I miss her

So it's been 6 days since Hope went to her forever home...and I miss her. Granted I've been so busy picking up mom and Rocky and Morrison, attending a memorial of a fallen friend, and making final preparations for my swim around Key West that I haven't had a lot of time to stop and think about how much I miss her.

Hope and I made the short trip to Mark and Kathleen's Friday, June 8 (hmmm...9 months to the date that we adopted Kira?!). The weather was looking nasty as we headed out...but there was a beautiful double rainbow in the direction we were headed. The drive took a little longer than it normally should, due to heavy traffic...but it gave me a few more minutes with my sweet, sweet Hope.

We arrived at M&K's to see several neighbors outside...so Hope got to make a GRAND ENTRANCE to her new neighborhood! All the neighbors OOOOHED AND AAAHED as we exited the car (and I'm fairly certain it was because of Hope...not me!! :>)

As soon as we entered Hope made herself at home. She remembered M&K and greeted them before checking out Angus and the rest of the house. Business was taking care of (contract and such), food was brought in from the car and Hope's little pink bunny (a gift from her foster grandmother) was placed on her futon.

We spent a little time talking about the past week...and then Kathleen was gracious enough to take my picture with Hope (how convenient that I brought a camera! :>)

I gave her a big hug and kiss and told her to be good and enjoy her forever home...and she went over to the sliding glass door and laid down to look outside. I gave M&K big hugs and made a quick exit before I lost control...managed to get to the car before the tears came. Hope is so very lucky to have been chosen by M&K (or did she choose them?? :>) They are wonderful people and I know they already love Hope and will lavish tons and tons of affection on her.

They actually called on Sunday to let me know Hope was doing really well...and to tell me she's become a lap dog!! Yay for Hope!

I'll probably foster another Pyr before long...but I need to give my heart a chance to recover...and I need to finish this swim and find a place to live for Mom. I'm fortunate to have two of my own fur balls that are all mine. I'm glad I could help Mark and Kathleen find another fur ball to love!

sigh...

Forever Family

It looks like Hope has found a forever family. Mark and Kathleen had contacted the rescue club last week after going to the pet adoption expo (that I missed b/c of swimming) last Saturday.

They previously shared a home with Punk (pumpkin) a blond german shepherd they had rescued from the woods behind Kathleen's office. Punk had many, many good years with Mark and Kathleen (and their Wire Haired Terrier, Angus) before old age won out...

They decided to find Angus a new sister and after seeing the Pyrs and talking to some owners thought they'd like a white furball!

I did their home visit just yesterday. I brought Hope with so she could help with the interview. My main job was to check on fencing, talk a little more about the breed. Hope's main job was to look adorable (check), survey the yard perimeter (check) and use her doggie senses to check out Mark and Kathleen (check and check).

Initial greetings were exchanged between all the two-legged and four-legged creatures! Angus was rather frustrated that he wasn't allowed down immediately to lead the introductions!

After a few minutes inside their beautiful home (GREAT artwork on the walls of bears and other wildlife!) we went out for the backyard inspection. I took a quick peek at the fence and Hope instantly made use of the bathroom facilities (just as I'm telling Mark and Kathleen that we've discovered Hope is afraid of the rain and would hardly go out this past weekend during Tropical Storm Barry and had messed in the house for the first and only time since we've had her!)

We watched Hope explore the big yard...including all the nooks and crannies. Eventually Angus was allowed down and instantly made contact with Hope. His initial sniffing was not a problem...but when he tried to get "fresh" with Hope she growled and squashed him down. He took the rejection well.

The humans talked for quite sometime about previous 4-leggeds in our lives and Hope's quirks and character!

Upon going back inside the house we spent most of the time on the floor with Hope...and she was quick to look to Mark and Kathleen for love and affection...especially when I sat on my hands and told her I couldn't pet her!!

The home visit ended after about 45 minutes. I told M & K they would need to let Terry know if they wanted to adopt Hope or if they were still interested in seeing more dogs. Apparently I was no sooner out of their driveway then they were calling Terry saying Hope had finished her inspection and they would like to give her a forever home. Terry called to ask how the visit went, after I relayed all of the above she told me they wanted to adopt Hope and I INSTANTLY started crying. It was a good cry and a sad cry.

