In celebration!

Today is National Pig Day.

To mark this day I offer you the following photos:

Arnold is a ten day old foster piglet. The dogs are enchanted by him. Dora and Wilkie (Mum's dog) adore his milky face. And he adores me. So it's pretty amusing around here at the moment. Even tiny infant piglets wag their tails when excited/happy. Piglets are way cleaner than kittens or puppies of the same age.

He is named after the pig on Green Acres. I now want to watch Green Acres as all I really know from the show is the theme song.

And now you've met our newest fosterling.

One of A Kind

Long Haired Chihuahua

Pomeranian

Toy American Eskimo

Our little alien

And I rest my case.

At 8 months old I could still be surprised as her adult coat comes in but if I were applying for an AAC or CPE card for her today I'd be listing Toy American Eskimo. We've lived with and loved all three breeds as adults and attitude wise she is more Eskie than either of the others although honestly she is her own unique and cheerful little self!

Fancy that...

What a funny funny world we live in.

Sir Wynston Churchill is lying at my feet chewing a bone.

He was a good boy on his vacation (pretty sure that's how he views it) but he tired out his new brother and was driven working dog puppy persistent. He spent an hour hoping his brother would share a bone. Whining, slipping forward, pawing other dog in the head type stuff.  His human was worried that the persistence would turn eventually to aggression (no link between the two that I know of) although there were no signs. Whatever. Puppies are a boat load of work and working puppies put other puppies to shame in that regard.

Wyn was happy happy to see us but as soon as we got in the car he fell deeply asleep. He is visibly pleased to be home.

I hadn't even had a chance to introduce you to our newest foster - we are at least her 6th landing pad since birth. She's all of 7 months old. Where ever she was born; purchased as a puppy, turned over to a clinic at 3 months old with a blockage, home with a tech for a month, with a couple for awhile until he got terminally ill, with a sporting dog person who found 7 dogs overwhelming, here. She could be long haired Chihuahua, she could be Pomeranian, I'm going with toy American Eskimo though. Not that spitz are my favourite of the the choices but it really does fit her looks. Disposition wise she's just a delight. Not perfectly house trained, prone to a little separation anxiety, not sure of how to play she doesn't sound like she'd fit in as if she's always lived here does it?

HA! She sure fooled you! Her name was Kiki which sounds so much like TT that it was confusing them both. (Kiki was her third name we were told). Big T wanted to call her Helga  - luckily she won't respond to that one! So Big T used another of Thea's nicknames "Yennifer Hlopez" which I shortened to Yen ...or Yennie ... then Wyn came back and suddenly, again, we have two similar sounding names in the house. Can't win for trying sometimes! The other names I liked were YAY and Cheers so there many be another name change soon.

Yen took a rawhide out of Wyn's mouth and has tucked herself into a dog bed to have a good chew. Wyn let her. Yen might weigh 7 pounds, Wyn must weigh 25. Yah, dominant. HA! That's what I worry about too. NOT!  Who knows what the future holds ... right now I see lots of lovely walks in my future!

Quiz update....

Got a lovely email from Gracie's new people - they love her .. her spay went well and she's enormous ...

She pulls on leash and has lost her recall - which I find interesting, hilarious and somewhat frustrating. Hopefully it's an adolscent phase that they will work through. So aggravating to see such a solid solid foundation allowed to slip ... that said I'm delighted she's in a lovely loving home. She looks happy.

Man, fostering is hard on the heart ... Theorique is wiggling her way into our hearts awfully quickly too!

Puppy 101 - what I want your puppy knowing before it leaves here

• being clean in the house is good
• going into a crate pays big
• offering a sit (or with some puppies a down) pays well
• collars won't kill you and leashes are ok too (I actually do most of my with me work off leash)
• people are good - all people - our puppies meet as many people as I can find
• dogs can be fun but you should respect them - I am careful about dogs I don't know
• cats can be the best playmates ever but let the cat decide
• tugging is fun - and you can tug nearly anything
• it's ok to eat slowly and share - there is always more food coming
• dog beds are nice to sleep on (even when they are covered in hair)
• cars take you to fun places
• being handled in any gentle way is THE BEST ... mouth, nails, on side, back, whatever - it all rocks

What have I missed?


(You may notice yesterday's post was written from a plural point of view - I wasn't being Royal at all - Big T is totally helpful and amazing when it comes to helping babies feel good about life and nuturing them.Training stuff is my domain - hence the return to first person here).

Theorique - Day Two

Sampson is still leery and suspicious but he is being very good about the little one ...

Big T makes lots of time to snuggle Sam when he's stressed - stress relief for both of them methinks!

Theorique went to visit at Mum's with us today - new place, new dog and person and we worked the magic game of tug in a new place. It was a good day to be a puppy under our watch!

Day one ...

I ended up at home today. Dogs thought that was just great although poor Sampson is not confident about the puppy. He is being much braver than he was for either Coco or Quiz though so I continue to tell him he's a super star  and try to work in special Sam time.

Sally is enchanted but puppy is small and a little scared so Sally is being gentle. She likes them 12 weeks old or so on best I think.

