A Shining Star and a Bowl of Froot Loops

Last week I took on my final foster of 2011. Loopy, a Rottweiler mix with the disposition of a baby fawn, will help round out the new year (and maybe get adopted before then?). Loopy came up from a shelter in Florence County, South Carolina last Saturday, and her overnight foster fell in love with her pretty much immediately. I had another dog at the time, who I expected to have longer than two days...but she went and got herself adopted. Her name was Star, and she was a shy little Rat Terrier/Chihuahua mix, who needed the company of another dog to help her gain some confidence. We picked her up on Friday, and within a day she had gone from trying to bury herself behind a pillow in a corner of the couch, to running around with Ollie, jumping off and on furniture, batting around tennis balls, squeaking squeaky toys, and tail a-wagging. She tired herself out and was pretty happy and content by the the end of her second night, as you can see below. She was a fast little bugger so the only decent shot I could get of her was when she was sleeping.

Star, renamed Starlet by her new mom, now lives in Alexandria with two Chihuahua sisters, who hopefully will continue to help her blossom and grow into a well-adjusted dog. Her Adoption Coordinator said she was doing well when she checked in with her. Our time together was brief, but it was enjoyable. She was also to date our smallest foster dog. Ollie looked gigantic by comparison. :)

So, Sunday's adoption event came around and I was foster-less by the time I got there. But the day before a new transport of shelter dogs had arrived, which means of course that there were some dogs who had an overnight foster the night before, but needed a place to go come Sunday. Some of those dogs went to doggie daycare, but there was one dog who they really wanted to send to a home: Loopy.

As you may have noticed, this beautiful young lady only has one eye. She had gone blind in her left eye due to trauma, and her eye was enlarged and causing discomfort to the point that veterinarians determined removing it would give Miss Loopy a better quality of life in the long run. This photo was taken right after she arrived to DC, and relatively recently post-op. Because there are so many dogs in doggie daycare, LDAR wanted to be sure Loopy's healing continued to progress and that too much playtime wouldn't cause her stitches to come undone. She's healing up beautifully now, and the eye area that was shaved is starting to grow in so unless you're really paying attention, you hardly notice she's only got half her vision. Loopy doesn't seem to notice at all, although she can be clumsy sometimes and bump into things, due in part to her limited peripheral vision. 

Loopy, like any foster, has not been without her own set of challenges. The first night she was with me, we spent teaching her not to be afraid of stairs with lots of treats and coaxing. She now goes up and down them like a champ. Loopy is also an energetic pup who needs plenty of exercise and playtime, but some long walks through the neighborhood and having Ollie as a wrestling/chase/tug buddy has helped tend to that....she's calmed down lots since last week, and in spite of a few accidents is making strides in housetraining (having a schedule and a little consistency really goes a long way). In the last week she has learned "sit" and "down", and is very motivated by treats and praise. She adores trips to the dog park and has been complimented for her sweet demeanor, and I truly think she has no concept that she is a 54 lb dog. She prefers to think she is a lap dog, and loves to nuzzle up for snuggles and cuddles. I think she'd be brokenhearted to learn otherwise if you won't tell her, I won't. In the mean time, I'm just going to go ahead and keep letting her lay on top of Ollie when she's tired. He also apparently doesn't have the heart to tell her she's 40 lbs heavier than he is. 

She is a little bit like a toddler, and has managed to find random things on the ground she isn't supposed to have/chew, so I've needed to keep an especially close eye, and sadly have had to repair a vacuum and replace a laptop cord from failing to do that (she was just outside peripheral view when the vacuum became a casualty, and it was foolish for me to shower without crating her while leaving her unattended with the laptop plug). Ah well, lesson learned. In spite of my vacuum, she has wormed her way into my affections and those of my dad (she'll be spending Christmas with us in NJ, and is settling in just fine at foster Babchi and foster Poppy's). He's rallying hard for me to adopt her and has affectionately given her the nickname of "Love Pony" because she sort of walks like a pony and has nothing but love to give. I am rallying that there is a much better home for her than the one I can provide, and I owe it to my future fosters not to adopt her.  :) In her time with us, she's also donned the nicknames of Loopy Loo, (Hang on) Sloopy, Froot Loop, and Loony Toon, just to name a few.

