Book: Diamond. Ch. 1

OK, so, again, I fail at blogging. So shoot me; I knew this would happen. I can never remember to update these things, or if I do remember, I don't have time or I can't think of something to write. OR....I do think of something to write, and it's all coherent and eloquent, but it all comes to me at like...midnight while I'm lying in bed and unable to start clacking away on a computer. Go figure.

Anyways. NEWS.

On Sunday -- October 2nd -- we picked up our newest foster dog from the SSPCA after spending the day volunteering there at their once-a-month S&N feral cat clinic. Before I go into awesome foster doggy ness, can I just say that volunteering at the clinic is GREAT?! If you have one in your area that allows for volunteer help, I recommend trying at least once. It's such a fulfilling thing to do, and I immensely enjoy it. While there isn't much in way of actual cat cuddling, since you're pretty much dealing with only drugged-up, knocked-out kitties of the feral variety (trust me, most would eat your face if they could; you don't really want to hug a totally feral cat), it's nice to know that you're making some differences in the populations, and giving them at least a few hours of warm, dry security. At least, this is what you're doing if you're in the recovery room.

And the people who volunteer here are, yes, primarily CAT LADIES, but many of them are amazing and care so deeply for the lives of these animals that many think are trash.

It's just a great thing to volunteer with.

Anyways. On to the awesome foster dog. And she is QUITE awesome.

Meet ....Queen Diamond. Or as we like to call her: Diamond. Or Potato. Honestly, I don't know what's up with some of the names shelters give pets, but...oh well.

Diamond is a chunky pit-mix, who when we took her in was recovering from surgery to remove a mass from her foot, as well as a nasty case of kennel cough. She is now ambling around with a torn ACL, which we just learned of today when I took  her to the vet's. She has been limping and not putting weight on her foot for the two weeks we've had her, but we always attributed it to her foot until this past Monday, since, well... her foot is pretty much healed and her walking is none-the-better. She'll be having surgery some time within the next two weeks as soon as the vet at the SSPCA talks with the two vets in the area who are actually capable of doing this surgery, and doing it well (there are only four down in the Bay Area where my parents live, and where my family's dog also has a torn ACL). But not to worry, she'll be right as rain, and all I care(d) about was that she wouldn't be put to sleep.

Aside from her health issues, she has been the best gem ever. She was potty/house trained from the get-go, and we've never had an accident in the house. She also took to the crate in a couple days -- though recently she's been whining again when we've put her in there. I think she's getting spoiled. Great. She's also low energy, preferring to just sleep all day wherever you are in the house, or getting up to take the trek to the mailbox. She is also EXTREMELY TOLERANT. She would be great with children, since she tolerates all of our shenanigans with patient ease. And we believe she is dog friendly/social, though we can't tell since she can't meet other dogs yet. But she hasn't shown any aggression towards any, even the annoying golden retriever across the complex, or to the Monster Pug.  She whines at dogs, but doesn't go ape shit like Sunny would. Thank god... because getting Diamond to focus on you during walks is difficult, to be honest. I mean, she walks just fine on a lease, but I like to be able to get a dog's attention to sit and 'watch me' when needed, and as much as Diamond likes her meals, she couldn't give two shits about the treats in your hand no matter location and scenery.

Stubborn, internally motivated dog, I think, would be the most apt name for her base personality. She loves praise and pets and affection, though not like some dogs who melt to puddles of love-goo as soon as you smile at them. So IDK what really would motivate her on walks. Luckily we don't have many problems where I would need an answer to that question. She does at least have great eye contact when I'm making her wait to eat dinner.


But yeah, she's amazing.

Name: Diamond
Nicknames: Potato, Potato Dog, Squidge, Hey.
Age: ~4
Breed: Pit bull mix, possibly Shar-pei.
Powers: Unwavering Tolerance, Smiling, really weird paw pads.
Likes: Pettings, dinner, couches, blankets, children, eating her own poo (yes...eugh... she's a poo-eater. Working on that).
Dislikes: Crate, having pills shoved down her throat, relinquishing the couch, car washes.
Health: Fat (but has lost 7 pounds!), torn ACL, kennel cough.

I FAIL AT LIFE.

Very belated news: Sunny was adopted over Memorial Day weekend! We had her for five weeks, dealing with not only kennel cough but round worm and a couple ticks. While it was HARD work, harder than I ever realized it would be, it was so rewarding. ...I can't wait for school to start again so that another foster dog can come into my life. Hopefully I'll be more diligent about blogging...

Book: Sunny. CH 2

I officially fail at keeping blogs. Knew it was going to happen, but ....whatever. I'm writing here now, aren't I?!

