Will I Foster Again?

It’s been several months since Fred was adopted – three-plus months, to be more precise. My first foster, Cindy, was adopted five years ago yesterday and since her, I’ve welcomed eight more fosters. Their stays have ranged from six weeks to 17 months, but I always try to give myself, and Lucy, a few months between fosters. At best, Lucy tolerates the fosters (except Violet – she adored that dog) and so every time I foster, it comes with mixed emotions. Personally, I seem to need fosters. Fostering puts me in a good place mentally. But Lucy just doesn’t enjoy it. Again, she tolerates the fosters, but she doesn’t enjoy them. And as she gets older, it becomes harder and harder for me to continuing imposing other dogs on her.

She really, really likes being an only dog.

Which begs the question – will I foster again? I just don’t know. Selfishly, I hope so. But it really isn’t fair to Lucy. I am currently dogsitting and knew well in advance that I would be dogsitting this week, so I’ve had to say no for a while to fostering. But once I’m done dogsitting? Again, I simply don’t know. Fostering has been a huge part of my life and identity for five-plus years and I’m not sure I can definitively say “no.” But it also doesn’t feel right to say “yes” when Lucy is pretty unhappy sharing her space and toys and is getting progressively unhappier with each foster.

So, Lucy and I will continue to take it day by day. If what seems to be the “right” foster comes across, I may say yes. But Lucy is my number one priority and I don’t want her to be miserable because of my selfish choices.

Life

• Lucy and I have quickly gotten adjusted to life without Fred. I miss him tons, but it helps immensely that I’ve gotten regular updates. Fred is thriving and that’s what makes it all worth it.

Oldie, but a goodie

• It looks like I will not be running – let alone racing – the Broad Street Run in 2 ½ weeks. I’ve had some aching around the spot in which I had a pretty severe stress fracture seven years ago. It’s likely a stress reaction – a precursor to a full-on stress fracture. While I might be able to run the race because it’s mostly an ache and not sharp pain, 10 miles of pounding is not a smart idea – that’s how I wound up with a stress fracture all those years ago in the first place. I’m bummed because the race is a historic one in which you can pretty much only gain entry via the lottery (professionals and fundraisers are the exceptions, I think); the odds were slim to be picked and yet I was and now I can’t run it.
• My goal is to be healthy to run a Vineyard run in mid-May; I ran it last year and while I’d like to be faster this year, that’s clearly not going to happen with any serious training on hold. So, the ability to run four, pain-free miles will be my goal.
• I signed up for a partner CrossFit competition in New Jersey in early June; a friend and I are partnering up for a Barbells for Bullies competition. The group primarily supports pit bulls but also fundraises for all bullie breeds, so obviously it was a personal cause for me. I could care less how I do. I’m in it for fun. Truly.
• No real vacation this summer; trying hard to save money to buy a condo/house by November of 2019. I had hoped to buy this November (my apartment lease is up each December), but I think another 18 months to save money is the smarter move, especially considering I will need a new (used) car in the not-so-distant future and I’d like to pay cash for it.
• Speaking of saving money, I started a new, part-time job this past Friday. I am working (very) part-time at a local winery storefront. It’s very few hours a month – maybe once a week, max. Clearly, I’m not in it entirely for the money, but it doesn’t hurt, that’s for sure. I love wine and combined with the fact that it’s minimal hours, it is a perfect fit. I just have to make sure I don’t buy more wine than the money I’m making from the job.
• Lucy has her annual physical next month; we have a lot of work to do in four weeks to get her weight down…
  

  Yeah, everything is currently a bit tight on Lucy…

And that’s recent life in a nutshell.

Fred Goes to His Forever Home

Today Fred went to his forever home. He’s going to be so, so loved. He has three other fur siblings and two great parents. His family – and extended family – has been involved with SNORT either through adoptions and/or …

Fred Gets Surgery…Sort Of

Fred had his big day yesterday which ended up being only half a big day. He was scheduled for a neuter and a dental. At 13 years-old you’d think we’d just let him be, but because he wasn’t neutered, his prostate was significantly enlarged (which is normal in non-neutered dogs) and the neuter makes his quality of life better. Plus, since he was already going under for that, we wanted to do a dental. He has typically bad pug teeth; he was already missing more than a handful, several were loose and others were infected, dead, etc.

