Happy Tails: Waffles & Koa!

This weekend brought happy tails for everyone! Both of our foster dogs, Waffles and Koa, found their forever families. It's nice and quiet at the Bowen house with just our three old geezers. We'll see how long that lasts...I think we're going to shoot for a week off here if possible. Anyhow, we're super happy for Waffles and Koa! They've both got fantastic lives ahead of them.

Waffles and his mommy

Waffles, foot healed and good as new, wound up as an only child. His mom is retired, so he's got all her time and affection all to himself. How nice! He'll love being the star, but hopefully she'll take him to daycare or the dog park every so often so he can get his crazy play on. He does love to socialize. His mom said they'll come in to my store and visit every now and then. I'll be sure and do a pupdate post on him after they come visit so you can hear how he's doing. Waffles is a nervous little guy when he first meets people, but he gave his new mom a face full of kisses right away. How awesome is that? His mom instantly fell in love with him and was moved to tears by his story, gentleness, and affection. Oh, and she's keeping the name "Waffles"! Love it when that happens! 

Waffles was sort of a co-foster effort. We pulled him and got his foot on the right track, then traded dogs with another foster family we're good friends with after about three weeks. Anne-Laure and Steed had been fostering a difficult Chihuahua named Mischa for a few months. Mischa hates men and was really having a rough time. We traded Mischa for Waffles to see if the change in scenery / routine would help at all and to give Anne-Laure and Steed a much deserved break. Waffles was a pretty easy dog - always happy, joyful, sweet, and playful. Sometimes you need a morale boost after dealing with a tough case for a while. Waffles gave them just that. Mischa's a story for another day. Anyway, Anne-Laure and Steed did a fantastic job with Waffles. They loved his carefree spirit just as much as we did. They continued helping his foot heal by giving him medicated foot soaks twice each day for a week (no joke...they're troopers) and making sure he took his antibiotics to ward off infection. Before long, his foot looked nearly perfect. We dog-sat Waffles for a few weekends here and there from that point on, but Anne-Laure and Steed remained his primary foster parents. It's been really cool to share the load so to speak with such good friends. Waffles became sort of a joint custody project, giving us all the opportunity to be touched by this sweet little dog's wonderful spirit.

Here's what Anne-Laure has to say about Waffles: "When Waffles first came into our house, he brought his liveliness and energy with him. Being used to Chihuahuas, we were a little unprepared for his athleticism when we left a plate of chocolate chip cookies on the coffee table. What would have been out of reach for a Chi definitely wasn't out of reach for the determined Waffle-nator's fast jaws. He ate all the food he could manage to get his paws/nose on. When there's no food around, he chomps on ice cubes after playing with them for a while first. This playful dog puts all his focus into whatever he's doing right right at the very minute he's doing it. If you take him on a car ride, it's his favorite thing ever. But so are walks, play time, belly rubs, cuddle time, dinner time, sleepy time, whatever! He loves it all! When he's content, he gently puts his chin on your arm and lets out a long sigh. He's the easiest, most loving little dog we've been lucky enough to have for a few days. He so wants love. I've never seen him show any sign of dislike toward anyone. One of my friends brought her 15 month old toddler over. She's scared of dogs so we were a little apprehensive, especially because Waffles has a much bigger bark than his size. He approached her very gently and rubbed his head on her, asking to be pet. When she felt safer, he chased her and she chased him back. When she picked up a little branch, he sat a few feet away from her with his eyes begging her to throw it. She didn't, so he very gently pulled the branch from her hand and threw it in the air for himself. He did that a few times, determined to teach her how to play fetch. This special little dog reassured my friend, I think, that dogs and toddlers are not incompatible. His gentleness combined with his puppy-ish love for play and passion for cuddle makes him the perfect dog in my book."

Derpfest!

