MEET MAX- OUR FOSTER DOG

Here's Max




He's a fun loving, busy boy with ++ personality. Read more about him at
http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/19305502 or click on the post title for a direct link.

HOW MANY PEOPLE DID IT TAKE TO RESCUE ME?

I'm Cotton a rescue dog. Here is my rescue story. How many people did it take to rescue me?

There was the kind girl who took me in after I had been running loose in the small town for over 3 weeks. I was only using 3 legs because the other one was really hurting me. She took me to the local Vet who was also the animal control for that area.

That small town Vet who kept me for 3 days waiting for my people to come and get me (they didn't). It is believed that I was 'dumped' there by my people who likely live in another town.

The kind girl took me back so I wouldn't get PTS. She contacted a dog rescue.

A volunteer at the dog rescue took the message and contacted other volunteers at the rescue who found me a foster home. Of course my foster home is a volunteer too.

The kind girl from the small town also drove me 3 hours out of her way to get me to my foster home. Then she had to drive 3 hours back too.

My foster mom took me in and feeds me lots of yummy food, since I am skinny from my time on my own. She lets me cuddle on the couch with her and sleep in the bed with her too! The dogs who live with her have accepted me and one of them will wrestle and play with me whenever I want.

The wonderful volunteers at the dog rescue who have given their time to do the fundraising needed to pay for my vaccinations, microchipping, neutering, hip surgery and the rehabilation swimming that I do 2 times a week.

The wonderful Vet who gives the rescue a significant discount. She totally loves me and gets down on the floor and plays with me and pets me everytime I see her.

The friendly dog rehabilation lady who works with me at the the dog pool and has me do the swimming and exercises to strengthen my leg. Also my foster mom who does home physio exercises with me to help improve my leg.

And finally my new forever home who has adopted me even though I will propbaby always have a limp.


And guess what?

My new forever home is:


(drumroll)


My foster home where I have been living for the last couple months!

Yup, it's true. My foster mom can't bear to part with me.

My official name is now:

Cottonball Clouds Of Joy
"Cotton"

Also affectionately nicknamed
Mr. Cottonhead


Woof - Life is good

Love Cotton

COTTON VISITS THE VET

When Cotton came into rescue he was walking on 3 legs and holding up his right back leg. We are not sure what happened to him but the Vet said on the x-ray his hip was "a mess". He had pain if I tried to move his leg. However he could get around amazingly well on 3 legs.

Cotton visited the Vet last week where he had surgery on his right hip and he got neutered at the same time. Poor guy. He was a bit sore afterwards even though he was on an antibiotic, Metacam and a opiod painkiller.

He definately did not like his cone, but he did not have to wear it for long as he has been very good about leaving both areas alone. This past week has been all about rest and pain control for him and he no longer appears to be in pain although he is still on Metacam.

He has the funniest haircut from the surgury. Almost looks like one of those show poodles with his new shaved area. LOL






Unfortunately he is not yet using his leg as much as the Vet and I would like. Mostly he still does the 3 legged hop when walking and running and only puts down his leg very tentatively when standing still. So now onto the next step- rehabilitation. Twice daily I do warm packs to the muscle, followed by massage and then gentle exercises and ending with massage again to the leg muscle. Cotton loves the leg massage. He actually fell asleep during this morning's massage.

He's a real sweetheart! I don't know if I will be able to give him up fo adoption...

MORE COTTON!

Cotton hanging out in the yard.

Cotton escaping the heat by hanging out under the steps.

Cotton giving a bow while showing off his toilet paper shredding handiwork!

Oh, what a goof Cotton is!

MEET OUR NEW FOSTER ESKIE

This is Cotton short for "Mr Cottonhead" and sometimes "Mr Cottonball".

Momma says he is a total goof and a ball of fuzz. Momma says he is the nicest Eskie she has ever met.

UMMMPPHH! Nikki and I are not too sure what to think about that!!!

More about Mr. Cottonhead later.

Woofs from Casper

MMMM... Another Foster Eskie???

We overheard Momma on the phone talking about fostering another Eskie. What does this mean ? Are we getting another foster dog?

We thought momma said she wasn't 'ready' to foster another dog yet. Stay tuned. We will report back once we know more.

Woofs Casper

MOVING BACK HOME AND MISSING JAZZY

We moved back home last week after 4 and 1/2 months living in a motel. It's good to be home. Boxes are being upacked. We are trying to get used to the new slippery laminate floors.

We are missing Jazzy. Wish she was still with us.

ERU ADOPT ME COMMERCIAL

OMD! This is a great commercial. Gotta love a singing Eskie!

