Once a Foster, Always in my Heart

I got some sad news over the weekend, and really the only sad outcome I know about with any of my former foster dogs. Lady passed away. Not sure how long ago, but it was of pneumonia and by the time she went she was crippled by arthritis. 

Lady was such a sweet bear, such a kissy girl. I adopted her to my neighbor just after my mom died, and I never felt great about that adoption. I was never sure she was happy there, and it haunted me that she was just down the street and I couldn't see her as much as I longed for. 

I learned a lesson, never adopt to a neighbor unless you are absolutely certain it's a great home. It is too easy to worry, whereas with all my other former fosters I can just assume the best and enjoy my blissful ignorance.

I always thought I made a decision that wasn't the best because I was in such shock and grief from losing my mom. 

I have to comfort myself with the thought that she was already stiff with arthritis when I got her, and maybe she would have lived no longer in another home. Maybe she was happy with her quiet home, and got some nice walks. I am pretty sure her people loved her. I am glad I afforded her some months of happiness, wish I had kept her and given her more. 

Rest in peace Lady! You were a really special one. 

Wellness Wellbites--a new weapon in the war against long nails

Many of you are part of Chewy.com's product review program, where we bloggers get free dog stuff in exchange for our honest reviews. For our last review, we discovered the value of True Chews lils beef bully sticks.



This time we had the pleasure of testing out Wellness Wellbites Turkey & Duck Recipe Soft & Chewy Treats. 
















The ingredient list is impressive, composed as it is of whole animals and vegetables and not processed byproducts thereof. 

These treats have a substantial feel and as the name implies, are soft and chewy. 













This makes them good for older dogs who may have some tooth and gum sensitivity.

Now Lady may not be the best product tester in general, because I don't know if Lady ever met an edible product she didn't devour with enthusiasm.

So to really put these dog snacks to the test, we had to do something that required a high value treat.  Since Lady returned to us once again with long nails, it was a perfect opportunity for us to revisit this challenge with a fresh tool in our toolkit. 








Now I know I've written extensively about the slow, step-by-step process for desensitizing a dog to nail clipping. Lady is one of the most nail-clipper-averse dogs I have ever met, and we worked, when I had her before, on nail clipper desensitization without seeming to make much of a change. I think with a dog like her it would just take time, and patience, and very gradual steps.

But when I got her again she was obviously having trouble walking, and I felt a certain urgency to get those nails clipped. So I just held each paw, clipped each nail, and gave her a treat after each one.


























Though not happy about the whole thing, Lady did allow me to do her nails and once she realized she was getting a really good treat after each one, she did seem to endure it a little more readily. 

But this is definitely one of those cases of, in the words of my dearly departed mother, "Do as I say and not as I do." Whenever possible, the slow, steady desensitization is the way to go.

Just to see how the other pups responded to the clippers with the promise of a special treat, I wielded the mighty clippers on Fozzie's and Lamar's paws. Fozzie wasn't having any of it, but was a quivering mass as soon as he saw the clippers. Good thing his nails stay naturally short! Lamar, the moment he saw the bag of new treats, lifted his paws as if to volunteer for a pedicure. He was less forthcoming once he saw what was really involved, but I gave him a handful of Wellbites and called it a day.

Whew, that was stressful! Maybe we'll have to come up with a more pleasant way to review products.

A Bittersweet Reunion

As you may have gathered from a picture in my last post, Lady came back with us for a short spell. 

She wasn't doing so great with the cats in her adoptive home. Plus, as you may remember, her new home was just down the street from me and whenever she walked past our house, she would pull to come back. So her owners thought they wanted to give her back to me.

As it happened, she returned to us on the last night of having our wonderful Swiss visitors. 

So it was like a little party just for Lady. 

Lady loved meeting all the new dog-loving people, and showering all the dog-loving people she knew before with kisses.










She seemed happy to be back and just lie near me. 



I'm sure it didn't hurt that she was surrounded by food.















She readily found her way onto an orthopedic dog bed and made herself at home, 

just happy to be surrounded by so much welcoming energy. 















Then of course Florian put her in bed with us. 

Lamar was not too happy to see Lady again, as Lamar is just uncomfortable with many dogs and Lady has that bit of Chow edginess that puts him over the edge. So when the owners decided that after all, they wanted to keep trying with Lady, it was bittersweet again.

It's wrenching to think that maybe she's not happy, or maybe she's happier with me. I am trying to let go, and just remember that she is lucky to have a home with people who care for her.

This was tough though and confirms that I'm ready for a break from fostering. Fozzie and Lamar, I'll need some extra lovin'!

