Puppy Fostering: And Then There Were.....

.....None.

Hope has left the building....

Hope and her new Mom. April 21, 2013

Little Hope, who really loved lap sitting, is gone.  She went to her new home today.

I confess.  I am a sap. I was very weepy when it was time to let her go.  I really was pretty choked up. She spent a good portion (ten-plus episodes worth of THE WEST WING) on my lap, while I held bones, Kongs and rope toys for her to chew on as she recovered from her spay and a mild infection.

She wanted to play with Uncle Artie so much.  I confess I would let them play a bit, just to get her yah-yahs out.  The nice thing about these pups is when they crashed, they CRASHED!!!

"Please play with me, Uncle Blooby!"

They were messy beyond belief and major chewers. To be fair, I think all puppies are.  Elke was pretty awful as I recall. Hope was a huge barker and screamer!  They let you know, in no uncertain terms, loudly, vociferously when they were hungry in the morning and evening.  That's a noise that could wake the dead. 

Their personalities were different. 

Dozer, April 16, 2013

Dozer was a pretty tentative guy almost shy, yet he loved to wrestle with Artie!  Those two would go at it non-stop. Hope was more adventurous, more vocal, and if the wrestling really started in earnest, she duck in between your legs.  

Dozer and a friend's daughter, Bronwyn....

They both were very people oriented (which is wonderful) and love to smell, smell, smell and put anything and EVERYTHING into their mouths. They were seriously into rough-housing with each other and Uncle Artie.  Chasing things...not so much.  They'll have to learn to play fetch, and they can. 

Hope, April 20, 2013

I hope their new families do right by them.  I hope they keep them socialized and take them to dog classes and get them started right. That's the part you don't know about..  That's the crap shoot.  Are they going to not give up in those horrible puppy times to come?  And they are pretty horrible.  Having a puppy is NOT for the faint of heart. Having a good puppy is REALLY not for the faint of heart. These puppies have had every chance for success that we foster parents could have given them.  Kudos and hats off to the foster family who had mom and all the babies....they really had a huge task!

All the new owners I met and heard about are bringing their new pup into homes with other dogs.  This could be a great thing, it could be crappy too.  It depends.  

All I can do now is pray that for all five puppies it's a "stick!"  That these are their forever homes.  That these are nice, responsible, caring people. 

The hard part, for me, was not "letting them go." I won't miss cleaning up never-ending pee and poop, cleaning and rearranging the puppy pen 3-4 times a day and watching them like a hawk. The Goodbye Time couldn't come fast enough.

The hard part? It's letting them go on a wing and a prayer into an uncertain future that you have absolutely no control over.  Sensing that the new owners just don't want to linger; they want to get going.  "Come on lady, take the damn check so we can get the hell out of here!" 

You'd like one more snuggle goodbye but they're not "yours" anymore.  Seeing them drive away as you wave goodbye while the new owners are probably thinking, "God, is't that pathetic!"

To Quote Khalil Gibran:

Your children are not your children. 
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. 
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you...... ......For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. 
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. 
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. 

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; 
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.They come through you but not from you, 

Dozer and Hope: Fly high, be good, live long, be loved and cherished until it's time (many, many years from now) to go to The Bridge where Blooby will meet you with a joyful bark of remembrance.

I am glad we had you for a little while.  Even if you were a royal pain in the ass a lot of the time.

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