This most recent fostering experience has also taught me the importance of making sure I clear fosters with my husband before bringing them home. It makes it a lot easier to take in a foster when you know that the other person you live with can live with the decision. Loopy was one foster that I didn't exactly clear through Nick to ensure he was cool with it, and took home because (a) I wrongly assumed he would be, (b) there was a need, and (c)my heart is soft and I have a tough time saying no, as long as I feel I can responsibly care for a dog that needs a place to go. But this past week has taught me it's not 100% responsible when not everyone in the home wants to be part of the fostering experience Lucky Dog only adopts to families where all members are on board for the adoption, and while the fostering period is much shorter than placing a dog in a forever home, the same principle sort of applies. Though it tugs at my heartstrings every single time I get a "Foster Needed" e-mail, I get why I can't take it upon myself to try and save them all, so to speak. One piece of advice I got at foster training was "know your limits". So I think once Loopy gets into her forever home, I'll be taking a short fostering hiatus until at least 90% of the boxes of our new home are unpacked, 60% of the pictures hung on the walls, and my husband is 100% behind me. In the mean time, I'm still committed to event coordinating  and application screening for Lucky Dog, and helping with PWC Dog Park Development for the betterment of saving and enriching the lives of local pups, at least for a little while. 

On that note, I think my next issue will be a foster lessons learned. There sure have been a few take-aways from this past year with 1 adopted Lucky Dog, 5 full time fosters, 2 overnight fosters, and 7 dogs that I had AC'd having my support in getting adopted (possibly 8 by the end of next week!). So, stay tuned. Without fail though, my biggest take-away is this has been one of the most fulfilling volunteer experiences I've ever had. And playing a small part in getting the 1,319 dogs of 2011 rescued somehow makes me feel a pretty big sense of purpose.

Happy Tails Tale (aka post-Thanksgiving Update from Sabrina's new home)

Below is a note from Sabrina's new mom, including some pictures of the cutie with her canine sibling, Skittles. Rescue can sometimes have it's stressful moments, or your moments of wondering if you have failed somehow along the way. These are the notes that make fostering and rescue so totally worth it.

We had family in town for the long weekend. Everyone loved Sabrina, and Sabrina loved everyone right back!

We have been working with her while on walks not to "walk" us, and she is improving. She does seem to try to take over new walkers, as family members wanted the opportunity to hold the leash, but she quickly got the hang of each new person. It was quite a pain at first trying to get her to go into her kennel for the day, but since she has realized that she will get a treat if she does it on her own, we haven't had too many issues. She actually likes going into Skittles' kennel with her, even though she has her own! They are very affectionate towards each other, very cuddly and playful. We've also been working on sit and stay while we prepare her meals, and she has started to get the hang of waiting until we say she can eat. She now waits patiently like a little angel.

Overall our first week and a half has been wonderful. She remains very loving and always wants to be on one of our laps. Luckily, she has been very gentle and patient with the baby, so that is a blessing.

I've attached some pictures of Sabrina and Skittles cuddling. They are very cute together. I'm pretty bad at remembering to take pictures, but I will try my hardest to periodically update you with any I have taken!

I hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving and thank you for the continued support!

Caitlin

Sabrina Goes Home

This update comes a few days after the fact (mostly because I was a little sad about it) but this Sunday Sabrina found her forever family. She and I headed out to Sunday's adoption event at White Flint Petsmart, admittedly a drive I wasn't amped about making because it's on the other side of the DC Metro map. But Beana and I decided to make it worth our while by picking up some of her fellow Lucky Dog pals along the way: Captain, Trina, and Bo Bo. Driving 4 dogs is adventurous but we had a good time. The dogs ate Milkbones and co-existed peacefully, which means it was a good drive for me. My hope was at least 25% of my car load would be adopted (50% of it did), my expectation was not that I would be arriving with Sabrina and leaving without her.

While screening a potential adopter for Bo Bo (an adorable, tiny terrier mix still looking for a home), someone came up to me saying a family was interested in Sabrina. I got super excited, then almost immediately wanted to cry. But when I headed over to meet the family, I knew almost right away that if I could have hand picked them, I would. Nice young couple with a second dog named Skittles, who could have easily been confused as Sabrina's biological sister, and a baby girl about 4.5 months old. Who will soon enough grow into a great playmate. It didn't take long for this family to earn my stamp of approval, and they had passed all the other tests to adopt. And Sabrina had immediately won them over.

After checking in the first night, Sabrina was getting along great playing with her canine sibling, and being very gentle with the baby two-legged sister. Her new mom commented on what an incredible cuddler she is (but I knew that already) and are so happy to have her. And I couldn't be happier that she has a family that is going to love her and look forward to a long life ahead with Sweet Sabrina, starting with this Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for the mark she left on my heart, and that she has a wonderful new family to make a mark on theirs.

November News: Adoption Announcements and My New Fall Foster Follies

Well friends, November is in full force for Lucky Dog Animal Rescue. Between the last two weekends over 60 dogs were adopted out to new homes, and among them were two that I was AC-ing: Jethro and Rugby! Admittedly I felt less a part of Jethro's adoption because he found his furever family via our Lucky Dog Matchmaking Team, who works with adopters who don't quite have one particular dog in mind to place them with a pup they (and the adopter) deem a perfect match. I did, however, get to meet Jethro's adopters the day of his adoption amid my event coordinating responsibilities, and they were really nice and had two teenage boys perfect for helping him get his much needed border collie exercise!

