Foster Journal

August 2000 Part 1: King: What a good dog! (and escape artist)

I crated King this morning while I walked Brin and Echo. He carried on the whole time, barking and trying to get out. I worked with him some more, especially on going in and out of the crate, and staying in the crate for a few seconds at a time, but he still goes nuts if I go out of sight.

He hung out with me and the dogs all day. He is interested in the cat but he isn’t obsessed like Sassy was. I think he’ll be fine in a home with cats. He loves the dogs. And the people at the shelter said he’s great with kids.

I gave him a bath outside with the hose. He was calm through the whole ordeal. When I was brushing him afterward to try to remove some of the flea dirt from behind his ears, he put his head in my lap and I could almost hear him saying thanks! He appreciates being taken care of.

In the evening, we crated King while we went to the regatta. When we got home, THREE dogs greeted us at the door. Somehow he escaped from the Furrari crate. He just kinda pushed his way through. Surprisingly, nothing in the house was damaged. There were clothes strewn all over the floor, and one of my sneakers was in the dog bed. But nothing was chewed, and Keek was unharmed.

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"he's so pretty!!!!!! and your dogs look like chihuahuas next to him, my lord he's big!!! he's bigger than buddy was, right?"

He really is pretty. And he really is big. I don't think he's taller than Buddy but he's a lot heavier. His head is just huge. And he apparently has been allowed to do whatever he wants for two years. He doesn't respond well to being physically made to do something. Not that he gets mean, just that he doesn't do it. He doesn't pull on leash but he walks into me a lot, and I keep shoving him back beside me and he keeps trying to walk diagonally in front of me. He rushes through doors, although I can get him to sit before I open the door. Once I open it though, watch out! Luckily I had enough extra links for Brin's old prong collar (the really big one) that I can get it around King's huge neck, so at least I have some leverage for moving him around if need be.

I didn't crate him last night cos I knew he'd carry on, and I didn't want to deal with it. And I had nothing to tether him with cos all the leashes have been chewed. So I just put up the gate and hoped he'd stay. He did. This morning I wanted to take B&E for their walk first, but when I left him in the bedroom, he immediately jumped over the gate and tried to come along. So I muscled him back into the bedroom and stuffed him into a crate. Unfortunately I didn't put the bark collar on so he barked and cried and woke Warren up. Then I walked him, but we had to come back cos he started coughing. I tried to do a little obedience work with him at the playground. He's pretty clueless. Much more like Buddy than Sassy. Well, he's a boy.

I gave him his pills for his cough. His mouth is huge and I had to stick my entire hand in there so I could stuff the pills down his throat. He was good though.

He really is mellow, like they kept saying. So far he mostly just wants to sleep. He's old enough that he doesn't need to constantly run around and chew things. If I ignore him he just goes somewhere to lie down and hang out. That's what he's doing right now.

"wow, a.... you are really something else. wow. just wow. that's all I can think. wow."

August 6, 2000

Yesterday I was brushing King and noticed all these little black dots all over him, especially around his ears. You dog people know what that means, right? Flea dirt. I did the test to make sure -- when I got them wet they turned red (gross). So I brushed a bunch of it out but he really needed a bath. I wanted to give him one anyway cos his coat felt oily. The other fosters felt icky like that too. Since it was so nice out, and since he's so BIG!, I decided to wash him outside with the hose. I tied him to the deck and started to hose him off. I had Warren there to help me just in case, but I was actually able to bathe him by myself cos he was SO GOOD! I lathered him up and rinsed him off and he just kinda stood there andlet me. He even stood still to get dried off. We stayed outside for a while and he dried really quickly in the sun. He doesn't seem to have a lot of undercoat. He dried faster than Brin does. I brushed him some more to get more of the flea dirt out. He put his head in my lap and I could almost hear him saying, "Thank you!" He really appreciates having somebody take care of him.

I did some clicker training with him and he did pretty well. He is good at sit. We worked on down a little, and I made him go in and out of the crate a bunch of times until he got used to it. Then we went to the regatta, so I had to crate him.

It was midnight when we got home. I didn't even notice that THREE dogs greeted us at the door. Warren had to point it out. We made sure that Keek was still alive (he was fine) and went upstairs to survey the damage. The crate was intact, with the door hanging open. How did he do that?? They told us he was an escape artist but I didn't believe them. The corner of the crate was sort of popped out of place, and there's a little gap there now, but it's not ruined. There were dirty clothes scattered around the house. I found one of my shoes in the bedroom and the other one on the dog bed downstairs. But nothing was chewed. Things were just moved around. The toilet paper was untouched, thank goodness, cos we just got a new pack of 12 double rolls. The bark collar was totally out of juice, so apparently he barked the entire time and wasn't bothered by the collar.

I have no idea what to do with him the next time we go away. He jumps baby gates and opens crate doors. But he didn't destroy anything. So I guess I'll just let him loose next time and see what happens. (What choice do I have?)

