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DFW Cocker Spaniel Rescue recently took in 16 dogs from a puppy mill closed down by the Humane Society of North Texas. Below are reports from a few of the foster homes where those dogs are now living and learning. As Vicki Sellars from DFW Cocker Spaniel Rescue said "Fostering usually comes with some challenges, but these dogs pose unique ones having never even been in a house before. One of our little guys was frightened out of his wits today when the foster flushed the toilet. How sad is that? Poor baby. He must feel like an alien that landed on a strange planet". So here, in their own words, are their stories.
Dog: Ruby, Fostered by Pam
Ruby still has a long ways to go, but every day is making so much progress. For the first 23 hours at my house she stayed in her crate with her new big pillow with the door opened. I put a crate out for her so she would have it for security, however; she basically didn’t want to leave it. NOW she has become my little shadow. She follows me every where that I go and I must always watch my step as I don’t want to step on her!! She is not completely housetrained, but every day is getting better. She now walks with my husband and I twice a day (we keep it to a short walk) and she does her business outside. She does limp (her hind left leg). I am going to watch it for now and see if it gets better with good nutrition and exercise. She LOVES her BIG pillow and last night I put it beside our bed and she went right to sleep on it.
She is just one of the sweetest little girls I have met. She eats every ounce of her food (Dinovite and all). She never barks. She gets along with everyone and never attempts to chew on anything. She is slowly learning not to be so jumpy with everything. She is still scratching like crazy, however; I am being very aggressive in her baths, supplements, etc.
Oh and the first day I brought her home she was terrified to cross the threshold of our home to go inside. It made me think about how these dogs lived for many years of their lives and how this is literally their first times ever in a home!! I feel so blessed to be part of a group that would help ALL of these precious dogs. I know we have had challenges to over come with these dogs (financial, vetting, bathing, etc), but it was so worth it. So thank you everyone for all that you have done to make saving these precious lives possible.
Dog: Boscoe, fostered by Marta
And no, I didn’t make it to meet & greet today---Boscoe is an absolute hoot but has NO social skills whatsoever. He put his paws on my knees for me to pet him and he peed all over my foot. He can get up on something, but can’t remember how he got there so he whines to get down. One of those things was the sofa and last night when we went to bed, everyone trucked in there, I turned off the lights and was trying to go to sleep and then I hear this barking—and of course, everyone else started barking and running into the living room. So, I go in there to see what is the matter and there is Boscoe—stuck on the sofa—he got up there but couldn’t remember how to get down so he was in the processing of peeing on the sofa. I got him down and took him in the bed which was a whole new environment for him and it took him about 10 minutes to settle down. Then he and Oreo decided they would play and I hear this “thunk”—turn the light back on and Boscoe had fallen off the bed---but he remembered how to get back up so he came back up and we settled in for the night.
This morning, I get up to take a shower as I had THOUGHT about taking them to meet & greet and he is finding a whole new world in the bathroom. He sat outside the shower door the whole time I was in there—then he had to play with the towel while I was trying to dry off and then he goes and jumps back on the bed. So, we are leaving the room so I can go feed him—and yep, sure enough—there he is on the middle of the bed whining—got up there, but he can’t remember how to get down. So, I go and get him down and off we go for the foodfest. This boy needs to learn to eat his food or he is going to starve. He takes a couple of bites and then he starts flitting around to see what everyone else is doing. Well, of course, that leaves his bowl unguarded and there is a swarm of dogs on it like white on rice. So, I refill his bowl and we go into the bedroom by ourselves so he can eat, but he is more interested in investigating everything instead of eating. He ate about half his dinner last night and about half his breakfast this morning. I did manage to get most of his pills down him—he doesn’t like them much and he has learned to chew around whatever treat it is wrapped in and spit out the pill. Clever boy.
Last night when I walked you to the car and got my mail, I went back into the backyard and there was Boscoe all by his lonesome. Everyone else had run into the house and left him and of course, he doesn’t understand the dog door yet. So we all went in and Boscoe, Cassidy, Oreo, and Dakota played and played and played and played and he just didn’t understand when the 3 of them got tired and laid down on the dog pillows—or should I say what is left of them---they kind of unstuffed them during play time. He finally gave up trying to rouse them so he laid down also and when I got up to leave the room, they were all rested and ready to go for round two.
