Posts Tagged ‘rescue dog’
The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics has been a tremendous display of talent and determination as demonstrated by gold medalists Lindsey Vonn, Evan Lysacek, Shaun White and Shani Davis. While these athletes are making headlines, and rightly so, another worthy competition deserves some light shed upon it…
WELCOME TO THE 2010 WINTER GAMES K9 STYLE!
The Athletes
Meet Shamus, the reigning champion. Shamus had first proved himself in a qualifying run during last spring’s final snow. Tim, his coach, believes he shows a great deal of promise. A descendant from Newfoundland, he weighs in at 96 pounds and is chock full of talent, speed and stamina. His new winter coat is designed for the rigors of competition. His spirits are high going into this year’s games. Winter is, after all, his favorite season.
Emmett, the contender, is a 60 pound Brittany Spaniel mix. He is extremely athletic, compact, and solidly built. With a little help from Vera Wang, his costume could use some thermal improvement for this particular competition. After eating his previous fashionable coat though, his owner has decided to invest in other areas of Emmett’s training. No worries. This dog has bounding energy that may heat things up just enough to get him through.
The Events
This year’s games include the following:
- THE CRAB APPLE LEAP
Having trained in apple trees throughout the fall, our contenders are well suited to score high in collecting fermented crab apples topped with a dusting of snowy confection. - THE TRACKING EVENT
Putting their noses to the test, can they find crab apples under a foot of snow? - THE JOLLY RUN
The beacon is a large red Jolly Ball (TM). Each contestant is required to retrieve the ball at top speed and return it to their trainer.
Without further ado, it is my pleasure to sound the starting bell.
“LET THE GAMES BEGIN!”
(If you can’t see the video below, visit “K9 Winter Games” on YouTube.)
If you enjoyed this post, get plenty more via RSS or email.
Share on Facebook, Twitter and other networks by using the buttons below.
EMMETT: FINALLY ADOPTED
On January 23rd, Tim and I adopted Emmett, our foster dog of 7 months. If you’ve been following along, I’m sure you think “It’s about time!” I happen to agree.
Not only has Emmett blossomed into an affectionate, well behaved and happy pup with us, but he and Shamus, our Newfoundland, are the best of inseparable friends. Long before Tim and I fully committed to keeping Emmett, the dogs demonstrated loud and clear what it was that they wanted – to be together always. See for yourself in the video I shot two weeks prior to signing the paperwork. (If you can’t see the video, visit “Best Friends” on YouTube.)
.
.
DOG RESCUE: FOR BETTER OR WORSE
Of course, dog rescue is a “for-better-or-for-worse” proposition. Unfortunately, when Emmett’s adoption plan went into action, “for worse” was the greater part of our reasoning.
Emmett’s behavior had unexplainably shifted over the course of several days. He watched out of the corner of his eye as we passed him in his bed. Nights became unsettling for him and he walked through the dark with his back hunched like a cat. His fur would stand on end, even while his tail wagged, and he’d bark at nothing in particular in an empty room. Something was very wrong. Emmett’s trust in the safety of his environment had waned. Tim and I felt like we failed, like Emmett was regressing. We needed answers.
WHERE TO GO FROM HERE?
Breaking the situation down into manageable parts, we first filled out the AnimaLovers‘ adoption contract to proceed as a solid family unit. We have been Emmett’s family, the only long-term support he has ever known, and he needed to feel that he belonged with us no matter what. Next, in an effort to explain Emmett’s odd behavioral shift, we combed back through the previous week’s events hoping to uncover the mystery.
THE FORENSIC TIMELINE
About a month ago, Emmett’s foot pads had become deeply rutted and slightly discolored. He was placed on over-the-counter fish oil supplements based on a picture I brought to the vet. Concerned that there was no discernible change several weeks later, I took Emmett for a follow up exam.
Abhorring this visit after a previous bout with staples, Emmett pulled me back toward the car once we reached the front door. When we did finally get inside, he would not allow the techs to see his feet without significant coercion. Leaving with meds in hand, a precautionary measure to treat any possible issue with the least amount of stress to Emmett, we came home. Relieved to be back, Emmett bounced around as usual with Shamus.