THOR HAS BEEN FOUND!!!

Momma is so happy that she has tears in her eyes.

Why? Because Thor has been found and caught!



Thor is a New Hope Dog Rescue foster dog that got startled and bolted out of the yard that he was visiting over a month a half ago. Thor has been missing and on the run in Melfort, Saskatchewan Canada for 47 days and he was caught today!!!

Remarkably Thor is as healthy as ever! No frostbite- no weight loss. Paws and ears and everything else is just fine. This is just the best news ever!

Thor was seen may times during his 47 days on the run - sometimes even daily but he just didn't want to be caught. Some of those days were the coldest this year so far at -35 C (-31 F).

Thor's foster home made sure there were flyers everywhere in the town and told as many people as possible. They were not from this town so they had to leave but have gone back several times in attempts to locate and catch Thor.

The kind people of Melfort, Saskatchewan left food and water out for Thor and kept an eye out for him. New Hope and his worried foster home recieved many reports of sightings of Thor.

Many attempts we made to catch or lure him back him during his 47 days on the run. Today a Melfort couple was able to lure him into their backyard!!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Thank you also to everyone who has helped Thor to survive his little adventure!

Yay!! Bailey Gets A New Family For Xmas!

Well our little friend Bailey (Bay-Bay) is officially adopted! He has settled in well into his new home. He has been on trial adoption for about 2 weeks now and it has gone well except for a few little housetraining problems (oops). Luckily his new people love him so much that they are willing to continue working with him on this.

Momma went and visited him last night and he did remember her, but he has clearly bonded with this new family and that is great!

Bye Bye, Bay-Bay. Maybe we will see you again someday as you live in the same city as us.

Woofs Casper, Buddy, Nikki and foster doggie Jazzy

Our Two Foster Doggies- Jazzy and Bailey

This is our foster dog Bailey. He is a real sweetie. Bailey is an American Eskimo cross. He is quite a small dog. Bailey has been staying with us for about a month now. Momma sometimes calls him Bay or Bay-Bay. He loves to wrestle and play with us and Jazzy. He also loves to cuddle with our Momma. He is very attached to Momma.

Here is his Petfinder link http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=15085632 Bailey went on a trial visit for adoption. Hopefully it works out for him. Here are some pictures of Bailey.

Below are pictures of Jazzy, our other foster dog. Jazz has been with us for about 3 months. She is a bundle of energy. She can run circles around us all. Jazzy can manage a day at doggie day care and then have tons of energy left for the Off leash Dog Park or a run with her volunteer jogger.

Here is her Petfinder link http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=15087528

Here are some pictures of Jazzy:

Here are Jazzy and Bailey together in the yard.

Last week I noticed Jazzy walking on 3 legs, holding her left hind leg up. Then she started sitting in the yard and refusing to walk. So into the Vet we went. Turns out she pulled her Achilles tendon at the insertion site to the calcaneous (heel).

She had surgery on her leg a couple days ago. She is now sporting a lovely bright red wrap on her leg to hold the splint on and a lovely cone on her head. She is getting medication for pain and to decrease inflammation. Vets orders are to also decrease activity. No running, no jumping, no wrestling. Lots of crate rest. FOR TWO MONTHS!

Oh my dog, it's gonna be a long two months!

Woofs from Casper, Buddy, Nikki and foster dogs Jazzy and Bailey

Happy Tails- Our Dog Rescue Video :)

Momma volunteers for a doggie rescue and we also fosters dogs. She made this video to show stories about some of the dogs that have been rescued and how their lives have changed.

Some of the doggies in this video are ones that we actually fostered ourselves: Meeko the American Eskimo, Winnie the German Shepherd cross, Joey the blonde mixed breed dog, Sunny Bunny the yellow lab cross and Ditto the German Short-Haired Pointer.

There are also other dogs in the video that stayed at other foster homes too.

When Momma becomes sad or annoyed or disillusioned with the frustrations and politics of dog rescue, she watches this video a couple times and she feels it's all worth it.

Turn on your speakers so you can hear the music and enjoy!

Wasn't that cool? Doesn't it make you happy that all these beautiful dogs were rescued and their lives were saved.

Woofs from Casper, Buddy, Nikki and foster Eskies Jazzy and Bailey-yup we are a 5 dog (nut)house for awhile!

Remembering Sandy

It's hard to believe that it has been 4 years since you crossed the Rainbow Bridge... seems like just yesterday.

SANDY - Fall 1994 - Sept 22, 2005

After wanting a dog for as long as I could remember, I finally adopted my first dog from the SPCA in February 1995. Sandy was about 6 months old when I got her. I loved her with all my heart and she was very devoted to me.

