Pup Profile: Stuart

Official Name: Stuart
Alias:  Stuart Little, Stu (He was named after Stuart Little from the E.B. White story.)
Alleged Breed(s):  beagle mix
Suspected Breeds(s):  beagle, terrier, dachshund, hound.  We can guess all we want, but there is no telling how big or small he'll be.
Color:  light and dark brown
Approximate Age:  10-16 weeks (born probably in March or April, 2013)
Background:  found abandoned with his sister as a puppy in rural southern Ohio
Our Foster Since:  June 30, 2013
Temperament/Personality:  Sweet and calm! Stuart is a playful, happy puppy who can hold his own in a wrestling match with his crazy, energetic sister, but when he's away from her he is content to sit on your lap and take a nap. He is a sweet, short-legged, tumbly pup who is just about as sweet and cute as they come.
Level of House-training:  Stuart is learning quickly to sit at the door when it's time to go out, but he is a puppy so his house-training is still a work in progress.
Behavior Challenges:  I think this guy is destined to hear the words "good boy" an awful lot in his future.
Known Health Issues:  He has been vaccinated and received all worming medication. He is waiting on his full vet check and neutering (and will not be adopted out until these happen), but he appears to be a healthy, happy puppy.

Considerations:  Stuart loves other dogs and is naturally social.  He has obviously high emotional intelligence and adores people.  He is going to grow up to be laid-back and well-behaved given proper training and a safe, enriching environment in which to grow.

To Adopt, Contact:  Luv4K9s
For More Info:  Stuart Little on Petfinder

Pup Profile : Margalo Louise

Official Name: Margalo
Alias:  Louise (we originally named her Margalo after a Stuart Little character, since her brother is named Stuart.  But Louise suits her so much better.  Unfortunately the rescue has already had a Louise and can't repeat names, so her official name is Margalo.)
Alleged Breed(s):  beagle mix
Suspected Breeds(s):  beagle, wire-haired terrier, other terriers, hound.  Absolutely no idea, really, so no guarantees. Your guess is as good as mine!
Color:  white and brown
Approximate Age:  10-16 weeks (born probably in March or April, 2013)
Background:  found abandoned with her brother as a puppy in rural southern Ohio
Our Foster Since:  June 30, 2013
Temperament/Personality:  Energetic! She is a smart, bold, curious puppy.  She is friendly and affectionate, loves to lick.  All puppies love to play, but I don't see her growing out of that any time soon.  She especially loves playing outside and exploring.  She loves to learn, and she learns so quickly!
Level of House-training:  Louise prefers to go potty outside.  She is a puppy and is still learning housetraining, like any puppy, but she's on the right track.
Behavior Challenges:  Remember how I said she learns quickly?  Super smart dogs pose unique challenges, meaning you do not want to let them get bored.  Louise can be an impressive escape artist.  She figured out how to climb out of the 3ft tall puppy playpen, and was quick at learning how to climb stairs.  She will need good training and discipline to stay occupied, happy, and safe.
Known Health Issues:  She has been vaccinated and received all worming medication. She is waiting on her full vet check and spaying (and will not be adopted out until these happen), but she appears to be a healthy, happy puppy.

Considerations:  Louise is athletic, with long legs and tons of energy.  She is not as naturally calm and socially relaxed as her brother, but with good socialization and training she will be an amazing dog.  She is not a laid back dog who will sit at your feet or on your lap all evening; she is an active dog for an active person who wants to spend time training and building a trust-filled relationship with a very loving, adorable, intelligent dog.

To Adopt, Contact:  Luv4K9s
For More Info:  Margalo Louise on Petfinder

fraternal twins

B napping with Stuart

These two litter mates are siblings.  I'm sure of it because of their eyes and the colors of their brown fur.

But that is where the similarities end.  They are so completely different.

I think these photos do a pretty good job of highlighting their differences.

Margalo, who might be renamed Louise
because it suits her better.   Here she is
doing pull-ups.   She can also escape, quickly and easily, from the puppy
play pen.

The puppies have landed.

The puppies are here.  They are underfed.  They are covered in fleas, though not as many fleas as before we gave them a mini, baby-safe flea bath.  (We also found a tick on one of them where the sun don't shine.)  They are probably full of internal parasites.  But that's how it goes with puppies. That's why they're here: to get all dewormed and bug free and non-reproductive before they get adopted.  This is like their spa, you know?

