Introducing the 'New' Dog

[Note: We're a little behind on our publishing schedule. Please bear with us as we play catch-up!]

Rowdy checking out the back patch.

Rowdy, a Chihuahua-Italian greyhound mix (Annie suspects), checked in at Lazlo & the Bean's Bed & Barkfest. Strangest-looking little dog you'd ever hope to meet.

I see clearly now what Kimber down at the shelter meant when she described him to me as a "deer-legged Chihuahua"!

Like nine (is it, now?) guests before him, Rowdy is a rescue on the Rescue Road to Forever. He had to leave the foster he was with rather abruptly -- for reasons beyond his control -- so Rowdy will be with us until Dog Runner’s next trip, Monday, to Helping Hounds Dog Rescue in Dewitt, NY.

Annie: We decided that Rowdy looks a lot like a little meerkat and is so unlike his name. He's sweet, mellow and very affectionate. He has a habit of snuggling in and laying his head on your arm or chest. He is absolutely endearing. Beano and Lazlo took to him right away, as did Jim and I. Some family will be very lucky to have him.

[Actually, Rowdy left last Monday and arrived in Dewitt Friday. At last report yesterday, he is winning hearts and minds among the good folks at HHDR.]

Our regular reader knows we have two home dogs, Beano and Lazlo. Laz was a foster fail who came to stay a couple of months ago. Beano, the unchallenged alpha, has been with us some five years now.  Each time we bring home a new foster, like Rowdy, there are those initial moments of apprehension, watching to see whether or not Beano will approve.

Introductions are made in our backyard with the new dog on lead. Beano, of course, establishes up front that this is his turf. When new guy shows proper submission, Beano immediately turns curious, and the round robin sniffing begins!

Annie: I have to say, that Beano has relaxed considerably since we adopted Lazlo. He has relinquished most of his toys - even his favorite night-night buddy - to his little brother. He accepted Rowdy and CJ with very little ado. Maybe he's just adjusting to the fact that every few weeks a new dog appears for a while and then, with little fanfare, is gone again. I so wish I knew what went on in their minds!

I think Lazlo is a Chiweenie (Chihuahua/Dachshund) mix and, very active (Beano is actually losing weight trying to keep up with this little firecracker!) and single-minded. However, he does think of himself as top dog and doesn't like sharing - and that goes for his humans, as well. For instance, if Beano is curled up in my lap, Lazlo will come and place himself higher so that, eventually, Beano will relocate. Laz gets away with it because everyone, including the other animals, loves him. What can I say? Rowdy and CJ learned quickly that 10pm, when Beano and Laz are sent to bed, was their time for individual cuddling with us.

[Whew! We now return you to those thrilling days of What's Happenin' Now!]

"Can we go?"

This picture remains the same, day in and day out. I see it every time I pull into our drive when the dogs are out. Only the dogs change as fosters come and go along the Rescue Road. That's our current foster, C.J. (right above) who's been with us about a week now. Of all the chihuahua-mixes to come through here, C.J. is the most chihuahua-ish -- hyper, skittish, animated, and more than a little demanding at times.

Annie: I am constantly amazed at how easy it is to fall in love with each of the fosters we've had. Regardless of personality, there is something about each and every one that captivates me EVERY time! CJ is no exception. He is quieter that most, but he seems to have had more training. He's very agreeable, not demanding - although I think he'd like it a lot if Lazlo would allow him more alone cuddle time with the humans!

C.J.'s first couple of days were Beano and Lazlo laying down their rules for the patch. Not that Lazlo's that disciplined. It's just that as the Little Brother, he feels compelled to back up Beano's dictates. By day three C.J. was easing into the mix, a new trio testing and toying with one another.

Fostering truly is a family affair!

