About a week went by before I heard from "The Farm". It seems it was love at first sight for Maria and resident dog "Ollie".
And on July 28th, Maria delivered ELEVEN puppies. She only had 9 nipples. Do the math. But her foster parents tried to help out as best as they could, rotating the puppies so everyone got a turn and even trying to bottle feed the tiniest runt. Alas, that itty bitty one was whisked away over the Rainbow Bridge leaving 10 perfect siblings behind for Maria, Ollie and the human helpers to take care of.
"Maria" as she has come be to me known far and wide was the very first pregnant dog to be sent to foster care from Town Lake Animal Center. She came in as a dreaded "bite dog" - after having been reported as biting someone who had been feeding a bunch of stray dogs in his neighborhood along with his other dogs. When I met Maria for the first time she was timid, a little nervous and she looked to have a bloated belly - a sure sign that a "street dog" had an advanced case of heart worm disease and that dim prognosis along with the "bite history" made the chances of her leaving TLAC alive pretty slim.
When I got back to my desk to look at her notes in the database I was surprised to find she was heart worm negative! I also took a very close look at the bite record. It seemed to me like this could be a case of mistaken identity. For one thing, the victim of the bite said the "brown pitbull" that bit him had been lactating. Maria, clearly was not . . . . yet. Uh oh. I put two and two together and realized we had a pregnant dog on our hands. Regardless of whether or not she was "guilty" she had to be quarantined for 11 days to check for signs of rabies as state law insists. After the 11th day, I met her again and she was showing signs of a cold. Even if it was early enough in her pregnancy to spay her, we couldn't spay her if she had any sort of respiratory illness, it just wouldn't be safe. So another 14 days of treatment go by and now, she is clearly about to "pop" any day.
But who would take a pregnant dog? I didn't want her to have to deliver puppies at the shelter, but not many rescue groups could take on a good sized dog about to have a large litter of puppies - the larger the dog, the bigger the litters. And one of my foster homes? Yikes, I didn't know if ANY of them would be equipped for such a big long job. But I had to try.
I circulated her story and this video far and wide, in an attempt to get someone to take her. Finally a foster application came through that was interested in fostering her. But they lived far away - in Adamsville. How was this going to work? How would the puppies get their regular shots? What if someone got sick or needed to be seen by our vets? I called up the potential foster home and voiced my concerns. Bess stated they lived on an organic farm and came to Austin EVERY Wednesday and Saturday to sell their wares at the local Farmer's Markets! Problem solved!
The next day, her partner Carlon came to Austin to pick up Maria. I took Maria back to vet services to get her rabies shot and microchip and walked her up to meet Charlon for the very first time. While usually timid with new people, she crawled right into his lap. My eyes filled with tears as I saw the look on his face - it was literally love at first sight! They cuddled together in the lobby as I ran to get my camera.
Carlon told me all about "The Farm" and how she would have a big brother Ollie and a little sister too. How he'd been around dogs his whole life and delivered many a litter of various animals. I knew Maria was in extraordinary hands. He told me he was at the farm all the time, she would rarely be alone and they had already set up a little place for her inside.
I couldn't believe my luck. Tears of joy were streaming down my face as he gently lifted her into the truck beside him and headed back to the farm.
Well of course Margot the Foster Mom couldn't leave Bob at the shelter - she picked him up that afternoon and took him back home. A full scale marketing blitz took place the likes of which we hadn't seen then or since. Bob was all over Facebook, craigslist, one of the volunteers even created a OCR code that could be read by smart phones to tell Bob's story. There were flyers up all over town about him. There was no doubt about it, he needed his new forever home and he needed it FAST.
Well, all the marketing did the trick and it wasn't long before the perfect adopter stepped forward. Margot, with the sting of his first adoption gone awry still biting, left no stone unturned during the adoption interview. She consulted with other volunteers and shelter staff to make sure this would be a better match. Bob had been through so much, would going to yet another unsuccessful home be more than he could bear?
We all waited anxiously for word after he got adopted and finally, we got the following letter:
All,
I'm still trying to get our little Bobby to sit still and smile long enough to get a picture of the whole family but here are some updated pictures of him from last night after a long walk where he did very well pottying and I actually got some tail wagging in addition to what I have termed his "smiley face" :). He is slowly becoming more adventurous on the leash and likes to sniff around in the grassy areas of our complex. We take him for walks about 3 times a day including one walk that is mostly for exercise right after work. He is getting more comfortable in our home and I think he knows that this is his house now, because he feels comfortable enough to hop up on the couch with me while I'm watching TV, lay by our feet (Instead of underneath the coffee table, which is where most of these pics are taken) if Phillip and I are both on the couch. We did have some hiding behaviors with Bobby hiding underneath our bed and not coming out when called, but we remedied the situation by starting to 'store' things underneath our bed and we haven't had any trouble again. He slept very well all through the night last night in bed with us at the foot of the bed. When Phillip got up this morning at the god-awful hour of 4:30/5ish Bobby promptly took his spot on the bed and proceeded to cuddle against me for the rest of the morning. He seemed very calm when I left this morning and we have started to move his food out from underneath the coffee table to teach him that the whole apartment is safe for him to be in so we shall see how he did on coming out from underneath the dining room table and eating. I also turned the radio on for him today to 93.3 and am listening to the station myself today to make sure all of the music is as calm as I think it is (and because I'm a crazy doggie momma and want to make sure that our little pooch is doing well!). He has started to sniff at toys and was very close to playing with some other dogs over the weekend. Overall, the adjustment has been going very well and we are SO happy to have him in our home! Both Phillip and I love him so much already!
Bobby has his first vet appointment tomorrow at 8:30a at Research Pet Hospital on Duval and 183 for his overall wellness check-up. I am trying to find a good groomer to take him to to get his undercoat brushed out nicely (in spite of my brushing, his undercoat is shedding a lot so a little trip to the groomer will be good), as well as his teeth brushed, ears cleaned, and nails clipped. In a couple of weeks when Bobby feels secure in his attachment to us we are going to start training classes with him to strengthen our bond as well as teach him some of the basics. Our plan during training classes is to start researching some doggie-day care places where, idealy, we would like to take him every other week for a day to continue increasing his socialization skills. He was receptive to our friends' dogs on Sunday and was relatively content to watch them play with several movements to play himself. I don't think it will be long before he is out and playing with the other dogs!
Just wanted to give all of you an update on how our favorite boy is doing. Once we get a good family picture I will send it your way!
