A year (nearly) of fostering - Part 3

This entry begins with Spock.

I agreed to pick Spock up from the country ranger under the thought process that he was a small fluffy dog, he wouldn't take long to get adopted. He was originally living with a family in the country and then when they had children, they passed him onto another family who then also had children. Good lord, and he was only 18 months old, so unfortunately he ended up in the pound.

When we picked him up, he was pretty dirty and very shaggy. A bath helped and we soon found out he had a penchant for any items left on the floor. To my boyfriend's horror he chewed through a laptop cord. He got along well with Ebony except for the occasional humping, and he was fine with Sabrina. They would sometimes play with each other, Spock being not that much bigger than her.

You can find my original entry about him here.


So he got booked in for all his vet work and got a lovely new haircut. He went on trial with a young couple who were just engaged. Unfortunately about a week into it, they called wanting to send him back as he had displayed food aggression towards her dad and with them looking to having babies not long after getting married it was a concern. I appreciate their decision but I was also frustrated. He's been in a pound and passed between at least 2 families - of course he's going to have some issues! Anyway his next trial was successful and he went to a older couple who are retired and give him plenty of walks. They changed his name to Jack.
I got quite attached to him, as we did end up having him for at least two months but I got a lovely update the other day:



Spoilt, courtesy of new owners

Hi Amiee,
 We are fine thank you. Jack has settled very well but can still be a
bit disobedient at times. He will still chew socks and undies if the
occasion arises ie me leaving a bedroom door open so I reckon its my
fault for not closing the door. He is a little character and has
brought so much pleasure into our lives. He gets a reasonably long
walk every morning a shorter walk in the afternoon and then another
shorty just before bed.

Rotti on the left, Girly on the right

Unfortunately I lied last week and I have another sad story. We took in three puppies only for a week as they were surrendered (accidental pregnancy). They were only about 4/5 weeks old and pretty small but they were staffy cross mixes so not too small. They were all very cute and we only took them because it coincided with my boyfriend being off for 3 of the days and me for 2. They were still sleeping together in a crate for a lot of the day as they were so small, but it was the most work I'd ever had to do. All they seemed to do was eat, sleep, play and excrete. A lot. The cuteness factor was right up there but then there was the never ending use of so many newspapers for messes and the 4 hourly feeds (and then the mess that came after). It reminded me of that episode of the Simpsons where Santa's Little Helper's girlfriend has puppies and as soon as Bart pulls on socks, they're ripped to shreds. Anything they could get their teeth on would be chewed with those tiny sharp little puppy teeth, clothes, feet etc. But, they were darling. We gave them very unoriginal temporary names of Girly (the only girl), Rotti (the one with rottweiler like face markings) and Tubsy (the chubby one who always ate the most and got the hugest stomach afterwards).

RIP Tubsy



They moved onto a new carer after the week, someone who was home more often and I was sad to see them go.
When they were about 3 months old they went in to get their vet work done and unfortunately Tubsy (who was actually a girl, how did we miss that?) died on the operating table.
It still hurts, thinking of the little pup. It does happen sometimes with the anaesthesia used when desexing the animals young. But they don't believe in re homing animals unsterilised as we are trying to decrease the problem not add to it. I still get upset thinking about her.

Such a sweetie

Buddy was a 'labrador' I was asked to go pick up. He was meant to be a short term foster but we just kept him until he found a home. i cannot recall the amount of times I have suckered my boyfriend into letting me get '1 more foster' under the pretense of it being a Labrador or a puppy. Although in this instance it was a honest mistake, but he obviously looks more dingo or collie than Labrador. He was being fostered with a view to adoption with a family but he somehow got out during a storm and someone handed him in to a local vet. The people fostering him didn't even tell the organisation he'd gone missing and didn't want him back. Words. Fail. Me.

Buddy was a sweet dog but Obsessed with Sabrina. He would just stalk her, but I think if she actually turned around and showed him any attention he would just run away. He loved chasing balls at the park, other dogs and he even would bring the ball back every time. My dad loved him.
He got maybe 1 call from someone interested but they had a couple of cats and he would be an outside dog for a while, so that didn't seem like the best option. I thought he was really cute, but no one ever knows why some dogs get heaps of interest and others none I guess.

He ended up finding a home with a lovely family (the second call for him), who had previously rescued a dog. They had great kids who were interested in saving a rescued dog. I'm not sure if I want kids, seeing some of what goes on in our neighbourhood but these kids gave me hope.
He was such a sweet dog, the first time I visited him to drop off his vet records after the 2 week trial, he made a sooky noise and jumped up on me. I couldn't believe his previous owners didn't care to keep him.
After the news about Gizmo, I emailed the new owners for an update on Buddy just to be safe:

Hi Amiee,

Thanks for your email - nice to hear from you.
Buddy is going really well. After much effort (as you know, he's not a big eater) we finally managed to put some weight on him - he's now about 23kg.
He and Sophie are still getting on well. They enjoy a good play together and sleep together in the laundry at night. However, Sophie is more an indoor dog and Buddy an outdoor dog. They both seem happy with this.
He copes well when we go out. He only appear at the gate when we get home if we have been away for several hours, and is always very glad to see us then. He doesn't bother if it's only been for a couple of hours. Sophie, on the other hand, is a complete sook! She whines the minute I walk out the door. I'm so glad that she has Buddy for company now. (When we leave the house, she is put outside with Buddy).
He has shown no aggression whatsoever with any of our visitors. I find him a very calm dog (except when he first meets people, which is pretty normal behaviour. Even then, he soon calms down once he's said hello).

I still find him a bit of a handful on the lead, but my husband and older daughter manage ok, so I leave the walks to them!

We are very grateful that you gave us Buddy.

I remember that you were going to have a break from fostering dogs. Have you gone back to it at all?

I have attached a couple of photos. Hope you like them.

Okay I swear part 4 will be the last!