Breeder retires, surrenders nine dogs

Read all about them here:

http://www.mwcr.org/2011-A/donation1.htm

No foster dog, currently, so this is a dog from my past.

I was reminded this morning of my first dog in a post over on livejournal. The first dog that I remember. My family had a toy poodle named Gabby when I was a baby. I do not know what happened to that dog. My mom is dead, so I can't ask her. I've only seen pictures. I assume they found another home for her when they moved and probably couldn't have a dog at the new place.

When I was in grade school a farm dog adopted my twin sister, Connie and I. We were in second grade. The school bus would drop us off at this rural corner before it started it's second route of junior high and high school kids. We then had to walk about three blocks to get to the road that led to our house or stay on the bus for another hour. 

One day, as we were dropped off, a very big shaggy black and white dog (collie size, but colored like a Bernese Mountain Dog), came bounding up to us, barking. Connie and I screamed and started hugging each other. The dog kept barking and was basically trying to herd us. A woman came out of the farm house and called to us. He's really friendly. So Connie and I separated and being the dogless dog lovers that we were, started talking to him. This was the start of an adopted friendship. I believe they told us his name was Toejoe, but we called him JoeJoe. 

The farm family had two farms, one where the bus dropped us off and another to the north of our house. They drove a tractor back and forth passing our house. JoeJoe was out there waiting for us everyday, walked us home and then hung out with us usually until he heard the tractor go by. He would then head out and trot alongside the tractor to go home. Sometimes he would stay overnight. He'd come on weekends with the tractor, stop at our house until the tractor came back through.

JoeJoe became our protector. I remember one time Connie and I stopped at the end of our driveway to climb in the snow bank. We fell through, screaming at the snow that made its way inside our boots. JoeJoe had already gone down the driveway ahead of us, but when he heard our screams, he came tearing back out, growling and ready to fight whatever it was that was making us scream.

There was another time when a friend of my mom's was visiting. Several of us kids had blocked off the steps to our deck making it into a ship. JoeJoe was on the ship. I climbed over to go say hi to the friend. He picked me up, turning me upside down, causing me to scream. JoeJoe leaped off the side of the deck and came around the corner telling the friend he better put me down!

JoeJoe was not allowed inside our house, but my mom let him sleep in the garage when he did stay overnight. I would sit down there with him until I absolutely had to go to bed. When we finally did get our own dog, Heidi, I remember my mom telling me "you need to make sure JoeJoe doesn't get a bent nose". I pictured JoeJoe's nose bent and didn't know how this could happen, as I didn't know the phrase, thus understood it literally. 

Shortly after getting Heidi,  JoeJoe stopped coming by, never to be seen again. I heard much later that they found him near the railroad tracks. Today I see him as being a dog with a purpose, acting as our dog until we got our own. He taught me a lot about loyalty and friendship. I don't have a picture of him. I know there is one or two somewhere. Probably with my mom's photos. But I don't need a picture to remember him.

He was truly a great dog.

Prairie adopted!

Prairie's new owner came to my house yesterday afternoon to pick him up. She lives in Hudson, Wis., and is an animal control officer and also a vet tech, so she knows how to monitor him medically. She will take good care of him. She has grown children and a roommate so even though she is on call 24-7 with the animal control, Prairie will not be left alone much.

She emailed me early this morning to say he was settling in just fine, getting along with everybody.

The fun thing, is that she worked for my family vet for 20 years! She's only a couple years older than me, so she wasn't there when we were. Dr. Bob Nelson is retired now, but Kathi still works for the vet who took over his practice. She's going to say hi to Dr. Bob. He was the best vet, and doctored two of my dogs, the main one being my first collie, Kelly. I got Kelly when I was in 9th grade. Dr. Bob spayed her when she was a teenager and put her down when she was 13. When Kelly was in for her spay, a reporter from the St. Paul paper was there interviewing Dr. Bob for a story. They ran the article with a picture of Kelly getting the anesthesia. He had it framed and hanging on his wall forever. Kathi remembers the picture. I had a copy of it, too, in one of my photo albums, but not sure if I still have it. I haven't seen him since my mom died eight years ago.

So, another success story! I will take a small break, and then onto the next. It's always so weird when we go back to just my own dogs. I can sleep with my bedroom door open again! And it's less work, but it still feels weird.

Update on Striker (Swiper)

http://www.mwcr.org/2010/swiper.htm

It is so cool to get updates on the dogs I foster. Striker seems to have found his perfect home. He was such a good dog and yes, he was pudgy. The family who surrendered him lived two burbs over from me and it felt like when we went out for walks he just wanted to head in that direction and had he been loose, I believe he would have kept on walking. The family felt they weren't giving him the attention he deserved. Clearly his new family is able to do this. Beautiful dog. My first blue merle, too, and so far my only blue.

Snip, snip

Dropped Prairie off this morning for his surgery. He has no idea what he's in for! He's young, though. I was told the older the dog the worse it is. Poor Fergus had a really rough time with it. I forgot Prairie's microchip, though. Kicking myself because it's a big needle and so much easier on the dog if they're out when they insert it, but it can be done, so I'll bring it tomorrow when I pick him up. I wonder if he'll be sporting the "cone of shame".

I talked to a potential adopter last night. They live in Wausau (my birthplace). They've been looking at other dogs, too. They have a 10-year-old collie from MWCR, so they want a dog who will be easy on her. Prairie could be that dog. From our conversation she thinks Prairie would be a good fit, but she doesn't think her senior would do well on a trip for them to meet. We discussed meeting in Eau Claire and it could still happen, but she's passing for now. At least until they meet some other dogs that are closer to home.

So, onto the next!

I was asked yesterday if I'd hold a puppy overnight and if I didn't have to work at Foss, I would have. Someone else said yes and I'm seeing pictures today of her. What a cutie!

Prairie's official web page

http://www.mwcr.org/2011/prairie.htm

Just a couple of pictures.

Taking a good picture of Prairie has proven to be difficult. He seems to be camera shy and by the time the camera warms up the opportunity is gone. I just now snapped this one of him on his back and the other one was taken last weekend. In my experience, this pose seems to be a popular one for collies.