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This has been a crazy week so this will be short.  Currently Sweetie is helping me finish my soft tissue sarcoma lecture for the veterinary students tomorrow.   By that I mean she is passed out and snoring while I talk aloud and make animated hand gestures.

Some part of being a foster mom is paying attention to the quirks of your furry friend.  So, over the past several days, I've been quietly tabulating Sweetie's likes and dislikes.  Here's what I've got so far.
Sweetie likes:
1. People
2. More people
3. Dog food
4. Human food
5. Breakfast
6. Dinner
7. Wondering why she doesn't get a lunch
8. Belly rubs
9. Butt scratches
10. Sleeping (preferably on furnitures or beds)
11. Snoring
12. Grunting
13. Dogs (big, small, short or tall)
14. Car rides
15. Running around like a maniac in the dog park
16. Showing off her sweet grill (i.e. smiling) - see picture (stolen from Becky Maxwell :-)
17. Cats (but thinks Kitty Crackhead is cray-cray).

Sweetie dislikes:
1. Strawberries
2. Windshield wipers - really, this is more a cautious and reasonable level of concern.  I feel that I can sympathize a bit as I was pretty scared of car washes as a child.   I think this problem can be easily managed by not adopting her to a home in the Pacific Northwest.

Sweetie says it's well past bed time so I'll paw off for now!

When life gives you a foster dog, take a nap.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love a good nap.  Not your 20 minute, ready-to-go, power nap, but your 2 hour, drool-all-over-the-pillow, wake-up-in-a-bad-mood kind.  Today I had a bit of a headache coming home from work, so I laid down at 6 to take a snooze.   When I got Sweetie, I had resolved to not let her on the bed, as this was the once place that Kitty could go if she needed to feel safe from Sweetie (my bed is a few inches shy of requiring a step ladder to get in to).  Well this resolution lasted only slightly longer than most new years resolutions, and surely enough, Sweetie joined in nap time.  Not surprisingly, a chance to be lazy while spending time with a human was right up her ally!  She was so content with our nap time, she hardly budged when I got out of bed and turned on the lights (photo 1).  It wasn't until I shook a bag of treats that I caught the attention of her cute, tailless bum (photo 2).  (Sweetie would also like to state for the record that photo 1 is not her best angle and that her foster mom sucks at sticking to her resolutions).

So this is a nice segue to the #8 reason why senior dogs rock - SENIORS FOR SENIORS.

Many two legged seniors lives quiet lifestyles involving light physical activity, spending a lot of time at home and most likely, napping ;-)  Some seniors may be seeking companionship after the lost of a spouse.  In 2003, my paternal grandmother lost her husband and love of her life, unexpectedly.   After this lost, she sought companionship in the form of a dog.  In a not so wise decision, the local shelter adopted out a young, feisty border collie to my 80 year old grandmother.  While this clearly wasn't the best thought out plan, this border collie provided my grandmother with many years of kisses, laughs and most of all, happiness (my grandmother is still alive but her four legged companion, Duffy, is not).  Shelters and rescue groups are becoming increasingly aware of the mutual benefit that comes from pairing two and four legged seniors.   For many seniors, adopting a dog may also help their health as pets have been shown to reduce stress, depression and even blood pressure!  So although a senior dog may not be the best match for you (I'm not sure why, who doesn't love a good nap and a well trained dog!), it may be a perfect fit for someone you love!

And I dedicate this post to my grandmother - I don't have a picture of her with Duffy, but this is a picture of her doing something she also loves - watch Steelers football!!!!!!

VET'S Office = VeryExcellentTime

Today, Sweetie accompanied me to work.   Since I'm a veterinarian, this meant going to the vet's office - GASP!!!! PANIC!!!!! ANXIETY ATTACK!!!!  Oh wait, this is Sweetie we're talking about, not your average dog.  For Sweetie, the vet's office = a VeryExcellentTime.  Sweetie was SO happy to make dozens of new two legged and four legged friends.  She charmed every person that she met (as I expected) and took a special liking to the greyhounds that can often be found hanging out in the bloodbank (and they are more like aliens, than dogs ;-)

I was actually working in the lab today, so I set Sweetie up with a nice comforter and went to the lab to do some work.   I came back at lunch time to find her cuddling with one of the pet sitters.  The pet sitters are a group of undergraduate students that come to socialize and spoil dog and cat patients.   They tend to gravitate towards Oncology since 1. our patients are the best and 2. they deserve a little extra love.  No, Sweetie was not a patient of the Oncology service, but she sure got some extra love (and some extra treats, which like her foster mommy, she doesn't need!)  She got these notes from the pet sitters:


So the vet wasn't all fun and games.  Wait, scratch that.  For Sweetie it was all fun.  Part of the fun was visiting the ophthalmology service to check out her gooky left eye and to serve as the demo dog for the new rotation of students (which means I got a free consult...thank you ophthalmologists!)   They determined that she has dry eye in her left eye, which means this eye is not producing enough tears.  This is not uncommon in dogs, particularly smaller breeds.  Based on the changes to her left eye, this has been going on a while.  However, she can still see just fine and it likely doesn't cause her any discomfort.  However, we will be starting her on an eye drop to stimulate tear production so she stays happy and comfortable!

