Maxi the foster dog-an update

Maxi came to live with the WB Family on May 21, 2011. Our family intended for the rubanesque Maxi to stay for a bit, like so many other foster beasts have done over the years. Maxi had other plans though....

Maxi wanted to stay. She went straight for the kids and they fell hopelessly in love with her.Then, as an afterthought, she went for mommy and daddy as well. We changed her name to Roxy and she put up with it. You can see the knowing gleam in her eye in the photos. We're sunk.
She's a delightful snuggler and a lap dog to boot. Even though she's lost more than 10 lbs since she moved in, she is still a larger than standard lap dog in Dave's opinion (not that he asked her to move mind you).
So she goes along her merry days at our house. Still listed as "adoption pending" on the Hopeful Hearts website, but that is just a paperwork issue at this point.Because if the dog leaves this house, she'll be taking our hearts with her.

Maxi the foster dog

Maxi is a foster dog from Sudbury. Her owner passed away and her other owner couldn't care for her on their own. So Maxi ended up at the animal shelter.
Now Maxi lives with us. In theory she is meant to be looking for a new home. She is also trying to loose some weight and get over a terrible case of kennel cough. Maxi is thoroughly loved by the boys already. They camped out by the window for the last hour of her journey here. When she finally showed up they raced out to greet her.
Now the doodle is "reading" Maxi stories about Clifford the Big Red Dog and Monkey is writing a school assignment about dog fostering.

*We've explained to the doodle that he needs to stay out of Maxi's bed : )

Ranger's got a forever home

Last night a great family showed up at our door and after a half hour of getting to know him, Ranger went home with them upon a unanimous vote. They have 2 teenage kids who were really excited to meet Ranger and play games with him in our basement as the whole family got to know him. He had on his A-game and even caught a treat from me to show everyone that he could do it (thanks for that buddy). While he'll be missed here at the WB's house, we know that he'll get lots of love, attention and many, many happy years with his 'forever family'. Have a great time Ranger, we were glad to have you in our home.

Hello, my name is Ranger

We never did confirm the new temporary name. Black Bear's current name is Ranger. Hello Ranger. I say that his name is temporary because he will not be with us forever. He will be here for only a short time until he can find a new home.

In fact. A new maybe mommy is coming by this afternoon to meet Ranger and see if her home could be his forever home.

We'll have to wait and see.

An update on the dog with no name

The point of fostering a dog is to give it a good home until a forever home can be found. A family has to be able to say goodbye to the dog and let it go to the forever home. If a family can't let go of the dog then they can't keep fostering dogs.

I seem to be the only one in my family who understands this! I am starting to suspect that he [Ranger] will not be moving out any time soon!

Black Bear AKA "Ranger" had a great night. We carried him upstairs and he slept on Mimii's floor and was no trouble at all. He did some woofing in his sleep and held his bladder. In the morning he was very timid to come out of her room so I carried him downstairs. He wasn't at all interested in coming onto the hardwood, even with the promise of a full bowl of food, so I pulled him on the mat over to the kitchen and he went outside to pee and then ate heartily. He slowly got used to the hardwood after a couple of minutes.

Last night he was cautious about letting me rub his belly. This morning he greeted me with three paws in the air. He had a good walk this am and is spending the day today in his crate.

As a side note he is a definite "destuffer" of all things stuffed. Manni and all other lovies will need to be kept safely away or Monkey might suddenly change his mind about wanting a dog!

A Dog Named ??

After a lot of careful consideration we have decided to start fostering dogs again. This is something that we gave up about a year before Monkey was born. We had one quick run with kittens this past summer but have not fostered dogs since 2000 when our dear old Rosco was hit by a car.
So we decided to contact K911 and see if they were looking for foster parents. They were thrilled to hear from us. They called yesterday to ask if we were ready to go. We are. So they brought over a sweet 8 month old black lab named "Black Bear". We do not like the name and would like you to help us to choose a better one. Since we need to start calling him something soon it'll be a short poll. The current options are Charlie and Ranger. We are taking new suggestions until 10 pm tonight EST and will be polling on all of the available names submitted until 6 pm tomorrow.
If anyone thinks that this sweet guy might be the right pet for your family please take a look at his posting here.

And then there were three...

I called the Humane Society today and we discussed Henry and her desire to be outside. They agreed that the kittens don't need her anymore and that she is not a good house cat. Dave brought her back this afternoon and they are going to find her a home where she can roam, after they spay her of course!

Bye bye Henry

Monkey took it pretty hard that she was a mom who was leaving her babies and that she would be happier somewhere else. We had a really great talk about everything and he is coming to terms with it. I actually really like the kinds of conversations that have already come up with these guys in the house. It has brought all sorts of new discussions to our home.

The downside is that the Humane Society doesn't pay for damages done by foster pets. While I have in the past sucked it up when animals have released messes from orifices into, onto and under our various carpet/furniture/cars. I didn't mind since it was a known risk. This time I really felt that I had taken a number of precautions to avoid such an event and just got unlucky with a cat that is nucking futs.

Sigh.

That crazy cat tried it again!

So at 4 am I am awoken by the sound of the momma cat (Henry) causing a ruckus. I go to investigate and she has ripped a series of holes in our screen and is clearly hoping to get out the window again. I have a lot of trouble with a momma who would bail on her babies like that. The window was firmly shut so even if she had gotten through the screen there would have been no way out. She spent the next hour running around the bathroom making as much noise as she possibly could. I must say, I am not impressed with this momma kitty.

The kittens Gordon, Percy and Thomas (two girls and a boy-guess who named them!!) are doing really well. They are really playful and really seem to enjoy hanging out together. Momma sleeps far away from them where they can't reach her, she kicks them off when they go to nurse and she jumps right on top of them to get at whatever food I put down.

These are the scratches on the window sill.

Lost mommy cat with three kittens at home!!

These are the posters that I spent the morning posting all around the neighbourhood:"Last night this mommy cat clawed her way through a second floor screen window and jumped. She is a foster from the Humane Society and so is NOT familiar with the area and how to find her way home. She is grey and black with a white tummy. She is very skinny. There are three kittens who are four weeks old waiting at home for their mom and her milk. Please call 613-555-1212 or come to 123 Evergreen Terrace if you see her or if you catch her. She is very friendly but is likely scared. "
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The window was open about 2 inches. She clawed the window sill on her way out pretty nicely. My guess is that it took some effort to get out the window. I went all over the neighbourhood putting up posters and talking to people. There was a big garage sale going on and I spoke with all of the vendors. Luckily, one of them saw her (jumping over the 5 foot chain link fence like it wasn't there) and trapped her in the garage. One momma kitty returned to her babies. The window is now completely shut!

DPoD September 20th Part III - The New Houseguests arrive

This time we decided to host some company of a different, yet familiar, background. We called up the Ottawa Humane Society since they are in such desperate need and decided to take in a mom and her three little kittens. We're both sure that the boys will absolutely love it and Monkey already does. He was made a big part of the their arrival and made a very comfortable bed for them to sleep in. Here are pictures of momma emerging: The youngsters getting brave: Kitty in the window, keeping an eye on her family: Monkey checking out the action: and finally kitten taking a drink from the bowl that Monkey chose for them to have as a water dish:
We're sure that they'll be included in the DPoD for their tenure here while we foster them.