Henry (fka Tippy) Update!

My Tipster has been gone for about 2 weeks now, and I have to say I'm doing much better than I expected.  I've called Owen Tippy a couple times now, but that's about it.  Of course I'm sad, and I think of him and miss him occasionally.  But I know he has a wonderful home now, so I'm not worried about him.  Anyway, his mom emailed me this last week with an update!

Hi Savannah!

I wanted to let you know how Tippy is doing! First, I named him Henry. :)

Some of this is not news to you, since you had him for a long time.

Henry is very sweet and mellow. He gets very excited about taking walks and going outside - we go for a walk every morning, usually around the pond, and he loves it. He’s a trooper, too - goes the whole way and would walk faster if I would! He’s very jaunty and adventurous on walks (except for one day when we met a snapping turtle - he got scared and I had to carry him past it!).

He has met all my neighbors and their dogs, and likes them all (even the 4 year old child and the big lab dog). He tries to play with the lab, but they are still trying to figure out how to play when they are such different sizes!

Sometimes Henry cries and whines when he is left alone. We (my neighbors and I) aren’t sure if he only cries when he is home alone and hears people/dogs in the other apartments, or if he cries other times too. He’s very excited to see me when I get home from work. He has graduated to being in the living room while I’m gone, so now he can hang out on the couch and in his window seat. There are lots of nose marks on the window, which I take as a good sign. :)

Henry’s vet papers came in the mail today, and I learned that he was an owner surrender at the shelter in Alabama; the owner surrendered him because the owner was moving. :(

In the evenings, Henry and I hang out in the living room and lay around. Sometimes I wonder if I am boring him! But he seems pretty content to just hang out. He has taken to sitting on a pillow, which is very cute! Sometimes we practice sit and lay down, and also “stand.” We start an obedience class next week; I came across one specifically for adopted dogs, which should be fun.

We are both still adjusting to each other, since it’s still pretty new. But I think we are a great fit, and I’m very happy to have Henry/Tippy! I’m so glad for the good care you gave him!

I’m sending some pics, too. I’ve realized that although I’ve taken lots of pictures of him already, they are mostly of him sleeping!

Henry checking out the window.

Henry in the backyard.

Henry on a pillow.

Henry sleeping in the window seat.

Spay Day! - Updated

Finley and Frankie are at the vet right now, getting heartworm tests, microchips, and spayed.  Poor Owen is not going to be happy when I won't let him play with his girlfriends tonight.  

You can see how eager they are to leave.

Last picture before surgery!

UPDATE
I meant to post this Friday afternoon, but as per usual, life got in the way and I ended up forgetting about it until just this morning.

So I picked Finley and Frankie up from the daycare on Friday afternoon.  They were both asleep in their crates, and barely opened their eyes when I went to get them, much less made an effort to come to me.  So I ended up having to crawl into these crates to get them out.  I'm sure that was an image.  I grabbed Frankie first and took her out to the car.  Put her in the backseat where she laid down.  Now, I did have the front window all the way down, and I briefly thought to myself that I should shut it.  But it had taken me like 5 minutes to get Frankie out of the crate, and I didn't want to leave her in the car with the windows up if it took another 5 minutes to get Finley.  She wasn't in any shape to jump up to the front seat, so I thought I'd run in, grab Fin, and run back out.  It was a great plan, and it went off without a hitch!  But as soon as I opened the front door of the daycare, Lisa (who had been outside this whole time, one car between her and my car) says to me "Savannah, we have a problem."  I look down, and there is Frankie!  That little brat climbed out of the car seat protector (prevents the dogs from jumping from the back seat to the front seat while I'm driving), then jumped out of the window!  In her groggy state, after just getting spayed!  I'm sure it was extremely uncomfortable for her.  Thank goodness she walked toward Lisa, rather than the opposite direction toward the grassy area.  Anyway, I had Finley under one arm, so I slowly crouched down and called to Frankie while Lisa and another volunteer circled around to prevent her from running.  Fortunately she came right to me where I grabbed her until Lisa could pick her up and help me get her into the car again.  That was an interesting moment.

Anyway, both girls are doing well now.  They were groggy all Friday evening.  They went into the bathroom (I have really comfy floor mats, and it's the coolest room in the house) and just slept there the whole time.  Poor Owen wanted to play, but wasn't pushy about it.

