September was the last month that Buddy had to go to an adoption event. Luckily we weren't having many events, due to the heat, vacations etc. However, taking Buddy over to my good friend, and also Board Member for Barks of Love, was TORTURE. Not to mention, I cried every single entire day leading up to it, I had to force myself every step of the way to take him. Harder than loading him up though, had to be handing him over. It was at this exact moment that I realized I am not going to be able to say Goodbye to this pup, ever. I think I was over at my friends house the minute she got home from the event, I grabbed my baby(not literally) and kissed him a million times! Then proceeded to unintentionally grill her about how many applications he had. To my again suprise..no applications..to say I was THRILLED is an understatment. Driving home with a sleeping puppy in the seat next to me..I knew how I felt about this pup.
I then began the conversation with my husband, that I know, he knew was coming.
Let me preface this by saying that I told my husband before we were married and he was my boyfriend that if he couldn't stand the thought of me bringing random animals I found on the street home then he shouldn't marry me because that is GOING to happen it's just a matter of time. The very good news for me is that not only was my husband supportive of my love, he has the same love for animals I do, he's just MUCH better at hiding it.
<Side Note> You should have seen him when I first brought up fostering, "Megan I don't want to do this, but if you do that's fine, just don't expect me to help." Fast forward to the moment he met our first foster, "oh my gosh give them to me, I think this one wants a nap." Bella and Tank 2 6-week old Border Collie mix pups who had just been rescued from being Euthanized.**picture below**
Fast forward to this decision, I am sitting on the sofa, cradling Buddy in my arms and crying, with tears just running down my face and my husband looks at me and says, "you know I'm going to support you no matter what happens, right?" Okay more tears, "what do you mean." Chris, "I mean that I know your worried about Buddy getting adopted and if you decide to adopt him, I support you 100 percent." Knowing me more than anyone else he says, "I know the only reason you haven't said it first is because you are afraid I'm going to say, 'no way,' and I want you to know if that's what you want(to adopt Buddy) I support you. He's a good dog and while I never pictures us having 3 large dog's, we have 3 Great Dogs."
You would think I ran and typed an e-mail that moment saying, "We're Adopting Buddy." I didn't, I sat and cried more because now I had to stop thinking about what was best for me and my feelings and push those out of sight and truly decide what is going to be best for Buddy. Would this be the end of me fostering, would I be able to handle 3 large dogs permanently, would everyone want to lock me away for being a crazy dog/cat lady?..who knew!
All I know and knew is from the moment I held that baby boy in my hands, literally the moment, I said, "I'm in Love and I'm keeping this one." Phil smiled then thinking I'd get over it, but I never did, without knowing or planning too I forged forth. Loving this puppy as if he was my child because to me, he is and always will be.
Now to decide how to figure out the logistics?..I sat down with my husband, and told him, after a few months of Buddy growing up and more training, I have to have the chance to foster again. At least once. He agreed and so the rest is history. I look back at the trail of e-mails now and laugh and smile and get choked up because now, I can't imagine having decided any other way. I can't imagine not having this love bug as apart of our pack.
Buddy plays with my black lab, Stella, and I NEVER thought that would happen. Not to mention it is SO FUNNY! Stella is our dominant female, who is MILD as far as the word dominant is concerned. However she still rules the roost and only plays with Gypsy, all other dogs are allowed in her presence but must "respect" her. They can't play tug with her, or fetcher her toys..well not till Buddy got old enough.
You see this pup has a way of making EVERYONE fall in Love with him. He walks into any room, wiggling and waggling, and almost hopping with excitement and everyone who sees him is in awe.
In the middle of October my Husband and I made the announcement to our families. I thought for a moment it would be a "fight" but everyone laughed at us and said, "we knew it, we were just waiting to hear you tell us." PHEW..
And so our story as a family of 7(2 humans, 2 cats and 3 dog's) begins. You see Buddy was brought to us to share a story. Please continue to listen and share. As animals by the hundreds and thousands are killed and harmed daily. The more we tell our story the more lives we save, until 1 day things change.
My hope is while Buddy is just one stone thrown into a pond, his ripples will reach all corners. His story will make a difference.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
August 2012
As I've previously let on, I had fallen in Love with this pup since the moment I saw him, but I'm a foster. That's what we do, we see through the scab's, worms, fleas, un-potty trained puppy, with digestion issues and we see this gorgeous, funny plump little puppy that will someday make a family so very happy.
