#26 and #27

Meet Jaws. She’s a 6 year old long haired Chihuahua. She’s possibly the sweetest dog in the world and that tongue doesn’t really stay in her mouth all that often.

And meet Cheese. She’s a four year old long haired Chihuahua, who’s almost just as sweet.

These two girls were rescued from a puppy mill/backyard breeding situation in South Dakota. We picked them up on Saturday and they’ve both turned into fantastic little lap dogs. We’re having a pretty loud thunderstorm right now, and they haven’t even flinched.

Adopt them, please?

(pictures stolen from Pet Project Rescue’s Facebook Fan Page!)

merlyn’s on a boat

One of my favorite parts of foster is seeing what the dogs end up like when they get older.

Merlyn was our 9th foster dog. We got him in January 2009. He was just a little squirt:

He found a new (absolutely perfect) home with a couple my parents’ age and another dog, a lab-sized dog, named Mia. And here he is now:

He’s all legs! And on a boat!

we don’t even have a family photo album

We were supposed to get a new foster puppy tonight. He was a 3 month old pit bull hanging out in “pit row” at animal control. You know what happens to any single animal back in “pit row”? Euthanasia. No exception. Unless a rescue organization (like the one we volunteer for) saves them. Luckily, there were multiple orgs just waiting to get this guy out, so he went to another home, which I have no doubt will take fantastic care of him. And it leaves us foster dog free for a while!

The General and I were just talking the other day about some of the different ideas we have for various photo albums we want to put together, including one photo album just for all of the foster dogs we’ve had.

Oh, yeah. It’s nerd. And we’re so okay with that it’s not even funny. We’ve had 24 different foster animals and we’re starting to lose track of when we had them, and how long we had them. Want me to top off the nerdiness? No problem. I even started a Google Calendar, so we could remember when exactly they started living with us and when they moved along to their forever home.

It’d probably be a good idea to start one for our family, too. You know, in case it grows or something.

this makes fostering easy

When we tell people we foster dogs for Pet Project Rescue, everyone always asks how we do it. Don’t you get attached? Isn’t it hard? How do you not want to keep them all?

1. Sure, we get attached.
2. Yeah, it’s a little bit hard, but so is remembering to drink 8 glasses of water every day.
3. We already have 2 80+ pound boxers and live in the second story of a duplex. Anymore legs in that amount of space and we’d straight up kill each other slowly.

Here’s the thing. When you agree to foster animals, you know it’s just going to be something you do temporarily. You’re just sort of a long term babysitter. You spend a few weeks or a few months teaching this puppy or dog how he or she can function in a family with other dogs or sometimes even function living indoors.

Blanche is going to a new home this afternoon/evening and, to be honest, she’s the one I think we’re both going to miss quite a bit.

I mean, how could you not miss that face??

Her new family, though, is what makes it all worth it. They’re a younger couple that just bought a new house, specifically because it has a big backyard. They already have a 1.5 year old Pembroke Corgi who is sweet as can be and it’s just obvious the both love him. She wanted a Daschsund, he wanted a Pit Bull and they ran across Blanche on Petfinder. They thought she was perfect. And then the idea of having Blanche move on just got a whole lot easier.

Riley also agreed this morning when she was chewing on his elbow skin.

If fostering dogs doesn’t happen to be your thing, I’d highly suggest kittens. There are constantly litters of kittens just sitting at animal control, having been found in a box or running under someone’s porch, just waiting to be adopted. If nobody adopts them and we don’t have enough foster homes to rescue them, I don’t really know what happens to them. And I don’t want to think about it, because those little guys are freakin’ cute.

Just think about fostering. That’s my point. I’m wordy. Check out Pet Project Rescue’s website for more details to find out how you can help.

the new foster dog, blanche

Kentucky and Blanche, originally uploaded by twodolla.

Named after Rue McClanahan’s character on Golden Girls, of course. The five year old neighbor boy said she looked like a Lisa, but we vetoed that right away.

She’s an 8 week old Dachshund mix of some sort and, holy buckets of puppies, she is cute. She’s also very sweet, obviously gets along well with other dogs, and guess what? She needs a forever home. Just sayin’. More pictures of Blanche can be found right here.