Healing

First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone for your thoughts and kindness on my Mom's passing.  In the midst of the sadness and upheaval of losing someone who was such a foundation, a huge comfort has been the support of friends and family.

Another huge comfort has been the dogs. Fozzie is sensitive to every shift in emotion. He knows the moment I have a sad thought, and is lying on top of me, pawing me and resting his head on me, before the thought is even fully-formed. 

Lamar has been a sweet goof-man. Lifting his paws at me and wagging whenever I come near, smiling a huge wet happy smile, coming close right along with Fozzie whenever I need a therapeutic dose of dog.

Lady has been her usual happy, loving, sweet self. The very night before my Mom died, an adopter came over who was all ready to take Lady home, and changed her mind when she got here as she realized Lady was probably a bit too much of a barker. 








I was not too bummed out, as I hadn't had quite enough of Lady's sweet kisses. 

Actually, I thought my Mom would really like to meet Lady. Since the plan was for Mom to come down here with my sister that weekend and look around at places to live, I thought it was perfect that I would still have Lady.

When things didn't turn out that way, I couldn't even think about letting go of Lady for a while. I needed all of my fuzzy, licking, wagging, loving therapists around me. 

Now, I am still in disbelief that my Mom is gone, still miss her unbearably, but there are days when I almost feel normal. Days when the crushing guilt dissipates into a more healthy sense of perspective. Days when I remember that my Mom was sick for a while, and that even if I had bought her an air conditioner or called an ambulance when she wouldn't come to the phone her last few days or insisted that she come down to Maryland sooner, there was nothing anyone could have done to prolong her life for very long. 

Maybe she would have died in a hospital, where she didn't want to go, or maybe she would have had a prolonged period of suffering, instead of living in relative vigor right up until her final few days. 












And no sooner had this clearer sense of perspective come, than Lady's true adopter came along as well. 

My neighbor had met Lady right after the other adoption didn't work out, and I was going to speak to her more the next day. Then disaster struck, and I didn't see my neighbor for a few weeks. Then just the other night, Florian and I were coming back from my sister's house where we've been spending a lot of time with my Dad who is going to be moving close by. My neighbor drove by, we talked, I went over the next day to see how Lady liked her house, and now Lady is in her new home!

I think she will be happy there. She has a big yard she can relax in and won't be alone much during the day. My neighbor adores dogs and her last three lived to their teens and passed away within the past year. I'll try not to go by for a while so she can settle in, but my neighbor says I have visitation rights so if I ever need a thorough facial scrub/wet tongue spa treatment, I won't have far to go. 

Florian and I are going to New York this week to help my Dad move out of the apartment I grew up in. It is going to be hard to see the familiar place, and feel my Mom there, and know I won't visit anymore. The good thing is, we get to come home with things of my Mom's so that we'll have her with us even more, and we get to bring my Dad back with us too.

And my two Wet Tongue Therapy practitioners will be with us the whole time. 

Lady's Day at the Pool

The past two weekends, I've gotten a break from the heat and humidity at my wonderful aunt and uncle's pool.

Last weekend, Florian and I went directly after his ballet performance, so we didn't have any dogs with us. 

























Just an elephant, who seemed to really love the water.











This weekend, Florian was away in Los Angeles where he'd been all week on vacation with his son, enjoying record heat in the desert, while we enjoyed our usual heat and humidity.


So I decided to bring Lady to my aunt and uncle's, which is becoming a fun rite of passage for most of my foster dogs.














After the hot car ride there, Lady just couldn't wait to cool down. Though I don't know that she's ever seen a pool before, she knew it looked cool and refreshing so she didn't waste a moment in launching right in. 

Foster

It was very sweet because it reminded me of my old foster dog Foster, who looked a lot like Lady and who did the same thing upon arriving at the pool the summer of 2009.












Upon landing in the pool of course Lady plummeted underwater, and I made ready to go in after her. Happily though, I think dogs must know instinctively how to swim and she wasted no time in paddling over to the edge and climbing out.

I've wanted to take Lady swimming, as it seems like the perfect exercise for her given her arthritis. So I brought her in again and held her up while she paddled.

She wasn't too relaxed about the whole thing. I don't think she got that I was holding her up, so she paddled for dear life.

No worries Lady, come on out and relax.

Lady enjoyed just lying in the grass and exploring my aunt's amazing gardens. Though she did get into a bit of an altercation with her cousin Genghis, as both of them are I think what you would call "dog selective."

