Live and Learn

Before the 6 foster dogs got here, I prepared the panacur balls, and froze them.  I put 5 droncits in 5 packages, one package for each dog, and then I added  heart worm pills for each of the 5 dogs.  I put all these individual packages into 5  big Ziploc bags with instructions for each medication, then I labeled each bag with the foster family's name, thus ensuring each family got one. Everyone got their package and their dog. I was pretty happy with myself, each time I do this I learn what could have gone better and try to fix it the next time. Did you notice we got 6 foster dogs, and I only made 5 packages?  Well, why would I need to make a package for myself?
Fognoston loves to eat, so the 5 days of panacur for tape, whip and ringworms, dispensed on schedule. Good for me! Heart worm pill given to Fog and eaten.  Good for me.  Wrote on a sticky note the date heart worm pill dispensed, and placed sticky note in Ostn's foster book.  I learned this from another foster mom. This way if you forget to tell the adopting family when the heart worm pill was given, it is in the book.  And if I forget when I gave it to him, all I have to do is look in his book.  Genius, I think.
So I am sitting in an endless meeting this afternoon, and my dog sitter texts me.  She texts me every day when she lets the dogs out and pets them AND picks up the poo in the yard. (4 dogs make a lot of poo!)www.doggoneityardduty.com.  She usually sends pictures of Ace on the deck, or River following her around, or Macho in the pool, with info about what dooty they did in the yard, or quirky thing they did.  I forgot my reading glasses so I had a hard time reading the message.  I borrowed someones reading glasses, and proceeded to read "There are little rice looking worms that are moving in piles of poop".  Picture of poop included.  I could include that picture here, but I that would be a poopy picture. I was really happy I didn't have someone read that to me! It probably would have be been the talk of the meeting.  After the meeeting I called the vet, and of course these are the worms that the droncit kills. And I forgot to give him the droncit.  Next time, I will make myself a package so the worms don't come in!  Live and Learn....

A day with Mister and the Lady- Fog speaks

The other day, the lady and the man took me and only me with them in the RRB.

We went to this place (the lady called it a store) that sells Dog stuff. I am a dog so I of course had to smell everything and try to take stuff off the shelves.  Mister, stood and talked to the other people, and their were little girls.  They were very interested in me, and their Daddy told them all about me.  One little girl was very interested in my tail.  I didn't care.  They were nice girls.  Soon one of the ladies, took us to a room in the back of the store.  She talked to the man and lady and she left.  Next thing I knew, the man picked me up and put me in a steel container.  There was water running.  It was was a warm and it felt good.  The man and lady gave me a bath at the store!  After the bath they dried me off. I liked that cause it was like getting petted by two people at once!  After the bath the  lady took me for a walk cause I had to go number 1.  I walked down the shaded path that goes from store to store and was intrigued by that good looking dog in the windows and doors.  The lady told me that is me.  Gosh I AM cute!. I was really drawn to a store down the shaded path.  I looked at myself in their door, and as I was admiring myself, a lady came out of the store, just to pet ME!  She was a very nice lady, soon all the ladies in the store came out to pet me.  I was so excited I even jumped on one lady, and she rubbed me all over, she didn't even get mad.  My Lady, told me that they were cosmetologists (hair dressers) and My Lady and Man had already done my hair.  The hair dressers loved me.  They asked all sorts of questions and invited me back.  I went number 1 and then the lady took me back to the man at the store.  The people there gave me cookies, it was great.  The man and lady took me to the RRB and then we went back to the hair dressers.  They even let me in their store.  They want to share info about my breed with their clients and help us find forever homes.
I really liked the people I met and I hope I can go back soon.
Sky would give this 5 Roos
Fog
We took Fogenosten to http://petpeople.com/ in Strongsville and Fog loved the people at the solon 3 doors down.
Michelle

WHY AM I FOSTERING?

