Happy Endings for Mango and Nutmeg

It's been awhile since I've posted because things have been so busy with dogs and summer vacation. Good news though. Over the last week we've found not one but two homes for our foster dogs. They are the kind of homes that make it easy to say goodbye (especially since they're both less than 2 miles from my house :) to the fosters.

Mango went home yesterday to her new family who has been waiting anxiously the past week as the home visit and paperwork was happening. They were SO excited to welcome her to their home and even their big dog Harry has decided that maybe she's not so scary after all. The most love will come from Mango's new "skin" sibling, DeeDee though, seen in this photo giving Mango a big hug. She walked Mango all over the house showing her around and letting her know where her bed would be and her food, etc.



It just happened that Mango's new family had some friends who were looking for a small dog and that they might be interested in Nutmeg. Calls were made and this morning Nutmeg was taken to be introduced to them. It was love at first site and now we are trying to speed through the paperwork so she can go home to her new family. I couldn't have asked for a better home for this little girl. The plus side it that they live about 10 blocks up the street from me so when we go on bike rides we can stop and say hello and see how she's doing.

Mango poo - EVERYWHERE!

Oh......my......God. This has been a heck of a day. I picked Mango up at the vet first thing this morning - she was spayed and had a dew claw removed. So when we came home I brought Mango and Nutmeg into the babygated kitchen with me and began working on getting the chili verde going in the slow cooker. Mango was whiny, but I figured she just wanted a chance to run around after all of the crate time she had at the vet. Chilis roasted in the oven and onions were being chopped, the air was filled with the smell of roasting peppers and tomatillos.

Nutmeg kept getting under foot but wouldn't move away from my feet. I couldn't figure out why she was refusing to move away from the corner when I pushed her out of the way. I turned to move her again and froze in horror. There was a reason that Nutmeg wouldn't step away from the corner and that Mango had been whining for her freedom. It looked like a tomatilla, serrano pepper scented shit bomb exploded in my kitchen. Mango finally gave up on my listening to her and let loose with diarrhea under the kitchen table on Nutmeg's bed. She then proceeded to walk through it with her freshly bandaged foot (dew claw removed) and smeared it on every inch of my kitchen floor. Thanks to the peppers and onions, the smell was masked and I hadn't recognized we had a little bathroom emergency going on.

With the unhappily given help of my 14 year old son, we cleaned Mango up the best we could, crated her and then called the vet. No - she couldn't have a bath. Yes - they would rebandage her foot for me. So after giving my son orders to clean the dog blankets the best he could and get them in the washer. I jumped in the car and was heading back to the vets.

Once the vet finished with her I headed back to the hellish job of cleaning my kitchen. I had to mop the place three times before I felt like it was clean. Everything had to be doused in antiseptic cleaner. Now the floor is clean enough to be eaten off of, although I wouldn't recommend it. Then it was on to getting the poopy blankets washed.

The whole fiasco ate up several hours of my day and as much as I wanted to be angry at that crazy puppy, I only had myself to blame. She tried to tell me, but I was too enveloped in the fog of roasting chilis to listen. This is one of those days that I know I'll laugh about in the future, but not yet. It's just way too soon.

A Golden Fostering Moment

Yesterday little Nutmeg reminded me why I foster rescue dogs.

Since arriving Monday morning Nutmeg has not really let me out of her sight. She seemed somewhat listless and spent most of her time sleeping, but as soon as I would leave the room she'd jump up in panic and follow me. She didn't seem to be in pain, but walked strangely, with her back legs spread wide and kept stiff. She has obviously had puppies recently and her paws are a mess – pads are deeply cracked and worn flat in areas. She's just one of those dogs who breaks your heart when you think of what she must have been through.

For most of Monday and Tuesday morning she sat in an armchair and snarled at the other dogs when they got close to her. She showed no interest in toys or playing. Around noon I took the dogs into the back yard and sat on the deck to watch them. As expected, Nutmeg sat, pressed close to my side, watching the dogs play and making no move to leave the deck. After a few minutes though she walked down the steps and lay down on the grass. Then she rolled over on her back, closed her eyes and just blissed out rolling in the cool grass. It was great to watch.

In the afternoon when I took them outside, again she sat next to me, watching the wild antics of Frodo and Mango. They were wrestling and all of a sudden Nutmeg went flying off the deck. My first thought was "oh God, dog fight." I figured she was trying to stop the wrestling match. She lunged at Frodo and both Frodo and Mango paused in surprise, trying to figure out what this lump of a dog thought she was doing. Then their wrestling ensued and a chase started. Nutmeg chased along behind them and when the wrestling started again she barked and snapped at Frodo and Mango's necks. I was frozen on the deck, trying to figure out whether this was good or bad. Was it a fight? Was she just trying to mother them and break up their roughhousing? Then, to everyone's surprise, she awkwardly lowered herself into a play position and I could almost hear Frodo and Mango thinking, "OHHHH, so that's what she's doing!!"

I realized I had been holding my breath and I had tears in my eyes. This poor broken dog who has likely spent most of her life having puppies in a metal crate, was learning how to play. It was one of those golden fostering moments that make all the barking and dog pee and trips to the vet worthwhile.

