Lucia Update, Part 1

On Saturday Cody and I had a very busy day! Maya and Sappho stayed home, and Cody and I headed down to Oregon to visit the head of Jack Russell Rescue. Cody hung out in the car since bringing him into a pack of nine dogs wouldn't have been fair at all! So instead he snoozed in his crate, and afterwards we headed up to Vancouver, WA to visit the beautiful and wonderful Lucia!

Handsome Ray!

Lucia has a wonderful old brother, 9 year old Ray. Ray is a rat terrier as well and is a sweet, dignified gentlemen. Sometimes he seems to ask his momma what has she done bringing in this 4 year old upstart, but they have settled into being a pack together.

Walking the backyard.

Ray snoozing.

Lucia lives the high life with her momma in a beautiful backyard on a quiet street. Once a week she goes with her momma to work at the University and gets her all to herself for that day! Ray also gets a day where he goes to work, and Lucia spends the day peacefully snoozing.

Lucky for Lucia, not only did I stop to visit but her first foster parents did as well! They spent some time in Portland and finished up by seeing Lucia. She seemed quite delighted to see all three of us!

Sweet girl!

Sick Day Snacks

I've been sick. Sick enough that I took Friday off from work and stayed home with the pups. I spent a good part of this catching up on emails in my office, which is also Cody's room. Poor Cody is used to snoozing the day away in a crate in my car, so having me there really upset his schedule and he started to get bored. He would settle down for a few minutes, then pop back up and wander around. Sometimes he'd come over by my chair and just stand there while I stroked him.

Something had to be done to engage this boy. I couldn't let him out into the backyard to soak up the sunshine since a driver passed out from a medical event and took out part of our fence last week. The up slope is blocked off but I can't let them out unsupervised. I was too sick to take them for a walk, and I didn't have the brain power (or motivation) to do training. So I turned to another tool every dog owner should have in their belt - food puzzles!

Not quite secure backyard.

I decided to make a completely edible treat and use tracheas as the container. A single 12" trachea gave 3 large sections. I made a slurry of canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling, just straight pumpkin!) and mixed in some wet dog food. A green apple was cut up to add some internal crunch and some sweetness.

One messy preparation later...

Looks delicious doesn't it? Well Cody and the girls thought so at least!

Already licking his lips!

"Look how good I'm sitting Momma!"

"Finally!"

I got my 30-45 minutes of peace that the tracheas provide. Afterwards, all that physical and mental stimulation from a food toy led to....

Nap time!

Teamwork

Rescue is a lot of work. It involves time, energy, and sometimes money in the form of gas, treats, toys, and harnesses. It can be exhausting, smelly, frustrating, and heartbreaking. New Rattitude is a volunteer only rescue and we receive no monetary compensation, but we do it because these dogs need and deserve a chance. We do it because it is life-affirming and these little dog fill our lives with love, pride, and laughter. We meet the most amazing and generous people. We make friends who are as devoted to saving these lives as we are and will do whatever they can to help. While this is not the first time I've experienced such generosity from fellow rescuers and it won't be the last, a huge gift was given to me for which Will and I are incredibly thankful.

Being a huge dachshund fan, I asked for Will to be sent to me. I knew I'd love him right away and I was confident he would merge into our pack without a hitch. I was partially correct.

He got along well with my girls and we were working on he and Cody's interactions. He would follow me around and I loved having him underfoot. Yet he wasn't happy with me. I work long days and I am usually gone a minimum of 11 hours. My dogs stay in the car in underground parking and snooze until lunch time rolls around when we head out for a walk around downtown Bellevue. Will doesn't like being away for that long and he would bark, asking for someone to come back and spend time with him. Some folks complained about the noise and I risked losing my ability to bring my dogs to work. I had a hard choice - either leave him at home for 11 hours a day (far too long!) or find another placement for him.

The initial meeting

Last night Will started with a new, much better foster family! He is now living in Marysville with a pack of four dogs, including a New Rattitude alumni who also loves to play!

Adding a fourth to the mix.

Breaking apart as sniffing finishes.

Will's new foster parents are retired and are home most of the time - just what Will wants! He will enjoy being a part of a pack and having another little male dog to play with, and not having to worry about his foster mom being gone for so many hours a day! So who is in his pack now?

Molly the Jack Russell/Clydesdale horse mix.

Penny the rat terrier (behind Molly, Penny's camera shy!)

