Moved to Vox

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Since the closing of Vox I've moved again - to WordPress!!

Just When You Think Things are Figured Out They're Not

Yesterday I posted that we'd be taking back the puppy we recently fostered. This morning I called the person who would be returning the puppy to remind her to bring the health certificate she received when she took him in. She mentioned that she was going to call me. She decided to keep him. She said that she found someone to watch the puppy while she was away and if she had to hire a dog walker she'd do that as well. She wants to see if she can make things work.

So now we're back to the original plan of taking in Shelly, Sue/Stu's mom this evening.

The Boy Named Sue becomes the Boy Named Stu

I received a call this afternoon from the person who adopted Sue. She decided that she doesn't have the time to take care of a puppy and wants to do what's best for the dog so that he has a better life.

Sue is also known as Stu now so that people don't think he's a girl. Apparently Vicky was getting phone calls from people thinking that he was a girl even though his Petfinder profile states that he's a male.

We'll be picking up Stu tomorrow evening. Originally we were going to take in Shelly the beagle, Stu's mom but with the return of the puppy we'll be taking him instead.

This is the first dog we've fostered who has been adopted and then returned. Well, Sally was returned but that was after eight months or so. An older couple adopted her and found out that they were allergic. They tried for months to make it work since they really loved Sally but in the end they had to return her. So I don't count that as a "real" return. ;)

I knew that eventually one of "our" dogs would be returned. I'm happy that it took until dog 26 and 15 months for it to happen for the first time.

The Boy Named Sue Found a Home

This morning I worked on an application for Sue. He was adopted this afternoon! His new owner is a med student at University of Michigan. She comes "home" to Grand Rapids every weekend. Her parents adopted a dog from Vicky a couple of years ago. So it's cool to get some repeat business so to speak.

Before we went to the adoption meeting we took pictures of us with Sue and tired him out. The first part of the ride he cried in the carrier but he eventually settled down and went to sleep.

Meet Sue!

Although we were planning on waiting until sometime next week to foster again, we picked up Sue this morning. He (he's named Sue after the Johnny Cash song) is the last of his litter to be adopted and rather than be left all alone we took him in. Since he's a puppy it shouldn't take too long for him to get adopted.

We picked him up at the farm where he had been staying. We've been told that he's a stinker. I guess one of the girls in the litter was alpha but when she was adopted Sue decided that he should fill that role. People would come to look at him and end up taking another puppy in the litter because he was being mean to his brothers and sisters.

We knew that he'd get the idea that he's not alpha dog with Beacon around. And so far Beacon has been putting the smack down whenever he feels Sue is misbehaving. Sue immediately submits and tries to lick Beacon's chin, which is a sign of submission.

So far he's been pretty good for a puppy. He's 9 weeks old. His mom is a beagle and who knows what his dad is. The entire litter was a mix of colors.

As soon as we brought Sue home we went into the backyard with all of the dogs. He ran around and tried to avoid getting wet by the hose. Andrew got him a couple of times. We'll have to see how he really likes water in the kiddie pool sometime soon.

We'll see how much sleep we get tonight!

Flipper is Adopted

Yesterday I started working on an application for Flipper that I received online. A couple in their 30s with a six month old son were interested in adopting Flipper.

I spoke with the wife and really liked her. I called a couple of references, one of which I also really liked. I asked the wife if she thought her son would be okay with Flipper as he (the son) got more mobile. She said that she plans on teaching her son early the right and wrong ways to interact with a dog.

Flipper has a pretty laidback personality so I think he'd be good around kids of all ages. He'd probably like the extra attention.

Originally we were going to plan an adoption meeting for Sunday afternoon. Andrew and I were going to be busy yesterday evening. The family was going to be busy today and tomorrow. But when I called to let the family know that they were approved I spoke with the husband. He's from England and for some reason at times over the phone I couldn't understand him! He asked if he could come and pick up Flipper and surprise his wife, who was out at the time.

So Flipper ended up going home earlier than expected. I liked this family so hopefully Flipper will like them too. The husband took the leash and collar that Flipper had on saying that he'd return it later in the day. Typically we adopt dogs without collars and leashes so that items can be reused for other dogs. I took Vicky's tag off the collar in case for some reason the items didn't come back. But when Andrew and I returned home from eating dinner and getting him some new running shoes the leash and collar were on hanging off the handle of the front door. Flipper wasn't attached so I took that as a good sign. ;)

The husband said that he'd have his wife call yesterday after they got home and surprised her. She never did call. Maybe she will today or tomorrow. If not I'll go with the no news is good news thought.

Since we didn't have Flipper for very long we'll probably take in another foster dog, if we're needed, sometime next week.

Flipper Tales

Flipper continues to adjust to the routine here. Beacon and Haven continue to keep to themselves. They will all sleep in the same room, fairly close to each other but that's about it. Flipper still would rather hang out with humans than other dogs. I wonder if he hasn't gotten much human interaction and attention. He was brought into the Shelter the end of May. Vicky took him in the end of June and since then he basically has been recovering from surgery.

Yesterday Andrew took Beacon and Haven for a run in the rain. I stayed home with Flipper. We played fetch in the backyard. He does really well chasing after a ball and bringing it back.

Earlier in the day his surgery spot hit the grass as he was fetching and he yelped. It must be a little sore still. And maybe that's why he's not into playing with Beacon and Haven. Maybe he knows that he's still a little sore and he's smaller than the other dogs in the house.

For some reason today Flipper has developed a "fear" of coming down the hallway from the computer room to the rest of the house. He didn't have issues yesterday. He acts like he's nervous about something, similar to Haven not wanting to pass by grates. He'll look and get low and then sprint down the hallway and he's fine. But he doesn't have any problems going down the hall back to the computer room!