The right dog will come at the right time...the joys of fostering

I once heard Ceaser Milan say something to the effect of 'each dog will come into your life at just the right time' and as soon as I heard it I thought about how true that is. Recently two dogs have come into my life at just the right time and for very different reasons.
As most of you know we began to foster dogs for 4 Paws while we were waiting for my son's service dog. Our family dog of 9 years had died last new years eve after a five month fight with lymphoma. It was a heart wrenching decision to let her go but she kept getting infections due to her chemo and wasn't showing a lot of improvement. She had been my 'barn buddy' and quiet companion for so long and it was hard to imagine not having her with me.
Later that winter I was home on sick leave after a very painful surgery that had a long recuperation time. It was in the dead of winter, the snow was so deep I couldn't even go out to the barn to see the horses. My marriage of 12 years was falling apart and my son who has autism could go into his own world of play for hours. It was a tremendously lonely time. In addition to that I was trying to fund raise to get my son his dog and it was not going well, everything seemed to come to a standstill and I was exhausted and overwhelmed. The surgery had left me weak and it seemed like a tremendous undertaking to just go from one room to the other. I had wondered if I would ever feel good again.
After looking for some info on the 4 Paws site I saw that they were greatly in need of foster families for the pups in training. My son was also bereft at the loss of our dog and we talked about fostering. He liked the idea too, even though it meant giving up the dog eventually. We decided to go for it. As soon as I was physically able to make the trip we went up and picked out our new temporary dog.
When we got there we were presented with several choices, one was a wiggly hound mix that had so much energy I thought it would knock me over. Chris and I agreed that that one may not be the best choice at this time. Then the trainer brought out a beautiful little golden, tail wagging her entire body and hopelessly affectionate.  Kind of a no brainer. Cammy had quickly wormed her way into our hearts and we made arrangements to take her home.
When we go home I realized that my lack of energy had disappeared. I felt energized and connected to life again. It was impossible not to smile at the antics of this loving and silly pup, and she wouldn't let you sit still much at all. Energy, energy, energy...she had enough for all of us. The darkness of that winter had finally passed. It was the right dog at the right time.
Spring breezed by and now summer was upon us. We knew it was almost time for Cammy to leave. She was smart and needing to learn more. It wasn't the only change on the horizon, my husband had decided to leave. A chapter in my life was coming to an end.
In July we got word that it was time to bring Cammy back. Chris did not want to go with us to say goodbye and it was probably best that way, so 'the Camster' and I had our last drive together. When we got to 4 Paws, Cammy was happy to see her old friends. I gave her a hug before I could get all choked up and they whisked her off. Three months later we attended her graduation where she became a multipurpose service dog trained in seizure alert. She is now a partner to a lovely little girl who loves her dearly and we were so proud of her. We said goodbye again and Cammy left with her new family to go home to Pennsylvania. Have a happy life my friend.
Fostering is a great experience but it can be exhausting. I knew my work schedule was going to be crazy and adjusting to life as a single mom was not going to be easy, so we decided to take a break from fostering for awhile. We had received a huge donation for our service dog and now I had to get busy making preparations. 
But life without a dog is, well in my opinion, not much of a life. Chris and I both wanted a dog in our lives again and knew it wouldn't be until December until we would have one. We decided to foster again and made arangements to pick up a dog.
This time our choices were a goldendoodle that seemed to think he was a lap dog and a quiet, unassuming black lab. The quiet, sweet nature of Atticus won us over.
As we settled in with Atticus we discovered what a good and gentle soul he possessed. While he wasn't especially playful he had such a kind and soothing presence. Where ever I was he would seek me out and lay down next to me, often putting his paw on my foot. He would listen to the slightest correction and respectfully stop what he was doing. He was obedient but dignified. He was so glad to see us we would laugh about getting bruises from his powerful tail! When I would come home from work, weary and frazzled he would climb up next to me on the couch and plaster me with kisses or just lay his head gently on my lap. He seemed to know which was needed and when.
Soon we were at 4 paws in training with our new dog Mercy, but she was having problems with wearing her harness. Atticus came too, but he was getting ready to go into advanced training, so we sadly had to bid farewell. But during the last day of trainining we realized that we had to leave 4 Paws without our service dog 'Mercy' for awhile and we were sad. I worried about how to break the news to Chris, but then a thought came to me. Maybe we could take Atticus back with us for a few more weeks. Chris loved him so much I knew it would probably help fill the void.
So it was. We left 4 Paws with Atticus, sad to leave Mercy behind, but happy to see the silly doggy grin on Atticus face when they brought him out to us.

