Roxy has been here two weeks

Roxy has been here about two weeks now -- and I apologize very much for only just now getting up a couple of pictures of her. 

I need not have worried at all about Roxy's activity level, that's for sure.  She is a docile friend.  To the point of being timid really.  She is easy to walk on the leash, has become very accustomed to the crate, and although she has a very large booming bark that would scare anybody half to death she has only seen reason to use it three times since she has been here.  All three of those times were when strangers ventured onto our front walk while she was outside, and after two Woofs that fluttered my shingles, she was done when I reached down to pat her and turn her towards the door and she calmly came inside with me. 

She is happiest when we are all sitting quietly in the living room together and she can curl up near by and be a part of the group.  She is not pushy about seeking attention, but she is a good companion.

She'll be here at least two more weeks as she continues to recover from her heartworm treatment -- and the day she returns we will certainly miss her.  In the meantime, I will work on getting some better pictures of our old man, Roxy.

Roxy is now visiting us

I was able to bring Roxy home yesterday -- and sweeter dog you could never find.  She is exceptionally calm and quietly friendly.  She will be a great dog with kids, or older people.  I took some pictures, but I am having some battery issues this morning and I can't get them uploaded just yet.
She looks like an old man -- my sons all agree.  The people at the Humane Society call her a Lab mix, but she is brindle colored with wiry hair and fuzzy eyebrows -- which all combines for a slightly comical look.  We love her already.
Roxy is EXCELLENT on a leash -- not even the slightest tug, which is just what the doctor ordered -- literally. 

Roxy will be coming to visit

We are looking forward to bringing Roxy home to visit next Thursday.  Roxy will be treated for heartworms, so she will be needing to stay quiet.  I am told that she is pretty calm.  Since she will only be able to go on short outings -- she and I will be able to return to good  health together.  While my eye finishes its healing process she will be a good friend to get to know.

Preparing to foster again

Well, the surgery on my eye turned out to be quite the experience -- and although it was not painful, or debilitating, the recovery was long and required a lot of quiet time.  We are now through the worst of it, though, and finally able to return to a life.  I am looking forward to being able to foster again.  A few animals have come up lately, but the ones we thought we could take have gone to other foster homes.  Which is fine, they are being cared for.

Keep checking back, we'll be having a guest soon.

See you later ---

We have not taken in a new foster friend for the last week or so, for a couple of reasons.  One of those reasons is that I am headed to St. Louis tomorrow for some surgery on my left eye.  I probably will not be posting for the next week or so.  We are looking forward to recovering and being able to foster once again.

Be sure to check out the upcoming volunteer classes being offered.  You can find information at the Champaign County Humane Society web site.  We have found fostering to be a terrific experience for our family.  It has brought us great joy and some sadness.  Just playing a small part in helping these animals is an extremely rewarding experience.  And obviously -- since we need to take off these weeks for the surgery -- it is a commitment that you can work into your life as it fits.

See you soon

Shadow and Lark

And our two doggie residents?  We've had Shadow several years now.  We adopted him from the Humane Society following the tragic death of our first family dog, Rusty.  Shadow is a mixed up mutt with a lot of spanial in him, which means he is not exactly bright and is extremely affectionate and enthusiasitic.  It took several years, but he finally does respond reliably to a sit command.  He continues to pull horendously on a leash and is NOT a pleasure to walk.  Regrettably we have not worked with him consistently on this problem, it is far too easy to let him have his exercize in our fenced back yard. Unfortuanately, on one walk -- while on a leash with my son who was about 15 at that time -- Shadow spied a squirrel across the street and bolted right into the path of a car.  He broke a rib, punctured a lung, and broke a back leg very near the hip joint.  He did recover, but the cold weather really bothers him.  His out door trips tend to be brief in the winter.  He is very quick about getting his business done, and getting back in the house.
Shadow is the older of our two dogs -- but Lark is the larger.  She is mixture of Lab, German Shepherd, and Husky.   She is a smart girl and has finally grown out of her puppy years and is becoming a very pleasant companion rather than just goof ball.  She enjoys walking, and needs to do so more.  She also pulls -- not as bad as Shadow, but bad enough.  It really is not that the dogs need more training -- we need more training in being more effective and consistent with them on a leash.  The both have good house manners -- but I must admit that I have failed miserably at teaching them good leash behavior.
We got Lark because my youngest son very much wanted a dog of his own.  My husband and I had told him that if he maintained feeding, watering and caring for Shadow independently without being reminded for some period of weeks that I no longer remember, that he could have a dog of his own.  Within a day of being told that my oldest son brought him home an abandoned puppy that he had found.  The puppy turned out to have a chip, had been adopted from the Humane Society, and later dumped out beside the road.  We adoped the puppy, and Judah fully lived up to his agreement.  Unfortunately, that dog was too smart for his good and found a way to push under our fence, was hit by a car and killed.  A few weeks later, my husband found Lark being offered free by a farmer in Indiana and brought him home for Judah.  She was a pretty young puppy at the time;  looking back at the pictures it is  hard to remember how young and small she was.  We did not have a crate that first night and placed her in two laundry baskets wired together.  She made it clear from the outset that she would sleep absolutely anywhere -- anywhere that she could see Judah that is, crate or no crate, but she had to see Judd.  She knew whose dog she was from that first night on.

Mike and Ashes

Mike is pictured with Zippy in the side bar.  He is the cat closest to the front.  Mike is our smart cat.  My brother-in-law  rescued him and his sister from a ditch in Indiana as tiny kittens.  They had been abandoned as coyote food since there was no way they were going to survive.  He and his wife bottle fed them and cared for them, however when their baby was born they did not feel like they could keep them and they came to live with us.
It was the same summer we were catching feral cats and they brought our numbers up to six cats living in the house right then.
When Mike and Ashes came to us, they still were not full grown -- sort of in their teen years.  One day when I went in the kitchen, Ashes was laying under the table, and she looked a little odd.  I leaned down to look at her and realized there was a mouse between her paws.  When she sat up the mouse walked around her in a circle, stopped back in front of her, stood on its hind legs and stretched up to her.  She tipped  her head and touched noses with it, laid back down, and the mouse curled up between her paws.
Now don't get me wrong, I thought this little scene was lovely -- but not in my kitchen.  So I went and got Valiant who was about 8 inches long at this point.  But since he was raised by a wild mama cat, not a human with a bottle he knew exactly what to do with the mouse and was very eager to give Ashes pointers.  Being an intelligent -- although inexperienced -- kitty, she learned quickly.
Ashes eventually went to live with a neighbor, but Mike has stayed on.  He is by far the most intellegent of our crew -- and he knows it.  He is obviously disdainful of the other cats.  He listens -- and I do mean LISTENS -- to classical music and responds to it.  There is one piece by Schoenberg that he has an obvious distaste for.  He believes something lives in the printer and scanner.  He knows what the door knob is for.  He watches television.  He knows he is not allowed in my room, but that the foster animals are.  He sits at the door and looks in at them if we have it open for a moment, although the other cats never even realize anybody is in there. 

In the summer we block off the living room with blankets and put a window air conditioner in the room.  There may or may not be a gate behind the blanket depending on if the ferret is out.   Zippy and Dart act as though it is always there and jump up on the couch to go over it even when it is not there. Jack just runs into the gate.  Mike will carefully pull the cover aside every time and check.

Mike has a very soft purr. You almost have to lay your ear against his body to hear it. But he is very relaxed and affectionate -- loves to rub his chin and head on your arm. He doesn't mind if you are not petting him, he will rub his head on your hand or arm and pet yourself.