Foster: GUS

What a mess he was/is! Gus came into care from a post on facebook of someone seeing a dog in a field for a few days and no one could get near him without him growling and showing teeth. Of course tag me in it because EVERYONE knows what I am going to do. I send a quick message to the head of Bullies In Need and explain I can't just leave him there, knowing that we feel the same way about animals I didn't wait for her response. I loaded up and headed out.

As I am driving up the country road I see a dog walking up the side of the road. I slowly pull over he runs, so I slowly follow to see where he is going to go. He heads up a long drive way past a house that looks empty and back past an old barn. I come to the end of the driveway. Gather my supplies, Tim bits, Hotdogs, bags of dog treats and a container of water for him.

High corn and grass prevent me from seeing where he is so I just talk out loud to him, at least we think its a him, please don't be a her with puppies is one of the things I say to him. Hoping the whole field isn't high corn I come to a little hill. Well I am short this only helps slightly, but I can see him and thank goodness its soybeans!!!

I talk to him and toss a few broken pieces of hot to him and sit down on this prepared to wait until he decides to come to me. As I sit quietly suddenly I feel pinches, what the hell!!! Stand up thinking something is poking shit, he was right there and I spooked him, back to his hiding spot. I brush off and sit back down, more pinches, what is going on!!! I stand up again and take a better look around, only I would sit on a freaking bity ant hill while trying to save a dog.

Okay change of plans. I talk to the dog and walk out to the field and closer to where he is throwing hotdogs and pieces of tim bits. By the way we are about 2 hours in at this point. I sit down near his "safe" spot and talk and put food in a line towards me and my hand out. Now I sit quite I don't move he comes to me and lays down in front of me! He is eating food from my hand!!!! this is awesome!!!

Car noise who is that? who is here. I tell him I will be right back. I head out to see who is there. The people who posted for their parents awww sweet they want to help. I appreciate their kindness and thoughts but in the back of my head hoping they haven't just reset the last 2 hours of work.

I go back to where I was he is not happy he growls and shows his teeth I throw a piece of hot dog at his nose and tell him thats is enough of that you were just eating from my hand and letting me pet your chin. So I sit down with the bucket of water for him and show him its safe. It takes about 5 mins for him to realize what it is but once he does he drinks for a good 3 mins straight.

okay its been about 3 hours at this point, he is letting me pet his chin and eat out of my hand, time to see if I can lead him out of this soy bean field. So with a trail of food he follows slowly at first with a distance between us and then he is right at my heals. We get to my SUV and I open all the doors, hoping against all hope I can get him in. Suddenly another car pulls up, my thoughts are SERIOUSLY I JUST GOT HIM THIS FAR!!! But this car doesn't pull all the way up it stays back a bit. Out comes a women, the dog takes off for the house but doesn't run away. Hes checking all the doors (how heart breaking) Marianne and I talk she tells me who she is, she works with rescues to help catch loose animals and also families catch missing animals. She has a whole cooked chicken and blankets and I am greatful because I have run out of treats and still unable to get him looped.

He comes close once again and lays just out of reach eating chicken and cookies, I still cant get him looped. Its getting dark, he is still going to the doors over and over again. We check the barn its full of crap, I check the house its full of totes and boxes. As we do this he follows all around not letting me too far out of his sight. Marianne checks with the people across the road they own the house we have been told. They are not home.

Still can't get him looped. Its dark I can't leave him alone but not sure what I am going to do at this point. Steve is in the area someone else in rescue who has bullies, he this it could be one his that went to forever home. He comes and verifies it is not his. He helps me get him looped and into the truck.

Thank god for these two people or I may not have gotten him that night, it might have been the next day.

I get him home and into the back room with water and blankets where he can chill out. I take him out a few times in the night to pee and sniff the yard. He barely leaves my side.

The next day I go into feed him and get a better look at him. He is covered in scabs and infected scabs from his hind legs all the way to the middle of his back. His collar is on so tight it is digging into his skin.

We get in touch with the owners of the rental unit, the people who lived there moved out two years ago, they have been feeding "gus" they have a dog too that "gus" has been going over and playing with. We contact the people who rented the house and still a week later haven't heard anything back.