The other happy bit of Jethro's adoption at this event: it introduced me to another pre-approved couple, looking for a smart, active, medium sized dog they could take running 2-6 miles daily. They had stated interest in meeting Jethro just before the event, however they could not attend the adoption event where Jethro went home for good with his adoptive family and missed out on him. Feeling sad that they had missed out on Jethro, I got in touch with their Matchmaking Coordinator and asked if I could help in any way. She happily asked for some recommendations, and I threw some her way. #1 being my boy Rugby, who inexplicably didn't have any serious applications in on him, and #2 being Pongo, the golden/lab mix that I have secretly admired for his good looks since starting with Lucky Dog (even though he was a little bigger than the 30-50 lb weight range they were looking for).

Pongo is one of those dogs who came to Lucky Dog nearly a full year ago, but following the holiday season couldn't seem to get a foster placement. He stayed in doggie daycare for a long time, and I had vowed to take him on as foster once we moved to our new place and get him to be my marathon training buddy. Thankfully for Pongo though, he didn't have to wait that long before he got a full time foster, and found his temporary home with an endurance sports enthusiast who was willing to run many miles with him, and help him grow into a well adjusted young adult. He even posted a video of Pongo's progress, and we Lucky Doggers were just so proud!

So, back to Jethro's would-be adopters. I got an email from their AC on Thursday night stating they wanted to meet Rugby. Which would be awesome news if not for the fact someone had literally contacted me hours before about setting up a meeting on Saturday with him and his foster mom and those wheels were already in motion (turns out Rugby got popular all of a suddden). I told her that if the meeting didn't go well, I'd contact them immediately about Rugby. The meeting went well, and Rugby's new parents emailed me to tell me they wanted to bring him into their family. I felt so happy for Rugby, but so sad that this couple had missed out on another dog (and that the dog they missed out on was another one of mine). Speaking of, Rugby is doing AWESOME in his new home and had a great first night, other than the fact that he is now officially a Redskins fan amid a 5-game losing streak. Below is a picture of Rugby and his dad watching the 5th of said losses yesterday. In any case, he looks pretty comfy. :)

HOWEVER, imagine my surprise and elation when I was leaving Sunday's adoption event and was informed that Pongo had the second half of a couple coming to meet him, interested in adopting him. About an hour later, we volunteers got an email that Pongo got adopted! And, I learned later, by the couple who had come to meet Jethro and then wanted to adopt Rugby!!!! All the dogs they missed out on, I have to believe, was designed for the very perfect and lucky reason that Pongo was fated to be their lucky dog. And I think I speak for many of the Lucky Doggers who have been around for most or all of the length of time Pongo has when we say our fingers are triple crossed for a long happy furever family life for him and his new puppy parents ready to embrace his active lifestyle!

In other news, I am back to full time fostering for the first time since May. And my goodness, I have fallen in puppy love with her. Her name is Sabrina, and she is an absolute doll baby who was abandoned by her owners in South Carolina before coming over to Lucky Dog. Sabrina loves other dogs and kids (loves to give them kisses) and loves to be near her people. She may also enjoy belly rubs more than any other dog I have seen. She sees you coming and flips over to mooch one! She's a total snuggle buddy and love bug, and really enjoys playing with other dogs at the dog park (though sometimes gets a wee bit afraid of the ones who are bigger than her). We're working on the leash, and she does by and large very well. But sometimes, only sometimes, when she doesn't feel like walking in a particular direction, she will flop herself down on the side walk and protest forward locomotion, which always presents a fun challenge in re-motivating her to walk again. She's doing very well with her house training and has already mastered the commands of "sit" and "down". She doesn't really discriminate against any toy, but she does like to take them apart if she can, chew off their tennis ball fuzz, or seek and destroy their squeaker. She and Ollie are getting along well as foster siblings (though there is an occasional disagreement over toy sharing) and I'd be lying if I said moments like this didn't make me want to cave to becoming a failed foster:

Sabrina received some interest at yesterday's adoption event and with any luck, we may be able to get her adopted soon. But for the first time, I find myself faced with the dilemmia of screening applications for a dog I am fostering. And all of a sudden, I can't help but wonder if even a seemingly great adopter is a great adopter for Sabrina. And in my quest to find her a "perfect" home, am I depriving her of a potentially great life in a great home that may not have been what I imagined as perfect? I love the fact that I am able to know so much more about a dog I am working to get adopted by fostering her as well, but I wonder if it keeps me from being pragmatic (and allows me to be perhaps too emotionally invested) in finding her a furever home. I want so badly for her to get adopted, but I also want so badly to not screw it up.  But in the mean time, I guess I'll just have to enjoy the moments I have and believe that like with Pongo and Rugby this weekend, the lucky stars will align to help me lead Sabrina to her perfect permanent puppy family.