Blind, deaf, but still delightful and adorable Toby!

And I saved the best for last of course - the New Rattitude alumni. He was originally fostered by Catty Ratte and is one of the Puppy Mill 7 along with brothers Hoagie and Reuben!

Jasper!

Do I have something on my face?

I am so grateful to Will's new foster family for taking this amazing dog on as their own foster. I will miss him. His sweet face, hilarious wiggle, and even his two differently shaped ears. Letting him go was hard, and I wrestled with the decision right up to the time I pulled into the driveway of his new foster parent's home. It isn't about me though, and I had to do what was best for Will.

Good luck little guy. You're in a better home than I can provide and you'll thrive there in a way you never could with me. Now go have fun playing with Jasper and getting love from your foster parents!

Wiggle, Wiggle, Wiggle!

Will is an adorable little dog. He has so many appealing aspects, but my absolute favorite is that wiggle!

Getting his wiggle on!

It doesn't take much for Will to wiggle. He does it as he runs around, when he stands still and looks at you, and of course when you're petting him!

Adding a head toss into the wiggle.

He can even wiggle while talking to me!

Will's wiggle reminded me of a very silly video from the music group LMFAO. Lets see they seem to be describing will to you as well! As a heads up, this video may not be suitable for younger readers as it involves men dancing in their undergarments!

Compare this to Mr. Cake's version!

Omega Ball

Along with the Starmark Bob-A-Lot, the Omega Tricky Treat Ball is one of Cody's main "go-to" food puzzles. Several of his puzzles require me to supervise, but during the mornings I give him a meal while I get ready. This is where toys like the Omega Ball come in!

The kibble can be dispensed via tossing or rolling the ball. While it doesn't seem that complex, it takes dedication due to an internal lip that catches some of the kibble.

The hunt begins...

"All your kibble are belong to me, Mr. Ball!"

Nosing it out of the corner.

Checking for any escaped kibble. 

It's interesting to watch Cody as he works the Omega Ball. At first he has a more intense energy and rapid, rough pawing and nosing at it. He's hungry and he wants that kibble already. As he works it though and gets some kibble, he starts to settle down and becomes more methodical. He becomes almost relaxed knocking this toy around, and sometimes he'll even leave a couple kibble in the ball at the end.

Mr. Will Cake, meet Cody

As the old poem from Robert Burns goes "The best-laid plans of mice and men / Often go awry." Apparently the same happens to foster parents! When I picked up Mr. Cake Saturday morning my state coordinator told me to take it slow with him since the transport had been pretty upsetting to him. No problem, I'll do a 48 hour shut down with him and let him calm down before integrating him into the pack.

Less than 4 hours after arriving home...

 While I was moving barriers around to seperate the dogs, Mr. Will Cake slipped through into the living room where Maya and Sappho hung out. They hurried over to see him and check him out. I try to do intros out in the  backyard where there is more space (and more distractions to keep them from focusing too hard on one another) so we hustled outside. No problems integrating there.

Shaking off a bit of stress from the initial greeting.

Checking out the kitchen

 We came back in and Cody is beside himself. The moment he sniffed Mr. Cake he is sure that he and Will are BFFs. He could not wait to meet this guy! I let Cody out with Mr Cake on leash to meet at first, then we headed out to the yard and the circle dance began!

Will Cake sniffs Cody...

They sniff each other...

They take a break and Cody sniffs the yard.

While Will races.

And like any self-respecting pair of male dogs, to do a little pee-wars.

Will recently peed her, so Cody sniffs it and pees over it.

While Cody scrapes the ground Mr. Will Cake marks over Cody!

Mr. Will Cake

Riding with temp foster mom in central CA.

Saturday a very short, very long little dog arrived! Meet Mr. Will Cake, a mini dachshund/rat terrier cross. He's 9-12 months old, 11 lbs, and he loves people! Mr. Will Cake got his name from a combination of necessity and a promise made earlier! When Will Cake was pulled from the shelter he needed vetting, and to do that he had to be registered with New Rattitude and he needed a name! We didn't know which foster he was going to (although I long hoped it would be me!) so my state coordinator named him Will.

Mr. Cake from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Meanwhile, I had promised two wonderful children that they could name my first foster this year, and I sent them pictures of Will. They decided he looked like a Mr. cake since "he looks like vanilla batter with caramel. He looks delicious!"