We first heard about this precious puppy in an email two days ago. We had just placed our
other deaf foster puppy with a potential family for a trial visit, and we weren't sure we should take on another foster puppy right now, but his sweet photo and sad story moved us. We knew that not everyone knows what wonderful pets
deaf dogs make, and we wanted to be sure this dear one didn't die at the kill shelter because of it.
Before we committed, we needed to meet him in person. Both our rescue group and our foster home are limited by the sad reality of animal rescue: We can't save them all. Our time, space, and resources are limited, and we have to be sure any potential dog we bring into the program has a chance of becoming a wonderful pet. So my husband, six year-old son, and I got in the car and headed to a nearby town to see him for ourselves. We saw him looking out of his cage through the window before we even got to the dog building, and I was hooked right away. When they put him in my arms, we were all amazed by how soft his beautiful white fur is. We took him and his remaining littermate to a small room where we could interact with them for a few minutes away from the other dogs. They were both a bit shy, but sweet and gentle too... and before long Flurry was wagging his whole rear end (as Aussies are wont to do!) and we were unanimously decided in favor of fostering him!
We broke Flurry out (and put our name on his brother-- the shelter wasn't yet ready to release him to Rescue, but his time is "up" on Tuesday and we will check back for him!) and headed back to Austin. We always like to give the dogs a nice bath before we bring them home, so we took Flurry to
Mud Puppies for a bath and blow-dry. He was very docile during it, tolerating all of it but not loving it. I did it as fast as possible and then we went home to meet the
other dogs. Amazingly, everyone accepted Flurry immediately-- not one bark was expressed on any side. He simply became one of the pack.
It had been a long day for this little puppy, but we played a bit in the yard when we got home and found out that he likes to chase tennis balls!! He is almost ready to retrieve it... he will bring it within inches of our outstretched hands! I expect he will master this shortly. After that, he took a nap in his crate (no complaint!) before
dinner. He also met some of the
foster cats, and he didn't show any signs of wanting to chase them... time will tell on that one, but we have had several young Aussies raised with cats learn to get along wonderfully with them, so we will assume for now this young prince is no different.
Right now Flurry is asleep in his crate next to our bed. He had an ideal start to his stay in foster care. The only "negative" so far is a bit of
submissive urination, which is not at all unexpected in a puppy who has just come from a lonely and probably scary week in the shelter . We will have him checked for a urinary tract infection since he was so recently neutered, and if that is clear we will give him some time to settle in before we worry that it is a habit. Normally, time and confidence building training coupled with kind and loving treatment and some normal puppy socialization will "fix" this issue.
Our group was able to rescue Flurry's brother (now known as "Stewie") on Thursday and the boys enjoyed a fun reunion here at Flurry's foster home before Stewie moved to his new, wonderful foster home. More new photos in the photo album... check 'em out!
We detected a mild cough from Flurry over the holiday weekend and took him to our wonderful personal vet on Tuesday to have him checked out. He started him on some antibiotics and cough syrup, plus gave him some fluids to help him prevent dehydration. This is unfortunately a fairly expected part of rescuing shelter dogs, he should be fine in a day or two! The rest of the puppy exam went well, with the exception of discovering some ear mites, which they treated with intraotic ivermectin.
We first heard about this precious puppy in an email two days ago. We had just placed our other deaf foster puppy with a potential family for a trial visit, and we weren't sure we should take on another foster puppy right now, but his sweet photo and sad story moved us. We knew that not everyone knows what wonderful pets deaf dogs make, and we wanted to be sure this dear one didn't die at the kill shelter because of it.
Before we committed, we needed to meet him in person. Both our rescue group and our foster home are limited by the sad reality of animal rescue: We can't save them all. Our time, space, and resources are limited, and we have to be sure any potential dog we bring into the program has a chance of becoming a wonderful pet. So my husband, six year-old son, and I got in the car and headed to a nearby town to see him for ourselves. We saw him looking out of his cage through the window before we even got to the dog building, and I was hooked right away. When they put him in my arms, we were all amazed by how soft his beautiful white fur is. We took him and his remaining littermate to a small room where we could interact with them for a few minutes away from the other dogs. They were both a bit shy, but sweet and gentle too... and before long Flurry was wagging his whole rear end (as Aussies are wont to do!) and we were unanimously decided in favor of fostering him!
We broke Flurry out (and put our name on his brother-- the shelter wasn't yet ready to release him to Rescue, but his time is "up" on Tuesday and we will check back for him!) and headed back to Austin. We always like to give the dogs a nice bath before we bring them home, so we took Flurry to Mud Puppies for a bath and blow-dry. He was very docile during it, tolerating all of it but not loving it. I did it as fast as possible and then we went home to meet the other dogs. Amazingly, everyone accepted Flurry immediately-- not one bark was expressed on any side. He simply became one of the pack.
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