Who Can Resist a Puppy?

I’ve posted about our journey with pets and our first time fostering in other posts. We have always been animal lovers and enjoy helping them. After our first Foster experience and “Foster Fail”, we knew we wanted to foster again in memory of Max. Lucky for us, two days after returning our first fosters, the shelter had two puppies they needed out of the shelter ASAP. These would be the fourth and fifth fosters. Enter Gus Gus and Jaq.

These two were the smallest puppies in a litter of five and they were 5 weeks old. They smelled worse than any dogs we had ever been around. Their fur was coarse- as if their fur was dehydrated. It took several baths and many days before the odor dissipated and even longer for their coats to improve. As expected, they developed upper respiratory infections and had issues with their stool for a bit. Our curiosity was strong and we went ahead and sent in a doggie DNA test on Gus Gus.

Shortly after being neutered, we got Gus Gus’ DNA results. He turned out to be 28% Australian Cattle Dog, 13% Chow Chow, 10% Boxer, 9% Labrador Retriever & 6% Great Pyrenees. He also had tiny bits of so many other things. Having DNA results on hand made going to adoption events much more entertaining. We were able to find homes for each of them at Petco Adoption events. Gus Gus went first and at a later date, Jaq was scooped up. We didn’t leave the adoption site empty handed, though… We brought home Opal!

Opal was such a sweet girl at the adoption event that we offered to take her home for the night and bring her back for the next day’s event. She integrated seamlessly into our home and got along beautifully with our pack. Having her spend the night might sound silly, but it helps to be able to tell potential adopters what we observed in a home setting. Needless to say, we helped her get her forever home the next day. She was our sixth foster pup. During that event, I received a text from the shelter coordinator about a littler of puppies that needed out ASAP. Some of them had rescues willing to take responsibility for them but they couldn’t pick up immediately. We picked up the “B” litter on our way home from the event.

One of the perks of being a foster is that sometimes you get to name the puppies. This time, they told us to choose a theme, like a letter of the alphabet. We named these pups, Biscuit, Buddy, Bingo, Bluey, Boss Lady and Bailey. The seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth puppies we fostered were absolutely adorable. This litter was about 10 weeks old when we picked them up. We brought them home, bathed them and got them into a playpen. We were back to soft food and formula and so many cuddles. Bathing this crew was a whole family event and weighing them was no different. Two days after picking them up, we did a DNA swab on Boss Lady. We kept meticulous records and watched these goofballs grow.

Biscuit and Buddy were picked up quickly by other fosters. As the litter grew, Bingo and Boss Lady were the family favorites. Bingo’s silly nose and need to have skin on skin contact were very endearing. Bingo looked sad ALL of the time! As the litter grew, they started to behave as their own pack and stop integrating with our pack. This caused some issues and another foster stepped in to take Bluey and Bailey for a while so that they could learn independence. My husband was still grieving the loss of his little girl dog, Carolina, and something about Boss Lady really resonated with him.

When her DNA results came back, he felt even more attached. She turned out to be 32% Pit Bull Terrier, 21% Labrador Retriever, 6% Boxer and 3% German Shepherd. Of course, like most shelter dogs, she was also a whole lot of little bits of other things. It also helped that she played nicely with Jingle. We decided that we would adopt Boss Lady, for my husband. He was overjoyed. She hasn’t entirely won over everyone in the family yet. She is strong-willed and her long battle with digestive issues made house-training her abundantly difficult. Her love of skin on skin evolved into her laying across faces and she quickly grew into a 50+ lb girl who still thinks she is a tiny puppy. It was at this point that I started to stitch letters onto paw patches to keep track of all of our fostering.

Jingle, Kringle, Noel, Jaq, Gus, Opal, Buddy, Biscuit, Bingo, Boss Lady, Bluey and Bailey were all dogs that Max would have adored watching over and playing with. It was such an honor to love on so many little critters. We only had two “foster fails” out of twelve fosters. That’s not bad, right? After dropping off the last of Boss’ siblings for transport, we told the shelter we were going to take a break. Boss Lady had some ongoing health challenges and we wanted to get our pack more trained before we added any more little lives to the mix. We had a little break… and then we got a text.

Cali, short for California, was the smallest puppy in her litter. She had giardia, coccidia and hookworms. They also suspected that she might have rickets. She wasn’t gaining weight well and the shelter staff said we were good at fattening up little puppies. She weighed about 4.5 lbs and needed to get healthy before she could join her siblings on transports. When I say that this girl was beautiful, its almost indescribable. She had the most gorgeous golden-gray coat and such a sweet disposition. Her medical needs and the cleaning required due to her digestive issues were challenging. She didn’t set off anyone’s allergies and loved to snuggle. If you’ve lost count, Cali was the thirteenth puppy we fostered.

By the time we had Cali, Chase was pretty much over the puppies. He tolerated them and guarded them, but he was definitely an older gentleman and the top dog. Barkley was still excited about the excitement, as long as his space was respected. Jingle was growing into a great referee- always telling on the other dogs if they made poor choices. Boss Lady was no longer the tiny girl we had fallen in love with and was enjoying the momma role. Cali thrived and stayed with us until she was spayed and ready for transport. We were all very emotional saying goodbye to this little lady. We tried to resume our break in fostering, but when we saw an urgent plea for bottle babies…

Cue Daisy, Bear and Brownie. These guys were a new experience for us. They were newborns and still needed to be bottle fed every three hours. I was recovering from a surgery when we picked them up and I underestimated the difficulty of newborns. They don’t pee or poop on their own. They require stimulation to relieve themselves. Additionally, it is very hard to feed them without them aspirating. We learned this the hard way. We only had these guys for a few days and they had to be monitored at the shelter because they got respiratory infections. This was the first and last bottle baby litter that we fostered. They all pulled through and were adopted out successfully. They were the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth fosters.

Houston experienced a huge freeze event which caused major problems for shelters. The shelter that we foster for secures all non essential exits and insulates thoroughly, keeping a skeleton crew on staff inside for the duration of the events. The last time they had a major event, they tried a different approach. The shelter made a post on social media asking families to take in temporary fosters just for during the freeze. We answered the call and showed up, telling them to give us who they needed us to take. They knew that we have taken many medically complicated pups before and thought that we deserved a pleasant break. They selected the “P” litter for us.

Preston, Paisley, Paxton and Priscilla became our seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth and TWENTIETH fosters! They were easy, for four puppies who poop constantly and walk through it. My teenage son was not thrilled that our house once again smelled like dog poop, but the rest of us enjoyed them thoroughly. We followed directions and returned them after the freeze. I’m sure they were easily adopted out.

The loss of one big-hearted dog led to a journey of fostering that has helped 20 puppies so far! Grief can cause a world to shrink, or lead one’s world to grow. We are so thankful for the opportunity and resources to help animals that have been abandoned. It’s not an easy thing to do, or a cheap thing to do. If you want to help animals like these, please support your local animal shelter! Things like towels, blankets, dog food and toys are always needed. Our local shelters also have opportunities to walk dogs, foster for a day (take them out for a hike or a trip somewhere), or help with transports. Most importantly, SPAY and NEUTER the dogs you have already! There are too many dogs without homes!