Desi transfer

Will be meeting Desi's owner on Sunday. I'm sure it will be hard for her. The only other dog I picked up directly from the owner was Striker (Swiper). It didn't seem hard for her, but she did have her husband leave with the kids so they wouldn't be there, because her daughter did not want to get rid of the dog.

According to what was written on the surrender form, Desi gets into stuff. Garbage, food on the counter, etc. She chews on books. Jazz did this (my collie/border collie mix I had before Thor). He never took a book from a shelf, but if one was left out on a table, couch, floor, he'd chew up the binding. Someone told me dogs sometimes like the taste of the glue in the binding.

If you noticed in the picture yesterday, Desi is tied to the chair. I wonder if this was their solution and just how badly she behaves? When I'm house breaking a dog I keep them tied to me, so wherever I go, they go. It seems to work pretty good. Otherwise you just have to keep an eye on them, not letting them stay in the kitchen when you leave the room if there is food or garbage out. The paperwork stated that she is house-trained, spayed and up to date on shots, etc., so she should be listed as available after two weeks.

I will be crating her when nobody is home. This usually isn't for more than six hours at a time. It was nice to not have to crate Mac.

Completely unrelated to fostering.
The Packers creamed the Vikings yesterday!!!!!!! A lot of people I talked to thought it would be a close game. Not me. The Pack was coming home to Lambeau after being gone for a month and everybody was fired up. 45-7 and those seven points were off a boffed punt when Cobb grabbed and missed the ball, so the Vikings were really pretty bad, especially in the second half. Starting to look like a coaching problem to me.

Desi - Foster #11

Will hopefully pick her up sometime this weekend as soon as we make arrangements.

No details . . .

But I should be getting a new foster dog soon!

Thor - July (?) 2003-Nov. 4, 2011

I first fell in love with collies watching Lassie as a kid. It wasn't Lassie so much as it was just that I just loved the dog. Large and furry. I got a book on collies for Christmas. In 9th grade I bought my first collie for $45. That was when I experienced for the first time, the intelligence of this breed. Kelly lived to be 13. I will write about her some other time.

This entry is about Thor. My "I will have another collie someday" collie. When Kelly died, I was living in Ketchum, Idaho. She stayed with my mom in Wisconsin because that was her home. I was working a few hours on the weekends at the shelter in Hailey, Id. I wanted to bring all the dogs home, so I settled on one, a springer/sheltie mix I named Travis. When Travis was about 12, my mom's friend's neighbor's daughter brought home a puppy she knew she couldn't keep, but the farmer was about to kill him because he wasn't needed on the farm. That was how I got Jazz, a collie/border collie mix. (I was getting closer!)

When Jazz was 11, I happened across a collie on Petfinder.com and that was how I got Thor. He was a one-year-old collie being fostered in Osceola, Wis. for a rescue. He was originally from Kansas City. His owner became disabled and couldn't care for him anymore.

Though he had his faults, he was too bossy in the dog park, and as a typical collie, barked A LOT, he was a perfect gentleman. Friendly to everyone he met, loved the cats, was good with the rabbits, and could be left alone in the house without getting into anything. Too often we'd come home to an absolute mess with Thor pushing his way out the door as if to say, I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT MESS!

He loved to go for walks and rides in the car with his head out the window. He didn't like water or it's frozen form. I had to push him out the door in the rain or snow.

A few weeks ago he was diagnosed with cancer after he went blind and his face swelled up. The medication brought the swelling down, but he'd been losing weight and went from being a normal eight years old to about 12. He was losing control of bodily functions. As Dr. Bob Nelson once said about Kelly, it was time to be a friend to Thor.

Thanks to everyone for the hugs, real and cyber. They help.

I will continue fostering and when the right dog comes along, I will adopt again. As hard as it is to lose them, it would be harder to not have them at all.

Still here, still no foster

Not having a foster right now is a good thing. I've been battling pneumonia for a month now and we are having some issues with my own collie, Thor. He is eight years old and was suddenly blind last week. His glands are enlarged. I can't afford all kinds of tests or treatment if it is cancer, so we're trying penicillan and as long as he's not in pain or distress, we'll make him comfortable. It could be SARDS (something something, retinal detachment something) or lymphoma. I think he can see a little. He moves his head when I move my hand, but for the most part he can't see. I've been walking him and talking to him as we walk. He mostly seems confused but is getting around better each day. Just taking it day by day. I am trying to be optimistic, but also know it doesn't look good.

Found this picture this morning doing a search for something else. I love this. Would love to have this hanging on my wall.

No foster dogs for now

I think my break from fostering may be longer. As we move toward winter, it becomes harder to foster. I don't have a fenced yard, so I have to take the dogs across the street for potty breaks and I am so not a lover of cold weather. Yes, I have two dogs to walk so what really is one more, but it also becomes a time thing.

I've also been sick for three weeks which turned out to be pneumonia. Everybody tells me drink lots of water and rest. But rest isn't really in my vocabulary. Not really a choice thing, but more a necessity. I don't have a lot of down time. A few hours in the evening four days a week is about all I get. I'm not complaining, I'm not one to sit still for long anyway. Sunday mornings are my lazy time.

My next personal dog to post about will be Heidi. We got her when I was in 2nd grade, or thereabouts. A cocker spaniel-sized mutt colored like a brittany spaniel. I'm going to ask my sister Connie to send me her memories of Heidi and include them here, too.

New picture of Mac at home.

That's Mac on the right, btw.