Being a demo dog, getting so many treats and belly rubs and making so many friends....someone is exhausted!  What a fun day! (in case you can't hear it...this is a video of Sweetie snoring!)

School of the Hard Knox

All is still well and I will make this a quick update given the long list of things I need to get done today.  Many of you may have already seen this video since it was posted on Facebook, but here it is again. It melts my heart to see this youthful, playful side of a dog that has undoubtedly been through a lot over the past week.  After this, she enjoyed romping around with my neighbor's Bassett hound.  She liked running around but was clearly intent on befriending my neighbor.  She likes dogs, but she LOVES people.

Sweetie and Kitty had their first up-close interaction and I could have scripted it play by play. They were both in the (tiny) kitchen as I was getting dinner ready for both of them.  Kitty got bold and decided to rub against Sweetie.  As Sweetie was not expecting it, she jumped a tiny bit, to which Kitty hissed and ran away.   However, Kitty is increasingly interested and is currently closely watching (from about 3 feet away) Sweetie snooze in her chair.  I think they'll be good friends in a week or so.

And reason #9 why senior dogs rock:

Only senior dogs have grills THAT sweet.  If she gets a dental, I'm going to request a metal grill that says "Hard Knox" (since she came from Knox County). :-p

Day/night 1 and reason #10 why senior dogs rock

FREEDOM RIDE!!!

So day/night 1 with Sweetie went even better than I could have hoped.  I picked Sweetie up at Knox County Animal Shelter in the afternoon, after which we commenced a couple hours of stops and errands (Thanks to Central Ohio Dog Rescue League for making this happen!!).  First stop was at the vet school where I checked out her goopy, left eye.  Not sure exactly what is going on (tear production seems fine, no ulcer), but the eye clearly has had a chronic problem and I'm hoping the ophthalmologists will do an unofficial (read: free) consult on Monday :-)

After a few more stops and a few more hours, we finally arrived home for the moment of truce - Sweetie meeting KCH.  Kitty did her standard puffed up/Halloween cat upon seeing Sweetie and Sweetie could not have cared less.  Sweetie doesn't seem to care about Kitty's existence.  Given how calm Sweetie is, I imagine that Kitty will be rubbing on her and claiming Sweetie as her own in no time.  However, I cannot guarantee that Kitty will not try some ninja moves to remove Sweetie from her favorite chair (see picture).   This chair is absolutely Kitty's favorite resting spot (and unfortunately, scratching post) and it now seems to be Sweetie's permanent hang out.  I guess Kitty will have to relinquish to one of her other spots which include the top of the chair, the arm rests of the couch, the top of the couch, the window sill, the coffee table, my bed, my desk chair, the laundry hamper.  Tough decisions.

To make a not long story even shorter, Sweetie ate her dinner, did her business outside and slept like a baby (in Kitty's favorite spot).

So this brings me to my list of top 10 reasons why senior dogs are awesome.

Reason #10: HOUSEBROKEN
Whether you want to call it housebroken (which is apparently going out of vogue), potty trained or not pissing and crapping in my house, this is an awesome advantage of having a dog that has already lived in a home.  This doesn't mean that all dogs coming from a home are housebroken or dogs that haven't lived in a home can't be easily housebroken.  However, Sweetie clearly knew where and when she supposed to do her business and held it 7 hours overnight. (didn't wan to push it longer than that on the first night!)  This, in combination with her predilection for chairs/couches, shows that she's likely pretty used to the life of a house dog.  

It's too early to claim victory, but the thought of not going through gallons of carpet cleaner or coming home to some unexpected "gifts", is awesome.  Yes, senior dogs rock!

I'm a sucker (and thank you Central Ohio Dog Rescue League)

Well, it's been six years since my last foster dog and my last foster dog blog,  How did I get sucked back into the wonderful, whirlwind world of foster?  Let's just say it was the mission of a not-be-named coworker of mine (cough, cough...Tamra...cough, cough).   This unnamed coworker has been trying to find me a foster that would work (mainly one that did not want to chase or eat my kitty, Kitty CrackHead) to no avail.  As a result, I became a bit trigger happy (perhaps not a good metaphor to use when talking about dog rescue, but you get the idea) and nervous about bringing a foster dog into my home.   Then, two days ago, she texted me about "Sweetie," a senior dog that had ended up at a shelter in Knox County, Ohio after her owner had died.  She was surrendered along with her doggie housemate, who quickly went to a Husky rescue, leaving Sweetie behind.

I immediately harked back to my vet school fosters, (Sylvia, Wally Katie) a handful of whom were senior dogs had been surrendered to the shelter after the death of their owners.  Imaging a senior dog living out its last days, weeks, months or even yeas in a shelter is heartbreaking and my roommates and I were lucky enough to give these senior dogs a second chance and ultimately find them a furrever home. It didn't take long for us to realize that senior dogs rock!  Therefore, this blog is dedicated to senior dogs and in particular, my old fosters - Sylvia, Wally and Katie (who are no longer with us) - and the wonderful people that opened their hearts and homes to these special dogs. 

Katie

Wally (left), Sylvia (right)