See I have 2 dog's in addition to my fosters. 2 babies I should say, well that's what they are to me at least. Gypsy and Stella are my world and now I have to try to wrap my head around the fact that Buddy will be someone else's world, even though he is already that with us.
Gypsy was so attached, she thought he was her puppy. He could do no wrong by her. He could sit on her, chew on her, it doesn't matter.
Stella, on the other hand thought he was fun to chase, that is Stella's favorite game.
So now, the dreaded day has come, not one, not two but MULTIPLE applications for this cutie. Everyone just waiting to adopt him, waiting for the exact moment he was available and they were going to snatch him up! I have to admit that while this gives me mostly anxiety and brings instant tears to my eyes, it is also a wonderful feeling that everyone finds him to be as adorable as I do.
Now the most important part, finding the "right" home.
This is a picture of Buddy and I playing before his very first adoption event.
After the event..it was SO HOT that day and he had multiple families come to see him so he was so happy to be back in the car(air conditioned) and taking a nap.
As I mentioned there were a few folks who had already submitted application and a few folks who submitted applications on the day of Buddy's first event. For one reason or another over the month of August we would get interest, and then nothing. The weirdest thing..
After that event where it was well over a hundred degree's outside and we all almost melted we decided to hold off on events until a big surf city event in September. This gave me a tiny shred of relief as I got a little longer with my Buddy.
See I have 2 dog's in addition to my fosters. 2 babies I should say, well that's what they are to me at least. Gypsy and Stella are my world and now I have to try to wrap my head around the fact that Buddy will be someone else's world, even though he is already that with us.
Gypsy was so attached, she thought he was her puppy. He could do no wrong by her. He could sit on her, chew on her, it doesn't matter.
Stella, on the other hand thought he was fun to chase, that is Stella's favorite game.
So now, the dreaded day has come, not one, not two but MULTIPLE applications for this cutie. Everyone just waiting to adopt him, waiting for the exact moment he was available and they were going to snatch him up! I have to admit that while this gives me mostly anxiety and brings instant tears to my eyes, it is also a wonderful feeling that everyone finds him to be as adorable as I do.
Now the most important part, finding the "right" home.
This is a picture of Buddy and I playing before his very first adoption event.
Taking in every minute with this cutie pie before he goes to his first event.
Riding in the car on the way to his first event. he got sick in the car 3 times.. :(
After the event..it was SO HOT that day and he had multiple families come to see him so he was so happy to be back in the car(air conditioned) and taking a nap.
As I mentioned there were a few folks who had already submitted application and a few folks who submitted applications on the day of Buddy's first event. For one reason or another over the month of August we would get interest, and then nothing. The weirdest thing..
After that event where it was well over a hundred degree's outside and we all almost melted we decided to hold off on events until a big surf city event in September. This gave me a tiny shred of relief as I got a little longer with my Buddy.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
July 2012
What a month! I knew I had basically all of this month with Buddy because he was underage and we wanted his scar to heal, get a few shots etc. Each day honestly felt like a gift with this little boy! He makes me laugh constantlly with his all his pupy antics, and watching his bloosom from a timid baby to a bouncing puppy is such an amazing experience! From time to time I would think to myself, this is temporary, he's not yours try to not get attached but let's be honest. With a face like this how can you not!
It was about 10 days into having this little gem, and there had been a lot of progress on Buddy's health. He was eating well, his balance was starting to come along, he was potty trained and the last bit of scab had fallen off his scar. Phew!...but I started to notice these little spots developing around his scar. It was like his fur was falling off in patches. Upon seeing this for the first time, I thought maybe he had just itched it off, then the next day it had almost multiplied. So I took a few photo's and sent them to Phil, he said we should make an appointment at the vet's and go from there.
*The first photo is the picture I took the first time I noticed the spots and sent to Phil. The second photo is after 1 week of medication, and medicated bath's.
Going to the vet had it's up sides and down sides. First, we would get this skin condition taken care of, and get him weighed. Both of these were total UP's..as I was anxious to hear how much weight he had gained with his new and improved diet. The downs being we were one step closer to having to say goodbye to our little Buddy.
The good news was Buddy was 10 pounds at the vet's, in more good news he didn't have any skin conditions like mange or dermodex but he was battling an infection and he was allergic to grass. So armed with a few med's and a special medicated shampoo we headed home.
