Gracey Update

Just wanted to let everyone know that last weekend Gracey (Tiff's previous foster) went to her forever home. Apparently it is a MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN!! Congratulations to Tiff for all her hard work with her and for finding the perfect forever home. Gracey will enjoy all the finer things of a doggie's life from now on!

Rescue and adoption works! (and it's good for your heart!)

Gus and his new life

There's a rescue group called "No More Tears" that pulls dogs from puppymills that the millers don't want and are going to shoot. Laura contacted Tiff and NEBTR to see if we had room. Laura and some other people went into several lancaster county mills on saturday morning and pulled 12 dogs. Most were poodles, but there were also 2 puppy mixes and a Boston. The poodles were in terrible shape. One guy I saw had legs that were so bowed from being in a crate his entire life, that he could barely walk, never mind walk on a leash. This Boston however, was from a "less severe" mill and only stank and had bugs all over him. THESE DOGS ARE WHY YOU DO NOT BUY DOGS FROM A PET STORE. These are the breeder dogs the millers use and the general public never sees. They keep them in terrible conditions and then toss them (or worse) when they are no longer of any use to them. (ie: unable to reproduce.)

What a happy guy! Gus is about 5 years old and we're guessing he weighs 30-35lbs. He's a stocky more bully type BT. I picked him up in Paradise saturday morning from Laura and her crew. I turned the corner around the van and there he was sitting with a friend. He was Jumping and happy and giving kisses to each new person he met. I was pleasantly surprised! We took him back to Tiff's place and immediately threw him in the tub for a bath. He jumped out at first, but once he realized it was water and warm he placed his big butt right under the faucet and kept it there! He had a great coat and teeth, his nails aren't terrible and he smelled so much better when we were done.

Being an unaltered puppy mill male he has the urge to mark everything. He tried to mark Odie through the baby gate one time; in the crate he went! So Lindsay (she was up visiting for the weekend VERY close by) and I took a trip to petsmart for a belly band and a harness as he loves to pull as well. It was so funny to see him try to mark after the belly band was on him. He would lift his leg in great pleasure and then abruptly put it back down with a "hey, that's not so fun" look on his face.

You can't tell by these pictures, but he loves to jump. He has mastered jumping the baby gate, so i'm not sure what Ron and Tiff are planning for that. He's heading to the vet tomorrow for a check up and then after that he'll be good to mingle in small amounts with her crew.

Gus is a smarty pants. In the short time we were with him, he learned that he if wanted to be pet, he needed to sit not jump all over Nick. (Nick took to the not so little guy very quickly! He did awesome work with him this weekend!) Gus has a big heart and just wants to be with people. He has quite a bit of energy, but i think he's going to settle quite nicely once he's in a routine and figure life out a little more. He scarfs down the chicken and rice quite quickly and has been managing to hold it down without vomiting (he did vomit 3x sat morning before I picked him up.) Sunday morning however, he was acting like he needed to go out. God is so good, I got him out in time as he relieved himself quite explosively. That would have been a mess in Tiff's immaculate kitchen!

Gus is going to make someone a GREAT family dog with some basic obedience and lots of consistency! If your heart and family has a home for this guy please contact NEBTR for an application. There is a link to the website of the side of the blog.

I am so glad that we had an opportunity to help with transport and the initial stages of fostering this weekend. One of these years we will have our own place and will be able to foster our own little guy!

the 4 BT Circus!

Nick, Tink and I house sat and doggie sat from some friends this weekend. They have 2 great BT's, Lilo and Odie. We got their on friday afternoon. Sat morning I had plans to pick up a boy from a lancaster puppy mill with the rescue. His story will follow in the next post. Needless to say we had quite the weekend.

We had all 3 dogs in bed with us friday night before we actually went to sleep.
Lilo loves to bury under the blankets and Odie loves to cause trouble!

Nick took this pic on his phone.
Apparently Odie was emitting noxious gas at this point in time as well

Tink and Odie, bookends

It wasn't uncommon to find Odie laying on top of Tink or invading everyone's space. And boy does he like to chew!

