!"

Once she has calmed down and spent some time outside I let her back in the first thing she does is tear around the living room in a panic, looking for for her frog prince and then prancing around a bit after she finds him.

Naptime with Froggy while foster mom writes this post

Let's just say she can be a bit obsessive.

UPDATE: This post was written 24 hours ago and since that time a terrible tragedy has struck. Froggy up and disappeared!! Lizzy paced and searched frantically most of the morning (as did I) but no frog has been found. Because he was a frog prince we are pretty sure that after being sucked on by a dog for a full day so he was rehydrated by dog spit he magically turned back into a human prince and promptly left the property while Lizzy was on a potty break outside.

I tried to ease her worries by offering her an old favorite - Mr. Fox. She looked down at the fox, looked up at me, and then ran off to continue her search. I had never seen her so concerned.

But love can be fickle and when I offered her a new Hugglehound rabbit complete with crinkly ears, squeakers in every limb and a grunter in its body all thoughts of Froggy flew from her mind. She's been throwing Bunny around for 30 minutes now and is just settling down to chew his tag off.

Sun Worship

My dogs all know from experience that in the Northwest you have to take advantage of the sunshine while you have it. Lizzy has been watching them and has learned from the girls the joy of relaxing in a patch of sun warmed dirt.

Lizzy sleeping in the sun while Sal watches for rodents in the background

Chima and Sal, sunspotting

For some reason she found this pile of bamboo leaves and fir cones comfortable.

Frodo loves sun but hates dirt (unless it's smelly dirt and then he rubs it into his neck for cologne.) He prefers to sit in the sun and any snoozing happens on the much cleaner deck or top of the concrete retaining wall. 

Frodo getting some sun while at the same time locating himself within easy access of the fence should the neighbor let their dogs out. 

Of course Lizzy can only lie around for so long before she needs to find something more interesting to do like burrowing under a pile of lumber and lattice to go after a mouse and getting deliciously dirty.  Or checking out any spots in the fence that might allow her to peek in on the neighbors yard. According to Lizzy the rodents are always fatter on the other side of the fence. That is one of the reasons my fence gets daily perimeter checks. My dogs may love me but they love rodents more and would choose crawling under a high spot in the fence after a rodent over me any day of the week.

Dirty dog! Lizzy had been burrowing under the pile of lattice and boards

Little Miss Snoopy - checking out the neighbor's yard

Lizzy aka Killer

Lizzy has earned her right to call herself a Rat Terrier. Tonight she caught her first rat - a nice big one that was near the fence line with our not so fun neighbor who seems like a bit of a hoarder. We have 3 neighbors that border our back yard: one great neighbor, one mediocre neighbor and one really awful one. The dogs appreciate the awful neighbor's penchant for throwing all manner of crap into their back yard though as it creates a great rodent population for them to hunt.

The Great Huntress

Licking her chops and all pumped up to find another one to kill

And she's off! A mighty hunter can only stand still for so long.

Anyhow, we are all impressed with little Miss Lizzy. She performed a victory lap around the yard, death shaking the rat dramatically before Troy swooped in and spoiled all the fun by taking the dead rat to the trash can.

Snug as a Bug

While Lizzy does like to keep busy she has also really become a snuggling aficionado while she's been in foster care. She likes to burrow in close and then falls asleep, occasionally with cute little snores.

Chima sometimes takes issue with Lizzy's choice of where she wants to snuggle, especially since Liz invariably walks over the top of other dogs to get the prime location.

Love this little gal!