Wrong Time Right for This Foster

Scots bred Sassy

By Jim and Annie Miller

Hey, Boomers! Which of these things don’t go with the others? Which of these things do not belong? Can you tell which ones don’t mix with the others before I finish this song?

Gulf beaches

Senior Baby Boomers

Masses of crazed high school and college coeds on Spring Break!

It’s not that we are too old for carnival, we’re too slinking slow! So we ended up with another dog, after swearing we were taking a couple or three weeks off “for the sake of the children.”

March 16, Annie and I have been together...what is it now?...17 years? No, 18 years since the man in black strode off an American airliner into the rain of Portland International….

Anyway, I thought it would be nice to drop down to The Gulf for a halfway decent seafood dinner that weekend….

Annie: We’re talking FRESH seafood - the likes of which I have been craving since we came to this landlocked location!

Meanwhile, down at the dealership, someone mentions “Spring Break!”, which gets me wondering, exactly, when is spring break this year. Turns out the weekend of the 16th sits smack on ground zero for Chaos on South Padre Island!

Crate training begins...

So the Great Gulf Coast Road Trip is postponed until the last weekend this month, and now we have Sassy, our sixth foster for the Road to Forever.

This girl is Sassy, and that’s a name, not a comment on her personality. She’s more focused stubbornness than sass, which she presents when faced with something SHE does not want to do!

I swore we would not take another big dog, for Beano’s sake. But picking up a rescue dog to foster for transport isn't exactly like ordering of the value menu at Mickey Dee’s. Naturally, we brought home another Border Collie!

At least we got the gender right, for Beano’s sake.

Miss-named or no, Sassy came to us with fair to middling domestic skills, signs that before she hit hard times, she had been loved deeply and rather well. She's eager to greet-and-sniff without showing aggression and readily responds to Sit when it fits her will. And when she is ready to be loved, she'll come right up, in your face, no matter what you may be attempting at the time and demand your full and undivided attention.

As for some of her others skills, she's accomplished at sleeping on the bed and sniffing out treats. She seems relatively attuned to "Sassy", to which she actually will stop whatever she's about and approach with the what-did-I-do-now expression on her hang dog face....most of the time. Ask or tell her to Lie Down! and odds are even that she will.

"Hey, there! Little red riding-hood...." 

Stay! and Wait! we are not prepared to comment on publicly at this time. And she does have a thing for cats! Fascinated by 'em!!

Annie:  The day Sassy arrived, Jim had picked her up in the morning, dropped her at home and headed to work, so there was little introduction. She came into my life like she was meant to be here - no hesitation on either side. The best part ... Beano accepted her right away, as well. The cats were/are a different story.

Sassy is a herding dog, after all. She isn't just curious about the cats; she wants to bend them to her will. What she doesn't get is that these cats don't play that. I've only seen Raja and Al*B after the dogs have been crated for the night. That's fine - that's how they are choosing to deal, right now.

Simba, well, Simba is exceptional. He has no fear - of any person or any dog. He is confrontational, pugnacious, AND friendly. He loves to engage the dogs, and I believe, likes being the object of the chase. So ... as much as I may tell Sassy, 'No, no!', it's basically Simba who decides how events play out. He sashays into the room slowly and deliberately, attracts Sassy's attention, and away they go.

Check out the new collar!

Interestingly, when I have sternly warned Sassy ('NO kitties!'), she'll come to me and nudge my arm - and continue to do so until I stop what I'm doing and focus entirely on her, as if to say, 'I'm sorry. Love me!' She is a cuddler, but more than that, she wants to share your space - her head on your arm, leg, or pillow. She is a honeybun, pure and simple.

Again, she IS a herding dog - stubborn and strong-willed as all get out. The first time I tried to get her into the crate was laughable. We struggled until we were both spent.  I put treats and toys in and left the door open, the idea being, that she would understand she could come and go on her own. She retrieved the chewy bone and took it to the living room and settled herself on the couch. I took it and threw it back into the crate - she decided she didn't need it that badly and came back and settled at my feet. Round 1:  Sassy!  I planned the next attempt would be when Jim was home.

We've been a little more successful since that first effort. She'll go in on her own when the door is open as long as it's HER idea. Bedtime is still a struggle. She is VERY smart and luring her with treats just doesn't work - she gets the best 'are you kidding me?' look on her face! Once she's in, she's quiet for several hours, but once she awakens, the barking and digging at the door begins (last night she moved the crate about four feet from where it started out!). Of course, so far, we've given in. As long as each night her quiet time is longer than the previous night, I figure we're ahead of the game - and we do have another week to get her used to staying in for longer periods.

Fostering has taught me many things, but chiefly, the amazing capacity the heart has to give and accept love. I know these dogs instinctively know we are here to help them, and regardless of what they've been through, their aim is to please us. We, for our part, open ourselves to caring for them, knowing their time with us is brief. It is bittersweet, but we wouldn't change these experiences for anything in the world.