None of us were able to make the adoption event this past Saturday. Anne-Laure dropped Waffles off at our house Friday night, planning to pick him up after the event on Saturday evening.. We snuggled, played, and enjoyed his company as usual. He's such a fun dog. We gave him a bath and cut his nails in prep for the event so he'd look his best. He'd had zero interest so far, which none of us understood given his endearing personality and extremely goofy cuteness. Saturday morning, I dropped him off at daycare on my way to work. He was transported to the event later that day. When I texted to ask how Waffles did, I nearly jumped out of my skin to hear that he was getting adopted. A lady had been pre-approved to adopt another Jake's Wish dog, but when she came to the event and saw Waffles it was love at first sight. We miss this happy little guy already, but we're so glad he's on to his forever! Best of luck to you, Waffle Cone!

Koa & her new momma!

Koa got the forever family of her dreams! She's got two canine brothers: Kielbasa the pittie and Sausage the Chihuahua. Sounds pretty perfect for her! Kielbasa needed a playmate. I'm sure he and Koa are running and wrestling as I type this. Koa's new people are great with training and consistency. The dogs have to wait for them to say "good morning" as the release phrase for coming out of their crates each morning! Too cute. Once per week, they're all allowed to sleep in bed with the people for a special night of snuggles. I'm so happy for Koa. I don't have as much to say about her happily ever after as I did for Waffles because we only had her for a week, but it's awesome to see this itty bitty happy pittie pup surrounded by love. I'm hoping we'll get photos of her once she's fully grown. If so, I'll be sure to share. Kisses, Koa!

Bonus: Waffles photo-bombing Koa in the backyard!

Waffles, Chicken and

Intake photo showing injured foot and shock collar

Every morning, our shelter's "needs rescue" list is emailed to me and a bunch of other local rescue representatives. Almost a month ago, a little Dachshund mix with an injured paw showed up on the list. He was wearing a shock collar and had the most awful tear stains. Drew said he looked like he'd been crying for days. His eyes stared through his intake photo at me and begged for help. Sometimes you can just see their gentle souls through their eyes. This was one of those dogs. I knew him as SB02, his kennel number. We started calling him "foot dog", which wasn't really much better than SB02.

Drew and I went to meet him & we knew we had to have him. I went inside his kennel and sat down next to him to get some better pictures and an idea of his demeanor. Despite all the pain he must have been in, he was so sweet and loving. He hobbled over next to me and laid down while I rubbed his ears. He was so much cuter in person than in his intake photo - young, white and cream colored, super soft, and stretchy like a wiener mix. Oh, and he had the most fantastic overbite I'd ever seen. He reminded me of derp master Tuna of internet fame: http://www.tunameltsmyheart.com/

Waffles in his kennel at the shelter

A few days later, we pulled "foot dog" under Jake's Wish Dog Rescue and brought him home to safety. He hopped out of the shelter like a champ on three legs. Nothing was going to stand in his way - he was heading for the good life now. It was so sad knowing he belonged to someone who bothered to put a shock collar on him, but didn't bother to go looking for him when he ended up in the shelter. A lovely owner, for sure. And no - he's not a barky guy. His foot looked rough, so I bandaged it for the first day we had him in order to keep him from stress licking. This made it worse, so we went open air healing and cone of shame from that point on until it dried up enough to stop oozing. We suspected he'd gotten hit by a car. He had a few other minor scrapes and bruises on his body, but just the bad one on his foot. Fortunately, x-rays showed no broken bones. After our experience with Raven's horrible carpal wound, which was far worse than this guy's, we knew we could get him fixed up no problem. You can read my main post on Raven's story here: http://ohfortheloveofdogs.blogspot.com/2013/10/raven-rough-start-for-sweet-girl.html

Waffles and his derptastic overbite

We needed to come up with a name for "foot dog", so we enlisted the help of Facebook and asked our friends to chime in. One of our friends in Chicago suggested "Waffles". We are from Atlanta where chicken and waffles is sort of a popular thing, however goofy it may seem. We decided to go with Waffles because of his goofy personality. He needed a silly sort of name. Turns out a lot of Californians don't really understand the whole chicken and waffles bit, but oh well. Waffles it is. As with every dog who comes through our house, Waffles has loads of nicknames: Waffy, Waffular, Chicken And, Waffle Taco, and Waffle Cone while he had to wear the cone of shame. I mean, really, how could we resist? 