C.J. is good on inside skills save taking to his crate, the focus of this week's training. He will get on just fine in New York.

~~~~~~~

Jim & Sage

 In closing, let's give a Texas-sized THANK YOU and SHOUT OUT to Joan Nickum. She knows who she is, and some of you regular readers may, too. Joan made it possible for Annie and I to participate in our first rescue relay yesterday, driving Sage, a beautiful young Schnauzer. Our leg was from Wichita Falls to Childress, Texas (Sage will eventually land in Phoenix, Arizona). Truth be told, Annie and I have lusted after Dog Runner's gig ever since we first heard about Dave and Elaine. What could be better than road tripping with dogs!

Sage, crated and ready to start the journey to Childress, Texas

And Buddy makes three!

Just introduced a new dog into a house with two dogs and four cats. Why do I feel like I'm sitting on a powder keg?

Buddy the Bashful

That was me Saturday afternoon. After taking a week off from fostering, followed by another week with our first foster failure of the most fortuitous kind, we picked up a little brown and tan guy named Buddy.

I'd heard the name a time or two around the shelter, but we had not met. I'd also heard that Buddy had a past from which he brought baggage. Nothing vicious, of course. Apparently he had come into this world through the home of an hoarder.

Animal hoarding is keeping "more than the typical number of companion animals" resulting in "inability to provide even minimal standards of nutrition, sanitation, shelter and veterinary care," according to the Humane Society of the United States.

Which begs questions like what is the "typical number of companion animals" and "minimal standards" for care. I don't have a concrete answer for either, but I think most rational folks have a fair understanding of both. Hoarders, I'm sure, never start out with an intention to become a hoarder; it just happens that way.

And the irony is that most -- if not all -- hoarders started out with and yet maintain a genuine love for their companion animals.

Cheryl Miller is Director down at the shelter, a job not unlike herding cats. While Buddy was an inmate there, Cheryl took extra time daily to get to know this little guy. Here's her story.

"He came from a hoarding situation," Cheryl said. "He is a Rottweiler-Chihuahua mix," she added, her brows curling into question marks. "Not sure how that happened, but (hoarder) has over 20 of them. She handed over five to us, all very fearful and pretty aggressive toward people.

"Buddy was the only one that even tried to come up to me," Cheryl recalled. "I could tell he wanted me to pet him, but he was scared. So we gave him about a week of us trying every day to get to know him better and for him to even trust us. He never once offered to bite.

"Then, one day, he came up to me, jumped up on me and started licking my hand! So I'm very greatful that Buddy is in foster care now and training for our Rescue Road to Forever."

To be sure, Buddy has a hurdle or two yet to clear before leaving for New York later this month. We have no doubt he will make it. This little guy has come too far to wash out now.

Hmmmm? THREE dogs. FOUR cats? And just exactly, again; WHAT is "typical"? 

The Dog at the End of His Journey

Lazlo, the dog who came to foster and stayed!

Our sometimes annual anniversary road trip all but died on the drawing board Last week. Clearly, Gracie's Curse did not follow her to the whateverafter, for Mom always said, "The surest way to kill a trip is to plan on taking it."

So rather than dining on Gulf Coast seafood in the wake of the latest oil carnage in Galveston Bay, we grabbed a bag of Arbuckle Mountain Original Fried Pies while doing Glen Rose, Texas. Two of the pies actually made it all the way home with us!

Annie, Beano and I were planning a drive down to Freeport, Texas, my birth home, then along the coast to Galveston before winding our way back North. Consequently, we had placed a temporary hold on fostering another transport dog after seeing Sassy, our seventh, off with the Dog Runner Sunday, a week ago.

No one was more thrilled by not having a foster in the house than the resident homeboy Beano. He reveled in his week of being an only dog once again! HE got more treats! HE had ALL the attention!! HE got to take more walks!!!

Truth be told, we all needed a bit of spring break after seven dogs.

Lazlo and the Bean playing TAG!

Back to business as usual, we treked over to the Humane Society of Wichita County to pick out foster #8. That's when things began to go a lot like a Rod Serling short story.

Cheryl down at the shelter had a particular dog, Hazel, in mind for us. Upon arrival, however, a young mother was agonizing over whether or not to adopt Hazel. While we waited for the woman to decide, Beano had a great time running along the fence outside the kennels and getting all the dogs in a tizzy!