It's also puppy boot camp.  I started training them this evening.  We had a little 5-10 minute session of learning to not be grabby with treats.  They learn quickly.  So excited to see these little guys grow.

The one on the left is Stuart.  The one on the right is Margalo.  (Both named for E.B. White characters in the book Stuart Little.)

numerous updates

Topaz

Ok, so it's been a long while.  Topaz was adopted a while back.  This happened while I was on a 2 week trip for work, which was weird because I never got to say goodbye to him, but I suspect that was best for him, because hopefully he'll forget all about me.  The hardest part is not being able to explain to the dogs that this arrangement was only ever temporary, and I'm not passing them along because I don't love them, but because that was the deal, and that they are going somewhere where they'll get to stay forever.

Coffee

One of the most annoying and angering parts though, is when the dog is adopted and then RETURNED.  This happened with Coffee, who was our next foster after Topaz.  Coffee was sweet as can be, and much lower-maintenance than Topaz, much less demanding and so easy to be with.  From the first day I brought her home, within minutes we were taking a nap together on the couch with her sleeping right on my chest.  She was just really laid back.  Bafflingly, she had been with the rescue for like 2 years already.  I couldn't understand it.  She had some housetraining difficulties, but that's not unusual, and that was really the only problem I could find.

After a few weeks, she was adopted.  After maybe 2 weeks, I got a call from her new adoptive "mom" who seemed a little tentative about things, not very positive, and said Coffee seemed indifferent to her.  As the conversation moved along, I learned that Coffee had been diagnosed with strep.  STREP.

Imagine for a moment that you are a little creature who has just been moved to a new, strange home with a person you don't know, and then you come down with strep.  You are sick, miserable really, in a completely new environment, and you are with a stranger.

So, the lady told me she though maybe she adopted the "wrong dog" and that she might look into "exchanging her for that other gray poodle."  Em.  No.  You seem to have confused adopting a dog with buying a sofa, said I. (In my head.)

Needless to say, Coffee came back to the rescue and that woman was not permitted to adopt another dog.  But then I went on vacation for 2 weeks, so I never saw Coffee when she came back, and the weekend I came back, she got adopted again, this time (itdamnwellbetterbe) forever!  But oh, I miss her sweetness quite a bit.

Transporting

Today, I participated in an across-the-country dog transport run.  4 dogs were traveling from North Carolina to Michigan, from a high kill shelter in the south to a rescue.  I only had to transport them across one leg of the trip, from Dayton to Lima.

They were a wonderful, well-behaved bunch.  Three males had the back seat to themselves.

Tripp, the sleeping guy in the front there, had the right idea.  And soon, everyone else followed his lead.

Up in the front seat next to me was a sweet, parasite-ridden girl who was absolutely fascinated by the windshield wipers.  (Until it was her nap-time too. She was alert and awake most of the time, though.)

This poor girl is carrying around a litter of puppies inside her, in addition to a horrible case of heartworm.  As I stroked her head while I drove across the Ohio countryside, I couldn't stop thinking about how strange pregnancy must be for a dog, who doesn't get to have the knowledge that she's pregnant the way a person does.  It never actually occurred to me before: animals can't really plan, so they're never "expecting." No one explains to them "you are going to have babies."  They just do what they know, follow their instincts, and one day, crazy weird things start happening to their bodies, and they kind of know what to do, and then puppies are coming out of them.

Meanwhile, in this girl's case, worms are crawling around in her blood.  Who knows what kind of horrible discomfort heartworm causes, and she certainly has no knowledge or understanding of that either.

Thinking about it made my heart ache, so I just kept scratching her ears.  She seemed to like that.

Up Next...

Tomorrow I go to pick up 2 little pups out in Nowheresville, Ohio.  More on that soon.

reunion

Not only did I get to see my old roommates today and see their new house and eat at my favorite Indian restaurant... I got to see Mo/lly!

Molly, formerly known as Mo, formerly formerly known as Michelle, is now over 3 months old, and she is a beautiful, embiggened version of her tiny cuddly puppy self.

I was just a liiiiittle bit happy to see her, and to hold her, and to have her squirm in my lap and even bite my finger with her terribly dangerous puppy teeth.

Good bye, little ones!

tiny little BB

slightly less little BB

BB has been adopted by a lovely family with a black dog to remind her of her sister.  I got to talk to the adopters, and had the chance to tell them some of how smart BB is, how she seems to learn really well with clicker training, and we got to hug her and hold her one last time.  I hope you are happy in your new family BB.