Waffles enjoying the comfy couch

Waffles has the best personality ever. He's so ridiculously excited about life itself - it's contagious. He's happy-go-lucky, wiggly, snuggly, lovey, and just downright aderpable. I love his zest for life and his enthusiasm for everything. He's always happy to see you and he's never met a stranger. He loves other dogs and gets everyone to play. I just love his spirit. He's really a special little guy. Waffles will make a fantastic family dog. He'd love to have kids and other dogs to play with, then snuggle up with the family at night. It's just so wonderful to see him enjoying a comfortable life with the promise of safety and love. He deserves nothing less.

Earlier this week, Drew and I traded foster dogs with our rescue friends. Waffles went to their house and we took their foster, Mischa, who needs a change of scenery and extra socialization. Waffles is doing great at their house so far. He's got his favorite spot on the couch all figured out and he's loving their other dogs. I took him to the vet for a foot check up this morning. It's healing really nicely, with the exception of one toe. The nail looks pretty dead and will likely fall off, but that's ok. He's on antibiotics to ward off infection and he gets his foot soaked twice daily in a medicated rinse. How nice...anyhow, you can see how much progress his foot has made in just four short weeks! It's pretty amazing how resilient dogs are and how well they heal. Hopefully that toe improves.

Waffles is bearing weight pretty well on all fours. He still goes to three legs when he runs really fast or if he's feeling lazy, but for the most part I think he'll go back to walking normally once he's completely healed. He should be ready for adoption events in another week or so. Waffles is just such a special little critter. He's going to make someone out there super happy, we know it. He makes us laugh every day with his goofy face and wiggly booty. Then he melts our hearts when he curls up for snuggles in the evening. We're thankful that he gets to have a life beyond the identity of "foot dog" and that he finally knows what love feels like. Stay tuned for more on this low-rider goofball as he continues his journey toward furever! He's listed on Petfinder here if you'd like more adoption information: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/31509770

Bonus Happy Tails: Katie and Suri

When I had them...

Bonus happy tails alert! Remember Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise? I posted about their transport to NJ and adoptions a couple months ago. I've been super fortunate to receive continued updates on both of these precious girls since their adoptions. I really want to share with you how happy they are in their forever homes and just how adorable they both look. Huge thanks to both of their new families for taking the time to share these wonderful pictures and updates with me! It warms my heart to see their new lives. I couldn't have dreamed of more for Katie and Suri / Kit and Zoe!

First up: Miss Katie Holmes, now Kit! Judging from these pictures and her mom's correspondence, Kit is as adorable and feisty as ever. Kit's mom says her skin (remember how awful it was from the flea bites?) is doing pretty well overall. That one bad spot flared up a little due to the super cold weather, but with continued fish oil supplements and an antibiotic shot from the vet it seems to be under control. Wearing sweaters helps keep Kit from scratching and prevents flare ups, too. How conveniently cute! Love it. She's settled in beautifully with her new siblings. Check out how pawsome she looks in her fancy Christmas dress and Santa suit!

Suri / Zoe then...

...Suri / Zoe now!

Next up: Suri Cruise, now Zoe! Just. Look. At. Her. Squeeeeeee!!! Zoe's mom emailed me this picture. It's a good thing she told me who it was because I would never have recognized our little baby girl! Oh my goodness! She is so grown up and big! And surprise: she still looks absolutely nothing like her mama. Hah! What a goofy pair these girls are, honestly. I hear Zoe's about ten pounds now. She was barely five when we sent her on transport. I just can't believe how much she's grown and changed. Dachshund? Yeah, right! She looks like a baby Boxer or Mastiff. How ridiculous! Again, the only telling trait is the double dewclaw phenomenon. Otherwise you'd never know Zoe was Kit's puppy. Zoe's doing great. She's learning how to play politely and continuing her potty training.  Check out her transformation! That's all I have for now. Just wanted y'all to see the pawsomeness of rescue pupdates! Paws up for Zoe & Kit!

