Johnny & June

We are foster parents again.  This time we are temporarily housing two eight week old hound puppies.  The semi-local no kill shelter was contacted by a kill shelter in a neighboring county about taking in 34 puppies who were on death row, and sent out a plea for foster homes.

The no kill shelter was able to take all 34 puppies, but only if they could find foster homes for two weeks for all of them.  They were out of room themselves, and don’t typically keep puppies that haven’t been through all of their vaccines in the shelter. 

This is our first time fostering puppies.  We typically prefer older dogs or cats, but looking at the puppies’ sweet little faces and knowing that stepping up was literally the difference between whether they would live or die made us take the leap into fostering puppies.  We reasoned that it’s only a two week commitment.  Two weeks of something new and different for us really isn’t much compared to saving their lives. 

All 34 puppies arrived at the no kill shelter at 3:00 on Tuesday afternoon, and were all parceled out to their various foster homes by 7:30 that evening.  Some brave souls took groups of four puppies. 

Johnny and June weren’t named at the shelter.  They were the last two hound puppies in a carrier, so were sent with me for convenience sake as we hadn’t spoken up for specific puppies, just agreed to take two.  The foster coordinator told me we could name them.  It’s about a 45 minute drive home from the shelter, and the only time they stopped crying in the car was when country music was playing, especially anything old school.  At that point I had to name them Johnny and June! 

Johnny and June have to remain separated from Emma, and cannot go outside at all due to their age, coming from the first shelter, and vaccine status.  We have the puppy crate in the added on room because that’s the best place to keep anyone separated from the other fur kids.  It has changed up our routine a little bit, but so far it hasn’t been terrible.  It is more work having them around, but it seems to be worth it. 

Caring for them seems to mostly consist of constantly changing out the newspaper and cleaning their crate.  It also appears that they’re going to need near daily baths.  They are very loud when they want attention, but they play with each other and they sleep a lot.  They’re beginning to discover toys, which is fun to watch, and they seem to be developing their own little personalities.  June is feistier and wants to play and chew on things.  Johnny is cuddlier and wants to be held and petted. 

I’ve been told that they will likely end up on the northern transport program since hounds are usually adopted very quickly that way.  It’s just nice to be a very small part of that, and to know that soon they’re going to have their forever home(s).  

India

India is a foster dog staying with us temporarily until an adopter or more permanent foster home can be arranged.  She’s an eleven year old golden retriever who was taken to the shelter by her former owners because they got a new puppy and India ate the puppy’s food.  She was very stressed in the shelter, so my friend/co-worker Beth asked if she could spend a few days with us. 

I cannot think of many worse “reasons” for giving up a lifelong pet.  I know I shouldn’t judge, but I have them pegged as the villains (at least in my book) who view pets as possessions; India is registered and has papers, and they’ve had her since she was a puppy.  It sounds a lot like trading her in for a new model to me.

I just can’t begin to comprehend abandoning your dog after a decade of their companionship.  I’ve had Emma for over nine years, and I think about all of the life changes she has been though with me.  I couldn’t abandon her. 

India is proving to be a mostly agreeable houseguest; she’s house trained, doesn’t get on the furniture (even though we’ve invited her to) and is beyond patient with the quirky quartet of cats, even though Milo seems determined to find her breaking point.  Fortunately, she just walks away from him when he does things that would make more than a few dogs turn him into a snack!  Emma and India have a somewhat uneasy truce; they are both older dogs, set in their ways.  Their ways just happen to be different, but for the most part they seem to have agreed to live and let live. 

We have yet to make the leap into becoming full fledged foster parents.  We toss the idea around semi-regularly, though we just don’t seem to quite be there yet.  We have done some temporary fostering that has worked out well.  We are comfortable with that, and like to think it helps in some small way.  So India has been with us since Tuesday evening and will remain with us through the weekend. 

I have shared her story with nearly all of my rescue friends, many of whom have shared with their rescue friends, so we are very hopeful that the right person will hear about her soon.  I am truly amazed by the devotion and energy that some of these people have for helping pets (I keep saying I want to be like some of them when I grow up), so I am sure that her story will have a happy ending.  

Driving Gino

Gino - such a great little passenger.

Saturday was another transport day for me.  I have a special place in my heart for the dogs classified as “bully breeds”, so I was very happy to be able to participate in Gino’s transport.  He was pulled from a shelter in the lower part of South Carolina, where his prospects were very dismal, by a rescue group and is now in a foster home in Wisconsin.

A lot of people worked extremely hard to make Gino’s transport come together successfully.  There was a lot of networking going on to get all of the legs filled, and someone kind enough to let him stay at their house overnight.  This was one of those transports that really restored my faith in humanity; dozens of people, most of whom will never meet, working together to save a dog who’d been dealt a very bad hand.    It was a great feeling to be a very small part of that, even if only for an hour “leg”. 

Gino was an excellent passenger and one of the most loving dogs I’ve driven.  He isn’t in the best shape physically, but he has a wonderful personality, and seems to crave human affection.  He just wanted to constantly be petted and touched, and by all reports was always happy to meet his next chauffer.

This was also the first time my mom has ever come with me on a transport.  She came along for the transport, and then we had an afternoon together at the local tearoom and did some shopping.  It was nice for us to have a mother and daughter afternoon, and I think it was a good experience for my mom to see how the volunteer transports work.  I think now she understands why it’s something that is so important to me.

Volunteer Firefighters

Think about the last time the local fire department came to your home or business, or the last time they directed you around a wreck on the interstate.  There’s a pretty big chance that at least some of those people weren’t being paid for the work they were doing; they were volunteer firefighters.   

The reasons for becoming a volunteer firefighter are as varied as the men and women who choose to volunteer, but include following in a parent’s footsteps, a desire to help and improve the community, a need for something exciting, or a desire for positive role models.  Regardless of the reasons for volunteering, volunteer firefighters provide valuable services for their communities including responding to medical calls (approximately half of all volunteer firefighters have an EMT certification), traffic control, and rescue work, which includes everything from people stuck in elevators to vehicle extrication, as well as preparing landing zones for emergency helicopters. 

Volunteer firefighters are highly dedicated, usually spending a minimum of about 35 hours per month on training, meetings, and responding to calls.  Many have been volunteering for ten or more years, and plan to continue volunteering for many more years.