ok.  Mr Fog enjoyed his blogging yesterday.  Which is good, cause today, he is in rare form, which makes me wonder, WHY am I fostering ?  Fog is 2 1/2 years old.  If you've never had a 2 year old greyhound, let me say it reminds me of having a 2 1/2 year old child in the house.  If you don't watch them and monitor them then, you will find the most challenging issues to deal with.
  At 2 a.m. River was snarking at OstnFog.  When I was able to observe what was happening, I saw River on her bed next to me, and Fogston the floor next to River.  Over the next 10 minutes Fostnostn managed to wiggle his way over and put his head on her bed, which made her nuts!  Lots of snarking, growling, and whinning.  I took him out side just to break the pattern.  He came up stairs and laid under the window.  This was the beginning of Fog's bad day.
Bill got up and fed them so I could sleep. At 9, everyone greeted me.  I went to the garage, and Fog stayed with me.  He proceeded to pick up a bungi cord and drag it, hook end across the floor, and snag a bag of dog coats, and dragged it 3 feet. "No, Bad, Leave it, Etc" just sent him to box of milk bones. He doesn't like milk bones.  No, leave it, etc.  Finally we went in.  I was doing some decluttering and Macho and Fogn was with me. I looked at Fosten and he had a flip flop in his mouth.  I put it away.  Then I looked at him and he had a jump drive in his mouth. chomp, chomp, took that away, NO.  I went about cleaning, and looked up and saw Ostnfosten chewing on a blanket and trying to take it outside. NO.  Within minutes I heard the sound of water running onto carpet.  He was going number one on the buffet.  NO, Bad, took him outside.
When he came in, I put his diaper on him.  He didn't like that all!
In retaliation...I was getting stew ready for dinner. I put the meat in the bowl, went to get something out of the fridge, almost closing his nose in the fridge door, and then went to get something out of the pantry.  I heard a slurping noise. Turned around and found FOG with his nose in the bowl of meat, happilly eating away, on the counter. NO BAD_GET and I went to move him out of the kitchen. He has been instructed and shown many times to GET out of the kitchen. As I reached for his collar, he sauntered out of the kitchen.

We all went outside.  I took his diaper off, and he went potty.  We came back in, and I went back to work in the kitchen, I looked down and found him laying next to me.

with this sort of look, how can a foster mom want to give up?  He is comfortable here and is learning his boundaries.

FOGs First Blog!

I read my Blog to Bill yesterday and Fog looked at him like he wanted to say something.  So I have turned the laptop over to Ostnfog.  Before he starts, I want to clarify a few things...Bill is the Man or Mister, I am the Lady. I may have to add more clarification at the end, depending on what fostenog says.

I gotta tell u a story.  I was livin in a cage and all of a sudden i get put in a small cage with wateher, and many other dogs. the cage was so small i could all most stand up and lay back down.  The man said I was in that cage for 31 hours.  It was bumpy and bouncy.  When some guy opened the door I was grabbed and other people took me for a walk.  The Man tells me that was when my new life started.  I am staying ,with a Man, a lady, and two guy greyhounds and a girl greyhound.
I get fed good here, and I get talked to,and petted and daily walks.  I like it ok here, But the other dogs arent very helpful.  The first two nights everytime i moved, the girl dog, they call her river, would yell at me, and  then the man would yell at river. i was scared, so i would try to get on the bed, which made the lady unhappy cause she was trying to sleep. Then we were up all the rest of the night.  So i said to the black dog, what do i do here?  He just growled.  I asked the other dog what i should do and he said, "either make friends with river or stay out of her way.  the black dog is spoiled, so he wont share the lady.  river thinks she is in charge. if you are going to learn anything, you have to win her over."  so the next day, I stayed with river. she didnt like it.  but i did tell her i need her to tell me what to do.  she eventually agreed.  Now i know the dog rules. we sleep upstairs.  who knew that???  River tells me what to do when she is not in one of her moods. she likes to walk with me.  River is nice to me. The other dogs just ignore her and me, but thanks to River i am starting to settle in here.

the lady says river doesnt let anyone get this close to her, so i must be special.

Sky would give me 5 roos for getting rivee to like me. I met  Sky and he told me to respect her, cause she runs the dogs at this house.

Who?

