Foster Journal

May 2000 Part 2: All About Sassy

May 12, 2000

I am teetering on the edge of being in control of all the animals in my care. =) This morning was difficult.

"i can't even begin to imagine how you do it"

It's hard because I still have to do everything else (work, cook, clean...) I don't mind taking care of the animals. I mean, that's part of the fun of having them. But it is hard to find the time and energy to make sure everybody gets what they need, especially since Keek and Sass have to be separated. And it's hard to find time to walk them now cos I have to go twice and I hate walking when everybody's around (bratty kids especially). I wish I had a big farm with a huge fence and I could just let everybody run around all the time.

May 13, 2000

I waited until about nine last night to go walk Sass because I wanted to avoid the bratty obnoxious kids. Unfortunately people around here are pretty clueless and will let their tiny kids roam the streets after dark. As we passed the playground, this tiny girl (from the dog incident on Tuesday) said to me in this totally 'TUDE kinda voice, "Don't you bring that dog over here." I stopped and said incredulously, "What did you say?? Did you just TELL me not to bring my dog over there?" She lost a little of her tude and kinda looked at the ground. I took several deep breaths and continued walking. What I wanted to do was rush her and let the dog bark in her face until she started screaming again. Then I wanted to tell her I won't let my dog bite her face off if she stays the hell out of my yard. But I didn't. I just walked away.

A couple minutes later, I took all the dogs out to pee. The brats were out on their front porch and they started barking at my dogs. Of course my dogs barked back. This really ticked me off. They knew they were far enough away to be safe so they teased the dogs. I guess I shouldn't have said anything but I didn't want them to think they were getting away with it. So I said something like, "Yeah, that's really fun, isn't it. You guys sure are funny, barking at dogs to make them bark back at you." One of them 'tudes back to me, "We wasn't doin' that." I said something sarcastic like, "Yeah, I know you would NEVER do that."

I just checked the humane society webpage. They updated some stuff and they now have a page especially for dogs in foster homes. Guess what -- Sassy's the only one! Warren is gonna laugh when I tell him that. We've been joking all along about how nobody seems to know about the foster program and it looks like we really are the only people doing it. There was one other dog up on the foster bulletin board last time we were at the shelter.

You should find out if they need people to foster dogs at the East Shore Shelter. I think it's one of the only worthwhile things I 've ever done. I feel like I actually made a difference for two dogs so far. Besides the unbelievably lucky dogs that live with me permanently.

May 14, 2000

This morning we went to the park. I thought nobody would be there that early (around nine) but all the dog people were there. We had Brin and Sass on flexis, and we let Echo run loose with the bark collar on. She tried to bark once at a guy who was trying to say hi to her. She got spritzed and she quit. Pretty cool. The guy was surprised though. She didn't bark at anybody else. Overall they were all pretty good this time. Echo stayed right with us, and she only ran off once. She wanted to chase a big yellow dog through the woods. But she came back.

So I think I 'm gonna go lie down in front of the TV with two or three dogs and take a rest. Sassy's not allowed on the bed, though, no way.... unless I invite her up.

May 15, 2000

Sassy is learning to walk nicely on the GL. I’ve been putting it on her but not attaching the leash. Sometimes she tries to rub it off but she mostly ignores it now. Today I attached the leash to the GL and she did great. She can now come, sit in front, finish (with no food in my hand but I still have to step backwards) and take a step in heel position. I think she’d progress faster if I used the clicker but so far she has shown no indication that she gets it.

May 16, 2000

The dog that is “never allowed on the bed” snuck up on the bed last night while we were watching TV. She crawled in between us, snuggled up with Warren, and sighed.

May 17, 2000

Sassy is lying on her back on the futon, holding her bone between her front paws and chewing it. Very cute!

"so, when are you coming? and how many animals?"

Three dogs, I guess. No cat. Keek will enjoy having the place to himself, I 'm sure. I will bring a crate for Sassy. He also said his aunt really wants to meet her, so maybe he can take her there for a while. They have a good fence.

May 18, 2000

We discussed it last night and decided it is best to leave Keek here. We have left him for this long before so he'll be fine. I'll have to leave lots of food and water for him.

Sassy had a chance to eat him last night and she didn't, so I guess that's good news, but I still don't trust her with him. She is way too interested in him. I never really thought about it before we had foster dogs, but my dogs are really good with the cat.

May 19, 2000

We took Sassy to visit my parents. Everybody loved her. She was quiet and well-behaved, although she did have a couple accidents in the house. She was great with my 4 years old nephew. We took her to meet Warren’s family and she tried to play with their 3 month old boykin. The boykin was scared but Sassy behaved herself pretty well. She wanted to chase the papillon though.

