Update on Dylan

I can't believe no one has turned in an application for Dylan, yet. He looks like such a sweetheart. Unfortuntely he will not be traveling up to Wisconsin this weekend. Aw poor guy he gets to stay in AL where it is warm. But he is recovering nicely from his kennel cough and by the time he arrives in Wisconsin he'll be one happy and healthy pup.

Dylan gets new Name

Our new furry friend will be joining us this weekend. Upon his arrival, he will recieve a new name. He will no longer be known as Dylan, instead he shall be called Sir Miles Thatcher. Sir because it is more proper, Miles which is Latin for fighter, and Thatcher is English for one who repairs roofs. Given some time Thatcher will have some metaphoric meaning (its a name that he will grow into). With the little guys history I find this name to be much more appriopate. We look forward to fostering our new pup, Sir Miles Thatcher.

Olly Found His Forever Home!

Well- our little buddy Olly is on his way to a great life! A very nice couple from Hartland adopted him this afternoon. And get this! He has a new big brother, a funny Airedale terrier named Ollie! Ollie 1 and Olly 2 seemed to get along great- and I think they will have a wonderful life playing together!

We'll miss you Olly! You were a great little guy! Marley has been wondering around looking for Olly so I know he misses him too!

Up next is Dylan (hopefully). Right now Dylan is one sick little pup! So we wish him a speedy recovery and hope that we will be able to meet him soon!

More on Olly

The whole crate training thing is going well. He still whines and it can be pretty intense, but after a few minutes he calms down and sleeps. Marley and Olly get along very well together, of the fosters that we have had these two might be the best match. Olly is really good boy and is alway willing to please. I pull out a treat and before I give one to the boys they need to sit. Marley knows the routine I pull out a treat, he sits, dog gets treat. Olly is working on that. He jumps and tries to grab the treat out of my hand, and I tell him to sit. Marley is already sitting and he gets his treat. Olly looks over at Marley, to see what he is doing that gets him a treat, then Olly it clicks and Olly sits. Also, if you sit on the floor indian style (i know not p.c.) Olly will sit in your lap, not only that but we will try to get comfortable. You know when your dog is about to lay in its bed and he spins around a few times to find just the right spot, that is exactly what Olly does except its in your lap. Its a good thing he is not a very big dog otherwise it would not be nearly as cute. Before I forget Olly is eatting a quicker nowadays. So he might just make to adoption.

I hope Olly will make it to adoption!!

With his possible adoption on the horizon I have my doubts that poor Olly will make it. It seems that our poor famished Marley can't keep his head out of Olly's food bowl. Olly is a slow eater he eats his food one kernel at a time, and spreads it out over a long period of time. Marley waits for the opportunity when I have my back turned to devour Olly's food. I tried to feed Olly 3 TIMES tonight and failed all three times!! When Marley eats HIS food he literally eats the bowl, the floor, and half the house. When he eats Olly's food he is super quiet he know that if I catch I'll chase him away. I don't understand all of our other fosters would have there food gone in a few minutes but not Olly. Its not like is fat or anything if anything he afford to put on a few pounds, I figure eventually he will get learn (or get hungary enough) and eat his food a little quicker. For now he will have to live on treats, water, and snow.
Marley took care of Olly's outside jitters as he no longer whines at the door right after you let him out. So thanks bud. The kennel thing is going well I figure in a week he should be a lot better.
I have also noticed that toys that Marley has never played all of a sudden are very important to him. When Olly is chewing on a toy Marley feels the need to come over take it from. But he does not just walk up and take it....no he is far to clever for such a barbaric act. Instead he will nudge Olly and whine, after a quick game of "bite you face off" Olly forgot about the bone and Marley moves in for the steal. Such a sly little dog. I noticed that he did the same thing with Chloe Polar Bear. After fostering for a while he is learning to play the game.

Olly Has an Application!

Looks like our new little buddy has already generated some interest! To Olly's potentional family- he really is a great little guys! Feel free to post us any questions! Olly seems to be coming to terms with his crate. Last night before bed he only let out a few cries before falling sound asleep. After his initial few minutes of whinning- we never hear another peep from him over night. This morning when we put him in his kennel before we left for work- same deal- he cried for about 30 seconds and then silence. We'll have to talk to our upstairs tenants tonight to see if he made any noise through the day. Still no accidents in the house- which is just great! He knows "sit" now and is working on "lay down." He seems to be very smart and I think the fact that he is SO egar to please will make him really easy to train. He's a toy "herder" too, which I think is cute. He will take every toy he can find and just pile them all up on his dog bed. He loves playing with them too- he's always got a toy in his mouth and he's actually very gentle with them for being such a young guy. Does he ever just loves his people! If you sit on the floor he will just curl up on your lap and give you kisses as long as you'll let him. I think Olly wants nothing more than a family he can call his own- forever! He will be the most loyal, loving dog any one could ever ask for!

Oliver the first 24

We'll its been 24 hours since Oliver's arrival. And we learned last night that he is not kennel trained. He went into his kennel by himself but he yipped for about 10-15 before settling down. He did not go to the bathroom in the kennel, so that was great. Oliver is such a fun dog. He likes to play fetch and follow me around the house. He is like a little buddy that is happy-go-lucky. Also when we let him out he would want to come back in right away, which I thought was weird. Not real sure how to fix that but I am leaving that task to Marley. Today I had him outside all day with Marley and they got along fine. We'll see how tonight goes. Thanks for reading.