Hokay. So we've had Sunny fooorrrr ... ten days?  And in those ten days she/we:
1. Has somewhat learned the commands "Go Potty," "Leave it," "Touch," and "Down," and she's getting better at not going all "BARKBARKBARK" at people when we're outside at night. On that last thing though: I don't personally mind a dog who's going to give a bit of a defense show towards strangers when I'm alone walking her at night (and it;s usually late, somewhere between 11pm and 1am). However I'd prefer if she refrained from it until getting adopted. If she was my actual dog, I'd be down, but for now we're trying to teach her to not do that.

2. Perused UC Davis Picnic day like a CHAMP. We didn't -- and still are not -- letting her meet other dogs, however she did extremely well at that chaotic event. Throngs of people, food, animals, loud music, really weird  drunks, strollers, babies etc: she handled them all like a pro. Except for the squirrels. She definitely has a total hate for squirrels, which I think is a sentiment shared by all dogs, honestly. At this event we learned that she gets really... excited? towards small dogs, and then will ignore the vast majority of dogs larger than her. Since, as I said, we haven't had her interact with other dogs, we don't know how she actually is with them though I could say that all the behavior she displayed was not of the aggressive sort (that I could tell). Which is good for her. I think she's just a dog who has very little knowledge of doggy manners and etiquette given that she's a) a teen/pup and b) didn't exactly have a stellar upbringing until she was brought to the SSPCA and then us. So for now I'd say she's be OK in a home with another well-matched, preferably male, dog who's AT THE VERY MINIMUM her size but preferably larger. Cats = no. Small dogs = no.

3. As of today she has had two baths. Kailey did the first one last friday, I did the second one today after we came home from a  hike at Lake Natoma. She cowered the first time, but while she was nervous the second time she did pretty good. God I love short haired dogs... so much easier to bath compared to the walking furmenator my family has.

4. She has been accepted to come onto the couch... though I think we've created a monster now. She will try to ever so sneakily crawl onto the couch when we're not looking (or even when we are looking) every chance she gets now. She isn't grasping the concept that she's only allowed up if we say so. Her sole goal/mission in life is to be next to you on the couch. Tonight she has achieved that goal and is currently snoring with her head smashed against my arm and breathing on my foot. Awkward to type like this.

5. She's definitely getting over her kennel cough and in doing so she's gained more energy and quite the stubborn streak. Now I have experience with stubborn dogs (AKA Harley), so it's not that bad, but going on walks can sometimes be draining. I've taken to carrying a bag of treats with me now so that I can once more get her attention.

6. Sunny = pretty damn good at fetch. we never had to train her to bring balls or toys back after throwing them, now have we actually had to technically train her to come back when called in general. With more training she'd probably be a dog with pretty damn good recall, though I think her prey drive might disturb that. Dastardly squirrels..... ruin all.

7. We need to work on her impulse control, not jumping when overly excited and to stop being mouthy. Most of these a puppy traits though, but they're things that need to be corrected etc at a young age otherwise they can become problems and easily be misinterpreted. Especially the mouthing. Her's is never aggressive, just pure excitement and she doesn't know how to contain it. But with an inexperienced owner or passerby, it could be sadly seen as 'OMGTHATDOGISTRYINGTOBITE.' And since she's a pit bull.... yeah, there's not good from that.

8. She's finally accepting her crate. She'll regularly go in on her own now to sleep during the day, though we still have to shove her in at night and when she knows that we're going to be leaving. Kailey thinks she may have started accepting it because I crawled in there on wednesday or something. Heck, if I had known that that was the trick then I would've done that the first day. darn.


Soooo that's been it for the past 10 days. I think within a week she'll probably be over her kennel cough fully, though that presents a different dilemma: do we see if we can continue fostering her until she's adopted or do we take her back to the SSPCA? It's a decision that I actually thought wasn't going to be hard, but the thought of taking her back to a cold concrete run after living in a house with love 24/7 is depressing. ... And I'm still emotionally compromised after watching Water for Elephants last night (great movie, though; highly recommend seeing it).

Lame post is lame. Whatever, it's late and there's a dog impeding on my typing ability.

Book: Sunny. CH 1

What Sunny likes:
1. giving kisses
2. her toys
3. People
4. fetch

What Sunny hates:
1. her crate
2. skateboards and skateboarders

What sunny has learned so far:
1. escaping a crate. ish.
2. sit.
3. that going the bathroom outside is a good thing

what I have learned:
1. this is going to be a long journey.....

OFFICIAL

First post! First incoming foster dog!
BORING INTRO FIRST. 

