Pupdate: Petunia aka Neah

Back at the end of 2012 we fostered sweet Neah who had the greatest demeanor with other dogs. Even wild and crazy foster dogs who typically had bad dog manners with other dogs seemed to calm down in her presence and act more polite to her. She was one of those true lead dogs who could keep everyone in line, happy, and playing without ever having to curl her lip.

She would wrestle full tilt with Langley and then sit just outside Frodo's rather large bubble to chew bones with him. Everyone loved her including us so we are so happy that she ended up in a great home with another dog to spend time with. I've done pupdates on her before (her name is now Petunia) but always like to share photos of past fosters here.

Rescuers can often spend so much time looking forward at the next needy, neglected homeless dog that we forget all the happy loved ones out there. Focusing on the successes is what fuels me to keep on rescuing.

I love to share these updates to show how much of a difference taking the time to foster can make in a dog's life. Petunia started out as a skinny stray picked up by animal control. By fostering and choosing to take on the challenge of bringing an extra dog into your home for awhile, you too can revel in the joy of seeing the transformation of a throw away shelter dog who has blossomed into a beloved family member, or in this case a Petunia.

Photos by Corky Miller

Pupdate!

From time to time we get updates and photos of past foster dogs that I love to share here. It's so great to see these dogs go from being seen as discarded property to becoming beloved members of families.

Here's a photo of Petunia, formerly known as Neah while in foster care. It has been discovered that she loves snow and here she is enjoying a bit of cross country skiing with her family.  Fun times!

Neah has blossomed into a Petunia!

Petunia, demonstrating the level 5.9 difficulty "Single Flying Nun Ear" maneuver while her brother Atticus observes

Look who's doing great in her new home! Neah, now named Petunia, is settling in and has discovered that she loves the game of fetch.  She's been keeping her new parents chuckling and they've seen firsthand the epic skills she has when it comes to ear maneuverability.

She's a cautious dog when it comes to fully trusting a new person. After all, she's just a year old and she's been moved around so much already.  But she's already learning that her new family loves her and she's found a place to live for good. We can't be happier for this sweet and silly girl and her new loving family. Special thanks for the great photos and  update.

Neah's New Life

Neah, now known as Poppy, was adopted about a week ago but since her new parents were dogsitting for a friend we all thought the easiest adjustment would be to wait until that dog left before she came home. Well, the time has come and she's going to her new home today.

We're all definitely going to miss this sweet girl but I think Langley is going to miss her most of all. She has been so wonderful for him - providing him with the exercise of lots of wrestling, but also confident enough to let him know when she doesn't appreciate his rudeness, and tough enough that she isn't afraid of his rough play. She's one of those amazing dogs who has great social skills and can match her play to whatever dog she's with. She respected old Tilly when Tilly said she didn't want to play (with typical Tilly grumbling) and she knows to play much more gently with 6 pound puppy Apple than she does with 18 pound wild man, Langley. She reminds me of a young version of Fern - another amazing dog that I fostered - and I'm sure she is going to mature into as spectacular a girl as Fern is.

Neah showing Langley her tough wrestling moves

 

Langley telling Neah to "bring it on!"

 

Neah being a good friend and helping Langley remove his Thundershirt which was interfering with his wrestling moves

 

She'll be living in Portland, Oregon and will share her parents and house with her brother, a terrier mix named Atticus.  There will be lots of hiking and walks and play time and we know she is going to have a fabulous life. So congratulations sweet furry one. We will miss you but you are going to have a fabulous life with  your new family. We can't wait for pictures and updates.

Beautiful Neah on a walk with her new brother, Atticus who was denying me a picture of his awesome "mane".

A Writhing Mass of Spots

Langley, Neah and Apple love a good wrestling match and it's fun to see them enjoying each other so much. We still have to watch Langley carefully to make sure he doesn't get too rough but for the most part, he is pretty good about keeping things gentle enough for Apple. And we have to watch Neah because she likes to chew on Langley's Thundershirt for some reason, as you see in the video.  But everyone seems to be enjoying the play. It's difficult not to have a big grin on your face when you watch 3 dogs having so much fun together. Don't you agree?

