What Large Ears You Have. . .

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It’s been a revolving door of temporary fosters here at the PLF household – and we love it! Everyone, meet Sinclair:

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Sinclair is a stunning adoptable from Jasmine’s House who stayed with us for a few days last week, and let me tell you. . . he is a total doll!  At three years old, Sinclair’s got top notch manners – and not just because he is being fostered by the Jasmine’s House trainer (okay, maybe that’s helped a little bit).  He is one of those “I’ll shoot my butt to the ground in a milla-instasecond before you can even say ‘sit'” sort of dogs, and he splats into a ‘down’ the same way, with a big smile on his face.

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Basic commands aren’t his only skills. Sinclair’s got one of those easy going personalities perfect for someone with only a moderately active lifestyle – he’s good to hang out on the couch with you after a walk or a fun game of fetch.  For those of you with hyperactive dogs, you appreciate how nice this is.  What’s even better? He’s 100% crate trained! After a few dogs who weren’t fond of the crate, it was a huge relief that Sinclair loved snoozing the day away in his crate without bugging my Dad who works from home.  I knew he was staying out of trouble while I was at work, and he wasn’t upset about it!

Sinclair is what we like to call “dog selective” – meaning he’s not reactive, but he isn’t BFFs with everyone he meets (and I don’t blame him, neither am I!).  Even while he practices his manners around other dogs he is well-behaved on walks and in public.

My favorite thing about Sinclair is how much he loves toys and playing ball.  Mark has been dying for a dog to play ball with ever since I started fostering, and Sinclair was just the guy for the job.  Whether it was out in the yard or in a space I cleared out in our living room, we had a great time playing games of “I’m gonna getcha,” tug and fetch with Sinny.  Some of our toys that have been sitting dormant through all our fosters finally got great use from Sinclair, including this lobster rope toy I got from family in Maine last Christmas.

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As if we weren’t lucky enough with how awesome Charlie was, it only continued when Sinclair stopped by. We’re getting spoiled!  While we love to soak up the love and happiness these temporary fosters bring us, we’d love it even more if someone else got to experience it every day by adopting them.

This week we’ll be highlighting our time with Sinclair, including more exploration into the joy of toys and showing off his amazing cuddling skills. These ears are too cute to miss, so he’ll see you tomorrow!

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If you are interested in adding Sinclair and his sonar ears into your family, email me at peacelovefoster@gmail.com or fill out an application on the Jasmine’s House website.

There’s More Than Fun to Adventures

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How much do we love adventures? So much. We like hiking, going on road trips and exploring new places with our foster dogs.  It’s not only fun, but it’s a great way to get them out and about for adoption exposure.

Mark and I knew we just had to take Charlie somewhere fun while he was with us.   Strutting him around in his Adopt Me vest would get him tons of attention simply because of how cute he is.  Since we’ve been to all the good walking spots in our area, and we’ve already done the DC thing with Bax, we were sort of at a loss for what exciting new place to venture to. Then I remembered a fun trip our friends at Pittieful Love went on to historical Baltimore landmark Fort McHenry (where Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner”). Just like Pittieful Love wrote about in their post, we tend to take for granted how close we live to National Monuments! I’d only been once a long time ago and Mark had never been, so we knew it was just the place to take little Charles on that chilly Thanksgiving weekend.

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We had a blast! Because we had a dog we couldn’t actually go into the Fort area, but we were allowed around the perimeter and by the surrounding water. It still meant for lots of exploration and good photo ops:

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That is another thing I love about taking my foster dogs on adventures: the photos. Yes it is good for adoption exposure because of the people we meet out and about, but it is also a great way to get photos showing adopters how the dog can fit into their life.  Photos from walks, out on the town, or meeting new people are all situations that adopters might imagine themselves in if they were to adopt the dog — which is all the better to help convince them this might be the dog for them!  Look at these photos. . . don’t they give you an idea of what the day would be like if you took Charlie out with you (and therefore you want to adopt him, right!)?