So, as indicated by the shnappy little 'About Me' block on the right of the blog, I'm Laine. I'm a student. Hurrah. And I'm embarking on this adventure through the trenches of fostering dogs with one of my housemates and friends, K (that's not her actual name, but unless she tells me that I can call her by her actual name here on this blog, 'K' she shall remain). We got this whole crazy idea in our heads about fostering back in January after both of us would spend many minutes through the various days of the week moaning and vocalizing self-pity and such about how we want a pet but can't afford to actually adopt etc. Both of us are interacting with animals on a daily or weekly basis; K with her many jobs and internships, me with the less scholarly weekly dog training, and both of us with monthly volunteering at feral cat spay/neuter clinics. Being surrounded by animals helps lower the whole 'I need to live with a pet' thing -- at least for me -- but, personally, it only helps so much and it doesn't stop the constant daydreaming. So when we realized that both of us were up for trying out fostering, you cannot believe the excitement that was had.

But anyways. When we finally got off our butts, asked our landlord, and got quite an awesome 'APPROVAL STAMP,' we went to business. ...Or well, we went about the planning of business. It took over three months to finally be able to attend a required foster orientation because of various reasons and time conflicts. And let me tell you, those months were LONG. It was like someone telling you that Christmas was tomorrow but yet Christmas never seemed to come; it was always TOMORROW, TOMORROW, TOMORROW.

WELL GUESS WHAT. TOMORROW IS OFFICIALLY ARRIVING. This afternoon we got the green light and are able to pick up our first foster dog tomorrow evening from the SSPCA! This means FUN. AND CHAOS. AND THAT TOMORROW IS GOING TO BE THE LONGEST DAY EVER CAN YOU TELL THAT I'M YELLING?

I'm both excited as all heck, but nervous as well. I've never had 'sole responsibility' for an animal before, meaning that while my childhood cat was cared for by me, and that I have cared for many other animals including my family dog... there's always been an adult around. Responsibility loaded on shoulders much? Just a smidgen.

I'll get over it, though. this is going to be a great learning experience, and it's because of this potential learning experience that I've created this blog in the first place. Blogs are great tools in increasing the adoptability for a   shelter animal, be it cat, dog, rabbit, rat, snake, whathaveyou. While many of the ones  that I follow are written from the animal's perspective on life -- such as those 'by' the dogs from BADRAP -- this blog won't be written as such. My goal with this is to record memories, thoughts, experiences and lessons gained from this fostering experience and from time to time I'll be putting in my two-cents on issues and thoughts etc that don't directly pertain to the foster dog. Much of this two-cents stuff will probably be on the topic of pit bulls. Why? because I love them, work with them regularly, and our foster dog is a supposed pit bull mix (though imo she looks like a pointer mix judging by her website photo but tomorrow will tell, and either way I will love her just the same).

In fact, most of our foster dogs will probably be pit bulls/pit mixes. Again, why? And again, because I love them. And K and I asked for them. This isn't to say that we're not going to foster a dog in need who isn't a pit bull/mix; if a lab comes in, needs a foster and it's a good match with us, we'll take it; if a border collie, rat terrier,  or heck, even a chihuahua (we asked for larger dogs because most can hold themselves for a few hours until we come home to let them out and do business) , all come in and need help, we'll help. From cropped ears to no ears to scars to missing eyes to no teeth to three legs, if that dog can fit with our lifestyle, we'll take it. I don't judge a dog (or any domestic animal) on physical looks; those cropped ears don't mean the dog is aggressive and neither do those scars.

Unlike people, who can choose how they look, how they carry themselves and present themselves to others and society as a whole, a dog cannot. A dog does not. A dog doesn't go to a vet, or to its owner or owner's shady friend and say, " You sir, would you mind using those rusty scissors and cutting off my ears? I wish to appear tough, and mean. I wish to become mean," or, "Yes, I'd like that spiked collar -- no, the four inch one, with the two inch spikes. Chain? Yes, the 40+ lb one, please." No. That's ridiculous. But the a dog's owner can and does.So what am I getting at? I am saying that a dog's physical appearance is the direct product of its owner (or previous owner) and breeder; if they have cropped ears or wear huge thick chains and spiked collars or harnesses, or are squaty muscled monstery-looking things, it doesn't mean that they're aggressive. it doesn't mean that they're  going to bite you, or attack your child. The similar thing is true for the temperaments etc of dogs, but that's a longer talk and I'm tired.

SO HEY. Time to sign-off and continue being excited. In the mean time, remember: don't judge a dog on its looks. If you don't like how they look, blame your own species. It's our fault.

(the drunk people from across the street are yelling drunkenly again. It's definitely time for bed.)