A Wagging Good Time for Stitchers

PetSmart Charities offers some free webinar classes. Registration is also free. I haven’t attended one yet myself but hope to in the future. The times in November conflict with my schedule but the topics sound interesting: Infectious Diseases vs. Socialization… Playing the Odds and Stress, Burnout and Compassion Fatigue: Keeping the Balance for You and Your Agency. The second one sounds like it is applicable to nonprofits in a variety of social service organizations. If you attend one of these, please let me know what you think.

Puppy mills have been a problem in this country for decades. On October 10, Governor Ed Rendell signed a new law in Pennsylvania which nearly abolishes all possibility for these operations to continue in the state. PA has been one of the worst states as far as animal protection legislation is concerned but this new law could make them into one of the best. Other states should take notice of this law and follow its example. Here is an article from the Intelligencer Journal of Lancaster County which outlines some of the changes.

Yesterday, on our historic election day, there was more to celebrate than a Democratic president in Massachusetts. The citizens voted yes on proposition 3 which banned dog racing in the state. There shall no longer be any bets placed on the speed or ability of dogs. Without the money coming through there is no reason to continue racing. It is the conditions the handlers keep these dogs in as well as the risk of injury which makes the sport so atrocious. Since the people involved with dog racing are unwilling to reform on their own, it was up to the people of Massachusetts to remove the option of racing altogether. I applaud them for it. You can see the text of the proposition here.

This is another article from the Boston Globe about the vote.

I recently received an email from the Almost Home Rescue forum. It told the story of Brutus, a military dog that was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his tour in Iraq. I thought this was an amazing story. And it is; it’s amazing like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy are amazing. www.snopes.com exposes Brutus for what he is, an urban legend.

Addie was adopted last week. A wonderful family from Massachusetts chose her. They are really a perfect fit for her: a couple and their two teenage daughter. They picked her up Saturday morning. I was apprehensive. Addie is such a special girl. She’s a wonderful dog once she likes you. The thing is to get her to like you, you must leave her completely alone. Don’t touch her, don’t talk to her, don’t look at her. She needs time to relax before you can do any of those things. I explained this to Addie’s new family and they all seemed on board and very enthusiastic about doing whatever Addie needed to become comfortable. So that’s the good news.

The bad news is that shortly after they got her home, she slipped under their fence and ran into the woods. The family covered their town in missing dog posters and spoke to everyone they could find. Some people spotted her a few hours after she escaped but nothing since. I have a lot of hope that they’ll find her. Even though she is scared of humans, she still has a desire to be near them. I think that instinct will drive her to someone. Also, she is quite the copy-cat (or copy-dog, if you prefer) to other dogs. If she meets up with a dog in a yard somewhere. I don’t think she’ll go far from that spot. Almost Home Rescue has provided her family with a Have-A-Heart trap to be set up once she’s spotted again.

If you are in or near Bridgewater, MA and you see a little black dog with no collar please call the numbers list on the flyer. It getting cold up her in New England. I hope she is found very soon.

One of our recent fosters, Addie, just ran away from her new forever home in Bridgewater, MA. Attached is a photo of Addie and the text from the poster. If you live in or near Bridgewater and see Addie, please call the number–DON’T try to chase her as she is very timid and will run away.

Please help us find Addie, Beagle mix! She has been missing since 11/01, she just arrived, is scared and RUNNING! We need sightings of her. She is not wearing a collar/tags. She is microchipped.

Last seen: 8 Indian Ridge Road.

If you see Addie DON’T chase her!!!
Call 508-942-0629 or 207-318-5860
with exact location and time seen.

I tried something new on my walk today. I’ve been very strict lately, holding the leashes quite short and not allowing any kind of shenanigans from my girls. Today I decided to throw all that out the window and see what they would do without my constant reminders of the rules. If I were to grade them on their upholding of the rules without my guidance, I would grade as follows:

• Ginger B-
• Bonny B+
• Morgan F
• Addie C

Bonny was very good overall but she was walking ahead of me. She needed to stay by my side to get an “A”.

Ginger, considering how terrible a walker she was when I first got her, did fairly well. She also was walking ahead of me and occasionally pulled against the leash. I hate when dogs pull on the leash.

Morgan was an utter failure. So bad, in fact, that she only got to walk without my hand on her lease for twenty feet or so. She was pulling as hard as she could and chasing leaves and stopping to smell things. It was impossible for us to move as a group so I grabbed her lease and made her walk with me. She pulled the entire rest of the way. Admittedly she is the youngest of the pack, only eight or nine months old but that is not enough of an excuse. She really needs so individual attention to get her on track.

I was impressed with Addie. She hasn’t had any training. Not once did she pull on the leash. She did stop frequently to smell things but, as a beagle mix, resisting a smell is a great act of self-control. She needs training before she’ll have that skill mastered.

This exercise was good because it highlighted the main problem in my pack. Now I know where to concentrate my energies when I walk them.

Here is a video I got from a member of Almost Home Rescue. I hope that if I was in this situation I would be able to react so quickly.

Here’s a video of Ginger and Addie playing. It makes me so proud to see this. When we adopted Ginger we were told she’d never be able to live with other dogs. When Addie first came to us, she was too afraid to even walk by herself. Now they can both enjoy playing together just like dogs should.

A big thing happened with Addie yesterday. Since she arrived at my home, a little over a month ago, she has been petrified of just about everything. In the first few weeks she made excellent progress with me and my other dogs. My husband was another manner. She definitely is more afraid of men than anything else. This usually indicates she was physically abused by a man at some point in her difficult life. My husband has been handling it so well. His patience with her is seemingly endless and he hasn’t gotten discouraged, even though she still seems so terrified of him. Finally it is beginning to pay off for him. When he takes the pack out to the yard, he usually has to reel Addie in by her long lead to bring her back in. Yesterday, after many minutes of internal conflict, she mustered the courage and approached him. This is an enormous step in her recovery. Being able to approach what terrifies you, takes great courage. Since she was rewarded for it, we can only hope she’ll do it again, and again, and again… Please contact me if you think you want to bring this amazing little dog into your family: admin [at] fosterpuppies (dot) com