Grooming

I cleaned off the grooming table, pulled it outside and went to work on Cody. Since his bath he's been dropping clumps of fur. I had to lift him up onto the table but once there he stood quietly and let me just brush and brush. What a good boy!

Sleeping and kind of eating

Cody wants nothing to do with dog food and everything to do with people food. He slept well through the night and while he's an occasional whiner I haven't heard him bark yet. That's normal. Some dogs need more time to settle in and take a while for their true personality to appear, and others just let another house dog do the barking. Mac never made a peep the month he was here, but started barking right away at his permanent home.
I mixed a slice of cheese in with Cody's food today and he ate most of it. I think maybe he was used to just having kibble down all the time to nibble on when he felt like it.
And no problems waiting for him to pee outside. He pees on EVERYTHING! Grass, trees, bushes, the other dogs . . . Oy!
He started playing today with Woodson, which is who the fosters prefer to play with. He's much more gentle than my train wreck, Brett.
He has a really thick coat. I have hours of brushing to do on him. I'm probably going to take him to the No-Kill Walk for Animals on Saturday, so need to brush him tomorrow. He has undercoat that really needs to come out.

Cody's arrival

Terry picked up Cody from St. Paul Animal Control yesterday and brought him to Skyline for vetting and told me they had approved boarding through his neuter, but that isn't scheduled until Monday. Since I'm off work today, I went and picked him up, to keep him at home through the weekend. He hasn't been eating, so good to have him here where he can unwind from all this stress.

When I called this morning Heather said he was a little stinky, so I should probably give him a bath. They used to do grooming there, but don't anymore. Cody jumped right up into the back of my Jeep, and off we went. Within seconds, I realized that 'a little stinky' was relative to a vet tech, who comes across stinky a lot. Wow. I don't know how long he was at the shelter, but, I had to crack the window in the rain to get some fresh air.

Before we came into the house, I took him across the street into the park where he did his business. Came in and walked right into the house to meet Brett and Woodson. No issues. He has already tried humping both and also tried to mark, but a simple 'hey!' takes care of that and neither of my dogs will allow him to do that. Woodson keeps growling at him when he walks up with that intention. We may have a fight at some point, so I think he will need to be crated for a while, when I'm gone to make sure he and Woodson don't have problems, as Woodson is loose in the house. I'm told Cody had free run of his previous house. Neutering should take care of this, too.

He's a little matted, knows sit and lay down. I will brush him out this weekend. Feels good to have a foster again!

#22 arriving this week

Winter is over (hopefully), so that means my fostering season starts back up. This winter was a particularly bad one, cold and a lot of snow. 

Cody was surrendered to St.Paul Animal Control by a family who is losing their house. He is being picked up today and dropped off at the vet for vetting and neuter. His neuter isn't scheduled until Monday so my plan is to pick him up tomorrow afternoon and keep him here for the weekend, so he doesn't have to stay in a kennel. He is 2.5 years old and good with kids and other dogs/cats. 

It's been raining here steadily since Sunday, but is supposed to start drying up in a day or so. I think I need one of those rain slickers for walking the dogs in the park! Easier than carrying an umbrella.

Pearly adopted (last December)

I just realized I never posted Pearly's adoption. Friday the 13th turned out to be her lucky day in December. She went to a family who have a vineyard in southeast Minnesota. She joined another collie and had a rough start, but they were determined to work it out. Having two females can be tricky. When he first arrived here to meet her, Pearly did her best to win him over by being a huge flirt with him. She really does like men!

I haven't heard anything for a bit, but they did let me know she was settling in.  

Pearly's on the website!

Pearly's bio up on website

Pearly is shopping for her forever home. You can see her bio here.We've talked to a few possible adopters, but the more I talk to people the more I'm defining what would be a good match for her. Even though she's a puppy, still, she's bossy. So many dynamics to consider. I don't have a lot of experience with female dogs, even though my first collie was a female and she got along with other dogs, I don't remember her being much of a diva, although we were pretty much attached at the hip. We lived in the country where she was able to run loose, so she probably drained a lot of her energy.

Pretty much on a daily basis, Pearly and Brett get into a squabble. It's not serious, but one of them starts it and the other fights back, which is easily stopped by me, but it's still happening. They even do this sometimes at the dog park. It's just the two of them, no other dogs. Pearly gets along great with the other dogs. She loves to run and is absolutely joyous when another dog takes off running. She will come from the other side of the park to chase that dog if she sees a runner. Brett will then plow into her and she will lay into him. I don't blame her.

Thus, I have decided Pearly probably needs to be an only dog, unless the adopter is willing to work with this possibility. Having more than one dog is like having multiple children. They get into fights. My own to get into it once in a while, but not often. I have two males. I think two females in one house is more volatile.

Pearly is still a very sweet dog. She loves to half climb in my lap and will stay there until I make her get down. Snapped this picture last night of her and Brett, proving they do get along most of the time. She actually plays with Brett more than Woodson.

Dog Park test

Pearly's Big Day

Pearly is a lot like a human toddler. She gets into everything and wants something to be happening all the time, even if she has to make that happen. She pushes up against Woodson initiating play constantly. All three dogs will play, and when mine stop, that's when Pearly gets into other stuff. Yesterday she dragged the bathroom rug into the hall. She chewed up a bandana that said "Rescued by Love".

I needed to drain this restlessness out of her, but wasn't sure if she could go to the dog park, yet, with her spay being only a week ago. Her stitches are fine, she's licking, but no redness and she hasn't pulled any out. I was watching the Packers' game, getting up to check on her every so often, or when they were in the same room with me, I'm constantly saying, "stop it', 'enough', etc. Finally, it's almost halftime and the Packers have lost their back-up QB, and the back-up to the back-up just threw an interception in the end-zone. A college friend posted on his facebook page: Imagine coming to a Packers' game and being asked to play quarterback! I literally laughed out loud, jumped up and shouted "let's go!"

The dog park is probably less than a mile from my house. I layered up, t-shirt, Pullover and jacket, grabbed a hat and gloves, loaded the dogs, Pearly is almost jumping into the Jeep on her own, and actually did jump in for the trip home. I love that my dogs teach the fosters how to do everyday stuff. 

As I usually do with a new foster, I kept Pearly on the leash while Brett and Woodson took off into the park. Our dog park is wide open, completely fenced and I can see the entire area if I stand in the right place. I let Pearly off her leash after giving her a minute to access the area and she took off running. She was polite to the other dogs there and, of course, wanted to play. She dealt with Brett's obnoxious bossy roughness that I find annoying. Brett is an Aussie/Catahoula mix and he grabs while herding, and has no problem just plowing into another dog. Some dogs will turn around and start fighting with him, which, then, Brett fights back. He does better if I stand away from any groups of people. 

I've maybe said it before, several times, but I love watching the dogs at the dog park. Pearly was no exception. She clearly enjoyed herself. Woodson is always the first one to let me know he's done and ready to go home. After about a half hour of chasing and playing and once he does his perimeter check, he comes up to me and wants to jump up on me, then just kind of hangs around me, wandering off but coming back. Brett always goes off and comes back constantly. He'll go with Woodson on his perimeter check but always comes back before Woodson does. On Sunday, both Woodson and Brett were ready to go, but Pearly was still off doing her own thing, with no sign of slowing down. I was able to brush her out earlier as she's still shedding her undercoat. She finally came up to me and I said, okay, time to go. I was pretty cold after 1.5 hours. 

We got home and I thoroughly enjoyed the next seven hours of passed out dogs!