Obligatory cute Fred photo

I dropped him off at 7:30 a.m. and just before 11:30 my vet called. I knew it was a bit early for him to be done with everything and I was right. Fred’s heart did not tolerate the anesthesia well; it would stop for five seconds or so, beat for five seconds, stop for five seconds, repeat. This started when the vet was halfway through Fred’s neuter, the first of the two procedures. They gave him some medicine that was supposed to regulate his heartbeat but it went right back to the start-stop-start activity, so my vet called it a day after finishing the neuter.

Obviously not having the dental done isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Don’t get me wrong, his teeth are bad and he may have some additional infected teeth down the road (he’s currently on antibiotics for several already infected teeth, in addition to the Lyme) but no way is he going back under anesthesia. If he’ll let me, I’ll try brushing his teeth but last time I tried he was NOT receptive to having me near his mouth.

Even half the planned surgeries took a lot out of him

And now he will be listed for adoption, most likely this week. Twenty-four hours after surgery he was already largely back to his normal self. The thought of him leaving is bittersweet; I love this sweet old man, but I know he can find an ideal home to live out his golden years. A home where maybe someone is home all day or more frequently than I am. And he’s not super attached to me; his attention span is about five seconds max (except when it comes to Lucy) and so I know he will be happy almost anywhere. It makes me sad to see him moving on yet again at 13 years of age, but my normal reasons for not keeping a foster still stand. Lucy doesn’t adore him – although they are perfectly fine together, my finances need some tightening this coming year and I know if we can find a home with someone home more often, that’s a win for Fred.

I have such a soft spot for senior pugs and I’ve just loved having Fred around. Fortunately, he’s not going anywhere for at least the next few weeks.

Life with Fred (and Advice Needed)

It feels like Fred has been with me for ages (in a good way!) but it’s only been 12 days. He’s just fit in that easily. There aren’t a lot of updates; he is getting his neuter and dental the first week of March so until then, I’m just enjoying having him around.

The only flaw he has is that he’s a barker – which is super common with pugs. He consistently stands at the patio doors and barks and barks and barks. It’s slightly aggravating in any situation but considering I live in an apartment complex with neighbors next to and above me, it’s something I’m hyper aware of. It’s difficult to train him because he cannot hear me, so verbal corrections aren’t an option. I did buy a spray bottle to spritz some water in his face when he barked but that was kind of a miss. Whenever he barked, he’d look over at me waiting for to spray him in the face – and continue to bark. So, he kind of got it – bark and there would be a reaction on my part. But it wasn’t enough of a negative reaction to deter him.

I tried rewarding him with treats when he stopped barking but all he’d do is bark, stop for a treat, and go back to barking. And he’s not stupid – he knew when I had treats on me and when I didn’t. It probably would have worked if I’d given him more time, but I’m also gone during the day, missing key times to train him because that’s when he does most of his barking.

So, I opted to get frosted decals to stick onto the patio doors. It genuinely just about killed me because Fred simply loves staring out the patio doors. And 90 percent of the time, all he does is stare. But 10 percent of the time he barks nonstop and it’s just not fair to my neighbors. There are plenty of days I come for lunch and I find him sitting at the patio doors, just staring at the world outside, not making a peep, happy as a clam. But there are also days I come home and can hear him barking from the hallway.

It seems so trivial, but it really did cause me a ridiculous amount of anguish to put the decals on. He is so happy watching his doggie TV during the day. But I think it was aggravating Lucy and I was paranoid neighbors were going to start complaining.

The verdict? So far so good. They have done what I had hoped they would do – limit his barking. It breaks a piece of my heart every time he goes over to the door and scratches on the decals, annoyed at the unknown object coming between him and his TV. I did cave and create a sliver of an opening down one side of one of the doors – it gives him a glimpse at the outside but with limited peripheral vision.

I’ve just never seen a dog so fascinated by the outdoors which is what made this so hard.

Fellow dog owners, anyone deal with a similar scenario? Any advice or tips?

Fred Goes to the Vet

Sounds like the title to a children’s book! But that pretty much sums up Tuesday night.

We already knew Fred needs to be neutered and have a dental done but he also needed a thorough check-up before any surgery – we wanted to make sure his pneumonia was cleared up, his bloodwork was good, etc. So, I got him in to see my very favorite vet on Tuesday night.

