Home in NH.

I love him too.

We have been in NH for nearly two months now. Everyone has settled in and has lost weight from hopping through snow banks. D is 55% of the way through sub school in CT which will make the dogs happier because he will be home during the week instead of 48 hour stints. (D will be happier to be home as well ;])

So what has happened in the last 3 months you ask?

We officially adopted our 10 year old foster, Oreo, on veterans day, fitting since he used to be an USAF dog and is now a USN dog. We have taken to calling him Grandpa, he grumbles like a grandpa, snores like one, and occasionally smells like one, especially when you play "pull my paw" with him. His foreleg has finally healed from the constant anxiety licking, we are just waiting for fur to grow back, and yes, where his fur is black, so is his skin.


This is my couch; damn kids.

Our drive from SC to NH was 'fun' to say the least. Previous snow storms and the upcoming holiday (we started out Dec 22nd) bogged up traffic. We hit lunch traffic in Philly trying to stop and see one of our esteemed rescue contacts Liz Hathaway.


Colbert and Buela in Lizzie's backyard.

In NJ there was an accident so bad that staties made traffic exit in the middle of nowhere causing us to take Rt 1 across...making what was usually a 2 hour drive into 4. Rush hour on the Geo. Washington Bridge in NYC caused me to add facebook to my phone. We finally made it into town around 1 am, and of course I was going by memory and not looking at signs, which was a bad idea seeing as they had flipped the exit around a few weeks before we showed up, a U-Turn with a stretched F150 hauling a trailer is not fun, nor easy. Needless to say the dogs do not look forward to car rides lately ;).

Digging in snow banks and sniffing under the porch are favorite pass times of Buela. Corona likes to blend in with and tromp around through the thickets. Max likes to catch snow balls. Oreo is in sniffer heaven, and since there isn't a fence he as learned the command "Too Far" I am sure the neighbors have too. Poor little Colbert doesn't want to leave the porch at night because of his light phobia.


Buela after digging to China in the snow.


Max catching sight of something small and prey worthy, I love the color of his coat in the sunset.


Mr Handsome, Jr after his bath at K9 Kaos in Dover, NH.

Everyone who comes over tells us how great and well behaved they all are. Everyone wants to steal Corona and or Max. They also want to see Colbert and win him over, I tell them that Colbert doesn't even come to me someday's but they persist. It is good for him.

The girls went to the vets the other day for boosters and general physicals. All their tests came back perfectly normal, despite Roni needing to shed a few pounds and having a faint heart murmur. The Dr said that she has probably had it her entire life, just no one had caught it.


Her favorite place to be, snuggled in bed on my pillow.

D is on his way home for his weekend leave and will be here at 3:30pm EST. Everyone will be so excited, even me. ;)

The Cat Saga.

I know it's definitely not dog related or foster related, but it is rescue and adoption related.

For about 2 months+ I had been emailing with Our Lady of Mercy's Catnip Cottage of Summerville about a FIV (Feline Aids) positive cat named Rocky. I was VERY interested. Sadly, because of the fact that I cannot screen in my porch because of HOA rules and he has been placed as a sanctuary cat due to cyclical side effects of his illness, Rockefeller (as I referred to him), is not meant to be at the Hixson house.

I have however, found an all black female at Doc Williams ASPCA, which is where we adopted Corona and where Max originally came from as a 10 week old puppy, she even came to the word come, now that is a cat I can deal with. Her name is Duchess, but I don't know how (Princess) Corona would deal with another royal in the house.

I have to drag D down to see her and see if he will begrudgingly give in. haha.

2 Weeks.

That is how long Oreo has been with us.

Right before coming to us his allergies flared up again and he now has infections in both ears and his legs and belly are showing pink through his fur. He gets a pill each day as well a supplements in his food and daily ear washings.

He is a very good dog, even if he does have an affinity for checking out Max regularly in the ways that dogs do. He has come to relax and claim a spot on the couch. He keeps to himself usually. However, Buela, who was the most stand offish in the beginning, is now making attempts to befriend him. A hazing period I suppose. In her usual mother hen fashion, she is licking his face and likes to pay attention to his scaly ears and pink toes. I cannot tell if this bothers him or not however.

He does like to do as he pleases, especially when it comes to relinquishing his spot on the bed, couch, or floor to a two legged type. Time will tell.

He doesn't know how to play fetch at all and hates having his photo taken, particularly with a flash. He inhales food and likes to clean other puppies bowls for them.

There was someone interested in him, CACDR&R has contacted them, but nothing has come of it yet. Time will tell.