This week, Lady is going to stay with a wonderful fellow foster who is between dogs, while Florian, Fozzie, Lamar and I go to New York to see my parents. She's had lots of interest from adopters lately, so I don't even know if she'll still be a foster dog when I get back!

What a sweet girl. I have really been enjoying going to sleep this week with Lady on the floor on the right side of the room, Lamar on the floor next to the bed on my left, and Fozzie in bed with me on my right.

Dogs are so incredible!

Lady's Weight Loss Success and Healthy Paws

Recently I had the chance to bring Lady to the shelter to see how she is with cats, and to use their scale to see if all our efforts toward weight loss have had any effect.

I've been feeding her diet food provided by the shelter, in the quantities recommended for weight loss, and as you know we have been going on good walkies for exercise. When you see a dog every day though, it's hard to notice changes in weight and I didn't think we had been making much progress. 

When I first got Lady, her weight was 76 pounds--quite the sum for a medium-sized pooch! When we brought her in the other day, she was down to 68! Surpassing her goal of 6-8 pounds! I was so proud of her. 

If you look at pictures from when I first got her and compare them to the present, I guess you really can see a difference.

Lady in Mid-April

Lady last week

A little more tucked around the belly, a little less flabby in the shoulders.


Yay, Lady! I know, it stinks to be on a diet. But you'll thank me for this someday, trust me. 













Meanwhile, Fozzie's been working on his own diet plan. 

If something says "LITE," you can eat as much of it as you want!

Don't worry Fozzie, I don't think you're that fat. You can take a load off and relax. 

While we're on the subject of doggie health, why not go on over and check out  my feature on Healthy Paws, where I write about all our favorite pup-centric activities! You'll get to see a bunch of other fantastic dog bloggers talk about their favorite things to do with their dogs too.

A Week in the Wonderful World of TTouch

Last week, I finally did a six-day TTouch training after thinking about doing so for the last three years. I first learned about TTouch when I was living in Santa Fe in 1997, and I found a practitioner who showed me how to use these little circle-and-a-quarter motions on my little grumpy cattle dog Tashi's skin to help bring calmness, groundedness, integration, and healing. 

I used TTouch on Tashi once when she got literally run over by one of those big wheeled trucks. The truck went right over her and she ran all the way to the Wabash River (not from Santa Fe. I was already in Indiana) and when I found her, she was pretty shook up, to say the least. TTouch was the only thing that made her relax her rigid posture and start to breathe again. (She lived another 11 years).

So last week, I brought Fozzie, Lamar, and Lady to explore the potential for TTouch to calm reactive dogs, reduce mouthiness, promote well-being and harmony among dogs, and alleviate the pain and inflammation of arthritis.

This training was led by Linda Tellington-Jones, the founder of TTouch whose center is in Santa Fe. Lamar, who is also from Santa Fe, came with me the first day and got to bond with several wonderful aunties, who helped watch over him on the days when I brought him with Fozzie or Lady. 

Photo: Debbie Bauer

Lamar was definitely a bit ill-at-ease with being in a different place with all sorts of new people and some new dogs, and he didn't really want a lot of people handling him. 












I was glad I brought him though. Seeing him through my classmates' eyes, I appreciated him in a way I haven't for years. I saw how stressful it is for him to live with all these foster dogs, especially Lady, since she's got that growly Chow thing going. 



We got to do some TTouch for Lamar's arthritis, and in the evenings when I got him home, he seemed really happy, doing that happy growling, gurgling, groaning noise that I love. 

Like he was feeling some relief and a new relaxation.






Most importantly, there was a shift in my connection with Lamar. I'm afraid that in all the excitement and revolving door of foster dogs over the past few years, I have lost sight of some of the magic of Lamar and that happy, silly energy that used to be at the forefront in our relationship. 

Now I feel it again, and it feels like Lamar does too. He's doing more of that happy paw lift that drew me to him the day I first saw him in the shelter, and he's even giving me more kisses. 

I am determined to help him get the most enjoyment and magic he can out of life. Instead of getting frustrated when he growls at a Lady or Fozzie near him, I go over to him and do little circles around his nose and ears to release endorphins and help him feel safe. I'm also making more of an effort to put his needs first, and keep Lady and Fozzie away from him when he feels like having his own space.

Lady seemed to enjoy coming to class, being handled by all those new people, and we got set up in a nice little enclosure so she could see out and be included in the center of class, but not be overwhelmed by the sight of other dogs. 

That was one of the things I loved about this training, was how Linda wanted everyone--reactive dogs, arthritic dogs, nervous dogs, terrified dogs, 

Treasure, a double merle sheltie, is blind and deaf

and a blind and deaf dog, to feel included.





