As I write this on New Years eve I realize that it is a year to the day I said goodbye to my Andi dog.  Atticus comes over to me and lies down resting his head gently on my foot as if consoling me. Once again, it was the right dog at the right time.

Waiting for Mercy

The holidays are almost over and we have been spoiling Atticus like crazy. I have been taking him out for quick jogs in the snow and he loves that. We also have let him on the couch to snuggle with us which Chris just really loves. We figured out how to fix the back seats in the Honda so he would feel more comfortable back there and he seems to like it. We will use the same technique for Mercy when she comes home. Since Atticus has some skin problems that were getting worse, we made a visit to 4 Paws yesterday with him to get it checked out. They suspect ringworm so we have some medication to try. Poor guy, he has had so many little issues but he get through them all like a trooper. We were glad that he didn't have to stay there for treatment because we weren't quite ready to say goodbye.
We had hoped to see Mercy but on the other hand I was glad that she was with Jeremy since it might mean that she would be back quicker. We had a good visit though and Chris enjoyed seeing his old doggie friends again, including Coda. He was hoping Conner would be there but he was taking the day off.
One item on my to-do list is to send out thank yous and updates to all of the contributors, but I feel kind of awkward doing it since I am not 100% sure that we will be getting Mercy. I guess I will be patient and get it finished once we know.
So far we are hoping for mid January, maybe we will get an update this week. So for now, we will enjoy Atticus and wait and see.

Back Home, but no Mercy

As is often the case, our journey has taken a detour! Mercy's harness issues became such a problem for her that we decided to let Jeremy take her home with him for a while to figure out what is going on and to get her past it. We are crossing our fingers and hoping she gets over it since she was such a great dog in every other way. We have the option of getting another dog, but will have to go through the training again if we go that route.
In the meantime we have taken Atticus back home with us to help Chris feel better about not having his dog. He was really happy about spending more time with Atticus so it was a blessing that we were able to do that.
I have been fighting what is probably bronchitis for the past two days, I actually spent all of yesterday sleeping. On the way back from Xenia I could barely stay awake driving, which was a little scary.
We did go through the graduation, and I was sad to think we may not see some of these families again since many lived so far away. It was so inspiring to see the depth of the love these families have for their children. They have more challenges in one day than most people encounter in a year, but they get through it with patience and often times humor. I am so amazed at the attitude of the siblings that I saw there and how they pitched in and helped when ever they could. The love they had for their brother or sister was so evident and it was truly heartwarming. I only wished we had more time to get to know each other better.

Harness Hysteria Continues....

Clowning around in class...

Yesterday and today were challenging days due to Mercy having an extreme phobia about her new and very stiff harness. We had hoped and expected that she would get used to it as all the other dogs did, but it only seemed to get worse when we went to the mall. Unfortunately she has to be wearing her harness when taking the public access test, and wouldn't you know, it is at the mall! So we stayed after class today and yesterday to work on it, we will probably go in early tomorrow as well. Tonight I am placing her favorite treats all around the harness on the floor to help her feel better about it.  The part that really perplexes me is that she tracks with her vest on and it only seems to bother her a little out there. She did a little better this afternoon with an older harness that was broken in, so we will work with that one.

Chris loves on Conner



But gives Mercy hugs too...



Conner wonders when they will get to the peanut butter part of the class

Mercy wonders why they would put a bowl of homemade chicken soup on the floor and not expect us to eat it!??

Chris had a great time with all the dogs this afternoon especially Conner who is the trainers demo dog and companion. He also practiced teaching Mercy to nuzzle or 'touch' him.

Tracking Wears us all out!

Tricks!!

Chris was so delighted that Mercy has a whole repertoire of tricks. Everything from the standard shake to 'High Five' and 'Go to sleep'. He got her to do a few of them on his own!
Tomorrow we learn more about behaviour disruption, which I am very interested in. I have already seen that she knows two of them, one is a 'nuzzle' which she has been using for other things, such as asking to go out. I also know that she has learned 'touch' - she kept 'touching' me with her paw during the training lecture today...what a clown. I think my dog is the only one that wants her paw held during class.
She is truly an original and we love her!

An even deeper respect for dogs

Today Mercy did an inside and an outside track for Chris. Outside it was blowing hard and fiercely cold, the ground coated with snow. It was my first time holding her leash and I don't know why, but it is even more amazing when you feel their 'energy' on the line. I also went with two other families later and observed their dogs tracking, they were all beyond amazing. Here we were out in the wide open this morning, the children could have been anywhere and in a matter of minutes these dogs zeroed in on them. It is like a miracle. We tracked in the mall later in the day and even in a store with all different kinds of smells, Mercy found Chris every time!
The part that really hit home to me was how helpless a parent could feel if there child was lost out in the open, in conditions such as what we had today. During the search today, I had no idea where they were hiding, and it looked so hopeless at one point. the dog would go up dirt piles and behind rocks to no avail. It seemed like we would never find them, then on the last dirt mound she ran over we heard the shouts of 'Good Girl, Good Girl' and knew that she had found her child. It was great. We found out that the parent and child had chosen several different spots, which was why the dog had gone to those very dirt piles. Wow.
These dogs are priceless.

