(no subject)
OH MY GOSH it's been almost a month since I last posted! Well, if you're friends with me on Facebook, you know it's because my life has gone a little out of control recently. In a good way. Don't worry.
The biggest thing is that I took in some foster dogs! I'm following several dog rescues on Facebook, from back when I was dog hunting. Most of them have a foster system - no physical location with kennels and such, but just a network of loving foster homes that take in rescues and care for them (and train them, rehabilitate them if necessary, etc.) until homes can be found. One of them posted one Friday, saying that one of their members was down in New Mexico at a high-kill shelter - and almost every kennel was a litter of puppies. The member said she could rescue dogs and bring them up, but they could only take the ones that had foster homes to go to. So they issued an urgent plea for emergency fosters who could take dogs the next night.
Well! Most of the options were too much for just little ol' me and my tiny apartment - many of them were, like, Labrador mamas with seven puppies. But then there was one little mama, about my Rufus' size it looked like, who was just a fluffy blur in the picture because she wanted to get out of the cage to the person taking the picture. And one tiny, tiny puppy. I thought - I can handle one more dog, and ONE puppy! So I volunteered, signed up as a foster, and the next day picked up a matted, neglected, malnourished little poodle and her tiny puppy.
Since we always named our pets after video game characters, I named mama "Marlene" after Barret's daughter in Final Fantasy VII, and the baby "Garnet" after the main heroine in Final Fantasy IX. For the first couple days, Marlene wasn't letting Garnet nurse, even though she didn't have any teeth yet and definitely wasn't ready to be weaned. I figured it was because she was so skinny. I cooked some chicken and rice and fed Garnet bits of the rice to try to keep her going. After a day or two of big meals, Marlene started nursing again - so it was definitely because she was starving. Shortly after that, it was revealed that Marlene and Garnet were found in the desert - the guess is that the owner dumped her there pregnant, she had her puppies, and Garnet was the only one who survived the ordeal. Garnet was about three weeks old when I got her, so how my little Marlene kept herself and a baby alive for that long in the desert of New Mexico is beyond me. Even more beyond me is the idea that someone could dump a loving, sweet, well-behaved girl like Marlene in the desert, scared and pregnant, left to die!! She was also so matted and dreadlocked, it looks like she's never been cared for. I took her to the groomer this week and she's feeling like a new woman - so cool and ready for the summer heat!
She is such a sweet girl! And Garnet, well....just look at this face:
I took that picture the day after I got her. It's been almost two weeks and a lot of good meals, and she's practically doubled in size! I think her mystery daddy was a bigger dog - pretty sure she's going to be bigger than her little mommy now. But oh, what a precious little thing she is right now.
So, yeah. I'm having fun being a doggie foster mommy, but that also means I'm like, not getting ANYTHING done. Haven't had reading time to finish any of the books I've been reading for the past month or two, or make anything other than what's sold and has to be shipped out. Basically I'm just keeping an eye on dogs and taking care of them, when I'm not at work or elsewhere. Which is fun. But even though I love these two, I'm looking forward to when Garnet is old enough to be adopted and I can find a new home for both of them. :) Three more weeks!
The biggest thing is that I took in some foster dogs! I'm following several dog rescues on Facebook, from back when I was dog hunting. Most of them have a foster system - no physical location with kennels and such, but just a network of loving foster homes that take in rescues and care for them (and train them, rehabilitate them if necessary, etc.) until homes can be found. One of them posted one Friday, saying that one of their members was down in New Mexico at a high-kill shelter - and almost every kennel was a litter of puppies. The member said she could rescue dogs and bring them up, but they could only take the ones that had foster homes to go to. So they issued an urgent plea for emergency fosters who could take dogs the next night.
Well! Most of the options were too much for just little ol' me and my tiny apartment - many of them were, like, Labrador mamas with seven puppies. But then there was one little mama, about my Rufus' size it looked like, who was just a fluffy blur in the picture because she wanted to get out of the cage to the person taking the picture. And one tiny, tiny puppy. I thought - I can handle one more dog, and ONE puppy! So I volunteered, signed up as a foster, and the next day picked up a matted, neglected, malnourished little poodle and her tiny puppy.
Since we always named our pets after video game characters, I named mama "Marlene" after Barret's daughter in Final Fantasy VII, and the baby "Garnet" after the main heroine in Final Fantasy IX. For the first couple days, Marlene wasn't letting Garnet nurse, even though she didn't have any teeth yet and definitely wasn't ready to be weaned. I figured it was because she was so skinny. I cooked some chicken and rice and fed Garnet bits of the rice to try to keep her going. After a day or two of big meals, Marlene started nursing again - so it was definitely because she was starving. Shortly after that, it was revealed that Marlene and Garnet were found in the desert - the guess is that the owner dumped her there pregnant, she had her puppies, and Garnet was the only one who survived the ordeal. Garnet was about three weeks old when I got her, so how my little Marlene kept herself and a baby alive for that long in the desert of New Mexico is beyond me. Even more beyond me is the idea that someone could dump a loving, sweet, well-behaved girl like Marlene in the desert, scared and pregnant, left to die!! She was also so matted and dreadlocked, it looks like she's never been cared for. I took her to the groomer this week and she's feeling like a new woman - so cool and ready for the summer heat!
She is such a sweet girl! And Garnet, well....just look at this face:
I took that picture the day after I got her. It's been almost two weeks and a lot of good meals, and she's practically doubled in size! I think her mystery daddy was a bigger dog - pretty sure she's going to be bigger than her little mommy now. But oh, what a precious little thing she is right now.
So, yeah. I'm having fun being a doggie foster mommy, but that also means I'm like, not getting ANYTHING done. Haven't had reading time to finish any of the books I've been reading for the past month or two, or make anything other than what's sold and has to be shipped out. Basically I'm just keeping an eye on dogs and taking care of them, when I'm not at work or elsewhere. Which is fun. But even though I love these two, I'm looking forward to when Garnet is old enough to be adopted and I can find a new home for both of them. :) Three more weeks!