For the record:

Mac is now using the great outdoors as his bathroom on a regular basis. He even goes more than once a day.

He puts his nose to the ground now, during walks and will walk at my side, or use the length of his leash to explore.

He's getting more and more playful with me, but is not interested in playing with my dogs. 

He lines up for treats.
(gotta get a picture of that)

I've talked with two applicants. One decided to go with a different dog, and the other, I don't think would be a good fit for him.

Mac's page on MWCR.org

The woman who writes the bio's for the dogs does a fantastic job!

http://www.mwcr.org/2011/mac-2011.htm

Pictures

Mac after his bath

And as a side note, I basically created my sanctuary in my bedroom. I have a sitting area and I keep it as my place to do what I want to do, read, computer time, tv. It does get crowded, though.

Patience pays off every time!

I have never been so excited to see a dog pee!

Monday afternoon, I got home and Mac still hadn't done anything on the basement floor. I previously set papers down and a borrowed pee pad from the neighbor. Not that he was trained to go on any of this, but I thought it might make him more comfortable using this as it wouldn't splatter.

I hooked up all three dogs and thought, okay, here we go.

We walked to the far side of the creek, Brett and Thor taking care of their business as usual. I turned to go back in, thinking, okay he's still not going to go. We walked between the creek and tree. Mac suddenly started sniffing the ground and YES! He squats like a girl, but he went for what seemed like five minutes. I was afraid to say anything for fear he'd stop, but I guess once the floodgate opened there was no stopping anyway. As soon as he was done I had a party with him. He even jumped up on me as if in celebration. We took a few more steps and he took care of #2 so we had another party.

Yesterday, he pooped in the morning and peed in the afternoon.

Today he did both in the morning. I think he's figured out that that's why we walk 3-4 times a day!

My son came home from Upper Michigan Monday evening. Mac loves him! I suppose he's familiar with his smell from being in the house. I was cleaning the rabbit den when KJ came in and Mac acted like they were long lost best friends. KJ said, "I want to keep this one". But no, we are not getting another permanent dog!

We did, then, give Mac a bath in the doggie pool. He wasn't happy, but he stayed in the pool while I rinsed, shampooed, and rinsed. He looks a lot better. I haven't had a chance to brush him yet as it took a long time for him to dry and I work two jobs, Tuesday-Thursday, so Friday he will get a good brushing. He's been dropping clumps of fur and I did cut away some mats from his underside. I will have to cut more as there is no way I'll be able to brush those out.

I've taken a few pictures, but haven't pulled them off the camera yet. And I really want to brush him out before I take some MWCR website worthy pictures.

Not sure what to do here (this is all about biological functions!)

Mac hasn't peed in 24 hours.

I fed him in the garage and left him there hoping he'll go in there, by himself. I feed all the dogs in the garage. Brett and Thor together and the foster separately. Mac will need to be fed twice a day in a weight gaining effort. Brett will often 'go' in the garage. His ADD interferes with him going when he's outside. He pees, but when it comes to the other, he will often go so far as to make like he's going to drop a load, then smell something or see something and stand up. So frustrating. More so in the rain or cold.

Back to Mac. Being a farm dog he's used to just going off to do his business. Having a fenced yard would be better here, but I don't have one of those. He didn't go during the transport so before we even went into the house I took him into the park. He's really good on a leash, but for this purpose he stays too close. He's not interested in sniffing the trees or the long grass around the creek.

Okay. I'll bring him in and give him some water and take everybody for the walk around the park later. 

Two hours later we're all out there walking. We're in the thick of a heat wave with intense humidity. When we first got him, I stood talking to Mitzi for about 15 minutes and my clothes were sticking to me.

To walk the entire park with dogs it takes 20-30 minutes depending on the dogs, really. Brett pulls the entire way as if to say, I'm going to keep trying to see if I'm still hooked to this leash. Thor doesn't pull, but wants to smell everything and pee many times. Both Brett and Thor took care of both jobs. Mac walked and even stepped out away from me, but often looked confused. Every other foster I've had, always ended up peeing after one of the other dogs. Mac doesn't even sniff at it and never went.

Later inside, Thor barked at something, Mac stood up and went down the hall. I gently called him back to me and he came toward me, cowering, and then peed on the carpet in front of me. This was so sad. It tells me he's been abused in some way. I have not had to be firm with him in any kind of way. He is such a sweet dog, shy and very responsive to the lightest call. And so loving.

I took him out with the expandable leash, thinking to give him more room to roam. He was fearful of the sound it made when it would suck back into the casing. Even laying down at my feet and rolling over when I tried to show him the case. So I pulled it out all the way and locked it. He didn't really like dragging it but quickly got used to it. But still not even interested in peeing.

I switched to the tie out. I have a 30 foot cable. I hooked him up to it and took Thor with me to 'show' Mac what to do. Still nothing. I brought Thor back and took Brett. Nothing. 

Woke up at 7:00 this morning. No 'accidents'. I took Mac out on the cable again. Stayed out there in the park for a half hour. Nothing.

So now he's in the garage for a bit. We'll see. How long can he hold it???????????????

Mac is home with me

Mac's transport went really well and he's chillin' now with me, Brett and Thor in front of the fan. There isn't much left of the fan by the time it reaches me! 

I forget what a pretty drive western Wisconsin is. All the rolling hills and green trees.

He's getting along really well with my dogs already. I was going to give him a bath right away, but thought I'd wait a few days because he was recently given frontline. I actually think I'll do the self serve wash at Petco. I've taken Thor there and they have a whitening shampoo. Once he gets regular decent food, he's going to be really pretty. He's REALLY thin. Not sure why. Brett is skinny because he has doggie ADD. Mac doesn't appear to have that, but will give it a week to see how he settles in.

He's very sweet and very shy and seems to be a velcro dog, for now anyway. I'm sure he's pretty shell-shocked. I've read the paperwork that came with him and it looks like this owner got him when he was 10 months, so had him about two years. It looks like before that he lived in Poynette, Wis. But that's it for info. They said he wouldn't stop nipping at the horses. They had their own horses and also board so there were quite a few horses on this farm. Said he mostly lived in the garage, but they brought him inside on hot or cold days. 

He likes to jump up when he wants attention, but it's not a "knock you over" kind of jump. He knows sit and down and it also said he's had some training though 4H.

I'll take new pictures after he's had a bath.

Picking Mac up in Eau Claire tomorrow

Plans have been made and I pick Mac up in Eau Claire tomorrow at 1:30 from Colleen. I've met Colleen before at one of the Collie Frolics. She has a Belgian Tervuen which is the same dog my sister has.

(It's really storming outside right now, probably shouldn't be on the computer!)

Here's a picture of Mac at Nancy's house. She pulled him from the shelter and is bringing him to Tomah, Wisconsin, to meet Colleen.

I love the way people step up for these transports!

Mac / Foster #10

My new foster! A transport needs to be arranged, so hopefully sometime this weekend.

Mac is a 3 year old, neutered, tri-headed white, male collie.    He was surrendered to the shelter because he was herding the horses on the farm.

He is sweet and passed the temperament test, but he is not doing well in the shelter and is stressed. Mac is good with cats, dogs and kids. He is housetrained and UTD on shots. He will get  a hw test before he leaves the shelter.