OVERwhelmed

Suzie and Tina hiding until all the dachshunds are gone :)

It's been a little over a week since I've been over my personal limit of dogs and I'm a little at my wit's end.   I know exactly the number of dogs I can handle and once we go past that, I can't keep up with anything.     It just so happens that Charlie was returned and that forced my hand.   It's an unwritten rule in fostering that, if at all possible, a returned dog goes back to the original foster.   Of course, if I had told the head of our grou I absolutely can not do it she would have found another place for him.    But knowing a dog is being returned and their little heart is already broken, it makes me feel better to know they'll be in a familiar place with people that love them.     And Charlie is doing great, so I believe I made the right decision.

Tonight I came home to the trashcan dumped over - everything in the trash (and it was a FULL bag) drug around the house, torn up, peed on and just a HUGE HUGE mess.   This was especially frustrating because I thought I had figured out how to block the trash can off from the dogs.   Apparently I was completely wrong.   They also got into my pantry and pulled out a couple of potato chip bags ate those up and tore the aluminum foil box up, causing the foil to roll across the floor.      It took me about 15-20 minutes to clean up this mess after walking through the door.   That sucks - ready to finally just chill a little bit at the end of a work day and to be faced with that crap.   ugh ugh ugh ugh   If I hadn't felt overwhelmed earlier today, I definitely would be by now.

I'll be glad when it gets a little warmer because not all of the dogs will want to sleep in my bed.   The nights that JTK is at his Dad's house are just miserable sleeping wise.    There are a couple of dogs in the house (and I'm not naming names!) who have zero human bed manners.   I can move them all I want but they dash back to whatever spot they particularly want and it almost always means taking up the place where I want to sleep.nnnDinnertime and breakfast time are quite a battle too.   Certain dogs have to be kept  separate, each dog has to be given the perfect amount for their particular nutritional needs and one certain little difficult dog can not be allowed near any of the other dogs until their kibble is all gone.     When mealtime is over I'm always relieved that every dog has a full tummy and no fights were started.   ::sigh::

TRe waiting for a spot to steal during the night

Someone needs to be adopted and quickly!   I have to be careful or else I'll be paying people to take one of these dogs off my hands!  haha   Just kidding ... a true statement though would be that I need to make sure I'm careful on who adopts one of my fosters and I don't talk myself into thinking I've found a perfect home just to lose some stress.    I recently received an email from someone  interested in Charlie but they were really concerned about housebreaking issues.    After he was just returned for housebreaking issues, I have to make sure he doesn't come back for that reason.   So I'm probably going to make things sound even worse than they are.

JTK is at a higher bit of a stress level too because he has to help me with all of the chores associated with the dogs - all the while making sure not too many dogs are outside at one time and that the ones that are still inside aren't TOO obvious.   It is totally exhausting right now and Joe, in true 13 year old fashion, tells me daily that we have too many dogs.   I'm one of those people that I can know something and be handling it somewhat ok, but to have someone else vocalize it sends me into frenzy mode.  :-)

Heidi may possibly come back due to biting, but her original foster has already said they'd take her back.  If I had to face the thought of taking in another dog right now I would probably have a complete breakdown.

Send some dachshund lovers my way to get Charlie or Danny adopted!!!  :-)

Beautiful Charlie