Dog: Lady, fostered by Greg
She was good, she is not sure about leaving the kennel. I just leave the door open. She wants to come be around us, but she is just not sure yet. We will go and pet her and she will come with us but then goes back in. She has figured out the potty training really easy with the other dogs! She is a smart one.
Dog: Gina, fostered by Sue
All is well with Gina. She is bonding well but is very quiet and appears a little overwhelmed. When she gets lost in the house, she howls until I go find her and then all is well and she is wagging her tail.
She's never been on grass, doesn't particularly like it, and doesn't have a clue what she's suppose to do on it, so the potty training will take a while. Her back legs appear stiff but I imagine she is not use to walking around the house as much as she has been the past 2 days. Her energy level appears low - she will follow me outside and then lay down on the deck while I walk around the yard. It will take a while to get some weight on her as she does not appear to have much of an appetite, but she is eating a mix of dry food with water and a table spoon of canned food.
My other dogs are curious about her but have not paid much attention to her when I am around. I let her have the run of the house for about 5 hours yesterday with the rest of the group and she did well with nothing destroyed or chewed. She slept on the bed with me and my other 2 cockers last night so she is adapting. I found one of my cats grooming Gina's head yesterday afternoon, so she appears comfortable around cats also. Maggie is taking her time about interacting with her but Gina appears comfortable around the dogs and cats.
Considering she has probably spent most of her life in a cage, she is adapting well, appears to have no fear of anything, and is very puppyish in her behavior. It will be fun to watch her blossom as she gets comfortable in her new foster home.
Dog: Tai, fostered by Dale and Janet
Other then him using the house as a potty he's a little typhoon hitting the house. He plays and plays and then falls out then starts over again. He is not shy. i m teaching him to trust me that when my hands are out for him it is to pet him and give him love. He's smart he's catching on fast.
Now for the house breaking -- I took him to the lake Friday with the 3 girls he has had a blast and is following at times their lead of doing his business outside.
He has very little muscle so I am working him out with lots of exercise to help develop his legs and body. The first night at the lake he went into a barking frenzy,for hours, seeing his reflection all over. Poor Abbey and me, the others are deaf but they all chimed in for much of the time.
You have all done a fabulous job with him. He's fun and funny, looks great and will make someone a wonderful friend.
Dog: Wilson, fostered by Bev
Yesterday I got Wilson out of ED as they had some very sick dogs coming into the iso unit and neither Dr. Ellsworth or me thought it a good idea for Wilson to be exposed to that. So I picked him up and added him to the crew for 24 hrs. This morning, I finally had time to get rid of the white/grey long roots that I've been needing to take care of for weeks. So, the processing time is done, and I'm in the shower (bathtub with a curtain, not a glass door) washing the color off, my eyes are closed. I open my eyes to find that WILSON HAS JUMPED IN THE TUB WITH ME! And he's standing below my hair with the color running off onto him. Fortunately, I use non toxic color that I order, and it wasn't harmful to him, and he got rinsed off too so he is not black and blonde! This dog is happy and active. He will empty out a water bowl - i.e. turn the bowl over and dump the water on the floor to play with the bowl.
Dog: Charlie, update courtesy of Bev
This afternoon I called my co-worker and friend whose mom has Charlie. Charlie is spoiled already. The first night he was at Bobi's home, he discovered TV. He sat in front of it with his head cocked trying to figure it out, but watching it! That was Friday night. So Monday when Bobi was getting ready to go to work, she turned off the TV. Well Charlie started jumping at the TV and running in circles, wanting it back on! So she turned it back on, put it on Animal Planet and he sat back down and started watching TV. So now she leaves the TV on while she's at work so Charlie can watch Animal Planet all day!!!! As far as I remember that's a first - one of our dogs watching TV all day. And he's figured out how to get his mom's attention when he wants to go outside.... he runs back/forth between the back door and front door. Anyway, Charlie is doing great!
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