May 21, 2000

There were several messages from the humane society on Friday. They also called me at work. Apparently there was a couple that saw the dog when she was at Misty Pines and now I guess they want her, or at least want to meet her. (Why did they wait so long?) Of course we weren't here. So hopefully they're still interested. I guess we could just drop her off at the shelter tomorrow. Too bad it had to be the one weekend we weren't here.

It's time to get Sassy into a new home. She is really sweet and I’ll miss her, but she is totally obsessed with the poor cat.

May 22, 2000

The couple that was interested in Sassy didn't work out. They didn’t want to go to the shelter to pick her up, and they didn’t want to deal with housetraining. So, she’s still with us. After complaining yesterday about how awful she is with the cat, I noticed she is starting to do a little better with him. I’ve been saying NO and rolling her when she gets too rough with him, and I’ve been praising and treating her when she is gentle or when she ignores him. I have been able to call her away from the cat several times. This just might work.

May 25, 2000

I started to work on a web page for fosters. We have had Sassy for three weeks and no one has wanted to meet her, so I have to start advertising her somehow. I should probably put an ad in the paper. I need to make a poster for on the foster board at the shelter. I want to include a link to more pictures of Sassy. The problem is that the rest of my website is such a mess that I don’t want people to have access to it. That’s why I’ve been putting this off for so long. Hopefully I’ll get it all straightened out this weekend.

May 28, 2000

I just finished cleaning up another pee spot. I think Sassy's regressing. I've been giving her too much freedom. Thank goodness for Simple Solution.

Keek is making my life difficult. Apparently he's tired of keeping away from Sassy so he just started going wherever he wants. I woke up this morning and he was sitting on me again, purring. So I had to get up and grab Sassy and crate her before she could get to him. He's been doing stuff like that all day. He puts himself in a vulnerable position, lets her nose him for a while, then freaks out and runs, and of course she chases him, and then he jumps up on something so she can't get him, and then she jumps and whines. It's getting very annoying.

I feel like all I've been doing today is cleaning up dog pee. I don't know what is going on with Sassy. She has peed inside more than outside the last couple days. Maybe it's the rain. Echo used to be like that, but Echo is good now. I take Sassy out, she won't even step in the grass, and then she comes in and pees a couple minutes later.

I haven't been taking the dogs for evening walks anymore. I can't handle it. They don't seem to mind. Except walks were good for getting Sassy to "go" outside. So I decided to take her for a walk this evening. I didn't really feel like walking, but I didn't feel like cleaning up more pee, either. So I took her. We got halfway up the alley and there was this little baby robin squirming around in the middle of the alley. I wanted to move it out of the road and away from the neighborhood kids. Sassy's walk was cut short because of the bird, and she ended up pooping in the house instead. And now I am not a very happy person.

May 29, 2000

I gave Sassy her dinner and then went outside and sat in a chair until she peed and pooped. When she finished I clapped my hands and jumped up and down and told her she's a wonderful dog. I bet the neighbors really think I 'm nuts. And now she's allowed to run around the house for a while cos I know she won't do anything for a couple hours.

Right now she's in her crate. I got tired of watching her. She pooped in the bedroom this morning while I was showering. So she's back on puppy schedule. If she hasn't just pottied outside, she's either in the crate, tied up, under direct supervision, or outside. It's a pain but I feel guilty even putting "mostly housetrained" on her paper. I have to get this back under control.

May 30, 2000

I finally put Sassy's ad in the paper. I think it starts Friday and will run for two weeks. I got a special rate cos it's a nonprofit thing. It says something like, "Cuddly dobe mix female, 8 mos. Sweet, quiet. Foster home: (phone #)." I wanted to say more stuff about how snuggly she is, but I had to cut out a lot of stuff cos you only get four lines. Hope I get some calls.

May 31, 2000

"i didn't realize you had to do the advertising, but I guess that makes sense. you know her best now."

They would have done it for me but I figured I could afford $8.88 to find her a home.

"she sounds really nice. but, no, I don't want another dog."

Yeah, I could do with a few less dogs myself. (I actually know that I should have said "fewer" dogs but "a few fewer dogs" sounds very dumb.) It will be nice to get back down to two dogs again for a while. But I know I 'll get suckered into another foster again soon.

I had to give Sassy some kaopectate this morning, and some rice for breakfast. I have no idea what made her sick.

Did I mention the house really stinks? Great, just in time for company this weekend....

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