Happy Tail: Suri Cruise!

Congratulations, Suri!

Well, that didn't take long at all! Little miss Suri Cruise is adopted! Hurray! Her new name is Zoe, how perfect! Suri stayed in an awesome NJ foster home for a week until her furever family took her home. How pawsome! She is going to be so happy. Hopefully we'll get some updates on her so we can see what she grows up to look like. That little monster is going to be adorable, I just know it! I love this pup and I'm so glad she's got a great home. She has so much personality...sometimes she's a rabble-rouser and other times she is just super snoozy and mellow. She does that hilarious thing where she sits down and just gives you the "I'm too cute to ignore" puppy death stare from across the room until you pick her up. She's a goof troop. Good luck, little girl!

Can we go home now?

Too cute...NJ foster siblings!

Happy Tail: Katie Holmes!

Congratulations, Katie!

I've got some more pawsome news to share: Mama Katie got adopted on Thursday night! Woot! She looks SO happy and seems to fit right in with her new pack. She's got two low-rider siblings just like her: Dottie and Bogey! You know that's a crew that's sure to turn heads walking down the street together. Katie's new name is Kit. I think that's super cute and fits her quite well. I'm so excited for her. Check it out: she's already claimed her new daddy's lap! Love the family photo! We were all a little concerned that Suri would get adopted right away and no one would want Katie. Everybody wants puppies, but all too often the mama gets left in the dust. SSR wasn't about to let that happen! As it turns out, Katie beat Suri to furever. Who would've thought?

Happy Suri in her foster home

Don't worry, Suri is super happy and cozy in her NJ foster home (enjoy the brain-meltingly adorable photographic evidence). Her furever will come soon enough, I'm sure. And don't feel sad that they're not adopted together, either. Sure, they'd been through a lot together and were definitely bonded, but they're very independent girls. Katie was starting to play a bit too roughly with Suri and she also became a little overly protective of her toward people when they got to NJ. I really think they'll both do better separately. They can start totally fresh. From what I've heard, it sounds like occasional play dates may even happen! So PAWS UP for Katie/Kit! Good luck, sweet mama girl. We are so happy for you!

Katie & Suri Head North

Bon voyage, girls!

Today I sent Katie and Suri on transport to See Spot Rescued in New Jersey. They went on the FODA van and we crated them together so they could stay snuggly and (hopefully) less stressed. Mama and Suri have been through so much together...they're such a cute little team! I felt nothing but happiness when I said goodbye to them today. They are the sweetest little things, but I am just so excited for them to take the next step toward furever. I know their lives are going to be filled with so much love, whether they get adopted together or separately. For now, they'll go to a foster home together until

Like mother, like daughter

they get adopted. I'll keep you posted as I find out about their journeys. Paws crossed for safe travels and bright futures for Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise! They deserve nothing but the very best. Good luck, girls!

Please share widely...Katie especially needs help generating adoption interest! I think Suri has a few people interested, but nothing concrete. If you're in the Jersey City area and would like to adopt Katie or Suri, please email SSR and request an application: seespotrescued@gmail.com

Pupdate: Katie & Suri's Adventures Continue

Ultimate Cuteness!

Hey everybody! Thought I'd post a little update on my favorite girls, Katie and Suri since the focus has been on Raven recently. They're both recovered from their colds and are doing great. Suri finally weighs over 5 pounds (6.4!) and was able to get spayed today! She's feeling a little drunk, but is doing fine. Now they're both on track to go on transport to SSR in NJ next weekend. I am so excited for these two sweet girls!

Katie and Suri absolutely LOVE playing outside together. They love to play in the bushes and in the leaf piles. Don't worry, I always check for ticks and such afterward! Katie's pretty rough on Suri, but she holds her own quite well. Suri's getting much bigger...she's almost half mama's size! We've seen her torso stretch longer and her ears get bigger and floppier. Her fur is getting fluffier and looks like it might grow in long. She still doesn't look anything like Katie or a dachshund, though. Whatever she is, she's a cute little monster! Her teeth are all coming in nicely (read: SHARPLY) and her gums are nice and pink. They were super pale when we got her because she'd lost so much blood to fleas. So happy to see her thriving!

