Grandpa Duke!

No, he is not a grandpa and never will be. Just a nickname. ;)

He's still here, unfortunately. He is not getting along with either of our dogs any more, after a bad attack on Bailey. We ordered him a custom Boston Terrier Jafco muzzle from Leerburg that should arrive this week and we'll start introducing him to the dogs again. He's starting having more accidents in his crate, and he's lost a lot of weight.

Duke was diagnosed with hypothyroidism at our second vet consult and he's been on meds now for a few months. He's doing a lot better skin-wise and we're hoping to get him off of the prednisone soon. While his skin is doing better, he still has little fur and got a very dashing coat last night for the cold weather approaching. I will have to post a picture of that, next.

Dukka Dukka

So Duke is still here and he's doing better and worse in different ways.

He now gets along well with Bailey (even with toys out) and they play frequently. It makes it so much easier than crating and rotating all the dogs. He's learning basic obedience well & can sit, down, off, come, stay quiet in his crate, and walk OK on a leash. He's accepting of baths and nail trimming with a dremel. Still hates cats. ;)

His skin has taken a toll for the worst, however. After weaning him from prednisone he started breaking out terribly, so we upped his pred back to 1 EOD, put him on benedryl, antibiotics, vitamin c, fish oil, medicated shampoo, and a leave on lotion for him. After a few days he's doing SO much better, but I wish we could get him off the pred. We're going to be going to another vet for a second opinion on his skin soon and hopefully that will prove useful, I just feel so bad for the poor guy.

Hopefully we can get him past these skin problems and get him used to more dogs and he'll have a great home in no time. He is definitely a very sweet dog!

Duke-a-roo

This little guy came to me May 27th, so I've had him for a few weeks. He came from an owner surrender, older gentlemen who had to move to an assisted living facility. His name is Duke, he's 5.5 years old, male neutered, and he is not utd on all vaccines thanks to me. He came nearly bald as a result of long term prednisone use, and is all 'roided up. He may have cushings disease as a result. We've got him on Blue Buffalo Wilderness now and fish oil, and we're weaning him off the pred. to see how bad his "allergies" were. So far I've seen zero signs of itching.

We were told that he was friendly to cats and small dogs, but didn't like big dogs. Well, he has tried to attack my cat twice so they are permanently separated & he is listed on petfinder as a NO cat dog. He does get along fine with my Rat Terrier mix if there are no toys out, but he bit her on the nose over a Kong the first night they met. We have been working on slow introductions between him and my GSD, and they're going okay. He does lunge and bite at him if Frag looks at him the wrong way, so they're still being crated and rotated and going on long walks together everyday.

Duke aboslutely loves toys and is a little obsessive over them. He pulls hard on the leash, but we're working on that. He knew how to sit and shake when he got here, and I've taught him to lay down. He is crate trained and housetrained minus the having to pee all the time from the medication he's on. He rides great in the car & relaxes well in the house.

There will be many more updates as he regains his health and attitude. :)

All we have is memories

Pippa got a new home just in time for the holidays! She got adopted yesterday afternoon to a nice loving family. A 13 year old daughter, 10 year old son, senior Labrador, middle-aged Pug, and parents make up her family now. She didn't mind the dogs when she met them, but was acting rather annoying with me not in the room. I'm glad they enjoyed her. They asked me a lot of questions and I talked her up as much as possible. They loved her quirks. I know they'll love her and give her the time to settle in.

I did bawl my eyes out as they took her away. I could tell by the head tilt I had never seen before and the look on her face that she was heartbroken and so confused. It broke my heart. She had evidently become very attached to my family here, but I hope she can forget about us and fit in to her new home quickly. She jumped onto the dash as they were leaving and was pawing at it looking at me like I was killing her. Oh, the joys of fostering.

Now I can open up my home to another. Maybe this time a curious, happy little puppy that won't get so attached. I'll have to email Laurie with the Weim rescue and see if she has any. XD

Pipsqueak Pippa

This is my newest foster dog, Pippa. We call her Pip, Pippin, or Cranium though. =]

I'm fostering her for the SPCA where I work. She wasn't eating in the shelter for the 5 days she was there and was in bad shape, so I brought her home. She's the easiest dog ever! She goes to the bathroom maybe 4 times a day, eats very little, and sleeps all day. She's very quiet and not like any Chihuahua I've ever met before. She has no personality as of yet, and I've had her since the 16th of November. She's starting to come out of her shell a lot more, but still has work to do.

She's gaining weight well and her coat is in great condition now that I've started supplementing her food and feeding her Wellness instead of Purina. She'll happily eat now too, and actually looks forward to meal times. She is not fond of Frag, however. If he walks past the chair she sleeps behind she will dart out, jump and snap at him, then run back to her bed. Wanna see a video?

So we're working on that. I'm also working on training her. She's great walking on a leash and her manners are alright, but I would like to teach her to sit, down, and maybe do a cute trick. I've loaded the clicker for her numerous times, but when the treats come out she doesn't do ANYTHING except spin and act a fool. I can't lure her or touch her or she'll shut down. She is very independent, so this a work in progress I suppose.

She's been to one adoption event this past weekend and there was no interest in her. It's a real shame since she's so quiet and cute. She'd be perfect for an older couple; never has accidents inside, is crate trained, leash trained, and is very quiet. Loves to just sleep on your lap. :) We'll see where she ends up.

Aaaand he's off!

Charlie got adopted! YAY! He actually got adopt a little over a week ago, but I haven't had time to post about it! He was only with me for two weeks, but learned so much and grew so much! We had a scare with another 'bout of ringworm, but it turned out to be a scratch. He did great with housetraining; only had two accidents while he was here! He learned to sit and did it VERY snappy every time I asked, and he was well on hi was to learning down right before he left. He learned to wait for his food and he learned to "crate up". He was an awesome pup, although his presence did cause a lot of stress. I forgot how tiring a puppy is, jeez!

Anyway, he got adopted by a great couple on the other side of the state. They came to check him out on a sunday and took him home on the following friday. They paid and signed a contract to reserve him before they could even take him home! They seemed like a great fit, and they were in love with him. I gave the woman my email address and am expecting an update soon. I'll have to post about it then.

Charlie and Mix Ups.

He's here! Charlie, the 11 week old Weimaraner pup came into our home today. I picked him up from his foster parents at the vet after his second set of shots.

They had to get rid of him because the wife was throwing a fit about him pottying on their new carpet. Guh. I hate people. Anyway, so the guy gives me Charlie, his food, bowls, and a bag full of shampoos and pills and sprays and tells me he's on pills for a parasite, needs to be dewormed via the other pill, and that he has ringworm and needs daily sprays and weekly baths. But he said that he wasn't contagious... :O I was shocked, since ringworm is so contagious, so I called the vet. Receptionist tells me that he's still highly contagious and to pick up his poop, put lyme over the spot. I was so confused by this point. I called the director and told her everything I knew, so she called the fosters and the vet back. We got it all straightened out.

Apparently Charlie had ringworm, and is still recovering from that, but it should not be too contagious any more. We're still limiting his contact with Frag to be on the safe side. He also had roundworms, but those have been taken care of for the most part, I have another de-worming pill to give him today. He also has coccidia, a nasty parasite, and that is what the pills and lyme is for... "/ So, we have to go out and buy lyme, and be very careful about cleaning up his poop. Yaaaay.

Other than all of his issues, he's a good dog. Fairly quiet, decent eater, walks OKAY on leash, and comes to his name most of the time. I'm excited to see how long he's hear and how he does with us.