Opposites: Mango and Nutmeg

Twinkie, the sweet sister of Astro and Nova that we were puppy sitting for another foster parent, has gone back to her foster home today and in exchange we received two new fosters who are as different as night and day.

Nutmeg is a 3 year old rat terrier/Chihuahua mix who we think may have had puppies recently. She's tiny and wants nothing more than to sit in someone's lap to be pet. I'm guessing she'd do best in a home without small children as she is a bit snippy with the other dogs when they get too close to her. However, she doesn't seem to be feeling well and she did just go through a plane ride to get here. She is a lucky girl - the Ratbone volunteer said that it was so close that they were just about taking her off the table before she was going to be PTS.

Mango is 5 month old rat terrier/beagle mix and I swear that she has a little bit of "Tigger" mixed in there too. She doesn't walk, she gallops. She doesn't wag, she just swings her whole butt. You can't help but smile when you see her exuberance. She's the biggest foster we've had so far and is between 15 and 20 pounds. I'm wondering if the rattie part of her was a Decker terrier (giant rat terrier.) She'll still be a small to medium dog, but she's no petite flower, that's for sure.

The two are like oil and vinegar, but so far seem to be able to keep to their separate corners. Even as gangly and full of the puppy crazies as Mango is, she knows what a lip snarl means and steers clear of Nutmeg.

At the top you see Nutmeg, and below is Mango.

New fosters: flying home with us?

We are headed out for a short vacation on the East Coast and there's a possibility that we may bring back our fosters with us. It's just an idea at this point as I believe the dogs are in Tennessee and there would have to be a transport formed to get them to Baltimore. They are 8 month old little gals and sound pretty sweet. Both were pulled from a high kill shelter and right now Ratbone is just trying to figure out a way to get them to Washington, as we are the only open foster home at this point.

This photo was taken at the shelter of one of the 8 month old pups. She looks like she's got some beagle in her. The second dog is all white, I believe, but has the same head shape as this girl. There was a third rattie at the shelter with them, 5 years old and deaf, who will likely be heading to Oregon or Arizona.

Young female dogs go super fast in Washington and I'm sure that someone on our adoption waiting list will want these girls. We will likely only have them for two weeks is my guess.

Goodbye, Astro and Nova

After 2 short weeks, puppies Astro and Nova left for their forever homes this morning. It was tough having to say goodbye to not one but two loveable little furballs on the same day. As half rat terrier, 1/2 mystery breed these little guys were even-tempered, laid back, pack oriented dogs without the typical prey instinct that we are used to with terriers. Let's just say their personality was a lot more from the mystery side of their lineage than the terrier side, that's for sure. Rat terriers are my favorite breed of dog, however it's nice to have mellow little mutts around every once in awhile.

Both puppies are going to wonderful homes where they'll have an older fur-sibling to hang out with and learn the ropes from. This made me so happy because I worried about separating the two of them. They were inseparable at home and even would groom each other like cats! It will take them a little bit of time, but they'll adjust.


Their other 6 brothers and sisters have all been adopted or have multiple applications on them as well. That's the thing about puppies - everyone wants one so they go fast. Of course our fearless state coordinator already has several more pups who'll be headed north from a kill shelter in California soon. Their time is up and California doesn't have open foster homes at the moment so they'll be coming to some of the open homes up here in Washington state. Our family is going to take a couple weeks off from fostering and head out for a short vacation. Then we'll be back to introduce you to our next batch of fosters.

All three of these photos were taken this morning before the pups headed home. Astro went home first and Nova moped a bit, sniffing around for her brother and then finally settling down for a nap until it was her turn to head for home.

Busy Weekend

Well, it was a busy weekend. Kathy and I showed off puppies and told people about Ratbone's mission at the Pet Market at Dash Point and at PetSmart, both in Federal Way, Washington. We had 6 puppies with us, so there was a lot of wiping up of pee to be done. Thank goodness a past adopter stopped by with a bag of towels that she was donating because we hadn't brought anything but their blankets. The puppies are all very well socialized and so everyone had a chance to snuggle a puppy and get a few puppy kisses if they felt like it.

We have multiple applications on all 8 of the puppies and the majority of them look really good, so once these little guys get spayed or neutered, they should be ready to head to their forever homes. They are great little dogs (who will be great medium sized dogs in a few months) and whomever ends up being the approved applicants are very lucky indeed. Already they have pretty even, calm temperments and they are only puppies.

Their mom arrives next week, I believe, and she will be doing the heartworm treatment here and not in Texas, so wish her luck as she undergoes this dangerous stage of getting rid of mature heartworms. The treatment kills the heartworms, but because the mature heartworms are lodged in the heart and even at times the lungs, as they die and release into the bloodstream there is a time period that the dog is at risk for heart failure if the worms clog veins. If you live in an area that has heartworm, PLEASE keep your dog on heartworm preventative. It will eventually kill a dog if not treated and treatment and possible lasting health problems are a lot more expensive than a monthly dose of Heartguard plus or Advantage Multi, that's for sure.