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Not to mention that a photo like the one below might stand out among all the other adoption photos, bringing some extra attention to your pup from potential adopters.

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(Yes, we took this photo idea directly from Pittieful Love – thanks guys!)

A fabulous outing resulting in attention-grabbing photos? Don’t mind if we do!

Meet Adoptable Charlie!

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Warning: CUTENESS OVERLOAD in every post this week.

I had the pleasure of watching Charlie, an adoptable 1+ year old “pit bull” dog, while his foster family was out of town for Thanksgiving. You might recognize him from my posts about Pit Bull Awareness Day, where I was first introduced to him. I was instantly hooked by his cute round eyes, precious little ears and calm personality when I met him in October, so when he was in need of a place to crash for a few days I jumped at the chance.  I was so excited to get to know this little guy!

Not surprisingly, Charlie lived up to my expectations. He is a total doll. In my opinion he is the perfect combination of a calm, “old man” personality with bursts of total puppy behavior and antics.  He will snooze with you on the couch and then immediately romp around in the yard with you like a bunny rabbit (not an exaggeration). We spent the weekend relaxing, exercising, and laughing together (okay, maybe I was the one laughing and he was the one doing silly things).

Charlie is very food motivated, which made it easy for me to connect with him in just the short time I spent with him.  Whoever ends up with him will likely enjoy building a strong bond through training.  Charlie is a quick learner, is eager to please, and seems to like learning new things.

Like I mentioned, Charlie’s got a very gentle personality. The fact that he lives with and totally adores six-year old twins should be a pretty good sign to how solid his personality is. I would absolutely recommend Charlie to a home with kids – especially if they could tire each other out!

As if he hasn’t won you over yet, Charlie is almost as non-reactive as a year old puppy can be. When around other dogs he shows interest and wants to play (exhibited just by attention that direction and tail wags), but he almost immediately redirects towards you when you ask him to. This also goes for strangers – we met a large man on a walk who was wearing dark clothes, a hat and walking with a cane. Charlie thought he was just about the best person he’d ever met.

If you feel like I’m totally gushing about Charlie, you’re spot on.  This dog is AWESOME.  Even Mark, a tough critic when it comes to my fosters (as in he likes them, but doesn’t totally mind when they get adopted), fell in love and jokingly said he wouldn’t mind if I said I wanted to keep Charlie.

Charlie has only recently bounced back from some health issues, after finally being diagnosed with pemphigus foliaceus. This is an autoimmune disease he will have forever that affects his skin, but it is very easily managed and he should have a long, healthy life.   His foster home has done so much work to diagnose and treat the disease thus far, Charlie’s adopters shouldn’t have many problems at all moving forward.

I know I share a lot of adoptable dogs on this blog, but in case I hadn’t made this clear yet: Charlie is a very special catch!  He isn’t scooped up yet because he’s just now finally getting over his medical stuff, but I don’t doubt that he’ll be adopted quickly by a very lucky family (can you tell I’m a little jealous?).

Because we had three full days together and I didn’t have to work, Charlie and I went on some pretty awesome adventures. Even though he’s back at his foster home now, I’ll be writing about our time together all this week.  Stay tuned!

If you’re interested in adopting Charlie, email me at peacelovefoster@gmail.com or fill out an application with Jasmine’s House.

Kobe’s Big Break

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You might remember the poem I shared a few weeks ago:

The air is crisp, my paws sense the cold concrete floor.
I’m encaged in metal that lacks an inviting decor.
Another season begins and I am still here.
Are my days numbered? I shiver in fear.
You see I live a sheltered life devoid of endless fun.
On most days I get no more than 20 minutes out in the sun.
Patrons pass over me cuz I’m a misunderstood breed.
Unfairly prejudged no matter my plead.
So I whimper and lick the lock on my door.
Oh why can’t it be your hand, your face? Rescue me, I implore.