D calls him a reverse Dalmatian. Oh and the elusive happy face photo has yet to occur. However looking at all the photos of him in the picture viewer...kinda makes you go cross eyed. haha.

Photos from his first day:

Almost a happy face...


Holsteiny goodness...


Buela being her usual charming self.

Why we foster...

Or rather, why we started.

We as many know, are Cesar people, this meaning that we using the methodology of Cesar Milan when it comes to training dogs. And for those that don't like him, well sorry, but it works for us. And when it comes to training, there is a vast difference tween a full out alpha roll and making your dog go into a "sit, down" until it calms a little. And only retards actually full out kicks their dogs. It's called a tap for a reason, just enough to get attention, either on you or off whatever your dog is staring at.

With that said, Cesar's mission is to rehabilitate dogs that no one wants; abused, fearful, aggressive, unsocialized, feral, you name it he takes them and "fixes" both the dogs and their respective owners bad behaviors.

That was our inspiration. That and Colbert himself.

We had gone to Pet Helpers to fill out papers to adopt a male pit puppy. We of course also checked out all the other dogs at the shelter, knowing that they, despite the shelters staff and volunteers, probably didn't get all the human attention/affection they deserved and needed to be properly socialized. In the very last kennel was a seemingly empty yard and a dogloo. Squeezed tightly up against the inside of this dogloo were two scared puppies. One was Zambia, soon to become Colbert, and the other was his brother Sudan.

On the drive home we talked about names for the pit puppy should we get him. We tossed around geographical names from the West Coast; Zion, Canyon, Sutter. Nearly home, I suddenly yelled out "Colbert". Donovan smirked, and I knew it was good.

We didn't get the pit pup, but that woeful corgi pup named Zambia had definitely struck a cord with my softie husband. Feral, abused, having to fight for food from his brother, he was determined to recuperate him. After applying and going through the shelters fostering workshop, and some careful debate skills on convincing the head of fosters that we could do it regardless of the fact that we did not have a fenced yard, D came home with a 14 pound 5 month old puppy.

The rest is chronicled here. I guess that the simple explanation, but definitely how it happened.

A year in review: it's a biggie.

It seems like 2008 has flown by, course, they also say that the older you get in years, the faster time goes because it becomes a smaller percentage of your lifetime.

I've decided to post a retrospect.



October of 07 we took Colbert in as our first foster. He also became our first failed foster, or FF as it is known on some forums I am on, in February of 08. I quickly thereafter spent 3 days on the couch with the flu from hell. But Corona was happy that she got unlimited cuddle time.



Around St. Patrick's day, there was a stray kitten who came right on up to me as soon as I called him. I named him Dean Martin, gave him a bath, put up fliers, brushed him out and removed the matts on his head. Poor guy looked like he'd been knocked around a few times. No one in the area claimed him, so I posted his cute little face on Craigslist and someone from Walterboro came and picked him up.



After months of the shelter stalling on getting Kenya's eye surgery done,we offered to foster her in March so that she would have a clean house in which to convalesce. She also snuck up on D and got out of the house. She was eating from a bowl on the back patio each night until D corralled her in the corner of the yard. That was for my birthday in April.



The first of May Donovan and I made like little kids and ran off to the court house to get married. We then took the pups to the dog park and let them run til their tongues hung out.

Also in May, one of Colbert's brothers, Sudan, who had been adopted out, got away from his owner and consequently run over by a car. Makes me want to stress how important having a harness on flight risk dogs is.

In June we returned Kenya to the shelter for her to be adopted out. Colbert went with Donovan to drop her off. Colbert apparently still has memories of being there because he immediately looked for a place to hide and curled into an inconsolable ball.



Also in June/July we had two surprise fosters. One was Bindi, a cattle dog that we held for two weeks through Blue Crush Rescue. Bindi now has a forever home in Illinois, but is having some behavioral issues with resource guarding, they are trying to work it out.



The other was Barnaby, who I had thought was the neighbors dog loose again, but was a stray that no one wanted to claim. Big, gangly, and goofy, we kept him for the weekend and then had to call animal control.



We had a few weeks off until Donovan saw Dixie's story on AuCaDo in August. Heart worm positive and turned into a shelter. We offered to foster her and get her through her medicine. She turned out to be highly submissive to humans, to the point of peeing. A huge cuddle bug, if you needed a bed warmer, Dixie was your gal.

In November I picked up yet another gray cat in the back yard. This one was named Jack and had a number on him and everything. I called the number, because the tag said "please call". Jack's owner told me he was an outside cat and that I could just let him go and it would be fine. I promptly told her that the people that live in this subdivision drive like idiots with no concern for people, never mind a gray cat at night. I also told her that his eye was weeping and his ear cauliflowered. She was not amused. She even called back the next day, after I released him, to see if we kept him because he hadn't come home yet.