The woman opted to take Hazel on trial. 

"Great!" I told Cheryl. "Now show us Lazlo."

We had seen the name in a listing of dogs up for foster for the late April transport. Annie and I both were more than a little curious about this dog with a slavic name. Cheryl was elated that we showed interest in this dog. Seems he had been at the shelter for an exceedingly long time with little interest shown in adopting him.

Part chihuahua and part brindle whoknowswhat, Lazlo is a quiet little guy. He rode most of the way home sitting in my lap (Annie was driving, for a change) and calmly watching the world flash by his window.

Not an hour out from the shelter, Jan Herzog called to tell us Lazlo wasn't medically cleared for the transport program. A trifling matter of a benign skin lesion Doc B. was still treating. We would need to return Lazlo and select another dog.

That did not happen. Since Laz was not cleared for transport, he could be adopted right here in River City. Lazlo, as it turns out, had remained at the shelter for such a long time because Lazlo is Beano's dog! He had been waiting all that time for Beano to show up and claim him.

So Lazlo will not be relocating to New York. Sorry! Helping Hounds! We have initiated adoption proceedings. Lazlo and the Bean will be buddies for the rest of their days.

Annie: That got me a little weepy, right there!

We will be taking the rest of this week off from fostering to give Lazlo a few days to settle in.

Luckily, our next transport date was pushed back a week, so we will be back to the Rescue Road to Forever this coming Saturday in time for the April 29 run.

Speaking of Saturday...

Come out and visit with some dedicated folks and a bunch of worthy animals! Lazlo and Beano will be lookin' for ya!

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.

Dog Say the Darnedest Things

Lady cat-watching

NOTE: Lady, our sixth and longest in-residence foster, left Texas en route to New York yesterday. She challenged us, brought us to question our methods and in so doing worked her way deeper into our hearts than any other foster to date. She is greatly missed.

Ever wonder what your fosters say about you behind your back? Oh trust me, they do talk amongst themselves when we aren't around.

Lady, our most recent foster, was in her final stage of crate training. For those few readers unfamiliar with the sport, Crate Training is convincing your dog partner that being caged is a good thing! Some dogs, like Lady, take more convincing than others.

We were leaving Lady caged for longer periods of time and at different times during daylight hours. To be fair, we confine Beano to his crate as well, sort of a remedial refresher course for him, too.

Lady being a “talker” ~ she has a wide range of vocalizations which she’s not shy about using. we know she and Beano must be swapping tales of woe betwixt their respective cells….

Lady: WELLOFALLTHENERVE!! CANYOUBELIEVETHEYJUSTWALKEDOUT!!

Beano: Put a sock in it, sister, no one’s around to hear your “Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me” routine.

Lady: HOW Could THEY??

Beano: Easy, kid, they don’t LIKE you that much.

Lady: Oh, Really!

Beano: Trust me, they’re counting the days until YOU, dear sister, are out of here!

Lady: Aw, come on. You’re just trying to frighten me because YOU’RE Jealous!

Beano: Fine. [BIG YAWNING SOUND] Don’t listen to me. No hair off my tail, honey.

Let’s see….Opal, as I recall, was the first. I kinda liked her a little bit. How long did she stay? Two weeks?  

YOU're still here?

Lady: What are you going on about???

Beano: Oh, nothing. I was just thinking back to the beginning of this Open-Your-Home-To-All-Comers catcrap “they” call FOSTERING.

Beano:  You know they're never coming back, don't you?

Lady:  WHAT? You're kidding, right?

Beano:  Oh, heck no! They do this to me ALL the time!

Lady:  What are we going to do? I have no food ... no toys! Arrrrgggh!

Beano:  Oh? No toys or food? My, oh my. They left plenty for me.  I even have your squirrel!

Lady:  I'm NEVER speaking to them again! NEVER. EVER. AGAIN!

Beano: Geez, I've never known them to let one of us STARVE to death…

Lady: What do you mean, starve!!

Beano: Leaving you locked up with no food and all. Dog, they must really be down on you!

Lady: They saved me from starving once! They will save me again!!

Beano: [SOUND OF CRUNCHING] Didn’t leave you so much as a pig stick, huh. Guess they’re having a tough time finding some place to dump you.

Lady: That’s it! I’m NOT listening to YOU anymore!! OHMYDOGWHEREARETHEY!!!

[SOUND OF KEYS AND DOOR OPENING]

Lady:  YOU'RE HOME YOU'RE HOME YOU'RE HOME!! LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT!! Oh, I love you so much! I knew you'd be back!

Beano: YOU'RE HOME YOU'RE HOME YOU'RE HOME!! LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT!! Oh, I love you so much! I knew you'd be back!

Lady & Beano February 18, 2014