"that's neat that he let you bathe him, and he appreciated it. I 'm amazed that he got out of the crate, I guess you are too, huh? he just kinda busted his way thru, it seems. wonder what was going on in your house while you were away, I wish there was video!!"

I'm going to set up the camera next time. Except I don't want to crate him anymore but Warren wants to. I think he'd be okay loose. In fact, I think he's better loose cos he seems to panic in the crate. We crated him a second time when we went back to the regatta today and he got out again.

"I think he will probably be good if you just let him out. but dog-proof a little before you leave."

Well, this is what I wanted to do, but Warren insists on crating him. He had a shepherd before and they didn't have a clue how to train it and it ate the entire kitchen. So he is afraid to let King loose in the house. But I 'm pretty sure he'd be fine. Warren wants to reinforce the crate so he can't get out but I 'm afraid he'll end up hurting himself if he tries to get out and can't. And of course he has piles of clothes and stuff all over the floor so if anything did get chewed it would be his.

We got home and of course King was loose again. Some clothes were moved around and my sneakers were upstairs again but nothing was chewed or destroyed. Warren is planning how to reinforce the plastic crate. We decided not to try the wire crate because he might get his leg stuck or hurt himself somehow trying to get out. I think he'd be fine uncrated but Warren's not convinced. I was only worried about Keek getting hurt but King shows no signs of being a cat killer. He sniffed noses with Keek and wagged his tail and that was that.

A little while after we got back, the phone rang. It was R. from the humane society. She had some people interested in King! Actually it sounded like she had several different interested parties, but she weeded them out (somebody just wanted a "guard dog") and gave me the number of a woman named M. So I called her and told her she could come meet King. She said she'd be here in an hour, and she was right on time. She brought her daughter, who is probably like 12 (i'm not good at figuring out kids' ages). They adored the dog and he was really sweet with them. She said they are in the process of moving to a farm. They have HORSES!! Her daughter has her own pony. They have two cats and a Bichon. The new place has a big fenced yard. They wanted a dog that would be mellow around the horses. King seems like he could handle that. The daughter wants to take him on trail rides!!! They already own a big crate. They seem like they are real animal lovers. The daughter wanted to take him home. He gave her kisses and she hugged him the entire time. He rolled over for a bellyrub. They saw the fleas on his belly, which I just found earlier today.

They are supposed to call me tomorrow and let me know for sure. I really hope they decide to take him. I'll have to call the shelter and figure out how long we should wait to do the neuter. He doesn't seem to be bothered much by the kennel cough but Warren said you have to be careful when they have any kind of respiratory stuff. (He knows these things.) So I'm thinking maybe a week. So I'll have to take lots of pictures cos he probably won't be here much longer! I REALLY hope these people adopt him. The mom liked him a lot and even did some tests, like seeing if he was growly when he had his bone (which he wasn't). So she seems to have some dog sense. And the daughter loved him. I can just picture her riding her pony through the woods with King tagging along. I hope they don't change their minds. The mom liked the idea of saving a deserving dog, and she felt bad for him cos he's so skinny. So I'll let you know tomorrow.

We took King to Pet Supplies Plus for some flea stuff. We got the three pack and treated all the dogs. So hopefully we averted disaster. We should have done it right away but today was the first time I actually saw fleas on him. I was kinda hoping that he had been dipped at the shelter and the flea dirt was just left over. But I guess they don't dip them.

"king sounds like an interesting dog. it's a good thing that he is good, since he is such an escape artist. that could be a lot of trouble. I hope those people take him and give him a good home with the horses."

August 7, 2000

I can't stay on long cos I'm waiting for the flaky lady and her kid to call me back about King. They promised they'd call today. Finally I called them and left a message. I'm really mad at them. Why don't people have the courtesy to just call back and say they changed their minds? At 5:30 there was a message from the shelter that there was a couple there who wanted to meet King and could I bring him? I didn't get the message until just a little while ago cos I was out bathing King again with some flea shampoo (the stuff we bought yesterday did not work!), and the shelter closes at seven so I didn't bother calling them back. I wanted to give Marilyn one last chance to call. But I'm not gonna hold my breath. Hopefully they got a phone number for these other people and I can call them tomorrow. What a hassle. King looks nice and shiny. But he's still scratching.

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M and her daughter were supposed to call me today to let me know what they decided about King, but they never called. H. from the HS called and said there was a couple there who wanted to meet King but I got the message late and didn’t bother calling. I hope she took their name and number. I don’t want to ferry him back and forth to the HS anyway. If somebody wants to meet him, they can damn well come to my house. I have no time for flakes. If they are interested enough, they'll deal with it.

The Zodiac topical flea stuff had no effect, so I got some flea shampoo and gave the poor dog another bath. He was so good!

I really like this dog. Warren seems to be annoyed with him. I don’t know why. I think he’s sweet. He really appreciates me, and he follows me around, but he’s not as demanding as the other fosters. He goes into a crate really well now, but I only put him in to feed him. He’s loose in the house when I’m gone and he deals with it just fine. I don’t think he cries for me.

