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.

Meeting the pack

Coho  has proven herself to be really great with the other dogs of the house. She is calm without being fearful when around them and Frodo and Tilly almost immediately treated her like she'd always been here.

Giving Frodo an introductory sniff

 

But Langley is always another story. As anyone who regularly reads this blog knows, meeting Langley can be overwhelming for even the bravest of dogs. In spite of this, Coho is calmly working through Langley's spastic attempts at welcoming her.

Yesterday they spent a little time outside together and it went really well. There were sniffs but Coho was disinterested enough that Langley didn't get himself worked into a tizzy.

We're all keeping paws crossed that as life settles down here post-holidays Langley continues to calm down and make Coho's time here happy.

Welcome to Crazy Town, Coho

Pretty Coho: cautious but craving human attention

Poor Coho. The trip up to WA from CA is always scary enough for dogs, but then poor Coho landed in a foster home that's in total chaos. We have out of town guests, and while Langley loves them, it was the final change of the holidays that threw him over the edge and he is in full panic mode: obsessing about eating things in the yard so much he can't eliminate out there, panicking in his crate, and much more. So Coho walked into our home in the middle of all this. Of course Coho was an additional "change" for Langley so we aren't even considering working on introductions between the two of them because Langley is too far gone to work on something like that.

She's really enjoying exploring the sights and smells of the PNW

More peeking at the back yard: lots of birds and squirrels to keep track of

Understandably, Coho was terrified of this full on crazy terrier who was twice her size. So she's a little nervous at this point. In spite of that she loves attention from people and is getting used to us and coming up to us for pets and loves. She finds the act of being picked up scary but once she's in someone's arms she's happy.  Her favorite though is if I just sit on the floor and she can hop in my lap. We'll give her a little time and space and she'll be tearing around in no time. She did great when she was in temp foster care so we know this is just a temporary thing and she's getting used to the stressful environment she landed in.

Demonstrating her dance moves

She's a bit underweight so we'll be working on getting some weight on her. She also still needs to be spayed and microchipped so that will be happening in the next week. Lots going on for this tiny little 8 pound girl.

The good news for poor Coho is that things will start to settle down on Monday as we get back on our normal schedule. Langley "resets" pretty quickly these days so hopefully once he slows his brain down, he and Coho can become friends. So stay tuned as we watch this sweet and beautiful little dog blossom into her new life as a rescued and loved dog.

Big Load of Terriers, coming your way...

We are dang near out of foster dogs here with New Rattitude's PNW foster parents which means we have a big load of newly rescued ratties arriving late tonight in Washington and Oregon. So give a big welcome to....

Landau: This short and stocky type B Rat Terrier was in the Delano Police Dept. Animal Control kennels. These kennels are all outside without even dog houses for shelter and it's getting pretty cold at night there.  This cute little chunk of love is 6 months old and will be fostered in Snohomish, Washington. Follow him at http://wulfgrl-mydogblog.blogspot.com/

Landau, getting in the holiday spirit now that he's out of that cold dog run

Coho: Four year old, teensy 9 pound Coho had been in the Kings County Animal Control shelter for quite awhile and it was getting close to when she would be euthanized. Instead she was pulled by our NR angel, Lynn Bonham. She is said to be quite a snuggler and when she walks she prances - and check out that curly tail! She'll be fostered by us in Federal Way, Washington so stay tuned here for more about this cutie.

Coho, a pretty little prancer

Reynvaan: One and a half year old Reynvaan (pronounced Rain-ven) weighs about 11 pounds and is a sweet little chocolate colored guy who loves playing with other dogs or even just kicking back for awhile when a lap is available. He'll be fostered in Seattle, Washington. Follow him at http://cattierattie.blogspot.com/

Reynvaan is ready for Seattle!

Lex: This ten pound, one year old boy has a beautiful tuxedo coat and heart shaped markings on his face.  He's a cute little snuggler who gets along well with other dogs. Lex will be fostered in Bellevue, Washington.

Sweet little Lex is said to be our Salish girl's "mini-me"

Liza: Liza needed out desperately. She only had a day left and the NR California team scrambled to save her. Big thanks to Diane Cosentini and Lynn Bonham for working together to save both her and Landau. Liza's a beautiful 6 year old, 12 pound girl who is very easy going and gets along fine with other dogs. She'll be fostered in Amity, OR.