P.S. I’ve also been spelling Dachshund wrong all day today.

presenting hugo!

We’re fostering again! Our little break was over and we’ve welcomed animal #22 this evening. Hugo, featured below, was rescued from Animal Control, where he was picked up as a stray a few weeks ago. His owners never came to pick him up and when that doesn’t? They get put to sleep. And that ain’t happenin’, if we can have anything to do with it.

Meet Hugo (who has become Huey for short):

He reminds me a whole lot of the dog we had growing up, named Shaq, who we got the same year that Shaquille O’Neal was drafted by the Orlando Magic. My brother and I found him at an elementary school near our house and brought him home via skateboard. Shaq wasn’t all that bright, having ran into my parents’ front door multiple times. I’m hoping Hugo only does that a time or two before he realizes what’s going on.

Hugo’s about 5 years old we’re guessing, just based on his  teeth. He’s sweet as can be. At about 15 pounds, he seems to be at a pretty healthy weight and hasn’t really had any accidents since we’ve had him. We’re about to test how well he sleeps in a kennel at night. You should be able to judge how well that goes based on the tone of my posts tomorrow, I’m sure!

i know – it’s all about puppies lately

I’d apologize, but I’m not sorry!

Got word from the fine folks at PPR (Pet Project Rescue for those of you a little slow at things…) about a litter of puppies (and the mama dog) that had been completely abandoned. The owners moved and left the mama dog chained to the porch with all of the puppies scattered about. No food and no water. Who does that kind of thing? I’d apologize for the karma they’re about to run into, but that’s something else I’m just not at all sorry about.

Right now, there are 8 10-week old puppies trying to keep warm and nourished with the food and water volunteers are providing, but they need warm foster homes to stay in. PPR will provide you with any food you’d need, puppy pads, leashes, kennels, vet care, medications — anything you need to help these dogs. You just have to provide a place for them to stay and, of course, a little attention now and then wouldn’t hurt either.

(Aside from this abandoned litter, there’s also a puppy mill that’s closing and surrendering 90 (NINETY) Pomeranian that are going to need foster homes, too, if you’re into little fuzz ball dogs.)

Can you help at all? Please pass along this information to anyone and everyone you know. They may be “just animals” to some of you, but these animals don’t deserve to starve to death just because their owners are insensitive and irresponsible jerks.

my opinion on health insurance reform

PUPPIES!

Here’s Jake!

And this is Casey!

These two are 10-week old poodle/terrier mixes that were rescued over the weekend from a home that didn’t want them (or their parents or a Golden Retriever or three cats) anymore. They maybe weigh two pounds each.

As usual, more information can be found at Pet Project Rescue’s site, including information about upcoming fundraisers, how to become a foster or volunteer, and a bunch of other really awesome stuff.

ergo baby carrier

Yesterday, our latest foster puppies came to visit. They’re poodle/terrier mixes and they weigh maybe two pounds each. They’re tiny and they’re both ridiculously and painfully cute. We’re supposed to take pictures of them, but no matter how many pictures we take, you just can’t see their gigantic cuteness factor. Yesterday was the first time they’d been separated from their mom, so they’ve been crying. A lot. And shaking like crazy. It’s very, very sad.

The General has a baby sling a company gave up as a sample for new moms that might use The General as a doula. It’s very similar to the Ergo Baby Carrier. And while we don’t have a baby to fill the sling with, I was about two seconds away from shoving Jake and Casey (yes, those are the puppies names!) into the sling and carrying about my dad.

We’re heading to Adoption Day shortly, where the puppies will be reunited with their mom. That should either be really nice for them or turn them into super hot messes tonight.

do you know generous people?

Pet Project Rescue is, as I’ve mentioned, having a silent auction next month and they are in need of…

Wait for it!

Silent auction items! If you work somewhere that could donate something or know someone that might be able to put us in touch with someone that, you know, knows some people, I’d really appreciate a quick comment or an email.

And so would the 10 animals PPR is rescuing tomorrow from owners that have just decided they want to try out a life with no animals. Really.