Weekend Update

News from New York!

Opal Hound arrived in New York

We believed Opal Hound, our first foster, to be mostly American black-and-tan coon hound. Word comes from Helping Hounds in DeWitt, NY, however, that Opal is ALL smooch hound!

Dog Runner arrived in New York today on schedule and all passengers safe and apparently happy. Several of our Texas dogs were met on arrival by eager adopting families. These lucky dogs will be spending their first nights in New York in their new permanent homes.

Wish I could say Opal was among this fortunate group, but apparently that was not the case. She did, nonetheless, immediately win over several of the Helping Hound volunteers who fell in love with her as hard as Annie and I. We are satisfied "our" Opal is in good hands and hearts tonight.

New Title & Masthead

Readers may have notice (I hope!) a revised masthead (above) on this blog. Response to Fostering Opal has been so enthusiastically positive, we felt we had little choice but to continue the blog, even as we continue to foster rescue dogs along the Road to Forever. Thank you for your kind and generous support!!

While we changed the blog title and teaser, we left the URL web address the same so your bookmark will still bring you to this blog.

As for Char...SQUIRREL!!

Charlie discovers squirrels!

After a full 24 hours-plus on a round of antibiotics, Charlie Beagle was all but symptom free from kennel cough today. He was not quite as listless as he was yesterday, although he did pass most of his Saturday lounging on our bed and pointedly ignoring Beano's invitations to play.

Late in the afternoon I realized he had been out in the backyard on his own for a bit longer than usual. I thought it best to go check on him, becoming concerned when I could not find him!

Not quite ready to panic (I had spent part of Thanksgiving afternoon reinforcing a potentially vulnerable back corner of our fence), I finally spotted him. Charlie was absolutely motionless beside the east fence gazing up into the neighbor lady's cedar trees. So perfect was his hunter's posture, he had become all but invisible! 

I know it's in there somewhere!

Charlie had discovered squirrels!

Apparently, he had spotted a squirrel--we have a healthy population of them in our neighborhood--and was determined to find this strange tree critter. The squirrel, obviously having pressing business elsewhere, had departed; but that mattered not in the least to Charlie. He spent a good 20 minutes or better looking for the bushy-tailed tree runner.

Meanwhile, back at the crate...

 Progress has been made today with the crate training. We re-positioned Charlie's crate next to our bedroom and Beano's crate and moved his dinner dish into the crate. Charlie made a few tentative visits to grab a bite or two of kibble, especially when he discovered he could score a few morsels of leftover turkey!

Our sincere thanks to everyone who offered tips and suggestions on Charlie's crate training program! We shall see how the night goes.