Liza, doing some of her signature prancing in her temporary foster home

Gramercy: This little shortster is a transfer to New Rattitude from another rescue group. We often work with a couple all breed rescue groups in the Central Valley of California. They save dogs that are listed to be euthanized and get them out of the high kill shelters into their no-kill shelters, but if they can then hand off some of the dogs they save to breed rescues, that frees up space in their shelters to rescue more dogs who are about to die.  We fell in love with this stubby two year old male, 12 pound type B Rat Terrier. Gramercy will be fostered in Seattle, Washington. Follow him at http://cattierattie.blogspot.com/

But wait, there's MORE! Next week we'll have 8 more dogs arriving in our PNW foster homes.  Stay tuned...

Langley: Unplugged

I realized that most of the videos I post of Langley (and all my fosters really) are action videos: lots of wrestling, chasing and tug.  I guess it just seems kind of boring to make a video of a dog taking a nap, or snuggling with their human. However, it does unfairly skew opinion to make a dog seem more active than they are.

Now, Langley is definitely an active, busy guy, however more and more he enjoys (and is able to handle) unstructured down time. He'll lie in a chair and chew on an antler or sit in someone's lap (typically a precursor to asking for a belly rub).  He'll even snooze under a blanket on someone's lap while you watch TV.

Change definitely stresses him out but more and more he can settle down within a day or two and come "back to center" as we like to call Langley's calming process. The holidays have been full of changes and really put this to the test but he is hanging in there. Just one more set of visitors (who will be arriving today) and he will have made it through the season.

At first having our son Hunter back in the house for semester break stressed Langley out - not because he doesn't like Hunter but just because it changed his normal routine. He was so excited that he couldn't stop bouncing 3 feet off the ground when Hunter was in the room.  Soon the newness wore off though and now Hunter is Langley's favorite go-to guy for pets and belly rubs. If Hunter sits down on the ground, Langley will immediately come over and flop over on his back for some belly time.

So rest assured that Langley can manage "calm and relaxed" and it has been a joy to see him lose that frantic look that he would get when he was asked to sit or down-stay and his body was like a coiled spring, quivering with potential energy.

New Rattitude NW Team's Special Thank You

I always feel blessed to live in such a dog crazy region.  Not only does it mean I work with some spectacular volunteers, it means we regularly get some pretty dang amazing adopters for our foster dogs.

Some of our amazing volunteers and supporters at the 2012 New Rattitude Rattiefest this summer

And in 2012 there were quite a few of those amazing adopters.  I wish I had the words to share how thankful I am to all of the adopters, benefactors and volunteers that make saving these precious lives possible. Pictures are better though, so I'm going to share a link to this wonderful video that WA New Rattitude Adopter Darin Suthapong created for the New Rattitude Northwest team.  Please be sure to watch it. It brings tears to my eyes and I'm sure you'll feel the same way.

2012 NW New Rattitude Adopted Dogs

If you'd like to follow the New Rattitude Dogs of the Pacific Northwest then be sure to like the NR Northwest Region page on Facebook. You'll see all our newly rescued Rat Terriers, hear about adoptions, and get updates about how the dogs are doing in foster care and post adoption.

And the 2013 name theme is...

Each year we choose a theme for the names of our foster dogs and throughout 2012 we used names of the places, flora and fauna of Washington State. Now that it's 2013 though, we have a new theme and that will be a State of New Mexico theme.


The Sandias

Why New Mexico? Well, our son is currently in his freshman year at the University of New Mexico and my husband has been lobbying for a New Mexico theme since early 2012.  For a long time I said "absolutely not!" My complaint was that people already mistook Rat Terriers for Chihuahua's enough without giving them Hispanic sounding names. Troy countered with a lecture on the native peoples of New Mexico and the rich history of the Pueblos.  When that swayed me but still didn't convince me he then emailed a long list of potential names to me to prove that there were a lot of great ones to choose from.  That finally did the trick.  So stay tuned for some names this year inspired by the heritage, places, flora and fauna of New Mexico!