Over the week (so far) that he is here, he lets me tend to his wounds and he slowly comes out of his shell. He has two baths and lets me gentle bush him out everyday to help with the scabs. He finally meets Bossco and Lexi after seeing them while they were in there crates and through a gate for a few days then he met one at a time and only for short periods of time. Now he loves them, he loves Blaine. He is so scared of men to the point where he just looked at Richard and peed everywhere, showed his teeth and growled. So we did this slowly with lots of treats and a gate between them until Gus trusted him enough to get close. He gives him kisses and snuggles now but still if he moves to quickly it freaks Gus out. Every sound freaks him out. He had his first walk with us as a group and did awesome. Before his bath I would have said he was 4, after his bath and him letting me look at his teeth I would put him 7+. He has SOOOO many broken teeth :(

He is learning everyday, yes even old dogs can learn new tricks! mainly by watching the other dogs and paying attention to what I say to them and what they do he has learned "out", "sit", "leave it".

His skin is healing nicely almost all his scabs and sores are healed up. Only a few left on his tail. His hair is growing back. Gus gets to go to the vet tomorrow where he will be checked for microchip (just in case) and have a full look over.

A week later he is very hand shy but will let me put my had in his food dish while he eats, every noise spokes him, too much movement spokes him, he hates being outside for more than a few mins (who blames him tho), he is in a crate when no one is home because he has separation anxiety and it is for his safety as well. No accidents so far in the house other than when he peed everywhere because he met Richard. He now eats in the same area as the other dogs with no issues, he takes treats while sitting next to them no issues.  In just a week he has made leaps and bounds and I couldn't be prouder of him.


***PLEASE REMEMBER DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME, UNLESS YOU KNOW HOW TO READ BODY LANGUAGE TRYING TO GET A DOG TO TRUST YOU CAN BE DANGEROUS, CONTACT A RESCUE, YOUR LOCAL ANIMAL CONTROL OR SHELTER FOR HELP***

Once he is fully healed and has worked on over coming his past he will be ready for his forever home.



 

Annie Adopted

Miss. Annie, one foster baby that will always be in my thoughts and in my heart. Something about this sweet girl touched many people both across the water and here at home. Annie as you, my readers know, came to us in horrible condition both mentally and physically, in July 2012. She was found roaming the cemetery in Wallaceburg.

When she came in she was thought to be pregnant, when I got the news I knew she couldn't spend her pregnancy in the shelter and her pups didn't deserve to be born in a shelter. Most pups that are born in a shelter die. They either die from disease that is passed on to them or their mother refuses to nurse because of kennel stress or depression. I went to the shelter right away, picked her up and took her to my vets. My vet did an ultra sound to check and see if there were pups. Turned out none!!! Yes I was extremely excited about this because we don't want anymore pups brought into this world when there are so many dogs and puppies dieing in shelters everyday.

Susan asked me if I wanted to bring Annie back to the shelter as she was not pregnant. Right away I said no, Annie needed help and as much as they try at the shelter they wouldn't have the time to work with her one on one.

Over the year that she was in care Annie began to trust, show love, and be able to be a dog. Annie grew by leaps and bounds, she had turned into the most lovable foster dog I have ever had. The only problem she needed to find her forever home. Over the year she had very little to no interest in her. One man wanted to use her as a hunt dog, I could just picture how that would have gone. Gun shot either Annie would have taken off never to be seen again or crawled up his leg and peed on him. It just wasn't the right fit.

One of the hardest decision of my life was made she needed to go to the shelter for exposure. I am not going to go into details as I already blogged about Annie and The Shelter. After what seemed like a life time Annie was finally adopted. The wonderful group of ladies that I have the honor to work with help create a sharing spree on Facebook. By the next afternoon she had 3 approved adopters and was on her way to her trial home.

After just three days in her trial home they decided to adopt her. Annie is now in her well deserved forever home. I am hoping that they will send a picture or two so I can add it my blog. Until then I am adding the picture of Keira and her.

Keira misses her greatly and says that we will never have a foster that she will love as much as she did Annie!!

Adopt don't shop! Wallaceburg Animal Shelter

Casi Foster dog #15

Casi is a now 11 week old Akita/Sheapard puppy. She is a sweet girl with is full of love! We are working on house training and recall, as well as basic commands and learning how to use her mouth properly.  She weighs 19LBS and is super smart. She wakes up once in the night to go out and go to the bathroom. She is crate trained at night and when I am not home. She does okay in the crate. Her and her brother Bossco are learning to go into their crate with treats. They are crated together.

Casi was wavy hair on her ears. She is mostly black with white on her paws! She is learning how to give kisses :). She plays well with the big dogs and loves rawhide and shoes lol.She has his first set of shots and will be going for his booster soon. Casi is starting to find his wonderful voice and will bark at the other dogs to play. 