Puppy kisses and belly rubs,
Lynn and Sabrina

Update on Rugby: Life is Good

...life in a foster home that is!

Rugby's foster mom (and fellow Lucky Dog Adoption Coordinator) Iris, has sent an update on how our boy is doing. Iris took Rugby on as a foster on Monday night, after a slightly stressful experience in doggy daycare when he first came to DC. For those of you who may be wondering, Lucky Dog has some excellent cage-free boarding partners that we work with, and who are gracious enough to host our dogs when they don't have a foster who can take them. Many do great and love daycare, but for some dogs it's a wee bit much. Rugby was one such dog, so when we realized this we knew that it was essential to get him into a foster home. Big thank you to Iris for swooping in to take Rugby, whose previous foster was adopted the day before.

So our scruffy young boy with super soft ears is learning lots (and loving life) during his time out of the shelter and in a real home.  He has been learning how to walk like a gentleman on the leash at the side of his foster mom, which she says an easy walk harness has really helped a lot with. We have found that he will need a yard to run around in or an active family to exercise him daily, but his foster mom reports after coming back from a run he is ready to take a snooze on the couch!

Rugby still maintains some energetic, playful, goofball puppy tendencies and will need his future parents to help him with his manners, as he does jump when excited (especially when he knows he's going on his walk!) and can be a little mouthy in play. However, he is very food motivated and his foster mom is teaching him what "no/stop" means. She has reported that he is a GREAT dog who will become an AMAZING dog with a little positive training!

Rugby is very friendly to new people when he meets them, and loves to be where his foster mom is and will follow her where she goes. That doesn't mean he needs your full attention all the time though, he just wants to stay close by! He also loves squeaky toys (and trying to get the squeaker out of them), and this friendly boy has been trying to make friends with his resident canine foster sibling. Rugby's foster sister is not always interested in playing or snuggling as much as he is, so when she says she's not in the mood to share her chair with him, he will listen and respect her space. We would also like to note that Rugby's foster sibling is 9 lbs, but that doesn't bother him one bit. We feel he would be a great, sweet canine brother to a dog closer to his size of 40 lbs or a smaller dog.

Like most shelter dogs, Rugby may need a refresher on housetraining. He is doing well with crate training in his foster home.

The adoption fee for this dog is $300, which includes the cost of routine vetting, including vaccinations and spay/neuter. If you are interested in adopting, please download ourAdoption Questionnaire and email it to Lynn at lynnh@luckydoganimalrescue.org!

There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

Well, we closed on our new place last night and Nick and I are officially home owners. We celebrated with a visit to the new place (the Greenie that Ollie left on the stairs during the walk through was thankfully still there) and per his mom's suggestion, a bag of M&Ms (which Ollie asked us to share, we told him no for his own good). 

So moving date is Saturday for us, and as we settle into our new home sweet home, there are lots of Lucky Dogs coming up to DC and looking for theirs. A few I would like to highlight:

Rugby is here and looking for his home!

Scruff face cutie pie Rugby arrived to the DC area on Saturday, and according to his overnight foster was absolutely wonderful. This playful pup loves everyone he meets and also loves to snuggle. He also played very nicely with his overnight foster sibling on day one and was very happy to show himself off at Lucky Dog's adoption event the next day. He's currently in foster care and is accepting applications for his new forever family! How could you possibly not want to have this face greeting you when you come home from work?

Rugby will be at Annandale Petco this Sunday from 12-2pm(located at 7434 Little River Turnpike Annandale, VA). So come on by to meet him!

And Arriving Next Week: Jethro and Sabrina!

Um...hello? Just look at those beautiful markings and that happy little face, do I need say any more? Jethro is a beautiful boy who we believe to be a Border Collie mix. We are absolutely in love with his beautiful markings and adorable ears. At 9 months and 45 lbs, he may still have a little growing to do, but we don't think he'll get to be more than 50-55 lbs when full grown. Jethro passed with flying colors when tested with other dogs and children, so he would love to have a canine or human sibling to play with. If you want, we can see how he does with cats too! Border Collies are by nature very intelligent and active dogs, so be prepared to keep this guy entertained and well exercised, as bored border collie can very easily get into trouble. With his daily dose of play time, training, and mental stimulation, Jethro will give you a lifetime of happiness.

Sabrina the shepherd mix is 8 months old and has one ear that sticks straight up and the other is "dog-eared" a bit :). As you can see by her picture, she is smiling because she was just told Lucky Dog is springing her from the high-kill shelter she was in, and she's headed north next week! Being a young dog, Sabrina will still have some left over puppy energy and need love, positive training and daily exercise (really, ball, tug, a trip to the dog park or a nice run with her human parents will do) to help her grow into a well-adjusted adult. She in turn will impress you with her smarts and steal your heart with snuggles and puppy kisses at the end of the day! Currently weighing in at 40 lbs,  this beautiful blonde girl still has a little more room to grow and will probably end up weighing 50-60 lbs when she is full grown. Sabrina gets along great with other dogs and children, so would love to have a canine or human sibling to play with. We don't know how she is with cats, but can find out if you have household members of the feline variety!