Mo, on the other hand, I absolutely know will be happy in her new family, because I used to be roommates with them.  Two of my former roommates, who are now engaged, were able to adopt Mo, and I am so happy I will get to see what she grows up to be like.  She'll be living down in Cincinnati, but hopefully we can set her up for play-date-reunions with Truman every once in a while.

Mo, whose name will likely be changed

UPDATE: Mo is now known as Molly.

in a rare moment of peace

BB sleeps happily, using her food dish as a pillow

I must take this rare quiet moment, between grad school assignments, while the puppies are playing quietly and don't seem to be chewing on anything they're not supposed to be chewing on, or jumping off anything they're not supposed to be jumping off, to share an update. 

Both puppies have amazingly passed the 3 lbs. mark.  In fact, Mo, the tiny runt who I was afraid wouldn't even make it through one night less than 2 weeks ago when we brought her home, is just 2 oz. away from 4 lbs.  We're guessing the tapeworm she was hosting had something to do with her tininess, but now that it has been taken care of (sorry, I don't have any pictures of that to share; it was pretty shocking) she's doing so, so much better.

I have some video that I haven't had a chance to upload yet, but expect that to be coming soon.

settling in

BB

The puppies have been settling in very well, and I'm really amazed at how well they're doing.  At first, we had some trouble getting them to eat-- they seemed hungry and would try to eat it but the puppy kibble was too hard for them to chew and too big for them to swallow.  They'd hold it in their mouth a while but then it would eventually fall out. So we started grinding up their food, which seemed to help a lot.  In fact, this morning, when I brought them food, they both chowed down pretty hard.

They've both gained a couple ounces.  When they first arrived, Barbara Bush puppy (I would like to point out again that I did not choose their names) weighed 2 pounds, and now she weighs 2 lbs. 2 oz.  Michelle Obama puppy weighed just 1 lbs 14 oz when she arrived, and now she weighs 2 lbs. 5 oz.!  Tiny differences, I know, but this is only their second full day with us, so any progress is good progress.

This morning we had playtime outside.  It was just slightly raining, and there was a little bit of thunder, which I think gave them an opportunity to get used to that.

Mo with Bryan

It's incredible to see what distinct personalities they have already.  Mo is much more energetic and extroverted, and way more talkative.  BB is a lot more laid back and takes things in stride.  She loves to sleep, but handles new experiences a little more confidently.  Both of them, however, seem to equally love the opportunity to chew on earlobes.

the babies are here

Ooooh, dear.  I was not prepared for this level of cute.

It's surprising to me that any dog could make Harriet look big, but they've done it.  Mo and BB appear to be some sort of lab mix. Their official names are Michelle and Barbara; all the puppies of the litter were named after presidents or first ladies.  But it felt really awkward calling a dog Barbara.  So we're going with their initials.

Mo (Michelle)

BB (Barbara)

They are supposedly 6 weeks old, but oh my goodness they are tiny and skinny. You can particularly see it in the photo of BB, how boney she is in the hips and ribs.


We were originally supposed to get two puppies from a different litter last week, but that group turned out to possibly have ringworm, so they have to recover before they can be fostered.  Though I'm worried about the fate of those puppies, for our sake these girls were worth the wait.  They're eating a little bit at a time.  Mo can't figure out how to eat puppy kibble so we've been crushing it up and mixing it with water so she'll eat.  They are playful and talkative.

But most of all, they are sleepy. 

The toughest part is keeping them isolated from our other dogs for the first 2 weeks.  Truman wants to sniff them SO badly!

the babies are coming!

Truman is way, crazy excited.  His excitement is because we have laid down vinyl flooring on the wood floor of my home office, and we've put up a playpen with some dog toys, and two stuffed puppies in it.  Truman loves stuffed animals.

He's kind of been freaking out, actually.  But he's getting used to it, which was exactly the point.  Because this week-- hopefully this afternoon-- we are going to be adding two real, live puppies to that playpen.  And Truman will freak out all over again with excitement, but at least he's getting use to the playpen itself before then.

This will be our first fostering experience.  This summer I became a volunteer at SICSA, and through my volunteering I offered to become a foster home (with B's support, of course).  Within a day or two of applying to foster, I was contacted about 11 lab mix puppies (9 weeks old) that are in need of foster homes willing to care for them at least in pairs.  We expect to be meeting them later today.  Let the adventures commence!