 

Apple-teeny

 

Apple is a teensy-tiny little gal but shhhhhh! Don't tell her that.  When it comes to other dogs she's pretty fearless and loves to play with them.  While Langley is pretty quiet when he plays, Apple likes to trash talk her wrestling opponents as you can hear in this video.  It's so incredibly sweet and cute but she thinks she's being really tough so we try our best not to laugh at her.

 

 

And Apple would also like you to know that you're never too young or too small to run with the big dogs as she proves in this video where she chases down Neah.



Who will play with Apple?

Apple in true puppy form is curious about everything and loves to play.  Today she spent a lot of time hanging out with "the girls."  Neah of course loved this and both Neah and Apple enjoyed the time sniffing outside and wrestling.

Spending some time sniffing with Neah

Hanging out and getting ready for a wrestling match

Tilly, my 10-ish year old dog, was less than impressed with the little whippersnapper who kept following her around. Apple was pretty fascinated by Tilly, I think because she's only dog in the house who is close to her size.  There was lots of sniffing and following of Tilly but she listened pretty well when Tilly asked her to back off. I love this video though - notice that Apple is frozen, tail flagged and getting ready to pounce.  Tilly, who is busy sniffing, gets caught completely unaware by a frontal puppy attack.

Sniffing hello

 

Tilly's skinny little shadow

 

 

Surprise! A new arrival

I've been super excited that Salish would be arriving soon.  She was scheduled to arrive next weekend and I have her file folder all ready for her paperwork, her collar and tags set out, an extra large crate set up for an extra large rat terrier...  Then I got a call from Lynn letting me know that two 4-5 month old Rat Terrier mix puppies were in danger and about to be put to sleep.  They had been at the shelter for a couple of weeks without interest so their end was near.

The problem was that Lynn isn't set up for temping puppies so she could only pull them if we could take them up here instead of the 2 dogs I had already planned to bring up for me and a fellow foster parent. We both agreed to the switch so the puppies could be saved and we planned for the male pup to arrive this weekend and then my pup (who would come up instead of Salish) would transport north on the 6th.

Then on Thursday at 5 pm, just hours before the transport was going to arrive to pick up the dogs, I decided that I didn't want to have to meet yet another transport next week. I called Lynn and asked her if she thinks she could get our new pup on this trip.  The transporter said there was room for her and Lynn managed to get her a last minute health certificate to travel and just like that our new baby was on the way.

Apple enjoyed some snuggle time yesterday

 

 

 

Her name is Apple (I don't think I need to explain the Washington tie-in here ) and she's a 4-5 month old Rat Terrier mix.  We think she may have some mini Dachshund in her mix as she's long and quite short.  At only 5 pounds she's the tiniest gal we've fostered in quite awhile, but her size doesn't slow her down, in spite of the fact that she's got a cold right now.  She's pretty confident and hasn't learned to be afraid of Langley (we're trying to keep it that way) and her and Neah play great together.  And did I say that she also loves to snuggle? 

 

 

My guess is that this cute young little gal will be adopted in no time and then sweet Salish can come up.  In the meantime, her and Neah are enjoying a lot of playtime together.

Langley's Favorite

Since Langley first arrived he has loved this puppy kong on a rope toy.  It had been in the toy basket for close to a year and not a single dog was interested but Langley singled it out and has been playing with it ever since.  At first he would play tug with me or Troy but if we weren't available, that was okay because he would just throw it for himself and chase after it. He also likes to shake it and hit himself in the head which may explain a few things. ;)

He's worked his way through one - the rope in down to just a dozen or so threads before it will be torn in two. It still gets played with occasionally but the good news for Langley is that I have 2 of these toys.

While Neah doesn't see the point of playing with it by herself (there's no bone on it to chew on, after all) she does love a good game of tug with Langley and the other day they had a nice rousing game on the couch.  Whatever works to keep them busy!

After playing awhile, Langley lost interest and was just chewing so Neah moved in for the steal. Alas, she was unsuccessful.