Bossoc Foster Dog #14

Bossco is a now 10 week old Akita/Sheapard puppy. He is a sweet boy with is full of love! We are working on house training and recall, as well as basic commands. He weighs 15LBS and is super smart. My mom has fallen in love with and wants to adopt him. We are doing slow introductions with her personal dogs and working on some issues her personal dog has. Hopefully once all is done he will be a great fir for her home. He wakes up twice in the night to go out and go to the bathroom. He is crate trained at night and when I am not home. He hates being in the dark so a light has to be left on. He has some crate anxiety and freaks out when put in it and I am not in the room. He is being crated with his sister at this point!

Bossco has the bear look of the Akita. He is mostly black with Brown front feet! He is my cuddle bear. He plays well with the big dogs and loves rawhide. He has his first set of shots and will be going for his booster next week. Bossco is starting to find his wonderful voice and he ears are slowly starting to become straight up!

Annie Foster Dog Number 13

I know I said I would never foster another lab after Dexter lol but when a dog is in need I can not close my doors and my heart to them.
This is Annie she is from the Wallaceburg Shelter Annie was found wandering through the Wallaceburg cemetery alone, lost and scare. She is between 1-2 years old. She is a sweet pea. I picked Annie up from the Shelter on July 24, 2012. They thought she might be pregnant and that is no place for a mom or babies to be. I offered to foster her until all the pups and herself was adopted. When I took her to my vet he did an ultra sound. She is not pregnant which is wonderful news! She is what is called sudo pregnant her hormones are telling her that she is. When I picked her up from the shelter it took about 15 mins for my sister and I to get her into the car she was so scared. I introduced her to my personal dogs she is not a fan of my Akita Husky, but he is hyper and just wants to play all the time lol. It took me and my roommate and his 8 year old son 25 mins into get her to come into the house she was so scared. She appears to be house trained, but she needs work on her manners lol which will come with time. She's quite so far.
July 25, 2012 I left the crate set up for her last night with blankets in it. I did not force her to go in when I went to bed I just left it open. She started out on the floor next to me and at 1am she was sleeping in the crate on her own. This morning she is very playful her and Jake are best friends and playing. The crate is her safe spot so I will leave it set up for her. She did not mess in the house once last night!
July 28, 2012 Annie is doing well. She is not eating like she is starving anymore. She finally is playing with my Akita/Husky lol. She hides all the bones in her crate and then buries them so the other dogs can't get them. She loves chewing raw hides and meaty bones; however, she seems to get snarly with my Akita/husky when he goes near her if she has one, but allows the rotti/st.Bearnard to just take it and walk away. She is learning her place in the "pack" and is starting to sit for pets instead of jumping up and down all over you. She knows Sit now and we are working on laying down. She has a bit of separation anxiety, I tired to crate her when I left for an hour and when I came home the crate was on the other side of the room and the door all bent open. When left out of the crate she gets into things she shouldn't but it will take time to work on that.

Annie is looking for a loving patient forever home and I truly hope she finds her right match, until then we are going to work on manners and commands. She is smart and a fast learner.

Jake Foster Dog Number 9

Over the past 5 months we have been lucky to help save 9 dogs, that is almost two a month and January is not over yet.

Jake was picked up by animal control and brought into a vet here in town, he was going to be put down if we did not find a spot for him. At the time we didn't have any open spots at all everyone is over flowing with dogs. Michelle at MOTS was kind enough to open her doors and allow Jake to stay there until we could find him an open foster spot. It turns out he has really really bad separation anxiety and can not be left alone uncrated for long periods of time and at Michelles shop he was having to be left alone for 12 hours at night when it was closed. He destroyed her shop twice and he had to be moved. Luckily Shadow was going to his forever home the same day that Jake had to be moved, so he came home with me. He is a lovey, sweet boy I know he barks I heard him at Michelles, but he has not bark here yet. He had a great first night, aside from him and Dexter hate each other, but I am pretty sure its because Jake is newly fixed and Dexter is unaltered at the moment. We left him uncrated last night while we slept and he did just fine he is just getting used to being in a house with all the house noises and stuff going on. The TV freaked him right out lol. He hates loud noises, we are going to work on basic commands, but he knows sit and knows to come when called. He is mostly house trained lol he has not pooped in the house at all which is wonderful; however when he first got here he peed on three things, but has not peed anywhere since. He is beautiful, smart, and just all around loving. He has to be right with you at all times. Jake we think was tied to a tree most of his life ( he is only a year old) and had a bark collar on the whole time, he had a large scare (pictures later) of his neck that gets rubbed raw from the normal collar we are going to try and walk him today with a harness so his neck can better. He is about a year old, we are not %100 sure on his breed. He is most likely Rotti mix. There will be more details as I know them on his photo on facebook.

His neck wound