This poem was written by an extremely dedicated and caring volunteer. He wrote it with all shelter dogs in mind, but about one specific dog in particular: Kobe.

Kobe arrived at the shelter in July.  While he quickly became a staff and volunteer favorite, he was overlooked time and time again because he was a plain old brown “lab/pit” cross (my monkey costume didn’t even help!).  He doesn’t like to play with toys, and he isn’t overly affectionate to people he doesn’t know, so he never really piqued the interest of adopters – despite his charming personality once you spend a few minutes with him. Weeks turned into months, and before he knew it, Kobe became our longest resident.

Kobe’s luck changed last week when two lovely ladies from Jasmine’s House stopped by the shelter to look at dogs to bring into their program. Kobe wasn’t even on their list, but the shelter’s Rescue Coordinator convinced them to take a look at him (which, in the end, was his saving grace).  The stars aligned for him that day – Kobe’s rock solid personality immediately won them over, and one meet and greet with the foster home later he was out of there. On Saturday, after four months of spending every night in a shelter kennel, Kobe became a Jasmine’s House dog.

The shelter took a toll on sweet Kobe, but not in the way it often does for dogs. Kobe is as sweet as the come and is great around other dogs, but he hasn’t gotten the opportunity to learn to be himself yet. He sleeps a lot, like he is trying to dream away all the trauma from his past life. He’s a dog that finds comfort in a human’s lap, and who has a lot to learn about being a part of the family. This all makes perfect sense considering his life before he was given up consisted of being tied to a tree in the back yard.  To come out so loving after all he’s been through is a true testament to Kobe’s personality.

Kobe is slowly learning the joys of being in a home. He’s realizing what it feels like to run in an open field, and to rest on a comfortable couch. He is learning what love and attention are like, and he can’t seem to get enough of it.  He’s even gotten his very own Sirius Republic snood to wear while enjoying the crisp Fall air.

Thank goodness for rescue groups like Jasmine’s House who give these dogs a chance at the love and comfort they deserve. Kobe is staying in a temporary foster for the week (which is where I got these great photos!) and then will head to his permanent foster on Friday where he will get to settle in and look for his forever family.  Everyone who fell in love with him during his time at the shelter is crying happy tears, especially when we see updates like this online:

Kobe is going to be a fabulous addition to someone’s family.  After such a bumpy road until now, I am just thankful that he’s got a fair chance now. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I want to thank all the volunteers who loved Kobe while he was at the shelter, the Rescue Coordinator for making sure he didn’t get overlooked, and Jasmine’s House for giving him a second chance at love.  Hooray, Kobe!

If you’re interested in adding Kobe to your family, email me at peacelovefoster@gmail.com.

All Grown Up!

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I met this little cutie from Jasmine’s House back in March at a pet expo. Such an adorable little puppy! I instantly fell in love, as did Mark.

Fast forward seven months and this weekend at Bully Paws’ Pit Bull Awareness event, we saw a Jasmine’s House alum that looked familiar.  It was the same dog, Pop! All grown up! He was so happy.. and big!

Love seeing the end result of a once homeless puppy in an amazing forever home.

Have a great weekend!

See What Happens at a Pit Bull Event

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Take a look at what happened during this event with lots of “pit bull” dogs:

Did you see it? No? That’s probably because there was really nothing out of the ordinary to see! This celebration of Pit Bull Awareness Day on Sunday afternoon was just a bunch of dogs and humans hanging out having a great time, like any other dog event. No special rules because there were “pit bull” dogs, no crazy catastrophes – just simple dog/owner courtesy and fun filled Halloween fundraising games. Congrats to Bully Paws for pulling off such a great event to bring these dog lovers together!

Oh, and that cutie patootie in the rainbow collar who you also saw in yesterday’s post? That’s Charlie. He’s available through Jasmine’s House. I am in LOVE (how can you not be with a face like that?). Learn more about him on the Jasmine’s House website!