One day later, Emmett’s behavior began to change but I couldn’t put my finger on what was happening. I wondered if stress from the vet visit had caused some previous insecurities to resurface. Two days later, Emmett grew more frenetic. Questions arose and we watched vigilantly. Taking stock of his environment, we noted that Emmett’s food had changed. The brand was the same but the flavor was new. Could this be an allergy? Was he was sick? In pain? Was there a tumor pressing on the behavioral center of his brain? The following day, Emmett’s personality deteriorated into a ball of nerves that could no longer be attributed to the dog we knew and loved. We called the vet to hurry him in for a full blood work-up and x-rays.
MYSTERY SOLVED
While the majority of veterinary journals make no mention of this, and the vet who originally treated our boy was unaware, another vet at our clinic knew of some rare, yet undesirable side effects associated with the medication Emmett was on. When his anti-yeast and ear meds were mixed with an antibiotic, she said it was possible that the drug or the combination of several had likely made Emmett “crazy.” There was no way of knowing if he was hallucinating or simply feeling anxious, but we took him off that questionable drug and one other immediately. We also returned to the original flavor of food to cover all bases. The following day, we had our Emmett back.
FOR THE BEST
While this wasn’t the most joyous or ideal way for Emmett’s adoption to come to fruition, we have no regrets. When push came to shove, we knew we belonged to Emmett and that he belonged to us – long before bureaucracy, semantics and a medical mystery entered the picture. I suppose, after dragging our feet in our formal commitment, the Universe whacked us hard over the head to remind us of our undeniable truth. We all belong together.
Firmly rooted in the commitment of our bond now (as I always was, eh-hem), we are certainly a merrier bunch for it.
Welcome home, Emmett.
We’ve always got your back.
Love,
Kim, Tim, Shamus and the birds
If you enjoyed this post, get plenty more via RSS or email.
Share on Facebook, Twitter and other networks by using the buttons below.
When the email arrived, Tim came away from his computer with such a sad face that I thought someone had died.
I was at the table writing holiday cards while festive music played softly in the background. Shamus, the Newf, was romping in the snow and Emmett, our foster of six months, was resting in his bed by the fire.
“Somebody is interested in Emmett,” Tim said.
I felt sick.
Tim sat down.
We wrote more cards. We took in the holiday scene, the romance of it. We saw our boy so content in the other room. We each shed a few tears while the other wasn’t looking.
Having asked Tim in early December if an adoption contract was in our holiday future (Emmett was the only present I wanted), Tim said he prefers to perpetually foster. I didn’t push the issue, promising to never back Tim into a corner the way I did to keep Bill, the first foster I couldn’t let go. While I want to make this a decision together at the right time, getting the first bite of interest for Emmett meant a real conversation was in order.
I know Emmett could make a great pet for the right person but, after talking it through, Tim and I are also sure that Emmett’s progress would revert in the face of change. We watched Emmett go back to square one for a full five days after spending just one week at the kennel. How will a new situation effect his sense of security? I also worry that Emmett’s nervous antics (he ate another cushion today) will incite anger with somebody new. The truth is, sometimes we get angry and we’re pretty darn tolerant. So yes, there are many questions about whether Emmett is adoptable yet or whether we can emotionally let him go.
The debate has not been settled for nearly a month, in part because the inquiring family never asked after Emmett again. Still, this is the moment of truth. As I see it, we have 3 options.
- We continue to foster and eventually send Emmett out into the world.
- We make a lifetime commitment to him.
- We ride this out and have the conversation all over again the next time a query arrives.
I’m opting for 2 while Tim opts for 3.
For now, I leave you with this video of what life with Emmett is like. Six months of our fostering experience has been condensed into less than 6 tasty and digestible minutes for your viewing pleasure. (To satiate your appetite for more ridiculousness not caught on camera, visit my previous post, “The Forever Foster?“). Perhaps you, dear reader, can offer some perspective. We’re obviously too in love.
If you enjoyed this post, get plenty more via RSS or email.
Share on Facebook, Twitter and other networks by using the buttons below.