He’s definitely a stud.

What did we learn? Fred has Lyme. Not what I wanted to hear, but antibiotics and he’ll be good. He has ear infections – the antibiotics plus ear drops will solve that. Still a bit raspy in the chest so we did x-rays; chest x-rays were clear. Either he’s an extra snorty pug OR he has some scar tissue built up from his pneumonia. Either way, he’s clear for surgery since his bloodwork came back as “perfect.”

He was an absolute trooper. Because the appointment was directly after work, he got to hang out at the office with me for the afternoon. He was a BIG hit. Everyone just loved him and he was great. A little barky when I left my desk for more than 1-2 minutes but other than, just perfect. He got so much love and attention. Combined with the vet appointment, he was one tired dog, though!

TAIT’s newest employee

We’re still figuring out when and where he’ll get his surgeries done but I’m in no rush; once he gets through surgery he should be cleared for adoption and considering I’ve fallen in love with him already, I am far from anxious for him to hit the available page.

Although I am anxious for him to be done with these antibiotics – they are seriously screwing with his stomach and let’s just say it hasn’t been pretty over here. I’m going to call the vet tomorrow and see if there’s a different antibiotic we can try because his stomach is just not happy!

Things are still going well so far, though – he fits right in and Lucy hasn’t made a run for it yet.

Name Change

So quick news first – Mugs has a new name! SNORT had a few too many pugs named Mugsy (or some variation of that name) so Mugs had to have a name change. I’ve gone with Fred – now I have a Lucy and a Fred from I Love Lucy! He’s deaf – he has no idea what anyone calls him anyway, so the name change isn’t a super big deal.

Fred? Mugs? Makes zero difference to him.

Now, for some updates! We’re just about 48 hours into life with Fred. So far so good (knock on wood).

Absolutely 100 percent deaf, no questions. Can’t hear a thing.

He’s starting to break out the typical pug hops – hops when I come home, hops when it’s mealtime, hops when it’s treat time. Adorable. He is truly ecstatic when I come home – greatest feeling ever.

Fully housetrained (minus one accident tonight – I waited too long, totally my fault); no need for a belly band, although I kept one on him today while I was at work since he wasn’t alone for long stretches yesterday – today he went 4-5 hours while I’m at work (I come home for lunch), so I wanted to be sure there were no accidents while I was at work (spoiler alert – there weren’t!).

He is a little escape artist! Give him a millimeter of space between a door opening and his shoulders and he’s gone! Of course, he’s on a leash but I do have to take both dogs out at once; if I try to leave him inside while I take Lucy out, he’ll find a way to wiggle out the patio door. Leaving through the front door is interesting, to say the least!

Like most pugs, he’s a barker. Unfortunately, verbal corrections don’t do anything. I picked up a spray bottle after work today; hopefully a quick spritz in the face when he (unnecessarily) barks will work. I hesitate to do treat-based training – he doesn’t need to put weight on!

Nighttime is going well; he sleeps in my bedroom and takes a bit to settle down into his pillows (well, my pillows that he’s commandeered) and at some point last night he moved from his pillows to his own bed (also in my bedroom), but so far so good.

And Lucy? Who knows. I don’t think she’s ecstatic but so far, their personalities match well. Lucy isn’t a huge cuddler with me and certainly doesn’t care where I am in the apartment. Fred must know where I am at all times and follows me everywhere. Also, toys have not been a huge issue yet – he has a few soft chew toys he likes but shockingly Lucy hasn’t been overly interested in them and he isn’t really obsessed with them, either – no territorial behavior from him, that’s for sure. They largely ignore each other – fine by me! And Lucy even got down on the floor with me last night to play fetch – normally she’s too scared (no, really) of the other dogs to play on the ground. So, a big step for her this early in the game!

Finally, I took both dogs to the vet tonight. Lucy needed an allergy shot and I brought Fred along for several reasons – I’m not sure how he does home alone without me or another dog; I didn’t want him barking for an hour. Plus, I wanted to see how he did in an environment outside the home. He did spectacularly! No barking, no marking. He just sniffed the other dogs when he felt like it and was largely content to just roam and look around! I think this guy is going to do great in almost any scenario!