Why Saturdays Are My Favorite Day

Saturdays...
                          Are transport days.
              

                                   
Saturdays... 
                           Are puppy days.














Saturdays...
                         New friends are made.
                                    












Saturdays...
                          So many lives are saved.

Saturdays...
                         Will be remembered always.













Saturdays...
                          Bring tears of joy.

The Road to Becoming the Crazy Dog Lady Part 2

And then came the call...

 "Wanna puppy?" 

Well of course we want a puppies. Or 3. Or 5..???

School had just ended and what the heck. The girls had been begging me for puppies. Itty, bitty, baby puppies. 

Enter Droopy(L), Harry(R) & Hogan(Middle)

and then a week later Kim & Khloe Pawdashian. 

Yep, 5 puppies plus our Coco. 

So that brings us to 7 fosters from April to early July. Who would have guessed that after years of being a devout cat person I would suddenly start to become The Crazy Dog Lady????

 8.) Huckle
 9.) Frannie
10.) Big James
11.) Honey
12.) Bart Cooper
13.) Malcolm
14.) Gabby
15.) Angel
16.) Pippa
17.) Samson (Legacy)
18.) Herbie
19.) Holland (Nanuk)
20.) Rousseau
21.) Rachel 
22.) Cassidy

And soon Big Fluffy Dog Rescue, our new network of friends and these precious, sometimes precocious, pups started becoming our lives. They became our priority and our passion. Rescuing dogs, fostering homeless dogs began to completely fill the hole in our lives. 




23.) Fielding
24.) Scarlett
25.) Teton
26.)Charlie
27.) Belle
28.) Clarice
29.) Sarge
30.) Jake 
31.) Chloe
32.) Buddy the Elf
33.) Elliott
34.) Ryker (Legacy)
35.) Daisy
36.) Rhonda
37.) Collin (Legacy)
38.) Joey (Legacy)
40.) Stanley (Legacy) 
41.) Sailor (Legacy) 
42.) Maddie (Legacy) 

With each new face we learned so much more about dogs, rescue, teamwork, patience and love. We made new friends. We saw our teenage daughters choose to come out of their rooms, put their electronics down and be a part of something special. 

There is nothing to prepare you for the moments that come with fostering these dogs. 

So many have come to us scared, shy and broken.

Some in pain or healing from old injuries and neglect. 

Many are not housebroken. 

Several have thought the leash a most horrific torture device. 

One we couldn't touch for the first 3 days he was here. 
Why? 
Because he had never known a loving touch. 

Some flinch at loud noises, some at sudden movement,
 some at everything. 

Cassidy was too scared to even make eye contact
 for the first 2 weeks we had her. 

So many people say 

"I can't foster because I would want to keep them all." 

or

 "It would be to hard to let them go." 

So it wold be easier to sit by and know that they could die in a shelter? 

In a shelter lying on the cold, wet concrete floors? 

Is it better to know they are taking room where another dog could have been saved in his place?

 A dog that will be euthanized because the shelter is full and they are older, sick or just not as adoptable as others. 

We have opened our home and hearts to 32 full-time fosters and numerous overnight, weekend and temp fosters in the 11 months since we started with Big Fluffy Dog Rescue on April 6, 2013. 

Belle's new Mom sent us this special Valentine! 

Although a piece of our hearts goes out the door with each adopted dog we have received so much more than we have given. 

With each picture and email update we receive we are reminded why we foster and are hearts are whole again. 

Big James and his new brother.

Kim now Abbie

Elizabeth was a weekend foster. 

Pippa "The Hugger" now lives in NH.

Holland now Nanuk never left. We foster failed!   

Cassidy holding Rousseau & Rachel.

Drove to TN and back in 48 hours to bring home
9 puppies and a Great Pyr with heart problems.

The "R" puppies 

Malcolm gets an ice cream on
Treat Your Dog Day!

Huckle now lives on Long Island with his brother Shea (left).

Sarge finally relaxes after weeks of rehab.