When Sandy was about 1 ½ years old she developed a seizure disorder that was fairly well controlled with medication. At about this same time she also began to have many issues with fear and aggression. I spent many years learning about how to deal with her issues. I took obedience classes, worked with her, and consulted experienced dog owners, trainers, and Vets.

The best thing I ever did with her was agility. I was looking for a fun dog activity that would also help with her issues. That is how I met Shirley and Diane. Sandy and I only got as far as Advanced Beginners II / III and we never did enter an agility trial. Several times we repeated classes at the same level, but it didn’t matter. We were both having fun.

Agility classes helped Sandy much more than any of the other things I had tried with her. It helped to decrease her fear and aggression and she made friends with people and other dogs. I learnt how to manage her issues while continuing to have her in the agility classes which we both loved. I am so grateful to Shirley and Diane who helped me to be able to do this.

Eventually Sandy’s aggression issues escalated to the point that I had to make one of the most difficult decisions ever. On Sept 22, 2005, Sandy crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

Rest easy, my girl
All is now well.
Play and have fun

At the Rainbow Bridge.
I will love you forever

And I know I will see you again one day.

A New Foster Dog named Jazzy

Oh my dog - it's been more than a month since we last posted. So much has happened. We will try to do some regular updates over the next while.

We have had some foster dog changes. Our foster dog Pixie attacked Nikki a few times and Nikki said enough of that @%#*%! So then Nikki decided to attack Pixie at every opportunity. Needless to say it was not a good scene.

So Pixie has now moved to another foster home where she is doing well. Thanks Joanne - you are awesome!

Momma then decided to take a break from fostering, but that only lasted 7 days as another Eskie was in need. Momma can say 'no' to fostering other dogs but to say 'no' to an Eskie in need is pretty hard. So after an entire 7 day fostering break (LOL) we took in our latest foster dog.

We have named her Jazzy (aka Jazz, Jasmine the whirlwind and Jazzy's hurricane). I think you get the picture... She is a 15 month old Eskie with a ton of energy. Definitely the most active dog we have ever fostered or owned and cute as a button.

See...

Momma has a number of things to work on with her as is not unusual with rescue dogs.

See ya soon

Woofs Casper , Buddy, Nikki and foster dog Jazzy

Pets In the Park 2009

Hi doggies,

On this past Sunday I spent all day at Pets In The Park.

Momma only took me. Buddy, Nikki and Pixie all had to stay home. Ha ha ha.
It was a fun day.

Pets in the Park is a united initiave of 3 local animal groups: New Hope Dog Rescue, Saskatoon SPCA and SCAT Street Cat Rescue. The purpose is to have a fun day in the park with our animals and to raise money for these organizations to assist animals in need.

There were lots of trade booths and almost every both gave away doggie treats (yummy). There were demonstrations of flyball and rally-o, a silent auction, concession, entertainment, microchipping, and nail clipping and ear cleaning for dogs and lots more.

These are some of the people that were there:

There were all sorts of big dogs like big St. Bernards, Irish Wolfhounds, Great Pyerenes and this Afghan that posed for a picture.

There were medium sized dogs and there were also lots of tiny doggies like little yorkies, chihuahua's and these dachshaunds that were playing with the kids.

Gio and Romeo from Life Is Better With Sheltie Hair were there representing St John's Ambulance Therapy dogs.

This lab puppy was just too exhausted to stay awake for it all.

In addition to dogs there were also cats, ferrets and lizards present.

I got lots of treats, hugs and cuddles from many people. Here is a volunteer of New Hope Dog Rescue carrying me. I sure liked that!

I ate so many dog treats that my poop started to turn loose and green. Then Momma said "Casper, You are cut off! No more treats!

That's okay because I had already had lots ;)

I had so much fun and when I got home I was so tired I slept for almost a day straight!

It was grrrreat! I can't wait to go to Pets In the Park 2010 next year!

Woofs Casper

Rally- Oh Fun!, The V-E-T, Seeing Ditto and Pixie's Been Bad!

We went to Rally-O and oh what fun it was!

Here is Nikki.

Momma says Nikki needs lots of work especially on heeling.

Here I am with a headless Momma (LOL) doing a very nice heel.

And another.

Momma - you are not supposed to have a tight leash.

You better work on that!

Here is Buddy showing us all how to do it!

And a nice loose leash Momma!

Wow Buddy- that's awesome heeling!

How did you get your ears to do that?

Don't you usually have floppy ears?

Another thing that happened this week was that

we all went to the V-E-T for our

vax-in-a-shuns and stuff.

