Foster #6: Teddy Ruxpin

Last Thursday, I posted about how we would be fostering a 3-year-old Terrier/Shepherd mix called Mrs. Beasley over the weekend. I also mentioned that Mrs. Beasley had entered the shelter from which Lucky Dog rescued her with her lookalike brother, Teddy Ruxpin. Well, I have now learned that when fostering it's best to expect the unexpected (this point had somewhat already been made when we fostered Margo and had to drive an hour home with her with the car windows cracked in 50 degree weather because she had pooped and puked on herself during transport and smelled so foul). When Mrs. Beasley was unloaded off of transport, it was discovered that she had somehow managed to partially re-open her spay incision during the trip. I was a bit anxious about caring for an unfamiliar dog in this situation, since it's not something I've had any experience with, so it was decided that a more seasoned foster would take Mrs. Beasley home with her, and we brought her brother, Teddy Ruxpin, home instead!

Teddy Ruxpin in the shelter

Despite the last-minute foster switch-a-roo, Teddy turned out to be one of the easiest fosters we've had. I sat in the backseat with him while Peter drove us home from transport, and he spent the ride affectionately trying to stick his tongue in my mouth or, when that failed, licking any part of me he could reach (my hands, my shoulders, my neck, etc.). When we arrived home we took him and Lily for the customary "get comfortable together" walk that we do with all our fosters, and when we arrived back home they hung out in the yard together with Peter until it started to rain. Then they came inside, where Teddy was polite about respecting Lily's boundaries, unlike two of our past foster pups with whom we had to do tie-down training to give Lily some space.

Teddy respecting Lily's boundaries

That night we had some friends over for s'mores on our new fire pit, and Teddy was quite the social butterfly, visiting with each person in turn and soliciting attention and petting. He really has an excellent temperament. While another of our fosters, Darling, appealed to me personally more (and beagles like her and Lily have a special place in my heart), I think Teddy's personality, of all the dogs we've fostered, is the most broadly "adoptable." He's just very steady and gentle, friendly but not hyper. I actually think that, with some training, he would make a great therapy dog. Of course, I'm sure he'd be perfectly happy just being a beloved pet if his forever family prefers that! He also didn't have any accidents while he was with us, and slept through the night in his crate no problem, not waking up until we got up and roused him. He's one of those easy, go-with-the-flow, fit-right-in kinds of dogs.

Unfortunately, while Mrs. Beasley got adopted at the siblings' first adoption event this past Sunday, Teddy is still looking for his family. I really am shocked that this great boy wasn't immediately snatched up. He's now staying with a long-term foster, though I can't imagine he'll be with her for very much time at all. If you're interested in learning more about Teddy Ruxpin, his petfinder profile can be viewed here. And if you think you'd like to adopt him, contact his adoption coordinator (her contact info is in the petfinder profile) ASAP! This fantastic pup is sure to get adopted very soon.

Find-a-Home Friday: Tallulah

Today's featured adoptable pet is Tallulah.

Tallulah is a beautiful purebred female Basset Hound. Don't believe anyone who says you can't find purebred dogs through a shelter or rescue! Approximately 25% of the dogs who end up in shelters are purebred.

Tallulah is about three years old and weighs about 50 pounds. She's good with kids and other dogs, but she needs a home without cats.

Tallulah is available for adoption through Tails of Hope. Her petfinder profile can be viewed here, and her Tails of Hope page (including many more photos) can be viewed here. Could Tallulah be the perfect pup for you? She can't wait to find her forever family!

Introducing Mrs. Beasley!

Introducing Mrs. Beasley, Lily's foster sister for this weekend! She will be arriving in the DC area on transport this Saturday. Mrs. Beasley is a 3 year old, approximately 35-40 pound Terrier/Shepherd mix. She was found wandering around with another dog, Teddy Ruxpin, who looks so much like her that he must be her brother. He will hopefully be coming up on the same transport as his sister.

We're looking forward to getting to know Mrs. Beasley this weekend. Check out her petfinder profile here. More details to come!

Wordless Wednesday: Living Room Wall Decor

Find-a-Home Friday: Diego and Milton

While dogs are the main focus here at Of Barks and Bones, given the fact that I grew up with cats and still love kitties (though we are currently a dogs-only household), I thought I'd take the opportunity to feature a very special kitten duo for today's Find-a-Home Friday: meet Diego and Milton!