Katie's skin/fur before and after!

Katie is also doing well. She recovered just fine after her spay two weeks ago. She loves to play and snuggle. I think she's goofier than Suri. Mama Katie's fur looks SO much better! I've kept her on several supplements to spur healing and fur growth: Pet Kelp, Scratch-Attack Anti-Itch Gel, therapeutic levels of fish oil each day, Biotin, and Zymox medicated shampoo. It's really made a difference! Check out her skin/fur before and after pictures. These pictures were taken about 3 weeks apart. Pretty awesome progress! She still has the big bald spot on her left side where the skin was really bad, but it's healed nicely. I'm not sure the fur will ever grow back there because the skin is so scarred, but at least it doesn't bother her anymore. The rest of her coat really looks great. I'll have to write some product plug blog posts on some of these things I've used on Katie's skin...stay tuned for that.


I have to say, Katie and Suri are among my favorite fosters. If I had to rank them, here's how it stands: #1 Pickles, #2 Cowboy, #3 Katie and Suri. They are both just SO SWEET, loving, cheerful, and happy-go-lucky. Not to mention they fit right into the rest of our pack, which I very much appreciate. Neither of them ever causes a fuss over anything. They just roll with the punches and are happy to go along with whatever the day has in store. In the world of dogs, it doesn't get much easier than that! These girls will surely make somebody very happy in NJ. I can't help but cross my fingers that they get adopted together because they are quite bonded, but I think they'd be fine either way. Can't wait to see what happens! Enjoy the pictures and videos.

Pupdate: Katie & Suri

Tired Suri (AKA Poopface)

My household has been super mega busy with dog stuff recently! With all the hoopla over Pickles leaving (he's doing pawsome, by the way) and some stuff going on with my own dogs (everybody's ok, just an ear infection for Oliver), I realized I'm overdue for posting a pupdate on Katie & Suri. I took them to the shelter vet to get spayed today. Hurray! This may not seem like the most ideal "hurray" situation ever, but it's such a hugely exciting thought that Katie will never have to have puppies again and that Suri will never have to go through that at all. A few days of pain is well worth a long, healthy lifetime.

Sleepy Katie

As it turned out, Suri still does not weigh enough to be spayed yet. She's 4 pounds and needs to be at least 5 before the shelter vet will operate on her. Boo. I was pretty surprised because she's such a stinkin hog...I thought for sure she'd weigh in. Oh well. But! She did get her second full round of shots and dewormer, hurray! So that's super awesome. So, she's got to hang out with us for another couple of weeks and gain that last pound before getting fixed. Once she's fixed and recovered, she can head to NJ to See Spot Rescued and await adoption. So we're probably looking at transport on November 2nd for Suri.

Suri chillin in her daytime pen

Mama Katie is successfully spayed. She is recovering now at home with us, not so comfortably but that's how it goes. Spay surgery is WAY more intrusive and major than neuter surgery. Sparing you all the obvious details, the vet has to cut through the abdominal muscles during a spay operation. Needless to say, that makes for a very sore doggy belly and a considerable recovery period. Now, hold on to your hats for the best news of the day: Katie is HW NEGATIVE!!!!!!! Woot! I am SO relieved and thrilled by this news, I can't even express myself. So as soon as she recovers fully from her spay, she'll be able to head to NJ. I imagine she'll be able to make the October 19 transport, unless SSR wants us to keep her with Suri until November 2 and send them together. We'll see.

Suri & Oliver

Both Katie and Suri have upper respiratory infections (URI). This is common in shelter dogs. They'll be on antibiotics for ten days and will feel much better soon. Katie's skin is doing a lot better, too. It's not so inflamed anymore and her fur is starting to fill back in. Suri is chasing her tail, climbing stairs, running wild in the yard, and even digging in the dirt. All in all, these gals are really doing great. Enjoy some new pictures and videos and stay tuned for more pupdates on Katie and Suri (be sure to adjust the movie quality to 720!) :-)

Katie & Suri: Your Daily Dose of Adorable

Hold still while I get ya, Mama!