Everyone was in the circle, with barriers if needed, and everyone made progress. 

The first day, there was a small dog in the enclosure in the far corner who would just go crazy when anyone--human or canine--went near him. 












He spent the next two days in class with a calming wrap around his head, his person doing calming TTouches. 

By the third day, the enclosure was down, Buddy was in the circle, and he was much less reactive. 












Lady didn't have any huge transformation, but I did gain a new thoughtfulness and respect about her arthritis. How amazing is it that she maintains such a sunny outlook on life--always ready to go for a walk, always wagging and eager for kisses when she sees a human (any human)--when it is clearly so difficult for her to get around? 

Though Lady liked being around all those new people, it was clear she didn't want to get up and move around so much. As with Lamar, having Lady with me there brought me a new appreciation for this little being who is sharing my life right now. How it's OK for her not to get much exercise, and to lose weight slowly. 

Photo: Debbie Bauer

What a gift to be surrounded by these little teachers, and to get to spend such a transformative week with them.

As always, the experience I had with Fozzie will occupy a chapter of its own. Stay tuned later this week for more on our TTouch journey.

Spring flower postie

Around this time last year, I remember doing a spring flower post to show off my little foster dog Collette among the azaleas and roses. 











Actually, it was a little earlier last year, as its been an unusually cool spring. Last year, there was a blast of color as everything came into bloom all at once. 

This year, things have been trickling into flower gradually. 

So this is a slightly more mellow post, as is fitting to accompany a much more mellow foster dog. 














There is quite the profusion of intense purples and blues.



















I was sure I wouldn't have Lady for long, as she is a mellow older non-pittie in a town of hyperactive young pitties. I sure thought she would be adopted at the adoption event we went to last weekend, but it was a rainy day and very few people ended up coming to the event. 





All that rain is good for the flowers, but has also cooled things down and slowed the flowering. Which is kind of nice, as we get to enjoy them for longer.

I would not say that I have a very green thumb, as I seem to get distracted easily and I can't focus on the garden long enough to get it thoroughly weeded and looking organized. 





But I maintain it enough that it brings me joy to look at it. 








OK, you inspired me. Time to go weed for a bit!

Getting Lost on the Northwest Branch Trail

Though Lady is not what you'd call a high-energy pup, she really does love to go for walks. I was taking her on her own separate, shorter walks at first, but I started to realize that she had the energy and the drive to go with the boys, and it would probably be good for her.

We went on our first substantial hike together on the Northwest Branch Trail. We didn't have that much time for a hike, so we decided to take this trail that is very close by and accessible right off Colesville Road.

With the back seat folded down and the Fit in mini mini van mode, Lady, who does not get along famously with Lamar, had to sit in front.












Which was fine with her, and fine with Florian. 

Lady loved being on the trail. 



Although she huffs and puffs and moves very stiffly when she is in the house, or coming inside from her lair in the dust under my porch, once she is walking she trots right along. 










It can't be easy for her to move, but like all dogs she seems to relish being out and experiencing new things.

Feels really good to just cool down in a nice stream. 
















But then, what dog doesn't enjoy that? 

There were a fair number of people on the trail, but not so many that you couldn't enjoy the intense green nature and near-solitude.  

And a few instances of nature's raw power, a relic of I'm not sure which recent storm. 

There haven't been any substantial storms lately, so I couldn't imagine what could have made large, healthy trees like that go over. A friend suggested over dinner the other night, that the soil around here in some places is so saturated that it doesn't take much. Which makes perfect sense.

In other places, there was unexpected color. 

The trail was gorgeous, and the weather was clearing up, the temperature perfect. Fozzie got to engage in his favorite activity 

and all the dogs were loving the trail. 

Would be hard to imagine a better way to spend a morning.















Except if you're Florian. Florian had a show he had choreographed that he had to get to, which was why we planned to go for just a short hike.

This was the first time we'd done this trail, and somehow when we crossed Northwest Branch, and followed it downstream on the other side, thinking we were heading back in the direction we'd come, we were actually following another tributary. With the result that our short trail ended up taking about 3 1/2 hours, most of it spent not knowing where we were and Florian devising various ways to throttle, or at the very least abandon, his girlfriend and swearing that he would never again come near this trail.

Eventually though, we found our way back to the trail we wanted to be on and though Lady was doing some serious huffing, puffing, and snorting, we arrived back to the car with plenty of time to spare. 

And Florian can't wait to go back to that trail.