our fosters - spirit fostered 12.14.04 - 03.05.05

Read the story of his progress...
12.14.04 - Today was the day I was to to pull a lab shepherd mix named Tilly from the Chula Vista shelter to foster with the help of a rescue organziation called Help4Pets Today I went down to get her and, while I was there, Tilly was adopted! Yay Tilly!

As we wandered the kennels waiting to see if Tilly would get adopted, I spotted a scared black face at the back of a kennel. For some reason we stopped and sat down on the cement in front of the kennel to coax him out of the shadows. When he came into the light I gasped. Attached to that gorgeous soulful face was just bones in skin. I could see his hip bones and ribs and I could also see these amazing sad and terrified eyes. A 46 pound fuzzy that should be 70+ easily. Once he trusted us he stayed right up at the bars just wanting to be scratched. I had the shelter folks pull up their computer files on him to see what other info they had. He tested super well on their behavioral tests other than being super scared of everything. They said that he's afraid of raised hands and voices and will run into a safe place. I asked them to cat test him. A cat hissed and he ran out of the room. My heart just opened wide and scooped him in.

Long story short, my new foster's name is Spirit.

12.16.04 - I've now had Spirit a little over 24 hours and two work days. This is his second day at work with me and he is not jumping at every sound any more and puts his head up to greet people who come into my office. He stays mostly on his blanket and makes not a peep. Of course every visitor gets armed with a high protein cookie.

He is super super sweet. And graceful! - when he plays he takes great bounding deerlike leaps He can easily go from the floor behind the couch to the seat of the couch in one spring. Today he is starting to learn how to play (he didn't even show recognition of what a ball was on Tuesday) and is discovering that he really likes playing.

The couch is an amazing gift from God and after he politely asked permission to hop up next to me on the first day, has declared that Spirit land. He really loves Borrego. The only time I've see Spirits tail wag so far is when he sees Borrego. I took him to the dog park today and he just sparkled he was so happy to be playing with the other dogs. He pretty much ignores my three feline roommates (Skootch, Shadow and Tobee) although surprise of surprises he has touched noses three times with my timid 6 pound Shadow, Shadow, and Shadow barely lets anyone near her much less a dog.

He rides beautifully in my truck and really seems to enjoy it - jumps in and out eagerly and doesn't mind the seatbelt he's hooked to. I am already so smitten with him.

12.18.04 - I brought Spirit to the vet today and thankfully, nothing other than some weight gain is needed. She placed his age at between 2 and 4 so we settled on calling him 3. In the lobby he willingly walked up to both a woman in a wheelchair and a small child which I saw as very good signs for his socialization.

12.19.04 - I have yet to find any reason that someone would have abandoned this gem. This weekend has been filled with lots of new experiences for him. I am guessing that he has been beaten with something because he ducks at everything and kenneled himself for 3 hours yesterday when I swept up. He's really good in the kennel and is everything a good houseguest should be. I haven't heard a peep from him. He's housebroken and crate trained. He is gladly allowing my jealous Borrego to be top dog in the pack. He plays with exuberance and, while he didn't seem to know any commands at first, now slams his butt into sit and is getting better at down.

He tried to play with my cranky 18 year old tabby, Skootch, today and was rebuffed but he handled it well and trotted off in another direction to find something else to do.

12.20.04 - We had about 24 people over for Monday Night Football this week and Spirit was terrified. I gave him a safe lap to retreat to and armed everyone with cookies. He was allowed to run back to his kennel if he wanted but he didn't. He'd retreat and then venture back out again. By the end of the night he had reached out to try to meet everyone who wanted to meet him.

12.25.04 - We had a great christmas and hopefully this was Spirit's best christmas ever. He got his own stocking and then plenty of toys to overwhelm him. No matter what though, he still wants whatever Borrego is playing with and is getting more insistant on simply taking it from her. We had a little Christmas crankiness due to this and the two of them went on time out but all was back to peaceful after their requisite 30 minutes.

12.29.04 - Joella Cunnington from The UnCommon Canine (Borrego's trainer and a good friend of ours) came to evaluate Spirit. She thinks that he probably has some sighthound in him as well and thinks he could excel at agility. She thinks that could give him some of the confidence he lacks. After the first of the year I will be putting him in her beginning agility class. He is super tactile and just laid up against Joella the entire time she was talking to and about him. He loves laying or leaning up against me and being pet everywhere. He still follows Borrego wherever she goes - even when she's put on a time-out in her kennel - he just lays alongside until her 30 minutes are up and then they just play and play and play.

01.06.05 - Every day we work on introducing him to something new and he's getting much better at handling it (today was the hairdryer). He was ok with it off, ok with it on if it wasn't near him and not crazy about it being blown directly on him but he didn't run away either, just looked nervous.

Borrego is his teacher in all things and he does his best to emulate her - even in some of the bad things like stealing pillows (hard to be mad at his timid little face staring up proudly with a pillow in his mouth).

He's still very timid about food and we have to keep Borrego from coming to steal it out from under him. We've been feeding him off a plate so its easier for him to glance around while he eats. That seems to help him focus on the job of eating more fully.

