A Dibee-licious Interlude

Just a short post to commemorate a fun little interlude, in which we dog sat for our former foster Dibee!

Who is now named Zilla, and lives with two people who adore her.

Who is still full of intense, full-bodied, rough, facial-scrub-quality kisses,

 who is a bit of a nut job but who gets along well with Fozzie

who likes to help out in the yard and demonstrate her zeal for weeding 

and who enjoyed going with us on a hike to the Patapsco State Park where she got to put her entire nosie under the water, splash around and be a wacko

 and who loves car rides. 

A perfect little interlude to get back in the swing of fostering. Yep, that's right...stay tuned!

Here Today, Adopted Tomorrow

After just a week and a half with us, Dibee has found an adopter! 

I got two applications for her before I'd had her even a week. Both were good adopters, and one was ready to meet her right away. 

It was pretty much love at first sight. 

I tried to warn them that she's a bit of a wacko, 

that she often gets crazy nighttime zoomies for an interval before she plotzes out,

and that she is an exuberant little creature with a lot of love to express.

They were undaunted and are eager to take her for walks and for training classes at Your Dog's Friend. 

She's going to love that! 

Poor Dibee, I've noticed a bit of a limp since I brought her home and took her to the shelter vet the other day to check it out. The vet found some swelling in her right knee, on the back leg. 

In all my years with dogs I still didn't know what the "knee" was on the back legs, since dogs' back legs are kind of wacky and backwards--but it's that rounded part that joins the body. Also known as the "stifle."

Did you know that? Probably. Anyway, Dibee's new owners' task will be to help her lose a couple of pounds and to keep her relatively still. No vigorous exercise or long walks for a couple of weeks.

Gee, THAT'll be easy!

I'll bet some interactive feeding toys and some trick training will come in handy to entertain that little sprite and keep her mind busy. 

How else do YOU like to entertain a young, active dog who is required to rest for medical reasons? 

Hopefully with a bit more crate rest than she would like for the first few weeks, she'll heal up and be ready for some fun adventures with her new people. 

Congratulations, Dibee! You're a wacky kid but such a good one. 

Dibee Learns to Swim

Dibee has been settling in and seems really happy to be living in a home. 

At about a year and a half old, this little tyke has some wacky puppy energy that makes her channel her inner Tasmanian Devil in the evenings, and toss her stuffed toy up in the air, 

zoom around, run in and out of the dog door, chew on ankles, arms, and other body parts convenient to her mouth, and then pass out on a dog bed. 

Or part way on a dog bed. 

The other day, I even forgot who she was for a minute and called her Star!

It's safe to say that she's less wacky than Star, her moments of zaniness are of shorter duration and she knows Sit so well that she is easily distracted out of whatever idiotic thing she's doing.

Nonetheless, we thought it would be a good idea to take her for a long daytime walkie so we could rest in the evening. 

The Monocacy River offered a good place to walk, along banks that were unfortunately covered with poison ivy. So we waded in to the water, and although Dibee was reluctant to join us at first, 

eventually she decided to take the plunge.

From the panicked look on her face I'm pretty sure it was the first time she ever did that! 

She did a beautiful and perfectly competent little dog paddle, and then she was done swimming and wanted to keep all four paws on terra firma. 

Fair enough Dibee, you did good. Let's find another place to hike. We loaded back in the car, and drove for a while to find another place. 

What's a drive in the country without a stop at a nursery, so Mom can fantasize about having a really outstanding garden someday. 












And then we did find a trail, a pretty trail with less poison ivy, also along a stream and through a forest. 

Good place to walk a bit more, 
















cool down in the stream, 

and share some lovin'. 

and then we came home and had an enjoyable evening, in which Dibee was as wacky as ever for a short zoomie spell until she plotzed out and went to sleep.

What's YOUR favorite way to deal with evening zoomies?

Born this Way: Meet Dibee!

During my weekend with Pager, I kind of remembered how great it was to have three dogs around. 

I thought about it and thought about it and thought about it for all of two days.

And then I went to the shelter and got a foster dog.

This is Dibee!

  Dibee started out as Dibo. 

Actually, s/he started out surrendered to the shelter with some boy parts that didn't work quite right. 

Upon examination, it turned out that this spunky little pup had some girl parts in addition to the boy parts! 

As I guess its a bit easier to go from boy to girl than the other way around, it was decided that Dibo would become Dibee.

All the surgeries to fix her up were no simple matter, but the good people at the Washington Humane Society saw her enormous smile and felt her intense wet kisses and saw her joyful spirit and knew she was worth it. 

I am so happy to be a part of such a progressive institution that sees the value in each dog's, cat's, or guinea pig's existence. 

Poor little thing, she had to be on pain meds for a long time from all the surgeries. But she never stopped being a wiggly, happy little thing and over the six months she was in the shelter, she began to heal. 

By the time I met her, you'd hardly know about everything she went through. Just a bit of a concave area on her belly, near her spay scar. 












And that spirit?

Whoa!

I just can't figure out why she hasn't been adopted yet. 


She's accepting of Lamar's growls, happy to be around Fozzie, and beside herself with adoration of every human ever. 








She's gorgeous and velvety and has luscious black eye makeup. 

Doesn't need time to get to know you, she knows she loves you whoever you are. Whether you're a boy, or a girl, 

or whether she's a boy or a girl. 

Doesn't matter, when all you know how to do is love. 

Her first night home, she climbed into bed with me and Florian, and proceeded to chew on a tasty dental chew while we watched a movie. 

Then she kissed me, then she kissed Florian. 

Then she went to sleep. 

As Florian says every time I bring a foster dog home...

quite possibly the best one yet!