As the week went by his fur continued to fall off in patches, he got his pills every morning like clock work and his bath with his special shampoo. None of it bothered him because water has never really bothered Buddy and I wrapped his pills in peanut butter as that is truly one of his favorite things in the world! So as a panicing foster, I thought maybe there is something more wrong with him. So we made another vet's appointment. Sure enough Buddy had gained another 2 pounds and the vet assured me to stay the course and let the medication do it's job.
Buddy was going on his second week of medication when I finally started to see the difference. It was now close to the end of July and he had 2 solid set's of Puppy shot's under his belt along with anti-biotics and the medicated shampoo left his fur silky smooth. In fact when I first got Buddy he had little brown stripes in his coat and now those were gone completely. He was plumping up learning quickly and as happy as this all made me I knew it meant his time with me was numbered. Look at that face and the difference paitence made with his medication. Not only did the spot's disappear, his fur grew in nicely and all the brown patches went away to reveal a beautiful grey!
It was about 10 days into having this little gem, and there had been a lot of progress on Buddy's health. He was eating well, his balance was starting to come along, he was potty trained and the last bit of scab had fallen off his scar. Phew!...but I started to notice these little spots developing around his scar. It was like his fur was falling off in patches. Upon seeing this for the first time, I thought maybe he had just itched it off, then the next day it had almost multiplied. So I took a few photo's and sent them to Phil, he said we should make an appointment at the vet's and go from there.
*The first photo is the picture I took the first time I noticed the spots and sent to Phil. The second photo is after 1 week of medication, and medicated bath's.
Going to the vet had it's up sides and down sides. First, we would get this skin condition taken care of, and get him weighed. Both of these were total UP's..as I was anxious to hear how much weight he had gained with his new and improved diet. The downs being we were one step closer to having to say goodbye to our little Buddy.
The good news was Buddy was 10 pounds at the vet's, in more good news he didn't have any skin conditions like mange or dermodex but he was battling an infection and he was allergic to grass. So armed with a few med's and a special medicated shampoo we headed home.
As the week went by his fur continued to fall off in patches, he got his pills every morning like clock work and his bath with his special shampoo. None of it bothered him because water has never really bothered Buddy and I wrapped his pills in peanut butter as that is truly one of his favorite things in the world! So as a panicing foster, I thought maybe there is something more wrong with him. So we made another vet's appointment. Sure enough Buddy had gained another 2 pounds and the vet assured me to stay the course and let the medication do it's job.
Buddy was going on his second week of medication when I finally started to see the difference. It was now close to the end of July and he had 2 solid set's of Puppy shot's under his belt along with anti-biotics and the medicated shampoo left his fur silky smooth. In fact when I first got Buddy he had little brown stripes in his coat and now those were gone completely. He was plumping up learning quickly and as happy as this all made me I knew it meant his time with me was numbered. Look at that face and the difference paitence made with his medication. Not only did the spot's disappear, his fur grew in nicely and all the brown patches went away to reveal a beautiful grey!
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
The First Day..
It has to be one of my FAVORITE days, the day we get a new foster. I'm excited, nervous, feeling a bit challenged, and antsy waiting for their arrival and then of course, "How is this going to work?" Which usually is answered after a few days and us all more or less figuring each other out. Now, I am as previously stated a TOTAL animal lover(as long as it doesn't slither I'm good!) so the idea that a little baby puppy is going to be at my door step in a matter of a few hours is like Christmas Morning for a 5 year old! So I kept myself busy playing with my 2 other pups, and picking up in the backyard when I get the call from our secuirty gate.
Security Guard: "Phil with Barks of Love is here"
Me: "LET HIM IN QUICK!!"
At which point I run inside, try to make myself mildly presentable and by the time I run outside there is Phil getting out of this truck! I walked..as fast as I could to avoid running and looking even odder..to his car and there on the passengar seat is the smallest little puppy I've ever seen in person! Phil picked him up and while talking to me a little about him, which I admit I was only mildly listening too, I interupted only to say, "can I please hold him." Paitence is not always one of my virtues. The moment that puppy hit my hands, I melted. All 3 pounds and 9 ounces of little boney legs, and bloated belly were just to much to handle! Phil explained that he had asked a girl at Petco what to name him she had said, since he had a scar down his back like a mohawk he should be called NoHawk. We continued to talk and now I was listening. Little NoHawk had been brought into the shelter by a man who saw another dog in an abandoned lot. The man approached the other dog, which we guessed was his father, and out came this little cutie pie with a big old scar down his back.