The Lady & The Scamp

With some five days remaining until Lady, our big red foster, boards an eastbound transport to New York, our resident bad boy Beano is finding out that girls don't carry cooties!

"Take a picture; it'll last longer!!"

And Lady, for her part, has learned a thing or two since landing in our laps with five puppies a month ago. Mainly, I think, she has learned that...

YES! There IS life after childbirth!!

Cats are NOWHERE near as much fun as they look like they SHOULD be! Once you get to know them, in fact, they're down right boring.

ALERT when they wave a pig stick under your nose and start cooing that ridiculous language of theirs: YOU ARE BOUND FOR THE BOX!!

Annie:  Kidding aside, Lady has become such a big part of our lives. She had such a rocky beginning with us - emaciated and still dealing with her five puppies - she has grown into such a wonderful addition. 

She is so intelligent and lively. When she wants attention she will sit beside you and slowly start her high pitched yip. If you continue to ignore her, the yips become longer, like a song, and the nudging begins.

Nap buddy

Although she is crated at night, she loves to snuggle ... and let me tell you, it's like cuddling with a pony! She likes lap sitting, or resting her head on some part of you and there is no getting up to move without effort, unless she decides she wants to shift position too!

I don't want to think about her leaving. It brings such a lump. I will worry about her from the moment she steps onto that transport until we hear she has found her forever home with some lucky New York family. I want the best for Lady, because she SO deserves it!

30

CREDITS:

Still Photographer ~ Annie Miller

                         follow Annie Miller on FACEBOOK

Proofreader        ~ AnniePie Miller

Co-Writer          ~ Ann E. Miller

Co-Writer          ~ J.W. Miller

Videographer       ~ JimTXMiller

Off-Camera

  Commentator      ~ Allen Dean Porter

Sunday Snow With Lady

Writing with Lady is like having a 55-pound tumor on my right hip.

Lady looking for a home.

A female American "brown dog" and recovering first-time mom, Lady insists on sharing my ottoman seat at our south-facing window where we pass a quiet Sunday morning, watching snow softly blanket our drought brown front yard.

Lady is our first emergency rescue, a response to a post on Facebook. She and her five puppies had been found in a house several days after her human partner had died. I can imagine her instincts alerting her when her human died. Something was not right. Something possibly threatening. No doubt she remained fearful, particularly for her pups, when she heard strangers entering the home. She silently kept her brood close to her and, as a result, mom and pups were left behind, undiscovered.

Days passed without food or water for her. She continued to allow her babies to suckle, her body converting everything it could to milk, until she had nothing left to give. When she was found, her pups were fat and frisky. She, however, had wasted to a proverbial bag of bones.

A neighbor removed the dogs' from the home. She had dogs of her own, and six more mouths to feed was more than she could manage. The plea for help went out on Facebook, a FB friend put us in telephone contact with the rescuer, and we picked up Lady and her puppies the following morning.

Other caring folks stepped up as well. We brought the dogs home on a Sunday morning, and a volunteer with Texas Pit Crew (TPC) showed up that afternoon with a huge bag of puppy chow and a basket full of chew toys and treats. Before leaving, the volunteer had picked out the two pups she wanted to foster.

So it went. All the pups received a thorough check up and shots by Tuesday, again thanks to TPC. By the

following day all five pups had been placed with TPC fosters.

Meanwhile, mom was making a quick rebound on a steady, ample diet of puppy chow and no puppies nagging for a teat. She, too, had a visit with a vet for a complete series of shots, heartworm testing and prevention. The Lady even had her nails done.

But when it came to fosters for an adult dog, TPC was tapped out. Like virtually everywhere in this country, there simply are not enough fosters to meet the needs of all rescue dogs. Lady, it seems, is destined to remain with us until she can be placed in a permanent home.

That presents some sizable challenges in a house already possessed of a strongly temperamental, highly territorial boglen terrier and four cats!

But as of this writing, it's a snowy Sunday morning. The Lady and I are at our south windows, watching the large flakes drift down and spotting squirrels as they dart from tree to tree. It's all good.

 Fancy Update...

Fancy, our fifth foster, left us last Monday and arrived safely at Helping Hounds Dog Rescue in New York Friday evening. We expect to hear of her adoption into a permanent home any day now.