Fostering “Furever” Changes You…

I apologize for the length, but let me share with you some of the beautiful, funny, crazy, important, memorable lessons that have been brought to us this past year.  Right before my grandfather passed away my husband’s unshakable desire to have a German Short-haired Pointer in the house led us to the California GSP Rescue.  I can’t tell you how many times I caught him googling GSP puppies or pictures of trained hunters pointing in a field after a quail or two.  We already have two dogs (along with some goats, chickens, bunnies and now a 150lb pot belly pig) so adding in a  purebred puppy could be considered unnecessary or extra work that would just add stress and complications to my already busy life.  We discussed it at length and our  compromise (since he was gone ALL the time for work) was that instead of buying a puppy we would begin volunteering at the local rescue, get our kids used to the breed and teach them how to work with dogs to help them without needing to bring them home and call them “mine”.  We became a Foster Family.  This last year has been a crazy spinning door of heartbreaking stories where one amazingly wonderful dog after another had been dumped, abused, neglected or shoved to the side…. each and every time we welcomed them into our home with treats in our hands and happy children ready to smother them with love.  Slowly but surely each and every one of them were adopted into a perfectly wonderfully loving FUREVER HOME!!!  It has been such a great experience for my children to help love these sweet innocent dogs, teach them certain things they may need to learn in order to be considered more “adoptable” or love them to help them come out of their shell….and then let them go.  I am SO PROUD of my family for doing such a great job and working together to help ALL of these pups heal and find their way . ❤

An Update on Sherman

Let me start with this: who doesn’t love a good snuggle buddy? If you can look past the (adorable) snoring… having his soft little face tucked snugly into your side or his warm little paws resting on your lap… heck sometimes he curls up in a ball entirely on top of you and somehow I don’t even mind.  He is such a big baby who LOVES loves loves to be as close to you as he possibly can and as soon as you let him he falls RIGHT to sleep. 

Sherman the Baby Nanny

Turns out, this crazy pup that was too unruly and anxious to be kept by his previous owners, too stressed and overwhelmed to handle the atmosphere in a shelter, SO overstimulated that he needed to be medicated…turns out, he is none of those things.

In fact, he has over the last week been slowly weaned off his medication and doing better with each day that passes. We are impressed with each situation we expect to have difficulty with, yet when it presents itself he performs with flying colors.  

S.(Part4) *afewofmyfavoritethings*

when my third child (second daughter) was born I remember sitting on the couch, drugged from lack of sleep, covered in spit up, dirty diaper wrapped up still sitting on the arm of the couch because I was too delirious and exhausted to walk all the way into the kitchen to throw it away, and staring mesmorized; in awe of my infant daughter.  I knew all too well how the wrinkles on her toes would soon smooth out and get bigger, more grown up like… maybe even don some pink nail polish one day… the chunks on her thighs, under her arms, her triple chin… all of it would soon change and they would only be a memory.  Some of my favorite memories of my children involve the kisses I gently placed on their chubby little feet or watching silentely as they breathed heavily in their sleep and their beautiful long, flawless eyelashes fluttered as they dreamed… SO as I sat there in a daze I decided to take pictures of it all and titled the album “A few of my favorite things”. (A few of my favorite things)

I decided last night as Sherman snored heavily while laying limp and completely relaxed on top of my lap, that I would take a few similar pictures.

Sherman (Part Three)

I’ve got to admit I am baffled by some of the comments in this sweet pup’s file.  He has not destroyed anything (although a few times he’s picked up a kids sand toy and pranced around the yard with it then shortly after dropped it right back where he go it from), he has only had one accedent in the house which was most likely because we hadn’t offered to take him out, he has even reduced the amount of whimpering and crying he does when left alone in the yard or laundry room.  ALready in just a day and a half he has made SO much improvement.  

Sherman (Part Two)

… SO I left off my last post having picked up the dog once called Gandolph, once called Pochoco then named Sherman… taking him to the rescue, being evaluated and then happily sent home to join the Ranaldi Family….

How we came to meet Gandolf…I mean Pochoco… oh wait, Sherman.

So our last foster we had him for only four days. He was a great dog, well trained, loved attention and still had a lot of puppy in him.  It was GREAT meeting his new Dad and his doggy brother (I think his name was Caesar).  When he showed up at the rescue I thought his dog was an identical twin of Raj.  At first they didn’t pay much attention to one another, there were SO many other dogs running wild around in the yard but then… THEN I saw the tail wagging, the bowing position that says “I want to play!!” and then the two of them pranced off behind the bushes together.  I knew it was meant to be.  Especially after chatting with the wonderful gentleman adopting him becuase as we discussed some of Raj’s quirky little behaviors, apparently his current GSP does the same things.  Two peas in a pod. It truly was meant to be.  I can’t wait for an update!!

Raj

Meet Raj.

Say Cheese Raj!!

Baby Chip-Chip

Meet Chip. 

or…Baby Chip Chip as my children call him…

Good Ole’ Baron…

After spending some time getting to know Baron I feel like he would be a great fit for a lonely elderly person…maybe someone with a handicap… He has that gentle, calm sweet disposition that most trained guide dogs have. First I must explain, I HATE having the dogs in the house. I love snuggling with them if I take a nap and I do love having them in at night…but during the day, with kids running around, toys everywhere and all the chaos…no, dogs can stay outside. But Baron… He has been the exception from day one. I was nervous about our bitchy female Bailey and wanted to wait for Eric to introduce them further before letting him roam out in the yard with them freely…so he spent the rest of the day in the house with me.  To my surprise, I enjoyed it.