You see shelters don't have the rescources for pup's like this, they do their best(some of them do) but they rely on rescues to pull these pups. The Shelter had been feeding NoHawk puppy food but had notated he got sick almost everytime. Usually this means they have a little dose of puppy worms so a little dewormer and he would be fine. Turns out he didn't have worms at all but I'll tell you that in a minute. Anyways, after holding this sleepy pup in my arms for about 10-15 minutes I interupted Phil 1 more time to say, "Phil, I think I'm going to keep this one." He laughed and said, "A boy might do your girls some good," he told me to think on it, "fosters always get first pick."
We migrated to the garage, watched him literally wobble on 4 feet and decided the shelter was off their rocker about his age. He was just getting his little teeth in and couldn't walk a straight line if he was at a DUI checkpoint! So our guess was 4-5 weeks old. I also discovered he LOVED food..too much in fact but the problem was his little stomach wasn't ready to process it. So I went to work, overboiled rice, red potato's, boiled chicken and some of his food (very little) mixed in.
The glorious thing about a puppy that age is they play for a little bit and sleep and cuddle most of the time. You really have to just enjoy every minute because in 2 weeks they want to be rompin' with the big boys. So squeeze him I did(in my best yoda voice), I would crank up the A/C so that I could wear a sweatshirt and tuck him inside wrapped in a blanket. The first few days, you would have thought I was a kangaroo, he came with me everywhere. And so came his new name, my little Buddy...
Security Guard: "Phil with Barks of Love is here"
Me: "LET HIM IN QUICK!!"
At which point I run inside, try to make myself mildly presentable and by the time I run outside there is Phil getting out of this truck! I walked..as fast as I could to avoid running and looking even odder..to his car and there on the passengar seat is the smallest little puppy I've ever seen in person! Phil picked him up and while talking to me a little about him, which I admit I was only mildly listening too, I interupted only to say, "can I please hold him." Paitence is not always one of my virtues. The moment that puppy hit my hands, I melted. All 3 pounds and 9 ounces of little boney legs, and bloated belly were just to much to handle! Phil explained that he had asked a girl at Petco what to name him she had said, since he had a scar down his back like a mohawk he should be called NoHawk. We continued to talk and now I was listening. Little NoHawk had been brought into the shelter by a man who saw another dog in an abandoned lot. The man approached the other dog, which we guessed was his father, and out came this little cutie pie with a big old scar down his back.
You see shelters don't have the rescources for pup's like this, they do their best(some of them do) but they rely on rescues to pull these pups. The Shelter had been feeding NoHawk puppy food but had notated he got sick almost everytime. Usually this means they have a little dose of puppy worms so a little dewormer and he would be fine. Turns out he didn't have worms at all but I'll tell you that in a minute. Anyways, after holding this sleepy pup in my arms for about 10-15 minutes I interupted Phil 1 more time to say, "Phil, I think I'm going to keep this one." He laughed and said, "A boy might do your girls some good," he told me to think on it, "fosters always get first pick."
We migrated to the garage, watched him literally wobble on 4 feet and decided the shelter was off their rocker about his age. He was just getting his little teeth in and couldn't walk a straight line if he was at a DUI checkpoint! So our guess was 4-5 weeks old. I also discovered he LOVED food..too much in fact but the problem was his little stomach wasn't ready to process it. So I went to work, overboiled rice, red potato's, boiled chicken and some of his food (very little) mixed in.
The glorious thing about a puppy that age is they play for a little bit and sleep and cuddle most of the time. You really have to just enjoy every minute because in 2 weeks they want to be rompin' with the big boys. So squeeze him I did(in my best yoda voice), I would crank up the A/C so that I could wear a sweatshirt and tuck him inside wrapped in a blanket. The first few days, you would have thought I was a kangaroo, he came with me everywhere. And so came his new name, my little Buddy...
Prelude..