Oliver

We went to pick up Oliver( or Olly as we call him) the happy-go-lucky dog. When we met Oliver for the first time he literally jumped into our arms and kissed us to death. We quickly learned that Oliver is a people "person." He met Marley without any incident, but Marley was quick to establish himself as top dog. Oliver has seemed to adapt to his new home quite well. With a little work we got him to sit and lay down. He went potty outside. What a cutie though! We can't imagine he's very old- as you can see from his pictures he's got a total puppy face. More updates to come.

Chloe Found Her Forever Home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fostering Chloe has been a pleasure for us these last few weeks. I have always, always wanted a wheaten, they've long been my favorite breed (other than "rare Marleys of the Amazon" as we tell people Marley is when they inquire about his bred). And Chloe was just what I'd always wanted, a happy little clown that runs like a bear. Her and Marley have become the best of friends and she's also become a great pal of ours. When we heard Chloe's forever family was coming to meet/bring her home this morning, we were at first tempted to hide her away- maybe tell them they had the wrong address. Chloe was so great we just wanted to keep her for ourselves, we were about a nano-inch from becoming "foster failures". However, as soon as Chloe's new people, Jim and Amy, met her- we could tell they feel in love with her as quickly as we had. So while Brian, Marley and my hearts all feel a little empty with Chloe gone- we are so thrilled that she found such a wonderful forever home.

This afternoon we will meet our new foster, Olly. I have a feeling about Olly. Something about the devilish grin in his pictures tells me Olly is going to be A LOT like another crazy-haired, Benji-looking little dog I know (Uh-Hum- Marley?) We're looking forward to meeting Olly and will cross our fingers he's not quite the wild beast Marley was. Then again, it's just that type of wild dog, with endless energy we can't seem to imagine life without.........

Chloe Polar Bear

Well word on the street is that Chloe Polar Bear is very close to finding her forever home. Although we have only had her for a short time this will be the hardest one to see go. She is such a goof. Last night I was playing with the dogs and Chloe Polar Bear was in the middle of the yard. I put my arms above my head and said "Chloe Polar Bear!!" and she did a play bow and starting bouncing around as if I should chase her around the yard. Then she was immediately tackeled by Marley as if to say "who do you think you are?"

We really would like to keep Chloe but if we keep Chloe Polar Bear then we cannot foster any more dogs as we do not have the space for more than two. Our goal was to help as many dogs as we can and if we keep Chloe then we would have only helped four dogs (Kaiah now Kenzie the beardie, Boogie the playful young pup, Chloe Polar Bear, and of course our furry friend Marley) and we would like to help a few more. I think Marley would like to help a few more as well. (Perhaps ones that don't steal his bed, or toys, or attention, or food, or water, or anything else that may catch his interest).

We look forward to meeting Chloe Polar Bear's new family.

In case you were wondering why we call her Chloe Polar Bear she runs just like one, looks like one, and acts like one.

Pictures of Chloe

Ready for my walk!




Marley and Chloe's favorite game- Tug of war!





This is the life.....



Pet me-PPLLLLEEAASSSEE!




Pardon our dust bunnies! Chloe taking a snooze...




How's a girl supposed to take a nap around here
with all these camaras flashing?!!?

Ms. Chloe Update

Chloe has settled right in to our routine. She goes in her crate while we are at work all day. Still no accidents. She is a WONDERFUL dog! We are having a great time with her and it will be really hard to see her go! She loves going for walks but I would not describe her as a high energy dog. As soon as we sit down to relax she is more than happy to curl up in her bed for a nap.

Chloe is sweet as can be! She's so excited when we come home- her stubby little bear tail wags like crazy when we walk in the door- it's too cute.

More pictures to come tonight!

The First 48 Hours

It already feels like Chloe has always been here. She has settled right in to life here! Still no accidents, she goes to the door and lets us know when she needs to go out! What a smart girl! She already knew sit, stay, come, shake and down. She goes right in her crate too when asked. Wow is she quiet in there too- she has yet to make a peep overnight. Tomorrow will be the big test- we're not sure what her routine was prior to being surrendered- or if she was left alone during the day. I'm very optimistic that she will do well though.

Chloe loves going for walks and does very well on her leash. She also rides very well in the car.

She is so cute and funny. Her manners are great. We don't let our dogs on the furniture- and the only grip we have is she jumps up on the couch. She jumps right down if you just tell her "off.' I have to admit though, she's so cute up there though with her big furry head on the pillow that it's hard not to just give in!

Her and Marley and still working out their pecking order (or should I say she's trying to make it clear that she's the boss!) Marley has been SO great with all of our fosters- it's really amazing! Before our first foster, Kaiah, we were really worried that Marley may have agression issues with new dogs. We've found it too be quite the opposite- he's taken a lot from each foster without so much as a growl..... I really don't think we'd be half as sucessful at fostering without him- he's just a great example of a balanced dog. I'd like to take the credit for him being that way- but it's really just his nature.

Chloe: Polar Bear

When she arrived her name was Chloe now that we see her play she is Chloe Polar Bear. As I type this Chloe Polar Bear and Marley are wrestling in the living room. It appears Marley has her in a head lock. I have no idea why anyone would turn her in she is just a big pile of goofyness. I picked up Marley from boarding this morning and introduced him to his new foster sister. I think that was when Chloe Polar Bear came out of her shell. Her favorite game is run really fast into Marley, then bounce around like Tigger. She rolls around in the snow and by the time she is finished outside she has a snow beard. She slept in her kennel last night and was quiet as a mouse. She has not had any accidents either in the house or in her kennel (knock on wood).