Jethro and Sabrina get into town next Friday night, November 4 and will be at Home for the Holidays at Reston Town Center on November 5 from 11am-4pm, where I feel confident that their beautiful faces will get adopted. If you would like to get approved to adopt them before the folks at Reston Town Center get to see them, fill out an adoption application on this page and email it to me at lynnh@luckydoganimalrescue.org so we can get you on your way!  

In other happy tails reading, Brownie, our adorable 1-year old pit bull mix, was featured as Dogtipper.com's Adoptable Dog of the Day yesterday, and is now currently an internet celebrity getting networked to the masses! We hope this will help him get into a forever home, and we can't thank Dogtipper.com enough for offering the opportunity for rescues all over the country to get their pups featured. Check him out and stay tuned for more featured adoptables.

In the mean time, if there is someone you know interested in adopting Rugby, or fostering/adopting Sabrina and Jethro when they get to town next week, please let me know and pass along their information. Let's find these guys a home, because we all know "for the holidays you can't beat home, sweet home."

Hugs and puppy snuggles,

Lynn, Rugby, Jethro and Sabrina

Barking About Buddy, Rugby, and Room to Roam!

Busy week on the Lucky Blog front friends! I made it through Adoption Coordinator (AC) Training and now have two awesome dogs to brag about and find their forever homes! Buddy and Rugby are the handsome boys I am proudly AC'ing and accepting applications for.

Rugby Buddy

Buddy is a super cute Chi/Beagle Mix (with maybe some pug or doxie mixed in), about 2-3 years old, and 18 lbs...out of that crazy puppy phase and the perfect size package for apartment living. He's being pulled from the shelter and arriving in DC this week. Rugby is still down in in a South Carolina Shelter and can't wait to get his new leash on life when he arrives in DC! Their bios can be viewed at http://www.luckydoganimalrescue.org/adopt/adoptable-dogs if you would like to read a little more about them! If you or someone you know is interested in adopting Buddy or Rugby, or any of the awesome Lucky Dogs, go to http://www.luckydoganimalrescue.org/adopt/adoption-process to see what you need to do and to download an adoption questionnaire!

Also this week, my community of Prince William County held a public hearing outlining the master plan for our soon to be (we hope!) dog park, the first of its kind in Prince William County. Personally, I'm super excited about being able to drive down the street and not across county lines to exercise little Ollie and my future fosters! While this project will be supported by the Prince William County Park Authority, it will not be paid for by them and our local dog park support group and community members need to raise about $12,050 to get the park built. That's a lot of milkbones, so we need to create lots of awareness and make this a concerted community effort from dog-lovers in our county and elsewhere!

You can help support the project by going to our Prince William County Dog Blog (http://princewilliamcountydogs.blogspot.com/) and encouraging everyone you know to do the same. Please also follow us on Twitter at @PWCDogs and encourage others to follow us in this grassroots initiative as well! Also, if you'd like to get involved in helping us fundraise, definitely let me know!

Thanks!

Lynn

Recent Updates and Blog Hopping/Home for the Holidays!

Hello Lucky Dogger Bloggers!

I know it's been awhile since my last update...the big things in life involve a wedding, a home purchase, and a whole lot of busy times at work in September. Now that that's all over (minus the home purchase, that's still a work in progress), it's time to start barking about the lucky life again!

How cute is the family on our wedding day?

In the few events I have been able to attend for Lucky Dog, I am happy to say BJ (of my last post) was adopted, along with many, many more. Yay BJ and all the Lucky Dogs! We also surpassed bringing up our 1,000th dog from our partner shelters, officially saving over 1,000 puppy lives in 2012 so far...and we aren't done yet!

It seems bringing a new foster pup in will be better timed when our house isn't in boxes and getting packed up (I can't wait to be moved and invite in our first furry house guest of the new place!), so to help spread the lucky love in the mean time I've taken on a few things:

1. Helping Lucky Dog get its social network groove on at Twitter. Hint: you can help with this too by following @DCLuckyDog

2. Going to Adoption Coordinator Training this Sunday! AC's are the OTHER awesome volunteers that help get dogs placed into their furever homes, by screening potential adopters and making sure they are fit to "Get Lucky". Excited to learn about taking this on this weekend!

3. Helping coordinate one adoption event a month starting in October, and helping coordinate the event details for our Holiday Luck Event, which will be an awesome dinner at Lincoln Restaurant on Monday, December 12. Stay tuned for details!