These cuties are being fostered by my friend Lisa. As you can (probably?) tell from their photos, they are not related. They get along well and would make a great pair if someone was looking for two feline friends, but they can also be adopted separately.

While they are close in age (Diego is 13 weeks and Milton is 4 months), each little boy has his own personality. Milton is more outgoing (especially with strangers), and Diego is a bit more shy, though plenty affectionate once he gets to know you.

Diego

Milton

You can learn more about Diego and Milton's individual personalities, follow their adventures, and see cute photos and video of the boys over at Lisa's blog, Foster Stories. Milton and Diego are available for adoption through the Homeless Animals Rescue Team (HART), and their respective online bios, including information about how to adopt them, can be viewed here (Diego) and here (Milton). Please don't hesitate to share this post if you think you might know someone who could be Diego and/or Milton's perfect match!

Find-a-Home Friday: Zeke

In today's inaugural "Find-a-Home Friday" post, I would like to introduce a dog named Zeke.

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Zeke is a Weimaraner (maybe with something else mixed in?). Weimaraners are beautiful, sleek, silvery-gray dogs. President Eisenhower had a Weimaraner named Heidi. Personally, whenever I hear the word "Weimaraner" I always think of photographer William Wegman and his famous photographs of his Weimaraners in human clothes:

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Zeke is approximately 84 pounds and approximately 5-6 years old, which, in my opinion, is pretty much the perfect age. It's about the age Lily is at now. Dogs in that age range have gotten their puppy antics out of their systems and just want to hang out with you while you putter around the garden, watch TV, etc., yet they're still eager to go on outings with you to the park or to doggie events around the community like the ones we frequent with Lily.

Zeke was surrendered to a high-kill shelter in South Carolina through no fault of his own. Apparently, his previous owners were moving, and once they had loaded all their stuff in their truck they couldn't fit in Zeke. So, they dumped him at the shelter to likely be euthanized. Yes, you read that correctly. Zeke deserves a forever family who will never abandon him again!

Fortunately for Zeke, he was pulled from that high-kill shelter by Lucky Dog Animal Rescue and brought to the Washington, D.C. area to find his forever home. Zeke's petfinder profile can be viewed here, and it includes contact information for his adoption coordinator. Do you think Zeke could be the perfect match for you or someone you know? I bet he wouldn't even mind occasionally dressing up in human clothes if you feel the urge to re-create some of William Wegman's photos...

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Wordless Wednesday: More from the Creek

Lily at the Creek

The weather here in Maryland has been pretty unbearable lately, as it often is in the summer. The temperatures have been in the 90s, and the extreme humidity makes the heat feel so much worse. Usually in this kind of weather we wait to walk Lily until the evening, when the sun starts to go down and the air outside gets at least somewhat cooler. However, this past weekend Peter suggested that we take advantage of the fact that we were both off work (yay long holiday weekend!) and go for a daytime walk to the creek near our house.

Full disclosure: we have lived in our house for a little over two years now, and this is the first time that I had been to this creek. I didn't actually even know it existed. We are lucky enough to have lots of trails and public parks around where we live, and I have yet to explore all of them. Lily tends to get annoyed if we walk on a path and then simply turn around to take the same path home (like, "Mom, I already sniffed this stuff, this is boring!"), so I try to walk her on paths that go in a circuit to avoid her planting her feet and protesting when I try to get her to turn around. Therefore, I hadn't yet wandered down the path along which this creek lies. Peter knew about it, though, because he bikes regularly and had used this path for that.

Though I hadn't, Lily had actually been to this creek before with Peter. However, he said that on the few previous occasions when they had come, she had been curious about the water but not interested in getting in. Lily is typically not a fan of water, as I mentioned here. Based on anecdotal experience with other beagles, this seems to be a common beagle trait.