I will be bringing Hope back to M & K's house this Friday and she will start her new life with them. I am so happy that we found such an awesome home for Hope. She's such a sweet, sweet dog and deserves lots of love and affection! I know she will keep Angus from getting "fresh" with her...but she'll also finally have a playmate that will PLAY with her. Kira and Patrick still kinda shun her sometimes...at least when Dave and I are looking....maybe they thought if we saw them being too nice to her we would have kept her forever.

Anyhow...I thought I should post this...make it official...before I change my mind and convince Dave to let me keep her!

A New Hope!

Just three weeks into Hope's stay and she's like a new dog! Hope is right there "in the mix" when Dave or I come home from work. She's not afraid to muscle her way past P & K for some "welcome home" attention. Hope craves affection and is very demanding in getting what she needs. She's definitely got the "head under hand" bump down...and she won't take no for an answer. She doesn't jump or lick though, just leans against you if she can.

Hope is slowly gaining weight, but still has 15 or so pounds to go. She appears to be a "daintier" Pyr with smaller paws and frame. I would guess she'll get up to 80 pounds at the most. Hope's fur was pretty short and dry after being rescued and cleaned up. However, it's already starting to grow back in and regain some of that classic Pyr softness. She still kinda looks like a "jarhead" though, due to the hair on her head being pretty short!! She has just the slightest champagne coloring on her ears and a few other spots...but she's mostly glowing white!

She's learning "sit" "down" and "shake", but sometimes get nervous and just does all three in rapid succession (knowing there's a treat at the end). We continue to walk her with Patrick and Kira. She still pulls a little and likes to smell EVERYTHING...but will walk at your side and behave, especially after a few blocks.

She LOVES the dog park. She runs around, plays with other dogs and enjoys the wide open spaces. She doesn't seem interested in the "water hazards" as of yet...not sure if that will change. She's also pretty good in the car...she lays or sits quietly and doesn't cause any "ruckus!"

Hope has also had the opportunity to meet some other family dogs and cats/kittens with absolutely NO problems! She allowed the kittens to walk all over her...they were especially in love with her tail! She simply sniffed them and let them explore!!

I'm torn between Hope needing a forever home with other dogs...or without. She tries to play with Kira and Patrick...but they sometimes shun her for reasons I can't figure out. She's still young enough that she's got some "puppy" in her and it breaks my heart that our dogs won't "be nice" and play! Although it did take Patrick and Kira a good 5-6 weeks to start playing together! Hope needs lots and lots of love and attention and I've found it's very hard to give "equal time" to all three dogs. So perhaps a home with only one other dog (after all we all only have two hands at the most!!) I haven't had her around small children yet so I'm not sure how she'd act, but I'd be surprised if she was anything but loving and gentle with them!

We are cleaning up an ear infection and treating a "cyst" on her leg with antibiotics. Other than those two things Hope appears to be in good health. There's been no GI problems.

I'm going to be very, very sad when Hope leaves our home for a forever family but I know it's important for her and for all the other Pyrs out there that will need a foster home someday. My HOPE for Hope is that she finds a family who can shower her with love and affection and spend lots of time walking and playing with her. She's just so sweet and deserves a forever home.

Baby Steps

Yay for Hope! She seems to be slowly coming out of her shell.

On Sunday afternoon she was romping around in the back yard and went potty!! Yay for her! I never thought one could be so happy about dog poop!

She's still pretty skittish...doesn't take much for her to "duck and cover"...tail between her legs running for whatever den she can find. She loves the crate...spends quite a bit of time in there and has also found my walk-in closet/cave. She somehow manages to lay all the way under the bottom rack of hanging clothes and doesn't seem to mind the half-carpeted/half-cement floor. I actually have to coax her out of the closet and into the living room when we are home so she is around us and P & K. Of course, getting her out there is easy...keeping her out there requires constant petting and love and affection! I don't mind so much...but P & K are rather suspicious of why SHE'S getting all the attention. I'm trying to love on them just as much...but they seem pretty mad at me right now.

