Puppy Time

It has been a long time since I have had a puppy around.    I've raised Sierra since she was 8 weeks old, but she's almost 11 now, so the puppy years have long-since past.    Sitka was a rescue we adopted at around 3 years of age, so we didn't spend any puppy years with him.   

Ladybug is DEFINITELY a puppy.   She's past the cute, cuddly puppy phase and is into what I called with Sierra the "teenage" phase (I'm guessing 9 months to 1 year).    She's long and lanky and not totally coordinated yet, she's full of playful energy, and she's into exploring everything.    Very similar to our 2 year old, Jamison.   Needless-to-say, they are big fans of eachother.   Ladybug has quickly become Jami's favorite animal... I suspect because her name is Ladybug, but the similarities in personality probably have something to do with it too. 

Another trait of the "teenage" puppy phase is chewing on anything and everything.   I came home yesterday to find that Ladybug had chewed the edge of one of my shoes.  Luckily the damage wasn't bad, but it was a good reminder for me of how I had to keep things around for Sierra to chew on when she was this age.  I quickly went to the garage and found some rope, cut it to size, and tied some knots in the ends.  She loved the rope toy and immediately went to chewing on it. 

I'm convinced that Ladybug is going to be a super-adoptable dog.   She is such a sweet girl and has enough Shepard in her that she is really eager to please.    She is very good with Jami and loves being around other dogs.   She also listens very well, which is a good sign for training.    I've already made a short little list of the things I want to work with her on to make her an even better adoption for someone:

1.  Teaching her the 'drop' command.   She wants to play so bad with us and the other dogs, she often picks things up and runs around with them in an attempt to play.   This is great puppy play, but only when she grabs things you want her to grab!   She already lets go of things very easily when you take things away from her, but mastering the 'drop' command would make this super-easy.

2.  Working on not jumping when excited.   Again, this is totally a puppy trait, but she is getting too big to be a jumper.   She is very good about not jumping on kids, but she will jump up on adults when she first meets someone.   This is a pretty easy one to teach her, especially since our dogs know not to jump.

3.  Teaching her to walk on a leash.   Sweet thing has obviously never really been leash trained.    Walks in the evenings for a few weeks will teach her pretty quickly.

That's it for now.    She is so eager to please, I don't think any of these things will require much effort from us, just some consistency in action and praise when she does things right.   I guess we will see!

The first puppy causualty!   Not too bad, definitely still wearable.

Happily chewing on one of the 'dog appropriate' toys I gave her.

Sitka and Ladybug sacked out by the back door after running around in the backyard.

  

Ladybug

Yesterday after work Sellus and I went to the Humane Society to pick up our first foster dog.    I had dropped by earlier on my lunch break to check out all of the dogs available for foster and spend a little time considering who might be a good fit for our home.     The foster program that has been created at FCHS is suprisingly user-friendly.   They have several forms you fill out detailing your home environment, what kind of animal you might be willing to foster (cat or dog), what age animal, how long you would consider fostering, and what if any issues you would be comfortable dealing with (ie, pregnant dogs, bottle-feeding babies, behavior issues, etc.).    In addition, you can sign up to only be an emergency foster, in which case they will only contact you about fostering during emergencies like floods or severe over-crowding.     We signed up for pretty much anything except bahavior issues since we have a toddler and another babe on the way.

I was incredibly suprised at the great dogs they had available to foster.    When going in, I was prepared for lots of dogs with behavior issues or dogs that would need a lot of work in general.   Instead we found some sweet older dogs, two calm beagles, a boxer who had been abandoned at a vet office, a mom with puppies, and several young mix breed dogs.   Most of the dogs just need some care, relaxation, and rehabilitation to be ready for adoption.

We chose to take home a young female shepard-mix.   She was severely emanciated when she came to the shelter and is just now getting up to normal weight.    She's a totally sweatheart and was very loving when I spent time with her.   I knew immediately that she would get along with our dogs and being young (less than a year, I think) I figured she would learn quickly from them.     Her most recent name at the shelter was Ladybug.  

We found out immediately that Ladybug had never been for a car ride.   It took quite a bit of coaxing to get her in the car, but she was happy once in as long as she could lick my hand.     When we first picked her up, we thought we would rename her, but it turns out that Jamison LOVES the name Ladybug for a dog.   She picked it up right away and called her by name all evening.

Ladybug, our first foster!

Sweet girl, licking my hand.

Our Story

On wednesday afternoon I signed us up for the new Foster Program at the Franklin County Humane Society.    After years of complaining amongst friends about the lack of fostering there, I felt somewhat obligated to put my money where my mouth is (so to speak).    Luckily fostering doesn't really require much money... mainly animal food expenses.  What it does require is a big heart and a willingness to spend the time and effort helping an animal. 

In our case, it also requires the time to blog about our journey.   We have anything but a calm, relaxed life right now and I hope that by showing that we can foster I might encourage others to consider their ability to foster as well.

So, who are we?    Well, I work full-time as an environmental engineer for the Frankfort Sewer Department and am working on the beginnings of a batik clothing business.   My husband, Sellus, works about 60 hours a week as a "part time" City Commissioner, watches our 2-year old daughter, Jamison, while I'm at work, and is an award-winning filmmaker in his spare time.   We are also as active as we can be in the goings on in Frankfort, trying to support causes and issues we feel like will make Frankfort a cool place to be.   We have two siberian huskies, Sierra and Sitka, and a cat, Mahina.   We moved into a sweet little house in Rolling Acres earlier this year and are currently remodeling 2 of the 6 rooms in the house.   Oh, and we have another baby on the way who should be here around Thanksgiving!

And now we are fostering animals from the Humane Society.   We are crazy, I know.    But if we can do it, anyone can do it.

Jami loving on our cat, Mahina. 

Jami and Sierra this past spring

Sitka