Yesterday we returned Dixie to Blue Crush. She has some fear aggression, and didn't want to leave D. She looked back twice possible three times, I am sure she whined for him too. They are getting her a behaviorist to help her through her timidness so that she can find a home too.



An update on Colbert:
When we started fostering him he was 8 months old and 14 lbs. He is now 25 months and 22 lbs. His face is slowly turning white in the most distinguished old dog way, even though he isn't one. He sings and talks to us. He loves fetch with his red kong and still makes forts of pillows and blankets under which to sleep, which you can see above, that is him this afternoon with my lap blanket. He even has special pillows just for him because I am a softie. He has started to lay out in the middle of the living room, where he can see everyone, but still relaxed and hanging out with us. He will occasionally hop up onto the ottoman, where he knows we'd have to move to grab him, but close enough to get a beloved butt scratch. Still no cuddle time. He will get on the opposite couch and smell everything and lay down with a treat. But that is about it. Oh and he lets me play with him and his kong, but we'd have to be laying down or sitting on the floor. But as always, he is my handsome little boy.

Nothing new here.

Check out those bear claws...




















Guess who hates having his photo taken.




















Look! it's the Firefox logo!

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Everyone is still getting along. No one has any new scars, no one died, and no puking (woo hoo!)

Dixie is still a cuddle monster, and doesn't EVER want to miss out on anything. So even if you say Corona, Dixie will scramble up from the wood floor on the other side of the house and be sitting next to you before Corona can even hop off the ottoman 2 feet in front of me. All because, of course, you might have food. Ugh.

Her final two shots are scheduled for the 26th and 27th. Her incontinence has abated and was probably exacerbated by the vet visit. The vet we had that day said that she is a very timid dog and anxious dog and this is probably what is causing her accidents. Good news is that it eventually goes away. Good thing she is a love bug, so that her eventual 'furever' parents will love her despite having to clean up the floors for the first few days after a vets visit. Poor Girl.

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Colbert is still a card. he squeals like a girl while playing with Max. He also has developed a sneaky typical little brother tactic to steal Max's rawhide. He will go over to max, tail tucked and ears down, tapped his paw off Max's head while rolling over. He will then curl his body around Max's head all while 'talking' and squeaking. This makes Max grumble and turn his head because I am sure it is all very annoying. Once Max turns his head Colbert, whose mouth just happens to be next to the afore mentioned rawhide picks it up and walks to his corner in the living room. Here he promptly plops down with his big Corgi butt facing the rest of us and goes to work on his newly acquired rawhide. We all know that a stolen rawhide with someone else's slobber tastes alot better than the dry one that has been sitting at the top of the stairs for a week.

I would tape this, but Colbert runs from the sound of the camera.

C'est la vie.

x0x W

Birthdays!

Yesterday doing what she does best.















A fateful couple. 7.27.07















Her "Gotcha Day!" 1.21.07

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Completely unfoster related.

Today is Corona's third birthday and Donovan's 29th.

He is at work, handsome in his summer whites (insert drool here).

And she will most likely spend the day lying on the couch waiting for a belly rub, she has been especially fond of ear scratches today.

YaY!!! THE VETS OFFICE!!!

The patented ACD "Porn pose"
















"Superman"

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http://www.dogster.com/dogs/866159

The above is a link to Dixie's Dogster Page.

She is doing just fine, spooned with me nearly the whole night. She only showed some distress (she just couldn't find a good position to lie in and was very restless) yesterday afternoon until I gave her one of her Codeine pills for pain (lucky girl).

There was no decrease in appetite or any other symptom the vet told us about that might occur.

It took 2 techs, the vet and Donovan to hold her for her shot, I had her face in my hands. The first attempt she screamed like a stuck pig. She wiggled so much that she bent the needle (there was only one tech and D holding her that time). However we couldn't be too entirely sympathetic because she whined the whole time he was listening to her heart and lungs with a measly stethoscope. He said her heart and lungs sound great so he didn't want to do x-rays or ultrasounds. And that she is a big sissy.


Fun fact: our vet is on the board of directors for the American Heart Worm Association, and vets from all over the region call him with their questions. (Woo Hoo!)

http://www.heartwormsociety.org/article.asp?id=8

AND------------

*this is where D and I get to puff up our chests*

He said he couldn't think of a better home for her to be in right now.

W

OK, so I am a crappy blogger...

Colbert and his litter sister, Kenya.