I'm also supporting Iams in their goal to bring 1.5 million dogs home for the holidays, which Lucky Dog will obviously be a part of locally! Iams will be helping to promote dog adoptions with this campaign, but also donating lots of food to participating animal rescue organizations! Here's what we bloggers are doing to help:

How Bloggers Can Help

As we mentioned, we’re cohosting a blog hop along with our pet blogging buddies, The Tiniest Tiger’s Conservation Cub Club, Preston Speaks, Pet Blogs United, Fidose of Reality, Pet News and Views, andPetsWeekly.

You can show your support by joining the Iams Home 4 the Holidays Blogging 4 Bowls Blog Hop…and for every blog that joins the hop through October 10, another 100 bowls of food will be donated! Here’s how to join:

• Write a post on your blog to show your added support for the Blogging 4 Bowls Blog Hop and link up your blog name and URL using the Linky Tool below (where it says “Click Here To Enter”). You only need to add your link once to be seen on all the Blogging 4 Bowls Blog Hop Linky Tools.

• Grab the linky code and add it to your post so everyone can hop around and make new friends. (Just click the “Get the Code Here” link to obtain the code.)

• Stop by the other blog hop co-hosts–The Tiniest Tiger’s Conservation Cub Club, Preston Speaks, Pet Blogs United, Fidose of Reality, Pet News and Views, and PetsWeekly–to say hello.

• Visit other blogs that are supporting the Blogging 4 Bowls Blog Hop. Make new friends and/or reconnect with old friends!

For more information about this cool campaign, blog hop over to Dog Tipper and get the scoop, and blog hop over to some of the other cool animal blogs out there as well.

Wedding Bells and Puppy Plugs

Well friends, it's been awhile since I have blogged about a dog because I have not had a full time foster since Lily got adopted in late May. Things have been pretty quiet in this foster mom's house, because I promised my soon to be husband no more foster pups until after our wedding, which is officially a mere 4 weeks away. I had hoped to be more diligent about posting information about some of the dogs that are in boarding but sadly have been a bad blogger.

Well no more! I am hoping to highlight some of these amazing pups and tell you all about them.

These dogs are in unique situations, because they do not have a foster home, so while they have been pulled from a high kill shelter, they are in Doggie Day Care with one of Lucky Dog's boarding partners. Day Care is fun and all, but having a house to go to at the end of the day would be way better. So we are not only trying to find them a forever home, but someone to keep them in foster care so they can grow and develop in a home setting! So, in learning about them, maybe you would want to consider fostering them or know of someone who can give them a temporary place to hang out, or even better, a forever home! So without further ado, meet BJ!

B.J. the Big Goofy Furry Ball of Love!
I'm BJ, and I would LOVE to ride home with YOU!

Two weeks ago at an adoption event, I got to hang out a little with BJ, who is a Bulldog/Lab mix and a totally sweet, funny, goofy dog. BJ definitely has been through a bit, having been pulled from a shelter and going through treatment for heartworm, but you wouldn't know it by his happy disposition. BJ is the type of dog I would readily take in as a foster and go for long runs with, although he is a little picky about his canine friends so Lucky Dog recommends he be an only 4-legged child. However, he LOVES two-legged children, so if you have any of those BJ would get along great with them.

Also, the trainer who has been working with BJ loves him so much, that she is offering his adopter a FREE professional obedience course. Anyone who knows about doggie school knows that training is NOT cheap, so knowing you'll be able to get BJ some great schooling is just an added bonus to the love and hugs and puppy kisses he will give you even without the obedience training!

To learn more about BJ, go to www.adoptapet.com/pet5243936.html or see his blog posting (yep, he wrote it himself) at http://luckydogsbarkout.blogspot.com/2011/06/im-frat-boy-bj.html. And if you'd like to give him a foster home and are in the DC Area, he sure would love one! Go to http://www.luckydoganimalrescue.org/volunteer/foster to tell the nice volunteers from LDAR that you hears what an awesome dog BJ was from my blog and you would LOVE to have him crash at your place, and they will help you get started!

Puppy Kisses, Paw Shakes, Snuffles and Snuggles,
Lynn & BJ

Nina, Wiley, Lily, and my 2 Week Streak.

So becoming a foster mom was something I had pondered for some time, but seemed to be held back by. I was interested, curious, and thought it would do my little JRT bundle of energy some good to socialize with other dogs and perhaps have an every so often puppy playmate to burn off energy with. But I wouldn't even say I had 100% committed in my head to being a foster mom when I ended up with Nina, our first foster dog. While my head wasn't 100% committed, my heart made up for it when I saw this little black and white beagle at a Lucky Dog adoption event in Georgetown, who had just come up a day earlier from the same shelter Ollie hailed from. I was casually inquiring as to whether another dog had a foster, which, to make a long story short, ended with Mirah, the director of LDAR, asking if I could take Nina, who desperately needed a foster to keep her from being in boarding with a case of kennel cough. "No" just wasn't an answer I could find justifiable cause to utter.

