Link-a-rama

Meet Link.

No, not this Linc (although, how cool and old school was Mod Squad?! And what a cool name for a dog!)

But this Link, our newest foster.

We were told he was a relaxed, laid back, easy going boy. Famous last words. He is anything but. He is a great, affectionate, funny guy but laid back isn't in his description. He is the type of dog that will be lying in the living while you are in the kitchen. You open a cupboard. He jumps up, runs into the kitchen full speed, sliding the last 15 feet until he body slams up against your legs. He then looks up at you and says (his face is very expressionable as you can see from the above picture :-)), 'huh, huh, what's going on?, got something for me?, whatcha doin'?, whatcha got?, let me see, let's do something, lets go, go, go, go, take me with you, take me anywhereeeeeeeeeeeeee......!'

He was in a foster home in Fl. and he already has a new permanent home lined up so his stay with us will be brief. He is on the smaller side for a male, especially as it seems all the males are so big now. He is pretty scarred up, nothing particularly heinous but just lots of little ones. Makes sense if he charged his way through his kennel life like he does here at home LOL. And both his ears are gnawed but he is a real pretty and sweet boy. His family is going to be lucky to have him.

The local group met the haul down in Pennsylvania and brought Link and 3 other dogs up. We gave them a few minutes to stretch their legs and take a potty break in my backyard.

My two were very curious about the strangers in their backyard!

Runs with dogs

We have a visitor here at casa ala RWD - T'Bo. He is a bounceback from a chaotic home. We are watching him while his foster person is on vacation. The backstory is he attacked his owner. *shrugs* I always take those type of stories with a large grain of salt. Not to say that T'Bo doesn't have his issues. He has growled and raised his lip to the person fostering him. He has snapped, made contact but didn't break the skin of her husband. T is on 'the nothing is free' doggy bootcamp plan :-) There is a long list of what he cannot do. No furniture priviledges. Last to be fed. Last for treats. Last in and out the door. Some of his issues seem to center around his space and not liking to be told to move. He is regularly displaced and moved from bed to bed. He is also on my own little personal doggy rehab plan - exhaust the hell out of them and then they are too tired to misbehave, hence the title 'Runs with dogs' :-)

He seems to be taking all this in stride and is a happy go lucky, sweet, energetic boy, very willing to take direction. I would adopt him in a heartbeat, if I could. Unfortunately, because he is now 'labeled' a biter, the liability issues are such it is uncertain if he will ever be adopted out or will just live as a permanent foster :-( I think he should go live at Casa ala 4crazygreys. They love 'biters' over there :- )

T raced until he was 5 and has been off the track for 2 years. His musclature is almost that of a track dog. The boy is ripped to shreds :-) His foster home has been running with him, and got him up to a mile. I have done almost 3 with him, taking a walking break about half way through. He did absolutely fine, only starting to lag during the last half mile. It was spectacularly easy running with both him and Cosmo. We will be heading out again this morning to hit that pavement.

Recap

Sticking to my new reserve - I will not be running today. Forecast calls for a high NEAR 40. Not of 40, not over 40, not even 40! NEAR 40. I will not run outside until it is 50 degrees. I expect the weather gods to eventuall feel guilty about my increased weight and decreased stamina and crumble like stale cookies before my resolve and improve our weather. And then you all will be able to thank me and my principled stance for it :-)

Last night, Bridg and I pulled two greyhounds as a some-what owner surrender. Their owner, an elderly woman, was hospitalized last week and now will be institutionalized in a care situation. She had two greyhounds, a big lanky fawn boy and a little shy black female. For the past week they have been cared for by the woman's elderly brother-in-law and his wife. When it became obvious that the owner was unable to return to her home (I think the diagnosis is dementia), the b-i-l and wife did the right thing. They knew the dogs had a group out there that would take them. In the chaos of the situation and unable to find paperwork pertaining to the dogs, they just didn't know what group or how to contact them. They contacted one group and through the greyhound community grapevine, it was all figured out who had responsibility for these dogs. Yet another reason *hopping on my soapbox* for all groups, not matter what their personal adoption philosophies, to maintain contact and to work with each other SO THAT NO DOGS, EVER, FALL THROUGH ANY CRACKS. *hopping off my soapbox now*

These dogs are so sweet and so well-cared for. Turns out the male is a former foster of mine, Derek from 2000. B and I went back and forth a little about who would keep them overnight and for a day until the group could get them. We eventually decided both would stay at her house although, I kind of wanted my old foster back with me, just because, well, you know, once he WAS mine. After seeing him for 15 minutes at B's house, I think we made the right decision for him to stay at her house. I started to recall just why I considered him the Foster From Hell and had to take a break from fostering after having him. Not that he is a bad dog (if there is such a thing and I don't believe there is) but he probably is ADD :-) His muzzle is completely white now. Maybe B can post a current picture of him for comparison.

Let's see.....what else? Oh, we have expanded our menu to include rabbit this week and just as quickly we have taken rabbit off of the menu. Seems as though my two killing machines who have never met a bunny they didn't want to chase down, grab and shake to death, suddenly now have the mantra, 'mustn't eat the nice bunnies' running through their heads.

I was able to locate and purchase 44 lbs of cleaned, skinned rabbits and neither of them will eat them. We tried for two days. Mally ate probably a quarter pound each day - probably just enough to stave off starvation. Cosmo wouldn't do more than just sniff. Even when I sprinkled them with fake, soy parm cheese. Even when I quickly seared them. Nope. Not gonna eat the bunnies. Now, I know I can force the issue. My two boys are the biggest wimps around and I could make them eat the bunnies. If it was Angus, well, that would be another story. If he didn't want to eat the bunnies, nothing I could do would make him and just for good measure, I would probably wake up one morning to find him gnawing on my leg. He would be thinking, "I am not gonna eat what I don't want to and this will show her what I will be eating if she doesn't shape up and give me what I want to eat!" Of course, it is all a moot point, because we all know Angus would have been chowing into that bunny. Anyways, I am not going to force them because they aren't fussy eaters and if they don't want to eat it, well then fine. So.....anyone in the market for 40 lbs of frozen rabbit? :-) Next up on our menu for trying will be beef hearts. I got to tell y'all that this raw feeding is an exercise in willpower for me. The bunnies almost put me over the edge.