Yes, keeping him has crossed my mind but then I wouldn't be able to foster another because 3 dogs and 3 cats might be too overwhelming for my little house.

01.07.05 - Today he greeted me at the front door when I got home by leaping from the couch to the front door in one fell swoop with tail wagging furiously - even pushed Borrego out of the way to get first cuddles! Last night he instigated a messy but joyous tail wagging romp through the mud puddle that is my entire back yard. Argh - but how can you do anything but laugh when two soaked and muddy beings race over and over past the back door 5-10-20-50 times with faces beaming great fuzzie smiles?

01.10.05 - I am still working on his courage and experiences with new sounds and items. When he joined our home, the house was duly transformed for the holidays. This weekend he bravely supervised the complete transformation of all he'd become accustomed to - including having a ladder come out and countless boxes disappearing up into the attic - without once hiding in his kennel. This is huge considering that the first week I had him he nearly slipped out of his collar trying to get away from a box that was sitting on our doorstep.

He still is a complete velcro dog and is absolutely certain that hands should be on him even if they are otherwise occupied. He's getting much better about asking for the love he deserves and nuzzles his head up and under your hand.

I'm loving every second I get to share with him during his recovery and feeling such a feeling of accomplishment at every step.

02.09.05 - I think a new dog accompanied me to the agility class last night. Spirit had the best improvement in his self confidence that I've seen to date. He did all the obstacles with a strut in his step and pride in his stance. And things he'd done before he did with authority. He has now mastered the jumps, the A frame, the catwalk, the tunnel, the teeter totter and jumping through the tire. You know that he and I will be watching the Agility Championships on Animal Planet this weekend (Sunday, 8pm).

02.14.05 - Spirit is really coming into his own these days. When he and Borrego got their Valentines toys, Spirit immediately dropped his and went to take Borrego's from her. That certainly wouldn't have happened 6 weeks ago when he barely even knew what a toy was...

02.18.05 - Spirit had a play date today with a potential new family including their visla Morgan. The play date went ok. They really neither liked or disliked each other. They looked really good together and Spirit gave Morgan a couple of kisses. They played a little but mostly just vied for attention or played with other dogs at the park. We have determined that the next step is that Spirit will go to their house one day next week to spend the day and maybe the night to see how they are together.

03.03.05 - Spirit has a new forever home! He'll be moving within the next week. Larissa and Paul and their canine Morgan and felines Mookie and Maya have decided to accept Spirit into their family. He has been on multiple play dates at their home (he's there today) and he and Morgan just play and play and play. It is so personally satisfying to know that the cringing bag of bones that we pulled from the shelter on December 14 has become this bounding, joyful, loving and courageous pet.

Spirit's last agility class and graduation was the perfect time to find out he would have a new forever home. He did wonderfully on all the obstacles and showed his new parents all the skills he's learned over the last 6 weeks. He was voted most improved by popular vote and we are really happy to note that his new parents plan on continuing him in agility as well as starting his new brother Morgan.

Yes, this is an extremely difficult loss for me but also is equally rewarding. I love his new home for him and feel really proud that I helped make this happen for him as he most assuredly would have been euthanized weeks ago had I not stepped forward.

03.05.05 - Spirit went to his new home today. He's been having play dates over there for the past couple of weeks and we are all certain that he would adapt well. His new parents are fabulous people and very committed to helping him to continue to get past all his fears. I really really mulled the idea of keeping him but he and Borrego just have too many issues and it wouldn't be fair to either dog. I did ok with the hand off, hung out for a bit chatting and then took off. I thought I was going to be fine - I was feeling really happy for him and confident in my decision and then a mile away out of nowhere just started sobbing. I knew it would be hard but it was really really hard. I stopped and bought Borrego a bunch of toys on the way home and we spent a good mommy daughter day together.

03.16.05 - Update from Spirit/Mowgli's mommy: "We continue to make progress. :-) He is still happiest when running around outside, but is becoming more & more comfortable indoors. He ate his breakfast this morning with only one 'spook break' :-)

04.29.05 - Update from Spirit/Mowgli's mommy: "Mowgli is doing well. He has learned to drink out of a water bottle (instead of running away from it), so trips to Fiesta Island are easier. We are currently tackling the doggie door ~ I think he’s almost got it! His biggest challenges now are new people coming into the house. Over the last month or so, we’ve had several overnight guests. My next idea for working on this is to give everyone who comes over some treats for him (he likes those now… must’ve learned it from Morgan, the goat-dog). I’ll let you know how it goes..."

06.02.05 - Update from Spirit/Mowgli's mommy: "The boxers came over for a swim party and Mowgli was in heaven ~ all the fun of a dog park in his own backyard! He did wonderfully ~ still very good with the pup, and tolerant of the big boxer. Jake, the big boxer, LOVES to swim! Morgan will swim sometimes, but prefers directing everyone from poolside… or riding on the kayak. The pup is just learning. Mowgli has yet to swim, but I want to get him in & teach him where the landing is so he knows how to get out if he falls in. He has also been doing amazingly well with the construction that’s been going on here. When it’s been really loud, he becomes somewhat scarce, but he went right out through the new door the very first time he saw it! I was really proud of him for being so brave."