I, Buddy's Mom, have LOVED animals since I can remember. Always opting for stuffed toy's instead of the dolls my friends all enjoyed. My parents fostered this love and allowed me a dog of my own, first Nugget, a shelter pup who taught me how to run so he wouldn't bite my heels and who could LITERALLY bend it like Beckham! Then my biggest heart break as a child, my first puppy who died shortly after of Parvo, Shelby. To this day it brings tears to my eyes. My last dog, and who shaped me into the pack leader I am today was Jasmine. Part Australian Shepherd, part Coyote, Jasmine stole my heart the moment I met her. We were inseperable, after taking her to shows ranging from novice to advanced, in both Showmanship and Obedience I finally said, "I'll see you soon" to Jasmine at just shy of 19 years old(her not me).
After, being married, graduating college, buying a home and getting our first 2 pup's. My husband and I made the decision to begin fostering for a WONDERFUL rescue called, Barks of Love. Our first fosters, were 2 adorable little border collie mixes. Next came little Mattie, a Schnauzer, who my parents ended up adopting(YAY!) Then my first "view" changer. I got the option to foster a "Pit Bull" named Dodger. Up
and until this point I had only heard terrible things about Pit's in the media and I believed the media. It was at the urging of my husband who thought Dodger was Gorgeous that I said, "yes" we will foster a Pit Bull. Dodger scared me a bit, I had 2 bouncy lab's and there was this calm, sweet mannered dog that I was sure would bite my face off or there's. It took only about 3-4 hours for my whole mindset to change. I laid down on my sofa at the end of the day and immediately he jumped up and curled up. When my husband went to bed with my 2 girls, this pit bull didn't leave my side. Point #1 for Dodger! I went up to bed and he calmly followed me, laid on the floor even though he wanted in the bed, and in the middle of the night when we were sleeping he snuck into our big bed..squeezed inbetween us and fell asleep. I rolled over in the morning only to see a snoring pit bull beside me and he opened his eyes, wagged his tail and snuggled in. Over the next few days(Dodger was adopted in a week) I realized what many already knew, it is not the breed it's what the person who trains them tells them to do.
At the end of June, beginning of July 2012 I was fosterless when I got an e-mail from my friend Erin, also our foster co-ordinator that she had an underage pup from Pasadena Humane Society if I wanted to foster him. I looked at this pup and immediatley thought there is no way he's the 7 weeks they say, he looks so tiny! I said, YES, of course and we arranged pulling him etc. I had the days before 4th of July off to work in my backyard. So in a complete sweaty mess, I get a call from Phil our Ops manager at Barks of Love that he's on his way with little, NoHawk.
And so the Story truly begins..
After, being married, graduating college, buying a home and getting our first 2 pup's. My husband and I made the decision to begin fostering for a WONDERFUL rescue called, Barks of Love. Our first fosters, were 2 adorable little border collie mixes. Next came little Mattie, a Schnauzer, who my parents ended up adopting(YAY!) Then my first "view" changer. I got the option to foster a "Pit Bull" named Dodger. Up
and until this point I had only heard terrible things about Pit's in the media and I believed the media. It was at the urging of my husband who thought Dodger was Gorgeous that I said, "yes" we will foster a Pit Bull. Dodger scared me a bit, I had 2 bouncy lab's and there was this calm, sweet mannered dog that I was sure would bite my face off or there's. It took only about 3-4 hours for my whole mindset to change. I laid down on my sofa at the end of the day and immediately he jumped up and curled up. When my husband went to bed with my 2 girls, this pit bull didn't leave my side. Point #1 for Dodger! I went up to bed and he calmly followed me, laid on the floor even though he wanted in the bed, and in the middle of the night when we were sleeping he snuck into our big bed..squeezed inbetween us and fell asleep. I rolled over in the morning only to see a snoring pit bull beside me and he opened his eyes, wagged his tail and snuggled in. Over the next few days(Dodger was adopted in a week) I realized what many already knew, it is not the breed it's what the person who trains them tells them to do.
At the end of June, beginning of July 2012 I was fosterless when I got an e-mail from my friend Erin, also our foster co-ordinator that she had an underage pup from Pasadena Humane Society if I wanted to foster him. I looked at this pup and immediatley thought there is no way he's the 7 weeks they say, he looks so tiny! I said, YES, of course and we arranged pulling him etc. I had the days before 4th of July off to work in my backyard. So in a complete sweaty mess, I get a call from Phil our Ops manager at Barks of Love that he's on his way with little, NoHawk.
And so the Story truly begins..
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