Nina's arrival to DC

Next thing I knew I was signing a foster contract and being awarded a crate and a small dog who was so weak that she couldn't walk on a leash and needed to be carried. And a part of me was wondering what I had gotten myself into (and how much trouble I was going to be in with Nick, who my impulse control neglected to confer with), but a bigger part of me seemed to know this was something that needed to be done. There was really no question about it.

Nina was pretty much terrified and wouldn't move from my lap when we first arrived home and I sat on the back deck with her. Tired and seeming so incredibly sad, it broke my heart. Oh, and as a side note, Nick was pretty annoyed but eventually forgave me. Then Ollie, apparently just about every dog's best friend, came out into the back yard to see what was going on. Immediately, almost magically, Nina perked up and immediately began walking and sniffing with a new sense of inquisitive excitement. A weight was lifted off my shoulders and I thought this wasn't going to be so bad.

Nina meets Ollie

Having Ollie around really helped Nina build her confidence, and it wasn't long before she started developing a fun little personality. Other than one sleepless night (this ended up being the night when we resolved her crate needed to be moved from the office to the bedroom) and some challenges in potty-training (also not completely abnormal) she was a lovable little ball of fur, and after only one week Nick and I started having talks of missing her when she was gone, and after only one dog seemed headed toward the road of failed fosterhood. This is what Lucky Dog calls their fosters who end up adopting their temporary house guests.

Nina at an adoption event after her first week with us.

Fortunately, another young couple prevented us from becoming failed fosters when they got approved to adopt her. We only had Nina for about 10 days when we sent her to a sleepover with her AC, Vernisha before going to NJ for the weekend. I pretty much knew she would be going to her new home before we got back and that would be my last time seeing her. I didn't expect to get attached, but found myself sobbing in the car after I dropped her off. I was going to miss the little drama queen, who howled at me every day I came home from work and opened her crate. I think it was because she was our first. And while challenging, it was remarkably rewarding. To help get her healthy, happy, and into her new home was absolutely awesome. This was definitely a volunteer experience I wanted to have again.

Wiley, right off transport, finds a happy home in my lap.

Two weeks later we picked up Wiley, who had an even shorter shelf life. I picked him up off transport on a Saturday, and brought him to an adoption event in Georgetown the next day. Here, he made a lot of fans and got an adoption application, which was screened and approved by Wednesday...and on Friday I was bringing Wiley, renamed Winston by his adopters, to a beautiful new house in Northwest DC.

I joked to Vernisha, the AC for both Wiley and Nina, that my fosters must not want to hang out with me and feigned hurt feelings, but in reality I couldn't be happier when these dogs find their forever homes. While we can't save them all, every dog that makes it out of foster care or boarding and into a permanent home means one more dog from the shelters LDAR rescues from has a shot. Just in 2011, when my life got lucky with Ollie, they have rescued over 500 dogs from euthanasia in a shelter, which in my mind is a pretty big deal.

Lily makes foster #3

After taking a few weeks off full time fostering because of weekend travel prohibiting me from attending adoption events, Lucky Dog had a massive transport for their Pet Fiesta weekend, which had Lily on it. Lily is an 8 month old, 46 lb Shepherd mix. Truth be told, I thought she would be a smaller 25 lb dog when I picked her up, but her Petfinder bio was a little off. Nevertheless, I found myself wondering how she didn't get adopted immediately at the weekend's events, she was awfully cute and clearly very sweet. Bringing her home, I also learned that she was great with dogs...even if she had 30 lbs on them. As I write this entry, she and Ollie are sleeping together in her crate. Cats...well, after a few days I thought it relevant to note that she would probably be better off in a cat free environment. Meeko terrified her and she wanted to chase him away.

I know that bigger dogs tend to have a harder time finding homes in a metropolitan area full of condos, apartments and townhomes, so initially I was concerned about Lily's prospects. Until I realized how she not only had looks (I mean, come on, look at that face) and personality, but brains. She was smart. Very smart. It only took her a night to learn sit, and by the week's end she could also give paw and lay down on command. While I will never say a dog is housetrained, she knew what to do immediately when we took her outside, and has not had an accident in the house yet. She loves her crate and loves her people, and as of yesterday had 3 interested adopters, one of whom is a family in Sterling with a big house and two boys ages 11 and 14. Lily and I went there after yesterday's adoption event, and she and I both approved of the house and family. So now we're firming things up with her Adoption Coordinator, and expect she will be in her forever home within the week. So I expect Lily will go into the collection of dogs that spends no more than 2 weeks with me before moving onto greener pastures, and since I have promised Nick no new fosters until after our August wedding, I'll have to redirect my attention to highlighting some longer term dogs, or those who have been in boarding with one of LDAR's doggie daycare partners.

