Visits from old friends

Our adoption day was pretty slow, but that's just fine with me.   I got to catch up with some people in our group I haven't seen for a while.     I'd been feeling crummy for so long even if I did see people, I kind of felt in a daze and didn't even remember conversations. ;)      I also got to visit with two previous fosters of mine - Velma and Corrie!   I was expecting to see Velma with her fur brother Niko and her Mom and Dad Katie and Dan.   But I was completely surprised to see  Corrie come in with Robin.

Katie and Robin both read my blog and so they both knew about Natsumi.    Both were surprised at her size and how beautiful she is in person.    She really is a sweet and pretty girl.   I've already had her longer than I expected - she gets a ton of Petfinder hits weekly.   I wonder if I should re write her bio?     This picture makes her tongue look enormous - it's really not that big!



Niko and Velma



Velma is so cute.    She LOVES boy dachshunds ... which is why I'm convinced one day Katie and Dan will no longer be able to resist adopting another one of my dachshund fosters!  :)     Velma was smitten with both Burton and Bonham and kept kissing them.   I remember when I had Saburo, she completely threw herself at him!   She was a little more reserved today ... but not much.  ;)   I think Katie and Dan were smitten with Bonham, though.    It's those pudgy paws ... it'll get you every time!    Velma and Niko are the best fur brother and sister in the world.    They love each other so much and get a lot of comfort from each other.    When Velma was first adopted, she was really shy and nervous.    But she loved Niko from day one and he became kind of her older brother and protector.    When she was nervous out in the big scary world Niko would always check on her and make sure she was ok.   I think that's so sweet.   He's a great dog.   He's so mellow and cute and sweet.    He's unbelievably handsome!     Don't they look happy together?



Here's Corrie jumping up to Robin.   Corrie was a fairly rough foster.   She has issues with female dogs and is very toy aggressive.    While she was at my house I had another foster she could not tolerate.   Her name was Nutmeg and she was so submissive, I think it sent Corrie into a mental frenzy.     Also,  no squeaky toys were allowed while Corrie was here due to her "resource guarding" with toys ... which is a nice way of saying she kicked any dog's butt who even looked at her toys.      She is a master at destuffing a toy, getting that damn squeaker out and destroying it!   I still find lone squeakers through the house from time to time.     But Corrie is in a perfect home with Robin.   There is one other dog and they get along really well because the other dog could care less about toys and ignores Corrie for the most part.   They do have their spats, though, and apparently had one just this week.   Corrie does not tolerate any amount of annoyance.   ;)     Corrie came from Cape Girardeau where her owners turned her in for running away when she was outside in a NON fenced yard.    She's about 7-8 and she had a very rough time in the shelter.    She was absolutely terrified and just laid all curled up day after day.    The staff felt sorry for her, so they'd keep her at the front desk as much as they could.   

When people turn their pets into a pound or animal shelter they have no idea what they're really doing.    The shelters do their best, but for these dogs that have been pets for years and years it's a shock to the system to be in a shelter setting.   It's loud, it's clinical and it's lonely.     Many dogs have to be put to sleep simply because they can not handle the shelter environment and completely shut down from depression.     If we hadn't taken Corrie that is probably what would have happened to her.    Poor girl can't handle the chaos and stress of a shelter - but then again neither can I.   I think of how frustrated and stressed out I get just from being at PetCo from 11-3 once a week when there's tons of dogs barking and too much commotion.   I'm really glad our group is a foster only situation.   It's good for the dogs and we really get to see the true personalities of these dogs when they're home with us.

But more often times than not, the dogs really come out of their shells and truly blossom into amazing little creatures once they find their forever homes.    Both Velma and Corrie are different dogs than when I fostered them.    And it's all because of the loving home they each have.   As one of my friend's always puts it, our fosters dogs will always love us because we're kind of like they're first love.   We're someone who took care of them and loved them during a really scary and sad time in their lives so we'll always be special to them.    But the person who adopts them is the one who has the long term "married" love with them.    They're the ones who really committed to them and took care of them for the rest of their lives.   I really like looking at it like that.   It makes me feel better and it's a good way to explain to potential adopters that no matter how much this particular foster might seem to love me and be attached to me right now, they will devote all their love and attention to their new human in just a short time.   I'll be a happy memory for them, but I'm not the one they ended up with.  :)

Here's Katie letting Burton dream about catching birds in the enclosure at PetCo.     He can just taste them - I bet he has some serious bird catching dreams tonight.  ;)    Also, I captured another picture of Burton's Hell Hound origins shining through in those red eyes.   I really do love Burton and I hope someone will come along and love his precocious spirit as much as I do!    That is if I don't scare them away in this blog.  ;)

BE VERY AFRAID ... ;)