Even our Christmas Card photo included our current foster, Cassidy (middle).

Fielding, now Bentley, is a huge goofball.

Cassidy welcomes our weekend foster Velvet.

We drove Dessa all the way to NJ
 to meet her new family!

Herbie's new Mom waited 4 weeks
to take him home while
he healed from a comical medical
condition at our house.

Teton, now Tito, loves
snuggling with his new family.

Jake learning not to be scared of men.

Chloe rescued from a horse farm in AL
 was over-bred. She now lives for naps
in the sun on her dog bed.

Clarice showered me with kisses
when we picked her up at transport.

Herbie now Hobbes with his brother Mowgli.

Jay at transport.

Follow this blog

The Road to Becoming the Crazy Dog Lady Part 1

  I've been trying for 2 weeks to write about my recent trip to Alabama, to experience the Southern end of dog rescue, and have been unsuccessful. I finally realized I was trying to start in the middle of my story. 

  So back to the beginning we go... 

 On July 21, 2012 we packed up the kids and headed to CT. The kids thought we were headed to the beach. Little did they know we were going to meet the transport truck that was carrying our newly adopted puppy, Coco.  

By early Spring Coco had turned 8 months old and and was pretty full of herself. She started destroying her "babies" 

      

  and smothering the cats. She had more energy than we could handle so we decided another dog to keep her busy might be a good idea but just weren't ready to commit to a full time 2nd dog in the house. I kept seeing a friend post pictures of her adorable foster dogs and the idea started taking hold. I mulled it over for about a week before submitting my foster application to  a rescue group called Big fluffy Dog Rescue based in Nashville, TN. 

   

   

Once our application got approved Coco and Daddy jumped right into prepping the backyard for our new arrival. We put up a kennel and installed some sod. 

Within a week we welcomed our very first foster dog, Brinkley, a 1 yr old sight hound/lab mix and Coco was so happy to have a friend to play with!

   

Cassidy, my younger daughter, and I started going to dog events every weekend to show off and promote Brinkley.


Brinkley met her forever family at the "Paws in the Park" event in South Windsor, CT. 

Her new Mom works at a veterinary office, she has a human brother and sister and to this day loves long naps on the couch and chasing the resident cats! 

Miss Coco was sad to she her new best friend go and let us know with deep sighs and lots of moping in her recliner. 

A few days later we headed back to the transport stop to pick up foster #2. Redmond is a 8 month old flat coat retriever/spaniel mix who had been rescued from a hoarding case. The poor boy was recovering from mange and poor care. He had bald spots and sores on his body. The tip of his tail had no fur whatsoever. 

We also picked up Simon. Simon had a foster lined up but needed a place to crash for a couple nights until they could come pick him up. 

We started calling Redmond "Lil' Bear" as he was just the sweetest little bear cub we had ever met. Lil' Bear stayed with us for just shy of 6 weeks. Coco loved every second with her new friend and we enjoyed having 2 exhausted puppies! So far fostering these rescue dogs from the South was just perfect for our family. Coco seemed to really enjoy teaching her new friends how to go up and down stairs, play with toys and behave in the house. 

Lil' Bear was still with us on May 30th when my husband, Jay, had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital. Lil' Bear was an angel for everyone who came over to help take care of the dogs in my absence. When I finally made it home and into bed at 1:30 a.m. he immediately started attacking his crate door and barking like a madman. Knowing he would most likely destroy my house and pee all over the carpet but knowing I needed to sleep more I decided to let him out. My sweetest little black bear hopped right up into my bed and snuggled me all night long. He just knew I needed comforting. When Jay came home from the hospital he slept with him every night, snuggled in Jay's arms with his head on the pillow next to Jay's. 

Lil' Bear was adopted by a friend of a friend and we enjoy frequent updates from Bear & his family. Bear has 2 human brothers and a huge yard to run and play in. His fur all grew back eventually and he is a healthy, happy pup!





Part 2 coming soon...


Tweet

Follow this blog