For those of you interested in helping a dog find a home and having a furry companion in your life, but who are maybe not ready for a long term commitment, consider becoming a foster. Or if you have a dog, like me, and want to help expand his social circle, fostering is awesome. Lucky Dog always has a need locally, but if you're out of the DC Area there are many reputable animal rescues that could use help from fosters to save more pups. Or even volunteers to help showcase the dogs at weekly adoption events. There are many opportunities to support finding some great pups their fur-ever homes, and you'll feel as warm and fuzzy as the pups you save if you take advantage of them. :)

Hugs and puppy kisses,
Lynn, Ollie and Lily

Really, I'm the Lucky One...

Welcome to my "Lucky Blog", dedicated to my chronicles as a foster parent for Lucky Dog Animal Rescue (LDAR) in DC. I hope that my musings will provide some entertainment as I share the joys and challenges that go hand in hand with dog fostering, and an opportunity for learning for both my readers and me. Most importantly, though, I hope to highlight some truly amazing dogs and the work of LDAR, in hopes to find some great dogs their great fur-ever homes.

I got involved with Lucky Dog when my fiance, Nick, and I started talking about adopting a dog before Christmas 2010. Each of us had one specific condition. Having grown up with a Jack Russell Terrier, Nick would not negotiate on having any other dog. Having grown up with rescue animals, I would not negotiate on our family pet needing to come from one. We both were able to compromise on these conditions and started searching online for our perfect new pet.

Some light, but consistent, searching on Petfinder.com eventually led us to Lucky Dog, who had a 1 year old Jack Russell Terrier up for adoption. I saw his picture, read his bio, and saw that he was in a shelter and needed a foster. Seeing this little guy's face and feeling a need to help him in some way, I sent an e-mail to his Adoption Coordinator, Suzie, with an application, to inquire about fostering or adopting the little guy. My thought was that we wanted to be sure we were being careful about our decision to adopt and giving this pup the best opportunity at a great shot at life, so fostering seemed like a good way to test the waters of pet ownership.

When Suzie called me the next day, she explained a little more about what fostering involved, and also explained that fostering might put us in a position where we potentially fall in love with the dog and then lose him to an adopter...but Lucky Dog offered a 2 week trial adoption period for us to be sure we were doing the right thing, since we were adopting him sight unseen from transport, and needed to see how he would be living with my two cats. An interview, a vet/landlord check, and a home visit later, and Nick and I were approved to pick "Lyle" (the name Lucky Dog had given him) up up from transport. We weren't sure how we felt about a dog named Lyle, but we were sure we felt so incredibly happy to get that approval e-mail (and I imagine PetSmart did as well, who got some great business that night).

How his story's prologue landed him in a high kill shelter in South Carolina, I can't even fathom. But I like to think Chapter 1 started being written on that cold winter's day, when he saw snow for what I imagine was the first time and changed our lives for the better. On January 29, we picked up "Lyle" from transport, and it was love at first sight. in that moment, I was so glad that we decided to adopt instead of foster, and every day since then I have felt like the truly lucky one, for the work of Lucky Dog brought this amazingly sweet, playful, loving, silly, and sometimes challenging animal into our lives.


After spending a few hours with him, we thought Oliver, or Ollie for short, seemed more fitting of this little orphan boy who seemed unfazed by the shelter walls that had surrounded him before and had nothing but love for his new people and the world around him. We did, however, want to keep the namesake assigned to him by Lucky Dog as a middle name. Oliver Lyle Heun snuggled right into our laps and hearts, and if it wasn't for the work of Lucky Dog, our lives might not be as rich, and sadly Ollie might not have his life at all. He was rescued by LDAR from a high kill shelter, as are all of the dogs that the rescue fosters and adopts out. Their second leash on life maybe gives them the title of Lucky Dogs, but truly I think the families they get adopted into are the luckiest of all.

As for all of the people that help to get these dogs into forever homes, they are 100% volunteer. There is not one single paid staff that is part if Lucky Dog. They all just want to make a difference and save some puppies, and commit their time and love to this organization's success outside of their normal 9-5 jobs. I was in awe when I learned this, and wanted to help. So I reached out about volunteering and shortly after attended my first adoption event. It didn't take long before I ended up with my first foster, and Ollie got to start paying it forward to the organization that saved his life.

Since this post has gone a little long, I will move into "my life as a foster" and showcase my foster pups tomorrow (because let's be honest, that's why you're reading in the first place), but I did want to share how I ended up here and how passionate I am about this amazing rescue, fundamentally built on kindness of the human spirit.

To learn more, meet the Lucky Dogs, and get involved, visit http://www.luckydoganimalrescue.org/ and if you have about 15 minutes, check out a great video that really highlights the amazingness of LDAR's mission at

http://creativeliquid.com/news/archive/2011/04/creative-liquid-wins-second-2011-telly

Thanks for stopping by, and stay tuned for the best part of this blog: foster puppy stories!

Hugs and Puppy Kisses,
Lynn