Goodbye Victoria

We’re taking a hiatus from our animal rescue work for about three months – until at least mid-May. Well, that’s not accurate. We’re going to be homeless and travelling the continent for three months so I don’t expect to update much, but there will likely be a stop in Guanajuato, Mexico, to drop off kennels used to transport dogs from Mexico to Canada for the Mex-Can Pet Partners dog rescue group.

Also, knowing us, there will likely be an “unexpected” rescue/adoption somewhere down south. We are not strong-willed enough to stop adding new dogs to our family – especially dogs in dire need. Will we rescue a Mexican street mutt? Will we stop in Florida and save an ex-racer from one of the Greyhound tracks? We will try to remain dogless, but I make no guarantees.

At the end of our three-month trip our rescue work, and this blog, will slowly start up again in Nova Scotia. Thanks to all my animal rescue contacts and friends in British Columbia, for doing what you do. We will miss you!

Julie & Mark

PS - Please feel free to follow our travels on our travel blog.

Odin the Explorer

Well, we didn't think we'd have another foster dog before we moved away, but today we found a little French Bulldog just sitting by himself in the park. Another park patron asked if he was ours, and said he was there by himself when she arrived.

The little guy was friendly and fairly placid, so I walked over and scooped him into my arms. He had no collar or leash attached, so there was no other way to keep him contained. We walked back home with him and gave a quick call to Animal Control to report him as being "found".


Meanwhile, he trotted around the house playing with our two dogs. He and Oliver were really well suited to each other and played well, but whenever they did, Arlo (ten times as big as both of them) would come running full tilt and playfully BARK right in the little guy's face, which made him stop playing every time. He also searched out all of the tennis balls lying around the apartment and put them all in a little pile together.

A short time after calling Animal Control, I got a frantic call from his owner. It sounded like we had found him about five or ten minutes after he scuttled away from his owner's mother on a walk, and they had been desperately searching for him ever since. She was glad to hear he was safe! A few minutes later, the owner's dad was at our door and took the little fella (his name is "Odin") into his arms with a smile.

Later that afternoon Odin's owner very kindly came back to our place with a sweet thank-you card and a bouquet of flowers for us. She also said she would be keeping a collar on him from now on.

He wasn't a foster, but he visited with us and his adventure has ended happily! He was a "bonus" dog that brightened our day.

Ted's last day?

Well, our quiet little feral cat will soon be taking his leave of our house.

We are moving away and the vet clinic that "owns" Ted has found a new foster home for him! We are quite happy about that because it means he will not be stuck in a kennel in the busy vet office - that would be waaay too stressful for this boy.


He is not quite at the adoptable stage yet, but he gets closer every month. His latest trick is to hang out near the foot of, and underneath, our bed and lightly touch Mark's feet if he happens to be walking by or standing within reach. For some reason he never ever does this to me - only to Mark - and I have no idea why!

He sits out in the open when we are nearby sometimes, and will follow me down the hallway from my bedroom to the living room every now and again. If I stop and turn around, he stops and looks at me.

He's such a swell little guy, and when he's all tamed up he's going to be so much fun to have around. I'm sorry we didn't have time to fully domesticate him but I'm just thrilled that there is another home out there that's willing to work on him.

Today is probably his last day here. Good luck, Ted. You're almost there, and you'll always be safe.

IN OTHER NEWS:

We were contacted recently by Cuinn the Lurcher's new family. I always get really scared when I get an email or a phone call from an adoptive family - in this kind of business, no news is always good news, and emails and phone calls usually indicate problems.

In this case, there is a problem, but it's not a very bad one. Cuinn and Skyla are settling in nicely and their new canine sister is adapting to their presence. Cuinn keeps leaving nocturnal "presents" for his family though! He did this once while at our house, and from then on we took him outside for a bathroom break right before bed and he was fine after that.

He is doing it somewhat frequently in his new home, though. It's hard to say why. He's on different food, different water (well water as opposed to city water) lives in the country instead of the city, has different dogs with him in the household, the house itself is a different layout than he's used to (more stairs), the list goes on and on. Any one of these differences may be triggering his night-time elimination problems. The good news is that, although he pooped once in our house during the night, he DIDN'T for every other night, so we know he is physically capable of holding it. It's just going to be a matter of figuring out why he's doing it, and then helping him to stop.

The greyhound group has suggested that the new owners crate him at night, and I think they're going to do just that. If I hear anything further on how he's doing, I'll let you all know.

Until then, we'll send good thoughts to Cuinn at night, and send calm happy thoughts to Ted in his new foster home.