A recap:

We adopted Colbert on February 8th. Just in time for Valentines Day. I told Donovan he wasn't allowed to get me a puppy for VD 09 as we adopted Buela VD 07. He told me I'd ruined the surprise.

In late March we took on Colbert's litter mate Kenya. We are fostering her for medical reasons. Pet Helpers old facilities had open air outside kennels with dirt 'floors'. The resident vet refused to fix her cherry eye until she could be kept in a clean condition. It was noticabley pussy with green mucus and infection. That's where D stepped in.

We brought her home and she was a flash back to Colbert in the beginning. No potty manners, no socialization, shied away from human and canine contact. Granted she wasn't as bad as Colbert, but it was still just the same. No corners and nose burying; but she definitely plastered herself as close to whatever wall or furniture was closest.

She had her surgery to correct the cherry eye, but it reverted back. So the vet fixed her up again and this time it held. Her eye still looks different, but is a thousand times better than what it was.

April brought us to another milestone with Colbert. We could just let him outside without having to deal with a leash. Leashing up one dog while letting the others run off is hard, imagine two. We also do not have him wear his collar 24/7 as he was starting to mat underneath. When out someplace that isn't fenced or our backyard then we make sure he at least has a chain on for easier catching.

April was also when D started 12 hr work shifts and Kenya was supposed to go back to Pet Helpers, however due to space and staffing issues, we still have her.

On a non-dog note, May started with a marriage between D & W.

Kenya started out with hoarding rawhides. Not being aggressive about it, just running out into the room and collecting. .

She doesn't run like Colbert did, she would stay in her corner if you went about it the right way. We had issues with Buela 'assisting' with herding Kenya at bed and potty time.

She still eats like it is going out of style, I tell her to breathe, but she hasn't choked yet. If you say "Let's go out" she will usually skulk over to the carpet by the back door. she will sit there and wait for you to put the leash on for her. Something Colbert still won't do.

D and I will wake up often times and find her either sleeping on the bed with us, she was sleeping between us one morning, Corona style, OR she is playing with Buela, the latter has been our alarm clock this week at 5 am. Mmm, the sounds of sparring in the morning.

We have yet to hear her bark, but she does growl in her sleep. It is probably her moose lips rippling over her adorable under bite, but it still makes our other dogs upset.

As long as we don't talk to her or acknowledge her appearance, she will come out and spar with our pack or chew on a rawhide. Her expedited rehabilitation makes us believe that she definitely wasn't as badly abused as Colbert was.

It is now late May and we have slated June 3rd as Kenya's return date to Pet Helpers, this happy news for her, in hopes that she will find her forever home, is tinged with sadness as we have received news of Colbert and Kenya's sister, Sudan. One of the last pups to be adopted (Kenya is now the only one not in a home) Sudan was just as bad as the other 4, unsocialized, scared and scarred. Today or yesterday, Sudan got out of her owners house and was fatally hit by a car. It makes me sad that an innocent puppy spent her entire life afraid of humans and never knew the ability to relax and enjoy a belly rub. But I know that where ever she is, pain doesn't exist, physical or mental.

More to follow.
















One of Kenya's first days, when she wouldn't even look at food never mind inhale it.

















Passed out with her rawhides.
















Stealth mode pictures...
















Learning some leash manners.
















Her ungainly 'I don't wanna snuggle' pose complete with feet stuck straight up in the air.
















My favorite (and accidental!) picture of Miss Kenya Marie.

The Hand

Family Portrait.















Lucky Puppy.


So as posted before, Colbert likes to observe play time with Max and Buela. This morning, as D was wrestling with them Colbert tried to get in on the action. However when D reached out to Colbert he would back off but still huff and bark...with an actual onomatopoeic "woof". It truly was cute. When D was patting Max during this episode, Colbert would come up and sniff at D's hand and arm. But again back away when D reached solely out to Colbert.

Apparently during the afternoon, Colbert got comfortable enough to nearly quasi-play with "The Hand".

Weekend Recap:

Sitting in the living room, nearest his favorite corner; safe, but able to hide at a moments notice.















Just after his bath on Friday, he looks so little and vulnerable.















One of his other hideaways, in the dining room under the window.

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As written by D:

After having Colbert since the 4th, he's showing a lot of promise and I expect him to be achieving several milestones over the next one to two months. The first day I brought him home, I let him out of his crate with my other dogs eagerly watching from a distance. One at a time each of my dogs came up to him and smelled him and he smelled them back. Ever since they have all got along great. Buela, my 10-month old Australian Cattle Dog, and Colbert started playing with each other right away. Both of them being herding dogs, they didn't know what to do with each other when they began to try to herd one another. He really likes my 3-year old Chow-Lab mix, Max.