Hope is eating well...she gets breakfast, lunch and dinner with a few treats in between. She usually doesn't finish all her breakfast so she gets whatever is left at lunch time. Then she gets a new bowl of dry puppy food, wet puppy food, cheese and a little bit of hot water to mix it all together...she LOOOOVES it! It's so nice to see her eat...I can't wait to fatten her up and be able to pet her without feeling her ribs and hips and spine!! Poor, poor baby!

She's getting a little more playful...bouncing around when we first come home.

We are also working on the leash...she goes between "heeling" and wanting to explore...she practically tries to crawl up your leg and then sees something "over there" and trips you to get there! So we will continue to work on good leash behavior (like my dogs are actually well-behaved on the leash) and all the sit, stay, come, etc. commands.

So far, so good though! Makes me happy for Hope!!!

More to come!

The beginning

Most of you know that Dave and I are huge dog lovers and that we currently have two dogs. Patrick, our neurotic Golden Retriever/German Shepherd(?) mixed breed. He's approx. 7 1/2 years old and when not being neurotic...is a wonderfully sweet and caring little guy. His first sister, a great pyrenees named Cloe, had passed away back in January 2005. Broke our hearts when we lost Cloe...she was the perfect dog in so many ways. Dave and I finally decided to adopt another Pyr in Sept 2006. We thought Patrick could use a playmate...and I think we both kinda missed having a big whitey around the house. So...we contacted the Florida Great Pyrenees Club and had an adoption home study (basically they wanted to know if we understood what big furballs Pyrs are...and if we had a yard and fence as they need lots of "roaming" room!)

Long story short...we wound up adopting Kira Sept 8, 2006...and after Patrick got over having to share his house and owners again...things have been quite peaceful around the Reeger-Gaffney household.

Well...I guess that wasn't good enough for me...a few weeks back I got an email from the rescue club about an overwhelming amount of dogs they currently have in house. They get calls from all over the South (KY, TN, GA, and of course all of Florida) to take in abused, abandoned, unwanted Great Pyrenees. My heart always breaks when I read all the stories of the horrible things that people do to thier "pets". How you can keep your pet chained to a tree in the blazing sun with no food, water or care is beyond me. That's of course a nice story. They've rescued dogs that have been so horribly emaciated they didn't think the dog would make it. They've rescued dogs that they found buried up to their neck in mud...for what must have been DAYS...fleas had done so much damage the poor dog was missing hair and sunburned and again...they didn't think he would survive. But this rescue club has this incredible group of volunteers that provide shelter and rehabilitation for these beautiful pups. Some of them have been doing this for 10 years!! They've rescued over 1000 pyrs finding them permanent homes (or in the case of working dogs, farms to work on)!

So...I get this email saying they need help fostering. Dave and I talk and agree that when I go to the bi-annual picnic I will talk with Terry...one of the rescue coordinators (and the one we adopted Kira from). She tells me about Hope. Hope's been in rescue less than a week...she was seen living in an orange grove near Orlando for approx. 3 weeks and was rescued by a fellow pyr lover who called the Terry to see if they could foster. Hope is severely underweight (came in at 53 pounds...should be above 75) and appears to have scarring from a chain or collar that was too tight around her neck. She's only about 18 months or so...and was sooooo sweet at the picnic. When I saw her I called Dave and told him about her. She reminds me of Cloe with her dainty feet and tiny face. I met up with Terry last night at our meeting spot in Wesley Chapel and got all the fixin's of a good foster home (crate, bowls, food, medicine). Hope was scared to death...didn't want to get out of their truck...didn't want to get in mine. Once she was in she curled up on the front seat and kept her head down.

I'm used to my dogs half hanging their bodies out the windows of the truck...barking at passing cars...ears flapping in the wind. She wanted none of that...in fact I ended up keeping the windows up while we were driving b/c the wind noise seemed to scare her. However, when we were stopped I would put the window down and she lift her head up to smell the outdoors (good sign!)

When we got home I had to coax her out of the car...and of course she could hear Patrick talking to her from inside the house. I don't think he was welcoming her with open paws! Anyhoo...we open the door and I lead her in...Patrick and Kira are all over her smelling and sniffing and Kira actually growled at her. I immediately put Kira in a down position and brought Hope through the house. She seemed pretty frightened of everything...didn't want to walk through doors or down hallways. I gently coaxed her through the entire house and then took them outside. She immediately ran around in the back yard...all the while Patrick and Kira hot on her heels to see who she was and why she was in their yard. I never saw her go potty on that first trip out...didn't think much of it...new surroundings and all.