Lilo had LP surgery done on both knees 2 weeks ago which is why, I just realized she's not in any couch pictures. She is not allowed to jump or do stairs or run just yet. We also helped her do some physical therapy exercises to help strengthen her legs.

Friday night after Lilo and Odie were in their boxes and we were sleeping, Tink sat up at about 2:30 and refused to lay down. Nick took her out to pee and still she sat up in bed. So I went downstairs to get the water bowl and as I'm coming back up, Tink is puking on the bed. Tink has only puked 1 other time the entire time we've had her. It certainly wasn't on the "usual" what's wrong with Tink list. So we throw those sheets in the wash and move from the guest bedroom to the master bedroom. 5:30 that same morning, Lilo starts whining. I let her whine for about 15 minutes and realized she may need to go out. Nick took her out and sure enough, a mess outside. Nick takes Odie out then and both slip under the covers until just about 8am. Poor guys. We were all able to at least get a little sleep that night!

Sat to be continued in next post....

It's the most swimmiest time of the year....

last Sunday Tink was invited to swim with some of her friends again! She doesn't like the water very much but it's certainly good exercise!

Taking it easy

Look at her go!

Gabe stealing someone's toy i'm sure : )

Taking a break

Tink swam for a good 20 minutes (off and one of course). She doesn't like to use her back legs very much, but every once in a while she would kick with one and turn unexpectedly in a new direction (which of course sent me scurrying as she was inevitably heading towards the wall)

Louann and some others go swimming with the dogs every sunday afternoon, so I'm sure we'll be heading out there every couple of weeks or so!

Catching Up...

So once again, much time has slipped by without so much as a post over here. Tinker's social calendar has been somewhat quiet, but will be picking up over the summer with swimming and other fun activities.

A few weeks ago, Tink and I wend over to Kaye Ames to help with a Delta Society animal testing day and we were able to catch up with Louann and Gabe a several other teams that we haven't seen in a while. Tink really had the tough part--sitting there and looking cute : ) It was me who made some noise with the walker/wheel chair and was asked to pet several very friendly and cute dogs (and one cat.)

Father's day weekend we traveled up to MA to visit with my family. It was beautiful weather and all the dogs were around, yet the only camera used was on Nick's new (enV2) cell phone--i'll have to see if i can get him to download the few pics that he took of Tink in the sun!

Tink's back end appears to be a little more sore lately (well, she has more "uncomfortable" days or moments than i like to see)... I did get some "Sore no more" linament from my mom and it does seem to be helping to alleviate some of the pain (along with all the other internal supplements that she's been taking. And hopefully we'll both be to Nancy's for another acupuncture treatment in July too.
She seems happier though lately with the beautiful weather than she has been in the past few months as well. She contentedly wanders the house rather than relentlessly pacing and generally settles in for the night more easily (maybe that's because lately she's been settling in OUR bed rather than HERS : )

Long walks in the evening, marrow bones on sunday afternoons, twistix chewies and hotdog treats while getting her nails clipped have been the pattern lately.

I took Tink out this morning for our usual walk. It was beautiful with the sun shining, a light breeze, no humidity, and only a touch of dew left in the grass. Tink wandered around sniffing so confidently, so content and carefree. She reminded of times when we used to wander daily without looking at the clock so desperately, hurrying to get to the next "thing" on my to-do list. Realizing this made me smile and feel slightly sad all at once. Fortunately, I was able to shed my to-do list and Tink and I were able to wander aimlessly for our walk this morning without me feeling the need to walk a certain distance or get to a certain point. It was quite lovely and aimless. Tink once again reminded me that life is too short to rush through it getting from point A to point B all the time without ever really enjoying the journey. So while it may be someone counterproductive, I am going to give a more concerted effort to take my time outside with her in the beautiful weather and enjoy the beauty that God has given to us in nature and in my darling little boston terrier whose tenacity and steadfastness never ceases to amaze me.