When I let him roam free in the living room when I'm at the computer or on the couch watching TV, he wanders around with curiosity mingling with the other dogs. His tail wags his tail and jumps around in little hops with vim whenever he's interacting with the others. He acts like a normal dog with them. That's a great sign, I think. All of my dogs are calm and well-behaved, giving a great example for Colbert to emulate.

With W and I, however, he's still unsure and doesn't fully trust us. The first day he ate the wet and dry mixed dog food from my hand and then from his bowl without any problems. He'll eat his food and drink his water with me in the room, while still maintaining a distance. He's grown fond of the rawhide treats that the others enjoy. When the moment is right and I approach him correctly, he'll lick my fingers. He once spent a few minutes on the bed with all of us, but decided he wasn't ready for it.

I tried feeding him his meal last night in the living room but with the other dogs in view he couldn't handle it and became aggressive with protecting his food. He even charged at Buela who was a few yards away, but I stood up and snapped my fingers and he retreated. I took him right to his room upstairs and he finished his meal there. Once he gets tamed I'll work on his food-aggression, but for now the issue will just be avoided.

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10.5.07

W and I have fostered a little 9-month old Corgi mix from a local Pet Helpers shelter who we've named Colbert. He and his 4 siblings were feral and got captured by some guy who harshly abused them. The only specific abuse I know of was one sibling had lye thrown on his face, so he has loss of hair in that area from the chemical burn. Colbert's abuse is unknown, but certain. He keeps his distance from W and I, but has no problem with the other 3 dogs in the house. He twitches and becomes very stressed whenever we touch him.

I brought him home on Thursday and showed no problems with Max, Corona, and Buela. He even started playing with Buela. Both of them being herding dogs they didn't know what to do with each other. He really likes Max, and looks like a mini-Max, but Max doesn't want to play with him. If he's by himself in the corner of the room away from Wendy and I, he'll relax and go to sleep. But he'll go back to stress mode when I pick him up. He's put up less of a fight each successive time, so I think he's learning that either I will eventually pick him up or that I won't hurt him.

If I approach him the right way, he'll stay still and let me slide my hand up to his nose. Sometimes he'll lick our fingers. We took him to the vet yesterday to get him up to date with shots and get rabies vaccinated. We'll be getting him neutered too.

The attached pictures are after we bathed him, so his hair is a little damp still. He didn't really fight during the bath—not any more than if I had simply been holding him.

Anyway, rather than adopting every dog in the world, fostering one at a time is a more efficient way of maximizing the number of dogs we can help. So when Colbert is back to normal he'll be returned to Pet Helpers and put up for adoption. Taming an abused, wild dog may take up to a year, from what I've read online.

Preparation: T-minus 3 days and counting...

Max, Corona, and Buela.

Thursday marks the day we pick up Colbert, previously known as Zambia, From Pet Helpers on Folly Rd in Charleston.

But first some background on us. D and I (W) live in SC courtesy the USN. We live with our 3 dogs, Corona (chichi mix) , Buela (AuCaDo), and Max (Chow mix).

Corona was an ASPCA dog. Turned in for chewing, barking, whining, digging, and other destructive behavior, we were told to put away our shoes and protect the cabinets and carpets. I immediately told the representative at the ASPCA, she's still just a puppy, that's what they do. We are her 5th and forever home. She is now 2 years old, she may still have minor housebreaking issues and not like strangers, but she is a lovable little cuddle bug. If your lap is available; she is there.

Buela is our only 'breed' dog, and though we are now against people 'shopping' for a dog vs adopting one that surely needs a better life, we wouldn't return her for anything. Still a puppy at nearly 11 months, full of energy due to her breed, she is an active, excitable, endearing ball of fur that seems to live for jumping on us at 6 am, complete with a tongue bath ambush to the face.

Max is another ASPCA rescue. His previous owner, adpoted him from the same shelter we got Corona from. She is also USN and had to report to her ship in CA. We took him in hoping to break him of his fear of discipline. After 6 months with us he has developed into playful fluff ball, has developed a love of fetch and competition in Buela, is a resolute truck dog, and eager assistant in all landscaping projects, which means he just follows D everywhere.

As for D and I, we have been together nearly 3 years come New Years. We are followers of Cesar Milan's teachings, though we know that they will not be useful to us for some time with Colbert. We also believe in proper use of choke chains, micro-chipping, nail clipping, eye cleaning, discipline, love, and fun.

PS: don't know who Stephen Colbert is?