Pretty much describes her....

Definitions of mercy (n)

mer·cy [ múrssee ]   

1. compassion: kindness or forgiveness shown especially to somebody a person has power over
2. compassionate disposition: a disposition to be compassionate or forgiving of others
3. something to be thankful for: a welcome event or situation that provides relief or prevents something unpleasant from happening

Tracking day #2

Day 4 of training Today was cold but Chris seemed to have fun most of the time. We did tracking in the morning (see pics) and went to the mall in the afternoon. Tracking went great, except for Mercy taking a pit stop during the run - didn't deter her on her mission though! Got giggles from onlookers of course, second time she did that :o(  . Oh well, when a girl has to go, well a girl has to go!
The mall was quite hectic though, first day we had any problems with her. She didn't like the shaking floor and wasn't pleased about her stiff new harness either. She would rather be outside any day apparently!
She did ok though, and it was AWESOME having Chris hold onto her harness instead of dashing across a busy parking lot with me running frantically behind him!

First day of tracking - whew!!!

We survived the first day of tracking. What an amazing sight. Mercy found Chris within just a few minutes, it was pretty incredible to see, even though we later learned she really was tracking one of the trainers who was with him. For the next few days we will be transistioning to Chris' scent. But I was so impressed to see her do it, I didn't know goldens could do that.
Luckily it was sunny, but still pretty cold. I hope we get used to that part! Hopefully we can get pictures tomorrow or some video. We will also be going to the mall.
Tonight we took her down to the restaurant with us, she did pretty well. We were told that she would try to test us a bit, and of course she did, but nothing major.
Well, time to get to bed - a very busy day tomorrow!

The first day..

The first day of class was busy and exciting. There are 12 families in our class, all were anxious to meet their dogs! Even though it was hectic and often noisy, Chris hung in there. Finally he got to meet his new dog, and we weren't disappointed!! Before the end of class Jeremy the instructor remarked on how Mercy and Chris had already bonded.

As you can see by the pictures below, he already loves his doggy partner.

I was impressed by how well all of the dogs behaved and how freindly and playful all of them are. All of the dogs in our class are specialists in tracking, and it becomes quite obvious when you take them outside. Their noses are all over the place!

Mercy did well on her first night at the hotel. As you can see, she enjoyed playing on the bed, and turned out to be quite a clown.  She is playful and ohh so loveable. She is very well behaved. We woke up the second day to some doggie kisses.

She was a bit perplexed by the dog in the mirror...when she saw herself chewing her bone she growled at herself, then appeared to realize who it was!

Chris says she is the best service dog in the world.

Bittersweet..

Tonight I am enjoying Atticus' company and spoiling him as much as I am allowed. He is such a wonderful dog, I am going to miss him more than I ever thought. He has the most soulful eyes I have seen in a dog, sometimes it is like he knows what I am thinking. Weirds me out a little! 

I have to laugh sometimes because he is such a 'slippery' dog. All of our floors downstairs are either wood or vinyl and when he sits down, he just kind of slides and ends up laying down, looking a bit perplexed. I don't know why this is, Cammy didn't have this problem. I cringe when he runs through the house though - if he was staying longer I would get him some booties to grip with!
Fostering has been an adventure, it really has helped in my understanding of dogs. I wonder what they think about it? I hope he knows he has an important job to do someday. It would be nice if he ends  up somewhere close by, I would love to see him again and see him in action as a service dog. Whoever gets him will be getting one great dog, he might be the most perfect dog I have ever had.

Chris match letter

Here is Chris' 'match letter' from his dog-he loved it:
I am SOOOOOOO excited! I can't believe it. Cammy told me ALL about you! I am so lucky to be picked for you! My name is Mercy and like Cammy I am a Golden Retriever. My birthday is 9-30-2009. I am also happy because you live so close to 4 paws and can visit them after you get me! That is so exciting. I will miss 4 Paws but I sure can't wait to be with you! We will be the best of friends I know it! You are really coming next week? Can we be best friends and do everything together and sleep in your room? This is all so exciting! Well don't let anyone eat too much turkey or they will be sleeping for a week and miss the grand meeting day on Tuesday. See ya soon! xoxo Mercy