Lostndafog was to be called Ostn.  Ostn knows his name is Fog.  He almost responds when the name Fog is used.  Some book I read said if you want to change a dogs name, add the new name to the beginning or ending of the name it knows and eventually he will respond to the new name.  So I started calling him Ostnfog, which quickly became Fostndog, or Ostndog, or Fostnostn, FognOstn or Fred.  I don't think he learn his new name this way!  Now he doesn't respond to anything, but occasionally he will respond to Fred.
Fog likes Bill more than he likes me.  That is ok with me.  Bill talks to Fostnog, and he wags his tail and gets puppylike.  When I talk to him, he looks at me, and goes back to doing whatever he was doing before I interrupted him.
Fognostn is only 2 1/2 so he has several puppy qualities.  He discovered the joy of counter-surfing.  With his feet on the counter, he can reach all the way to the back wall.  Numerous "Nos" and "DOWN" and physically moving him wasn't teaching him to not stand on the counter.  So one day, all the dogs were in the house, I was in the garage, Bill was out of the house. All was quiet in the house until I heard CRASH and something breaking when it hit the tile floor. As I quickly got into the kitchen, I was hoping that the crock pot didn't fall on the floor. I came in, and found a scared Fostendog standing in the midst of a broken ceramic coffee cup. Thankfully, Ostnfog was not hurt.  I ordered him out of the kitchen.  I did notice that the others didn't budge throughout the event.  Fred came into the kitchen as I finished cleaning, head low, tail tucked, and just stood there.
Now he counter-surfs, but the paws never leave the floor.  His nose is just able to reach the edge of the counter, and when he finds something that interests him, he stands in one spot and sniffs.
Sky would give me a 1 Roo for not knowing what to call him and a 2 Roos for learning the hard way not to counter surf.

Lostndafog, an introduction

I thought I stopped fostering in October after Tex got adopted.  He was here for 6 months, and my dogs and I needed a mental break.  So when ESGAO made the plea for foster parents, I with personal reserve, said I would take one.   I wanted a big dumb boy greyhound.  After some problems getting retired racing greyhounds from Florida or Alabama, we finally got word that, the 6 dogs we have foster homes for, would arrive on July 20.   Oh No!  What was I thinking?  Foster dogs are a lot of work.  It’s like having a 3 foot tall puppy.  I must be crazy.  Macho will pout, River will hide and Ace will be clingy and unsure why the dog is here. What did I do?

But then, oh boy!  A new greyhound who needs a home!  By fostering, I can save a Greyhound life.  Greyhounds want to please people, they are pretty easy to train.  A new dog to love.  A new dog to watch change from petrified to a confident animal on his way to his new life.  How exciting.

The foster dogs were supposed to arrive at 9 a.m. on Friday but arrived at 9 p.m. instead.  Lostndafog, along with 5 others arrived, safely, tired, hungry and scared.  By 11 p.m. all 6 were clean, fed, watered and wondering what happened.

Lostndafog is now my foster dog. Lostndafog is a bigger greyhound, he weighs 73 lbs he will be red, when his hair settles down.  Right now he looks like a dog that has been in a cage for way too long.  Hair is inconsistent on his body, his thighs are naked, you can see his entire rib cage, his blood vessels are predominant, he has been bitten or bounced in a cage, there are spots that have no hair.  His skin is flakey and dry.  Bugs have chewed on him.

This blog will be about turning Lostndafog into a family pet/companion animal.

Sky would give this 5 Roos!

Foster Roos, the beginning

I've decided.  I've decided it's time to create a blog about fostering a retired racing Greyhound.
After fostering 12 greyhounds in 6 years, I think it  is time to share the anticipation, hesitation, excitement, challenges, conquests, and everything in between about being a foster parent.  As the foster dog's personality grows, the blog will be from the dogs perspective. I got the idea after reading "Five Roos"  www,fiveroos.com that tells the story of oddities in Sky's, (the greyhound) world. Naturally, since dogs can't type, Five Roos was created  by Sky's owner (Dad) +Rob Swindell.  I thought a Blog from the perspective of a foster dog would be fun and interesting.  So, until the foster dog gets here, this blog will be about finding, anticipating, and transporting our foster dog.