Coming up with a name for a dog you can't begin to imagine as an adult is tough ... I think she'll be fairly small, she's already demonstrating she's smart ... another naturally talented puppy I suspect

ohh boy!

We worked on settling in a crate, eating from hand without freaking, lying at my feet instead of on me (tho we did lots of that too) following me and being clean in the house ... all projects going well so far

and the phone just doesn't stop ringing ...

this time a STRAY puppy ... 4 weeks old

People - get a grip- bring your unwanted pet to a shelter -tell the truth -pay the 20 or so dollar fee - then we know age, health, and anything else that might help us with your problem... as utimately that's what you are doing - making your problem ours ...

she seems bright and happy - she probably ate garbage yesterday as her tummy is a bit unsettled but she's full of beans ... fingers crossed being found soaked to the skin in a puddle will have no lasting harm for her.

We don't know what she is ... right now the fact her ears are prick is unusual in a puppy this young ... she sort of has a husky feel but with her frosted hair is perhaps a keeshound mix instead ... time will tell as it always does ...

As usual my very very accepting house is welcoming the little one. The boys aren't thrilled but they are being very polite.

you know what day it is ...

pretty exciting news coming soon...

Finally ... Gracie Two

You knew her as Quiz - as did I.
Got the picture with a very short note today saying we love her and she's growing daily.

Look at her ears!!!

Love this dog so glad she's landed on all four paws!

very cute dog/kitten interactions

yes this is our life - often ... rarely is there a camera in hand though ...

Thea and Sally love kittens
Brody hates them
Sampson thinks they are better than puppies ...

the kittens are Pumpkin and Melon - suffering from URI and needing to grow - but eventually will be looking for homes ...

By the time you see this ...

Baby Quiz will be in her new home.
I'm happy for them and very very sad for Sally and me.
I put together this compilation of video and pictures (most of which you've seen probably if you've been here in the last week) for her people to enjoy. It's all about Quizzical!
Love fostering. Hate fostering. Love Quiz.

the real question

is why is she still here?

lovely lazy summer day

Quiz's ears spent awhile down flat - then both went prick earred - then one up; one down - today both in perfect triangle folds down - maybe she's a sheltie?

Hanging out in my Mum's garden being a good girl and finding her own toys when Sampson and Wilkie had enough of playing with her.

Bored enough to kill the Diet Coke can. Too adorable for words or pictures really - and now has a lovely default sit - an amazing little puppy! (who may not be as little as first thought - adult guesstimates range from 25-45 pounds - how do I find a home for a question mark?)

lovely lovely weekend ...

Sally is the picture of tolerance with the little ones!

and what the heck do you think Quiz is? The more I know her the less I'm sure... she is an odd shape, an odd size, marked like a gsd or rotti, and has a tail that curls like a chihuahua. Whatever she is she's a good puppy.

The girls enjoyed playing most of the weekend. The boys hate Quiz.

No big expectations for Quiz this weekend - house training (and she was clean all weekend in the house - not ONE mistake - I'm pretty proud of us all) and learning to come when we call (love taking advantage of puppies desire to recall). We haven't needed to do bite inhibition at all, she's got a very soft mouth at the moment. Lots of socializing. Puppy has met - dogs (all sizes) cats and rabbits - she's walked on grass, gravel, pavement, dirt, decking, carpet and straw. She's eaten in a crate, in an xpen, from my hand. I put a collar on her for about 5 seconds. That's as formal as we got.

Gracie, the perhaps sibling of Quiz, enjoying a stick!

A Little Quiz ...

just moved into our home.
Her probable possible sibling Grace was dropped off at a foster home on the way here. I fully expect that Grace will be a resounding foster failure. Her foster mom took one look and said "ooooooo". Her adult son went all googly eyed at the puppies. I'd take bets but I don't think that would be fair.

Quiz has been here for 3 hours. She's done her business outside twice; horrified Sampson and Kizmet and been horrified by Sally*. She is now snoozing in an open crate beside my chair. I have no idea what she is - but darling certainly fits. She is too small and her face is the wrong shape to be a shepherd but her ears are starting to prick more than not and her colouring could be. Gracie looks like a little lab. I am not convinced they are siblings as Grace weighs nearly a full kilo more than Quiz too. (Today Quiz weighs 2.3 kg ~ she's probably just over 8 weeks ~ if anybody has comparative weights to share I'd love to know them. Our mixed breed gsd puppies weigh about 10 kg at 10 weeks!)

Hopefully I can find a decent camera so I can share some decent pictures of her.
(She is the black and tan puppy; Gracie is the black with white chest puppy)


* Sally really does adore visitors, especially puppies. Tonight she lay beside Quiz and slowly rolled back and forth hoping to entice a puppy play session. Quiz was having none of that though I suspect tomorrow will be another story.

Aldwin has a home

cross your fingers and your toes but little darling, dear, sweet, easy to live with Aldwin is in a home



he has a stay at home mom and other dogs to love so hopefully all (and Oll) will be well!



been a little crazy around here - a decided lack of sleep and not as much as I want is unpacked but sometimes them is the breaks ...



Thea came home today (her first day in her new home!) and she's soundly sleeping ...nice to have nearly all the family back together...