This is a dog, right?

The one thing that threw me off completely with the whole fostering process was the fact that not all dogs behaved the same. You see, in my head, dogs liked to play fetch and chew on things. They enjoyed walks and pooped everywhere if given the chance. Dogs that would bite would let you know right from the start. Even at my job, there were "good dogs" and "bad dogs" and there was the line, in black and white.

I never factored in the strange alterations that a dog's previous experience and time at the shelter would create. Dogs are indeed very complex creatures!

The first dog we got to foster was named Nova. She was a Whippet looking husky/shepherd mix. She came to us at about 30 lbs, all skin and bones. My kids could count her vertebrae and her ribs from a distance. She was very sweet but very afraid.

The first three days she would not move from her corner in the kennel! I would get on my knees, carry her out, hand feed her, and then let her go only to see her walk right back in there. I would take her for walks and she had the permanent expression of, "I'd rather not do this!"

This is a dog, right?

With time and patience (and locking her out of her kennel for a few hours so she'd be forced to walk around), she just buttered up to us. She started approaching Paul and me for us to pet her head. She started wagging her tail and showing interest in our kids' food. In fact, one night she walked away from us in the living room and pooped in the bathroom - and I celebrated! (She is a dog after all, folks!) I remember commenting how at least now that she's "behaving like a dog", I can work with her. She got adopted to her forever home within 10 days of being with us, and her mom called me to let me know she comes out of her shell more and more every day.

Then we got a lab puppy with no name. She was nicknamed "Sweet Pea" here in the house after the "spa package of the month" at my job (for lack of a better name). She was about 6 weeks old and just spayed, so it wasn't one to take outside for walks or carry around too much.

I had no idea puppies were that gross.

Pretty soon we thought we'd change her name to "Squirt". That's all she did - walk, walk, squirt! walk, squirt! Then run back around and step all over it and slide with poop across our living room floor... So I could chase the puppy with puppy wipes and Paul could clean up after her with disinfectant. We put puppy pads all over the play pen. She tore them to pieces. Walk, walk, squirt! She's howling all night. The kids aren't sleeping. They are waking up in the morning and she's biting their pijammas and they were dragging her around the house. "No! Please don't chew up my flip-flops!" She got adopted quickly too.

I asked for a foster I could walk. Our apartment was way too small for that kind of mess and my kids were still too small, making me a slave to our floor. That's when I got Genny, a 4 month old husky/golden mix.

Genny was nuts!

On the list of things she destroyed it includes our blinds, the padding on our balcony floor, my laptop charger, my daughter's carseat, and numerous toys. Her howling would bounce off the walls and pierce your ears. She would try to jump on your lap, jump on the sofa, jump into the crib. There was no "off" button with her, constantly trying to eat stuff out of the kitchen. At one point I chased her down and extracted a chocolate brownie she had snatched right from the kids! Knocked the kids over constantly like bowling pins. Paul and I were on her 24/7 under strict training ... because we had no other choice!

She was the foster that showed us exactly what we DIDN'T want in a dog.

By the time she went home to her forever home (in about 15 days) she had stopped howling through the night, learned to chew only on her toys, learned the sit command, and stayed off the furniture (for the most part). She also had knocked me on my ribs and face on the ice because she wanted to pick a fight with a moose, and scarred my daughter's face from her forehead to her cheek across her left eye.

My daughter and I recovered just fine, by the way.

Genny's Mom shared that she was soon to start obedience school. She goes for 3 mile jogs, and they love her high-energy. Perfect fit!

I totally needed a break from fostering and dogs. After Genny, we weren't even sure we wanted to OWN a dog. For a whole week. And then I got a text message on my phone, "Hey can you foster a rat terrier we are picking up from the shelter in the valley?"

Paul says, "No!" I'm like "Sure, for the rest of this week." Paul says, "Why?!" I respond, "Well, you haven't even taken down the kennel. All the dog stuff is set up - we might as well!" Forgot to mention sarcastically that I just loooove to go for walks at 6am when it's about 10 degrees F outside. And that I consider it yoga to bend over and pick up poop from our hardwood floors.

On a serious note, there's something about an animal in trouble that I can't say no to! The shelter is not the place for dogs - it does psychological and emotional harm to keep ending up back there time and time again. The more time these dogs spend time in a home resembling a "normal" doggy life, the more they show their true personalities and attract their "soulmates".

So we sat around and played poker while we waited for the phone call that they were in town and ready to hand this little dog over...