Foster A Lonely Pet for the Holidays – The Kick-Off
Being a foster mother to several dogs over the years (and keeping an eye on one now who enjoys dragging the Christmas tree skirt out through the dog door), I was happy to watch Hallmark’s Hall of Fame movie “A Dog Named Christmas” (airing on CBS Nov. 29) kick off the “Foster A Lonely Pet for the Holidays” program. The program, spearheaded by Petfinder.com, works with over 2000 shelters and rescue groups across North America. The aim is to ease the holiday burden on rescue organizations, to provide an animal with individual attention, and to offer families the experience of having a pet in their homes.
A Dog Named Christmas – The TV Movie
“A Dog Named Christmas,” based on Greg Kincaid’s novel, is a sweet holiday movie about Todd, a young man with a developmental disability who works to convince his family and community to join in the local animal shelter’s “Foster a Dog for Christmas Program.” The story focuses not only on how the family helps the dog, but even more-so on how the dog helps his new foster family. It is the latter that makes the dog named Christmas seem unrealistically independent and I find it important to point out one specific scene that concerns me.
When Todd and his father first leave the shelter with their new foster dog, the dog is let off leash and expected to jump into the back of a pick-up truck. Even if the dog had done as expected, without a dog crate firmly secured in place he could have jumped out at high speed or been bruised and bounced about on the long dirt road back to the family farm. Thankfully, this dog avoids any immediate danger by heading straight for the front seat. In fact, he’s so smart that he can already do many tricks as well as protect the family from danger later in the film. Unfortunately, this kind of dog awareness typically happens only in movies.
Fostering – The Real Story
Animals need people to watch out for their well being, not the other way around. They need safe modes of transport for the same reason that the law requires people to use seat belts. Animals need leashes or cat carriers to prevent their return to the very streets from which many were rescued. And, as for dogs thinking on behalf of their own best interest, really they just want to be dogs. They have no drive to exhibit a high IQ, obey rules without reward or to be the family hero. That said, never let a dog off leash that you haven’t personally trained with the knowledge that - for a fact – your dog will respond to a “come” command without question.
While I have never let Emmett, our foster, off-leash, he has managed to escape from us on several occasions. Once, when I was injured, he pushed past me as I stepped through the front door. Before I could get up off the ground, he was gone. That same week Emmett pulled a similar maneuver with Tim at the dog yard gate. We have since learned to deal with Emmett’s unacceptable habit of ramming his way out, but it caught us off guard as much as our freshly rescued Newfoundland did when he thought, at nearly 100 lbs., that it was fun to take us out at the knees from a running start.
Everybody can appreciate a good survival story, and it’s wonderful when things work out, but fosters and rescues can be unpredictable. This is my journal entry from the day Emmett charged out of the dog yard:
I was in PJs & on the throne when my husband yelled “SH!T!” and our foster broke through the gate. FLUSH AND RUN. It was all I could do. No time for pants or bug spray. After an hour of mucking around in the mud, I’m now obsessed with the itch of ten thousand deer fly bites from trekking through the woods in the rain wearing a measly tank top. The good news: I tracked the dog down with treats and a leash, brought him home and somehow managed to avoid contracting poison ivy while wearing capris bottoms with no socks.
Funny as my tone may read, and fostering is often fun and funny, Emmett later encountered a dangerous situation after he found a weak link in the fence and slipped underneath. In the film, when Christmas escapes under a fence, he is trying to go home. When Emmett did so, it was to track every scent through the woods with no regard for returning. Sometimes the story just doesn’t end humorously. It’s nice to see Emmett sleeping in front of the fire as I type knowing that - this time - everything worked out. Still, I often think he is simply smarter and definitely quicker than we are. We are always on our toes, and that fence required a new chain link section as well as reinforcement at six inch intervals all the way around.
My point is that the perfectly trained and well behaved dog in the film is not likely the kind of dog found in a shelter. As ”A Dog Named Christmas” well outlines, many animals are turned over because people lose jobs and care becomes too expensive, because people move to places where animals aren’t allowed, or because the owner has failing health. Others are turned loose in the streets because, without proper guidance, they become possessive of certain people or toys, they may not be well socialized with other dogs, cats or new babies, or they simply aren’t loved. As emotional beings, animals coming from any one of these situations can become withdrawn, sad for the loss of their owner, protective of food and toys, unsure or frenetic. These are the most crucial moments when positive human contact is so important.
