Stella and Chester Updates

Long time, no post!  I've been so busy the last couple weeks, from getting the yard seeded for my new fenced in dog area (as of this weekend I finally have sprouts!  Yay!), to tearing up the carpet in my bedroom (perfectly good plywood subfloor! yay!) and living room (beautiful hardwood!  yay!).  I just haven't had the time to do a post, and even if I had, I didn't take any new pics of the dogs.  So while we still wait for me to do that, I got 2 updates last week on former fosters!  Stella (formerly Shelby) and Chester (formerly Rochester or Rocky).  Both are doing great with their families, and both sent me some pictures! 

Stella:

Hi Savannah!

Back in March my husband and I adopted a rescue you were fostering named Shelby.  We took her home and renamed her Stella.  Just wanted you to know that she is such a great dog!  She and our 160lb Bullmastiff Norman, are inseparable.  My sister and family lost their 11 1/2 yr old  Bullmastiff to cancer and now have a new one named Gorman.  Gorman comes over to play and we also"babysit" him.  They are soooo cute together.  Stella is much gentler with the puppy than with Norman.  She knows Gorman is a baby.  Just thought you'd enjoy hearing about Stella and how happy we are to have her.

 

 

Chester:

Thought I would send you a couple of pictures.   He straddles the arm of the chair in the living room like he is riding a horse.  Then the next is of him relaxing in the lawn chair with his dad.  3rd is of he an Bailey relaxing with their dad in recliner. He is doing famously,  such a sweet little dog! 

 

 

 

Tippy, Ruthie, & Jett

A group post!

We had our favorite bulldogs over as guests this weekend.  Jett was absolutely terrified of them.  So note to people with bulldogs: that might be an issue for him in the short term.  FYI - all my neighbors have bigger dogs, and while they're always separated by a fence so it's not a direct comparison, Jett has never seemed to be afraid of them.  Also important to note, it does seem wear off once he's around them and realizes they aren't trying to kill him.  But it was interesting to see his initial reaction (sort of like a squealing pig).

I had a rough weekend allergy-wise, so we spent a lazy saturday taking pictures on the couch.  Enjoy!

Hey Jett, why don't you get comfortable?

 

A Tippy yawn progression.

 

Adorable, calm Ruthie.

Jett and His Favorite Blade of Grass

Tippy Does Tricks

I've mentioned before that Tippy knows sit and lay down (and if I haven't mentioned it...he does).  I've been trying to get a video for a week now, and for some reason or another it just hadn't worked out.  Well I finally have a video I'm happy with!  Enjoy the adorable Tipster sitting and laying down on command.

FYI - I think it would be very easy to teach him further commands.  Sit took the longest with him, but he picked up lay down very quickly.  I think it helps that Hardy is already trained in several commands, so Tippy learns from watching him.

Now if only I could get Jett and Ruthie to learn sit...

Jett: Cutest Puppy Ever

I got a great video of Jett a couple days ago that show just how cute he is.  Just imagine having this bundle of adorableness in your house all the time!

Please ignore the messy floor.  I mistakenly left my craft garbage in an easily accessible location, and one of my monsters decided to dump it everywhere.

Bonus movie!  Ruthie and Jett found a bug outside.

Ruthie's Day Out

Tippy had his turn, now it's Ruthie's!  Ruthie and I went downtown to hang out with her best cat-friend.

Ready to leave!

 She was pretty good on the car ride.  She jumped right in the car when I opened the door.  Most of the ride she spent in my lap, which was fine because she just laid down, she wasn't wiggly or anything like that.  But towards the end of the ride she got a little whiny.

Hanging out downtown.

Once we got downtown she hung out with Stuwie (her cat-friend).  They did intros, and then mutually ignored each other.  We then went for a walk, which she was very good on.  She did want to smell every plant, but at my urging she kept walking.  We passed by a ton of other dogs, and she didn't bark at a single one, even though several barked at her.

All in all, it was an excellent trip!

My Dog-Free Weekend

For the first time since I started fostering, I took a dog-free vacation.  It was an interesting feeling, walking into a room and not being greeted by a pack of dogs for a few days.  But it was nice to have  the chance to do things that dogs wouldn't be welcomed at.

My wonderful Aunt stayed at my place for the weekend to care for my pups.  She's a serious animal lover, and she's been saying for a year now that she'd watch them for me anytime I needed to get away.  So when I planned this little trip, I knew she would be the first person I asked.  Thankfully she was free!

I left her with a page of notes, mostly saying to supervise while the dogs were outside (they are escape artists, after all) and where each dog goes at night.  Nothing too difficult.  She did have a few questions over the weekend about Jett's housebreaking, but it was nothing I didn't expect, so all was good. 

On Sunday, she needed to leave before I got back, but she left me a nice little message saying how great all the dogs were, and how much they missed me.  She called out Jett specifically and said that even though he wasn't fully housebroken, she wished she could have taken him home because he just has the cutest face and sweetest demeanor.  That's exactly how I feel about him, so it's nice to get a second opinion that matches.

Per my instructions, she left Tippy & Hardy out in the living room (Jett and Ruthie were in the dog room).  Tippy was SO happy to see me when I came home.  He just made my heart melt!  At one point I had to run back out to the car to grab some more stuff to bring in, and he put his little paws up on the edge of the screen door window and peeked his head out (he just barely reached).  It was the cutest thing I've ever seen.