The dogs and I retire inside...Hope finds a spot she likes in the office...enough of a den to feel safe yet she can still see what's happening in the living room where Patrick and Kira are begging for some of my dinner (we have a no people food for the dogs rule around here...but you'd think they didn't know it!)

Again...I digress...Hope eventually comes out and lays on the floor by the couch...she already has the "hand bump" down to a science...as soon as you stop petting her she pushes her head under you hands and bumps it back into petting position. She stays standing for a good 20 minutes before sitting...then sitting for another 20 till she lays down...and then finally puts her head down...

She didn't like the t.v. much, kept looking at it to make sure those people weren't actually going to come walking into our living room. I tried to give her a treat...but she wanted nothing to do with it...getting her to gain weight is gonna be tough.

When Dave finally got home after 1 am...he was pretty surprised at how scrawny she is...like me, he can't understand why someone would neglect a dog so horribly. We coax her up and outside...but this time she doesn't want to sniff around or explore...she barely leaves the sliding door...looking at us pitifully to let her back in. I go outside with her and coax her around the yard...but again...no potty. Hmmmm?? I wonder if she went at Terry and Dave's before being transported?

We decide to go to bed...she follows me into our bedroom and immediately finds Kira dog bed on my side of the bed. Kira hardly ever spends the night in our room...she prefers the cool tile floor...but I think Kira's not gonna be happy about being displaced!

When we wake up Sunday morning Hope has to be coaxed up and out again...it's early, only 7:45am...Kira and Patrick happily run around but Hope is not interested in the yard. I eventually lead her around the yard several times on leash. She sniffs here and there but is mostly not interested in exploring. As soon as I unleash her she runs back for the door. I let her in and keep P & K outside so I can try and feed her. I get her food ready and put it down..she starts to eat and Patrick breaks in trough the slider (he can nudge it open with his snout when he's being persistent!) I make the mistake of yelling at Patrick to stop and Hope skitters off thinking she's in trouble...even once I get P & K sequestered into the bedroom and coax Hope back to her food she's too nervous to eat. So, I decide to take Cesar Milan's advice and use a walk to move her forward. We get leashed up and I take her on the middle loop that we often take P & K on...she does okay...sniffing often and checking things out...but she's still not going potty..at all...not even a little tinkle. I'm definitely feeling concerned now. Hope's not real happy when cars pass by...she practically trips me trying to get between my legs. She seems leash trained (as in she walks next to you and doesn't pull, etc.) but I think it's more out of fear then discipline. She's terrified of everything that moves.

When we got to our street...Buzz was outside. He left his yard to come say hi (he's kinda a big dog) and his owners yelled for him to come back. I don't know if Hope was afraid of the yelling or the advancing dog (he's actually very sweet and has never been aggressive...he just likes to say hello to his friends that walk by!) Anyhow...she was scared to death and I had to just keep her walking...poor thing.

We get home, P & K are still in the bedroom so I put her food back down...she's still not interested. She's actually sitting in the crate that's set up in the sun room. She went in there on her own and I guess we'll leave her there for awhile. I'm very worried about the potty thing...if she doesn't go by tonight I may call Terry for some advice. I want to make sure she's okay. Hope's been through a lot these last few weeks and days. I think she just needs some time to adjust...but I really want her to eat and go potty...those are essential!!!

Anyhow...sorry for the long first post. I decided I wanted to keep a journal to watch her progress. I've never done dog rescue before...and I fear I may be too soft-hearted for this kind of thing. I just want to hug her and love her and protect her...but I know she needs to move past this fear. So we can find her a forever home...that's our goal after all.

Hopefully with lots of love, attention, discipline, exercise...and a lot of food...she can be a big fat whitey soon!!

Here's the link to the rescue club page and pics of her first bath. The website is under construction but the dogs available for adoption are all there...they keep that section up to date!!

http://www.floridapyrs.org/RescueDogPages/Hope.htm

Okay...gonna go check on all the 4 legged creatures!!