How You Can Foster a Dog for the Holidays
As committed as shelters and rescue groups are, there is nothing more settling for an animal than to be in a home, even if that home is temporary. My husband, the Dog Adoption Director of AnimaLovers.org for more than 10 years, has seen the benefits countless times. To watch an animal emerge from his or her shell and learn to trust is incredibly rewarding. The growing sparkle in a dog’s eyes, many wags of a tail and the purring of little cat engines make the commitment (and, in Emmett’s case, $200 worth of eaten concert tickets) worth every minute.
Make a difference. Give the gift of teaching a dog or cat how to better behave in a family setting and provide them and their new adopting family with a solid base to start from. These new beginnings create a lifetime of change for the better.
If you decide to foster a pet for the holidays, please visit Petfinder.com to locate participating shelters and rescue groups near you. Don’t forget to drop a note about the adventures you have!
If you enjoyed this post, get plenty more via RSS or email.
Share on Facebook, Twitter and other networks by using the buttons below.
As we finish our Thanksgiving leftovers and drag out the many boxes of holiday decorations, Mother Nature is doing some holiday preparation of her own. She has sent a full day of gusting winds to whip up the last of the fall leaves and ship them out.
Shamus and Emmett turn their noses toward the winds of change and nearly take flight. The Newf tends to remain fairly grounded but I’m tempted to tie a rope to Emmett and fly him like a kite…
If you enjoyed this post, get plenty more via RSS or email.
Share on Facebook, Twitter and other networks by using the buttons below.
Fall. ‘Tis the season for woolly sweaters, falling leaves, butternut squash, pumpkins …and gobs of apples.
This last detail is a treasured favorite among our dogs. As each sweet, succulent bauble dangles and then, at the peak of ripeness, drops from a branch, Shamus (our Newfoundland rescue) and Emmett (our mischievous, mixed-breed foster) come charging forth. “Gifts from the Great Treat God!” they must be thinking.
And why should humans be the only beings to savor the perfect apple as we devour a steaming, fresh-baked pie with heaps of vanilla ice cream on top? That thought has never crossed the minds of our pooches. They have shamelessly devoured mass numbers of apple treats during this year’s harvest (as evidenced by a recent increase in gastro-intestinal rumblings) with nary a care for moderation or just who those apples belong to. For that, I applaud them.
Sadly, as the season wanes, the gifts from the Treat Gods have become less and less frequent. Rest assured, with this new scarcity, the dogs have become more and more resourceful. Watch for yourself as Shamus and Emmett learn to live with less. It may have even taught them how to share… a little.
Shamus was adopted in March and we began fostering Emmett in July so it stands to reason that this behavior was born from competition, not to mention some odd canine vegetarian tendencies. Whatever the reason for the apple-loving season, it’s wonderful to watch the tradition of our original apple-loving dog, Bill, continue even though he has since crossed over the rainbow bridge.
Yes, Bill too loved him some tasty apples. In fact, he loved them so much that he’d perseverate over which one was absolutely perfect. Once he found his preferred pick, he’d find a spot in the sun and peel away the skin to reveal the sweet, juicy flesh beneath. Knowing that apples gave him the greatest joy, we’d buy them from the grocery store when the dog yard tree wasn’t in season – but he certainly loved those that came fresh from the tree most.
On that note, perhaps I should make some pie so I too can enjoy the last pickin’s of the season. As I do, I leave you with our favorite recipe. From our family to yours, have a wonderful Harvest Feast!
Apple Crumble Pie
Yeild: 1 deep dish 9 inch pie
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 35-40 minutes
Servings: 8 (or 4 if you’re us)
Ingredients:
1 (9 inch) deep dish pie crust
5 cups apples – peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup white sugar
3/4 cup all purpose flour
6 tablespoons butter
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Arrange apple slices in unbaked pie shell. Mix 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over apples.
- Mix 1/3 cup sugar with flour; cut in butter until crumbly. Smooth mixture over apples.
- Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until apples are soft and top is lightly browned.
If you have any seasonal dog stories or favorite recipes to share, please do. We look forward to reading them!
If you enjoyed this post, get plenty more via RSS or email.
Share on Facebook, Twitter and other networks by using the buttons below.