August 8, 2000

"yes, I 'd be worried about that too. can't you just put him in the least destructable room, in the crate? I 'm thinking it would probably take him a little while to escape, then he'd just be in that room."

Well, there is no way to keep him in just one room. We have no doors on our rooms. There used to be a door on the bedroom but we had to take it off when we got the carpet, and, well, it just never got put back on. And he jumps the baby gate.

But it's okay. We left him totally unconfined for the last two days and he didn't do anything bad. He just rearranges stuff. Mostly clothes and my sneakers. He loves those sneakers. He never chews them though. Just carries them around.

Well, they never called. I called them yesterday evening and left a message for them to please call me back either way. They didn't. I think that's very rude. Looking back on it, Warren pointed out that the kid was the one that was going nuts for the dog but the mom was noncommital. So it's no big surprise. No horses for King.

Yesterday H. from the HS left a message saying that there was a couple there asking about King. I didn't get the message until after they closed. I called today to find out if these people left a name and number. They did, so I called them. J. and L.. He's a truck driver. They got lost on the way here. They really liked King. He was friendly with them. They kept saying how pretty he was. Apparently one of their relatives was at the shelter adopting a lab puppy, saw somebody walking King, and told them to check him out. Their kids are grown and they have no other pets. They had a dalmatian but he was not healthy. He had bladder stones and they spent thousands of dollars on him before he finally died at less than two years old. They sounded like they took good care of him, walked him, trained him, loved him. They must have been here talking to us for about an hour. J didn't want to leave the dog. Finally they left and said they will call the shelter and me tomorrow to figure out when they can get him, because he still needs to be neutered. I'm not gonna hold my breath this time. But they really seemed committed.

August 9, 2000

Warren had to go get tires for the car (anyone counting how much money he already had to put into this "cheap" car?) but as soon as he gets back (hopefully soon) we are going to take King to the shelter. J. and L. are going to be there to fill out the paperwork. King will have to stay overnight. He'll be neutered tomorrow and they can pick him up tomorrow evening.

L. said she will keep in touch with me to let me know how he's doing. Yay! I told her even though he was here less than a week, I'm sad to see him go.

I called R. (HS person who was helping to find a home for King) to tell her the good news. She said I saved his life by agreeing to take him. He was about to be PTS. I know they always hint at this ("wouldn't want anything to happen to him") but she was the first person to actually say it.

G. said I should be expecting another call from her soon. She said there is a collie mix that was neglected/abandoned and their humane agent saved it. The owner lived in a trailer and the dog was kept outside in all weather. Then the owner went away and left it. She said the dog is terrified of thunderstorms. They're going to keep it a while to see if anybody adopts it and if not, I said I would foster it.

Hope Warren gets here soon. They close at seven.

"once again, you go girl! you are the queen of foster dogs! woowoo! :)"

Okay, we took him back. We got there while his new people were filling out their paperwork. I took a picture. We went to look at the dogs and we saw the one that we might foster next. Her name is Shadow and she's really calm and sweet and neat looking. Warren liked her. (Uh oh!) This is the one I wrote about before, that was tied up outside in the rain. H. said that she was soaked when they brought her in. People just make me sick.

H. said they take in about 60 cats EVERY DAY and adopt out about 20. You do the math. I assume it's probably not quite as bad during the winter (fewer litters). She didn't give me numbers for dogs but she did say that they keep them about a month. So I guess what I'm doing is a drop in the bucket, but it does make a difference for the individual dogs that I help. But it's very sad.

J and L took King for a walk. We found them on our way out and they promised to call and let us know how he's doing. They seemed very happy. Me too, in a bittersweet sort of way.

August 10, 2000

"I'm glad to hear about king. I wonder why those other people didn't call back."

They're flakes, just like all the people that called about Sassy and then never followed through. It occurred to me yesterday that the people who are serious will tell me right away. At first it seemed logical to me for people to say they wanted to sleep on it and get back to me the next day. But I have NEVER gotten a call back from a person who said they needed to think about it. With Sassy, and now with King, the people knew right away that they wanted the dog, and they said so. I'll have to see if that holds true for the next one.

I'm a little worried about the next foster. If we really do end up with Shadow, I'm worried we're gonna like her too much. The dogs we've had so far have had great temperaments but they didn't seem like the kind of dog I'd have. Shadow is cool. She looks to me sort of like a too-tall border collie or aussie but she was totally calm, quiet, and sweet. Looked like she'd be really smart, and from her past, I figure that she would appreciate somebody taking care of her. So I kinda hope she is adopted before we get her! Even Warren liked her, and you know how that goes. If she "speaks to him," well... what can I do?

It's too bad King's already gone. He would have probably scared you a little but I know you would've like him. Warren just said it's probably a good thing if we don't end up fostering Shadow. Apparently he really liked her, which is unusual cos she has long hair.

"well, you have plenty of space in your house. and, I 've always figured, once you have two the routine is already worked out for a multiple-dog family. so it probably wouldn't be that big of a change to have three."

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