Worn out girls.  Owen brought the balls in the room.  I'm not sure if they were for him to play with while hanging out, or if he wanted to give the girls something to play with.  Sweet, either way.  He also later brought in a rope toy.

BIG Changes Around Here

So much to get to today.  I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I just got back from a week's vacation in Florida.  Boy, was that nice!  But I have a ton of dog-related stuff to catch up on!

First off:  My sweet Tippy has been adopted.  This is the ultimate happy/sad feeling.  He has a forever mom that I really think is a great match for him.  The second she walked in my door, he was sniffing her.  And when she sat on the couch, he jumped up right beside her and laid down.  I've been keeping myself busy since he left, so I haven't had much time to think about it.  The only time I've really noticed it was waking up in the morning and not having him crawling all over me.  I imagine now that my schedule is normalizing I'll start to notice it more and more, and I'm sure I'll be sad...after all, I fostered him for ~430 days!  But I'm so happy that he found someone so I can continue fostering new pups.  I wish Tippy & his mom all the best, and I really, really, really hope to get updates on him!

New fosters Finley & Frankie have arrived.  I initially thought they were sisters because they look so much alike and because they were so bonded.  But after checking out their ages on Petfinder, I think they're just best buds.

Finley & Frankie already love cuddling!

Frankie discovered toys...maybe for the first time!

You can't possibly be able to resist Finley's puppy dog face.

Dog pile on Foster Mom!  (Except anti-social Hardy in the corner.)
From left to right: Finley, Frankie, Owen

Both girls were extremely shy at first, and still tend to be meek around me when I'm walking around.  However, if I sit down, they come right over and crawl in my lap.  They love to be cuddled and pet, and if you even think about scratching their tummies they will roll over.  Funny story from when I brought them home: We got back to my house about 15 minutes before Tippy's mom came by, so I just left their leashes on and let them run around rather than immediately lock them up with Owen in the dog room (side note: Owen was with on the car ride home, and they got along great.  I just didn't want to put them together without my supervision yet.).  So I'm in the living room with Tippy's mom, and I hear a crash from my bedroom.  I didn't really think anything of it, it wasn't that loud, and I thought maybe Owen had just tossed one of the treat balls into the door or something.  A little while later after Tippy's mom left I went to find the girls, and they had knocked over the food bin, spilled it all over the floor, and were hungrily eating it up!  They had just the cutest, innocent looks on their faces, I could only laugh.  Anyway, I don't want to spoil all the goods on these 2 lovies right now...so I'll save some for another post later this week (hopefully).

Rochester update:

This sweet boy is still doing well!  It's so hard to believe he'd let another dog just use him as a pillow like this...I mean, I knew he was sweet, but this is just adorable!

Mia (fka Tiffany) update:

Mia is bonding with her sister, Tinley

She's learning how to walk on a leash, and enjoys walks!

Mia and Tinley like to wrestle.  Her human brothers call them Miami Mia and TNT Tinners.

What a doll!

Can't exclude Owen from this dog-filled post!  He absolutely loves his new foster sisters.  They haven't quite let him into the pack 100% yet, but he's weaseling his way in.

I also want to comment on how much better his behavior is getting.  He doesn't give me any grief when I pick him up anymore.  And even is starting to learn that sometimes people need some space.  he's also getting much more comfortable being touched around his collar (previously a hot button for him).  He still doesn't like when I put both hands there, as if to put the collar on or off, but one hand is ok, even if I grab the collar and move it around.  So still some work to be done, but a TON of progress made.  I've also noticed that since Tippy left, there has been zero instances of marking around the house.  Now, Tippy wasn't going around marking while he was there, but I'm guessing just the presence of another male (let's be honest, Hardy isn't a threat) was enough to make Owen want to mark.  So maybe that's something a future family wants to consider.  

Many Apologies

First of all, I want to apologize to anyone who sent me an email through my savvysfosterdogs email.  For some strange reason the emails didn't come through until today.  So I missed several inquiries.  I think I have fixed the bug, and in the future I will be responding to all the messages that come through.  For those of you who sent emails already, I will be responding below.  If you have any specific questions, please feel free to re-email me.

For those of you that inquired about Tippy: he has an approved application, and all that is left is to meet.  There is always a small chance that something falls through, so you can still apply for him through Fluffy Dog, and they will put you on a waiting list.

For those of you that inquired about Owen: he is still available!  His training is improving every day, and he will make a wonderful dog to some lucky family out there.  Apply for him on the Fluffy Dog website now!