Confessions of a First Time Foster

We’re planning for Angelique’s arrival tomorrow night. We got her relinquishment form yesterday. Yikes! She’s a rescued “brood bitch” from an Amish puppy mill.

If you saw Oprah’s show on puppy mills, you know what misery she’s had for the first 2-1/2 years of her life. She’s not housetrained, and is almost certainly anti-housetrained. That is, she has likely learned to live in her own filth because she hasn’t had an alternative, which means that we can’t just crate her to teach her housetraining.

She’s still all matted, and (according to the owner relinquishing her) needs a shave. That owner I guess tried to rescue her and had to give it up. Although she apparently had Angelique for several weeks, and I’d have thought a shave would be the first order of business. ::grumble:: Along with a spay, which also hasn’t been done yet.

We found out that Angelique’s a tiny little girl; the owner worked on putting weight on her, and managed to add some weight to the 6 pounds she arrived with. (By contrast, Cognac weighs 13 pounds, and Paris unfortunately weighs more.)

We haven’t scheduled a visit with our vet yet, but Angelique’s shave is already on order for Saturday morning — the rescue network will reimburse us. On the positive side, at 2-1/2 years old Angelique’s very young for a rescue — the mills don’t usually give up their bitches until they’ve worn them out at 6 years or older. So hopefully she’ll readily adapt to being a beloved pet instead of livestock.

We’ll have her at least long enough to get her spayed; the network won’t place dogs until they’ve been altered. But there’s a family that wants her, so we may not have to deal with issues like housetraining. Except in that we can’t give her run of the house, or even a towel in her crate until we find out whether she’ll keep it clean.

Message from Joan:

Charlie is now almost clean. I gave him a bath last night and he lost most of the gray color. His tail is still a little yellow.

I left the leash on him all night. Then I brought him into bed this morning and he loved it. He kept out of Maggie’s face and she calmed down. Charlie calmed down so much he fell asleep. I was feeling so good about it until I went out to the kitchen. He had pooped in the kitchen and peed on the large package of toilet paper. Of course now I have to throw out the bottom layer. He seems dedicated to not letting me take him for granted. That’s what I get for not putting away all the groceries when I come home.

And P.J. is dedicated once again to non-stop humping. He hasn’t done that since last week. I hope that gets the point across to Charlie about what not to do in the house. But he still is cute. I am looking for the camera to take a picture.

Message from Marilyn:

Guess who likes Vanilla Yogurt……Progress!!!!!

Message from Joan:

Charlie is not happy with me.

I left the leash on so I can grab him later for a bath –he really does want if off. In his usual way – I started getting Charlie ready for the vet at 8:15. He had 2 doses of the Ace stuff – it only slowed him down a little. I don’t think it was any more effective than the Pro-Quiet.

I finally got him into the car at 12:45 for the 11:45 appointment by putting the other 2 dogs in the car. He is a runner and hider.

I think I’ll leave the leash on for a week or so. My vet says he is the strongest small dog she’s seen. It was a major challenge getting the x-rays taken of his hips and knees. The vet and 2 techs were all crazy from trying to hold him still. Oh boy, it sure makes me feel good! I thought it was just me. I got to hold him in the waiting room but when someone else came in he tried to climb onto my head. This is all to keep me young, right?