Nikki has been to the V-E-T an extra time too.

She has to be a conehead again because of another corneal eye ulcer.

This time it is on her right eye.

Nikki will be going to the Doggie

Opth-a-Molly-Just again too.

Once again we don't know if her name will be Molly or not.

Here is Nikki modeling her cone.

We also saw Ditto again this week.

We all love Ditto very much.

She is about to be adopted out soon from her current foster home,

and Momma wanted to be sure that we saw her before she is adopted.

We had a doggie playdate at the off-leash park with Ditto.
She was so happy to see us and Momma too.
Momma was just as thrilled to see her too.

Ditto leaped and ran and was so silly!
I (Casper) was very happy to see Ditto too.
When she was fostered at our house I hardly played with her at all.

In fact I usually ignored her.
But when I see her at the dog park I just love to play chase and wrestle with her!

We are all hoping that her new people will want to do play dates at the off-leash park too!

And then there is our current foster dog Pixie.

Pixie, Pixie, Pixie...
What is Momma going to do with you?

Didn't your previous people tell you that biting Momma is not allowed?

Momma says "Yes they did but Pixie decided not to listen.
She must have been sleeping."

This is how she sleeps.

Well that's it for now.

See ya,

Woofs from Casper

We Napped And When We Awoke Something Really Weird Happened....

This

turned into this

HUH??

WHAT??

HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?

Shall we explain?

Well Momma (and us doggies) have been fostering Ditto a young German Shorthaired Pointer for about 3 months now. Ditto sure has come a long way. When she first came to our house Ditto hid in the corner scared and shaking. Poor girl! Who even knows what she had been through! It was clear that she had not been socialized nor had she even been taught any of the doggie basics. She was scared of everything.

We do know that she had been given away on Kijiji and had at least 2 owners (likley more) in her young time before she came to New Hope Dog Rescue. She was so scared when she came to our house that she wouldn't drink, eat or even pee for the first 24 hours. All she did was hide in the corner.

So Momma started out by just leaving a bowl of food, some treats and a bowl of water for her. Everytime Momma walked by she talked really sweet to Ditto and eventually Ditto figured Momma was okay and allowed Momma to pet her.

Since then Momma has been very busy helping Ditto to no longer be scared of everyone and everything and it has worked! Ditto is now a fun loving, really active girl. Sometimes she still gets a little nervous but most of the time she is active, happy, excited with life and fun loving. Her most favorite thing in the world is to carry around her squeeky tennis ball and squeak, squeek, squeek then toss and run after it, retrieving it only to repeat this endlessly.

So while us doggies napped Ditto went to stay at a new foster home. Even in the first few minutes she was doing really well. She played and let her new foster mom and dad pet her and she even played with one of the cats.

Bye bye Ditto -

We hope you like your new foster home!

We will see you at the off leash dog park soon.

Momma is a little sad but also happy at how well you have done. :)

Then Momma brought us a home new foster dog. Guess what? She's as small as Nikki and she looks alot like Nikki and me (Casper). Her name is Pixie.

Hi Pretty Pixie!

Momma says Pixie has some "issues". I guess we will find out more about that later.

See ya... woofs

Say Hi To Our New Foster Doggie- Ditto

This is Ditto, our new foster dog. She is a young German Short Haired Pointer. She is beautiful but also is very shy and scared. Momma is going to work with her so she gains confidence. We will post more on her soon.

Sunny Bunny Is Officially Adopted!

Bye bye Sunny Bunny! Have lots of fun in your new "Furever Home" with your new owner and your new doggie brother Ben the friendly rotti and the 2 kitties.

Woofs from Casper and pals

Sunny Is On A Trial Adoption

Sunny (aka Sunny Bunny) is trying out a new adoptive home. She went there 2 nights ago. Sunny says she likes it there. Her new owner will be a young woman who lives with her parents. Sunny also has some new animal siblings- a huge friendly rotti named Ben and also 2 cats. One of the cats even came and gave her a kiss on the nose. The other one is still apparently hiding under the bed. Sunny really seems to like cats.

It sure is alot quieter around here without Sunny. Her motto is play, play play, and run, run, run and then wrestle, wrestle, wrestle and then bitey face, bitey face, bitey face... She even got me (Casper) wrestling again. Now that I've gotten older I usually don't do too much of that anymore. I prefer sofa surfing. LOL

Momma even thinks it's alot quieter too. She says no doggies are knocking over the garbage can or the footstool during our wrestling matches.

Momma will be checking in on Sunny Bunny in the next 2 weeks to see how she is doing in her new home. If all goes well her adoption will be finalized then.

Woofs, Casper