The walk from our house to the creek isn't long, only about five minutes. Still, by the time we arrived Lily was panting. When we reached the creek and detoured off the path over to it, Lily followed along willingly. She stopped at the water's edge to take a drink and then, to my surprise, she waded right in!

taking a drink

wading right in

We walked/waded up and down the creek bed a bit. The water was the perfect temperature, refreshingly cool but not freezing. Even at its deepest points the creek is only around six inches deep, so Lily didn't have to swim at all, though she did get her tummy wet. She's a shorty ;)

meandering along the creek bed

confounded by the water bugs on the surface of the water

"But Mom, I just want to say hi to the bunnies up there! Honest!"

queen of all she surveys

Now that I know the creek is there (it only took me two years!), it will definitely get added into our regular summer walk repertoire.  

Find-a-Home Fridays

I originally started this blog both as a place to write about and post photos of Lily (as an attempt to slightly ameliorate the fact that she was/is slowly taking over my facebook page) and as a way to bring attention to the adoptable dogs I foster and otherwise encounter through my volunteer work with various animal rescue organizations, principally Lucky Dog Animal Rescue. While the Lily aspect of the blog is chugging along smoothly, I feel like I've been slacking in my efforts to also use this blog to help other dogs who are still searching for a forever home like Lily has already found.

So, to rectify this lacking, I have decided to start a new feature which I will be calling "Find-a-Home Fridays." On (most) Fridays, I will post about an adoptable dog whom I find especially appealing and who is in need of a good home. The likelihood is that many of these dogs will be available through Lucky Dog; that is the organization with which I am most involved and therefore also the organization with whose dogs I am most familiar. However, I have a (somewhat masochistic) habit of occasionally browsing Petfinder, so there will also likely be some dogs I stumble across through that avenue. In addition, I will encourage any friends I have who are currently fostering (or any readers of this blog!) to send me photos and info about their foster dogs so that they too can gain a little extra exposure by being featured on the blog.

I do want to give credit where credit is due and (gratefully) acknowledge that this idea was inspired by my friend Lynn over at Faith, Trust, & Foster Pups and the "Share the Luck" feature she does on her blog. And, the decision to run the feature on Fridays was inspired by the "Adoptable Fridays" over at Dog Shaming (if you're not already addicted to Dog Shaming, you should be). I figure, the more of us who are working to raise awareness about the many wonderful adoptable pups out there, the better!

I also want to acknowledge that I realize that my little blog has relatively few readers. So, if you see a dog featured on Find-a-Home Fridays who you think is particularly cute, or who you think might be a great match for someone you know, PLEASE share my posts! Share, share away :)

Stay tuned for the first installment of Find-a-Home Fridays at the end of this week!

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Lily's Vacation Home

Many dog owners struggle with what to do with their pups when they go out of town. There are a variety of options, including putting the dog in boarding (also known as a "doggy hotel"), hiring a pet sitter, or arranging for the dog to stay with friends or family. We have been extremely lucky that, so far, we have never needed to put Lily in boarding. While I know there are some great doggy hotels that we certainly wouldn't rule out as options if needed in the future, for both financial and comfort reasons I prefer for Lily to stay with someone that we know. Boarding can be expensive (in our area it runs $40-$60 per 24 hour period), and I feel better knowing exactly who is taking care of Lil and that she's getting plenty of individual attention.

We particularly lucked out in that Lily now has what I refer to as her "vacation home." Peter's wonderful coworkers, Kendra and Steve, have been generous enough to let Lily stay with them almost every time Peter and I have gone out of town since we adopted her. Kendra and Steve have a young daughter, Audrey, and their own rescue dog, Lizzy, a Wheaten Terrier/Golden Retriever mix.

While Lily gets along well with pretty much all friendly dogs, she has a special relationship with Lizzy. They are clearly attached to each other, and it is so much fun to watch them play together or follow each other around. While I'm sure Lily's fondness for Lizzy is based in part simply on the fact that she has spent more time with Lizzy than with any other dog (at least since we adopted her), Lily and Lizzy also have very similar temperaments. They're both gentle and sweet, and they have a similar play style in that neither of them likes to play rough. I always feel better about leaving Lily behind to go on a trip knowing that she'll get to spend the time hanging out with her BFF.

Lily and Lizzy cuddling

We are so thankful to Kendra and Steve (and Audrey and Lizzy!) for generously making their home Lily's "vacation home." It makes a huge difference to me to be able to go out of town and not have to worry about Lily, knowing that she's in such good hands. The only thing I worry about each time is that when we return and go to pick Lily up she won't want to come home!

adorable picture that Audrey drew of Lizzy and Lily