We likes to snuggles

Hey everyone! Just thought I'd write a little post letting you all know that Katie and Suri are doing great. Suri's learning new dog things every single day. She's barking, play bowing, climbing stairs, going down the stairs, and today she even did the dirt-scratching kick after she went potty! I'm having a blast watching her figure everything out. Mama Katie's really enjoying being a house dog. She got to go to lunch with me and Aunt Chrissy on Monday. We sat out on the patio and she soaked in the sunshine. She's a super sweet girl who I thought really deserved a little break from her puppy. Nothing too new to report, just that they're doing very well. Mostly, I just need an excuse to post a bunch of pictures and videos. Enjoy!

Katie Holmes & Suri Cruise: No Longer On Their Own

Just sayin'...

It's not every day you see a mama with only one puppy come into animal control. Y'all know we just temp fostered the houndy mama and her litter of 10, so when we saw this pitiful pair we just couldn't resist. Their intake photo interested me. You can see the independence and determination in both of them. Mama is alert and sitting up straight. Puppy is sitting tall next to mama, not hiding underneath or behind her. They both just kind of seem to be saying, "Yep, here we are. We made it this far, just the two of us. What's next?". When I got to the shelter and saw them in person, I knew I wasn't leaving without them. I took mama out without her puppy to see how she acted around people and other dogs. She was totally cool. When I walked back to her kennel, puppy was just sitting there just like she is in the intake picture. She wasn't fazed in the slightest. Ok then, off we go!

Adorable

The rescue group taking them is See Spot Rescued (SSR) in New Jersey. SSR likes their dogs to have famous first and last names, so Drew came up with Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise. We think it suits them well. Their shelter names were Becky (pup) and Darlene (mom). I thought those were really cute too, especially Becky for the puppy. Unfortunately, I didn't watch Roseanne growing up and so we didn't realize they actually already had celebrity names. Plus Drew is way too proud of himself for thinking up Katie and Suri given his profound lack of celebrity knowledge. So, Katie and Suri it is!

Katie's poor skin

Suri post-bath and sans fleas

Katie and Suri are both at good weights and seem to be in general good health. They were picked up as strays by an animal control officer a few days before I brought them home. Suri was completely infested with fleas. We used the shower handheld and bathed her with Dawn dish soap. They use that stuff on wildlife because it is so gentle and good at de-gunking. We washed her for about 15 minutes and the fleas just poured off of her the entire time. I have never seen so many fleas on one dog before, let alone a three pound dog like Suri. Poor thing. It was really bad. I can't believe she was still so strong with all those awful things leeching off of her. It makes me wonder if mama had one or two other pups that were just as infested and didn't make it. Who knows. I just know Suri felt so much better once we got rid of all those fleas. She's doing really well and only has some scabs from where the worst of the fleas were living on her. Mama Katie didn't have any on her, but she'd been chewed up by them really badly. Her skin is a WRECK. It's just horrible. At the shelter, I noticed she had pretty serious hair loss going on, but I didn't see the full extent of it until we got her home. Her poor skin is just torn up. Dogs can have severe allergic reactions to a single flea bite. When they scratch and chew and dig at their own skin it just makes

everything that much worse. She was so terribly inflamed, raw, and itchy. We bathe her with Xymox shampoo and conditioner. Katie gets biotin, therapeutic dosages of fish oil, and pet kelp to help restore her skin and coat. We also rub her down with an herbal gel to give her some instant topical relief from the itching. The gel is called Scratch Attack Anti-Itch and has yerba-mate, boswellia, arnica, chamomile, witch hazel, aloe vera, rosemary oil, peppermint oil, and tea tree oil. All of these ingredients are good natural remedies that should help Katie feel much better. Her skin has already improved. It's no longer red and inflamed, although she still has a long way to go. It will probably never look perfect, but all that's important is that we get her feeling more comfortable.

Check out those double dewclaws! Little freaks!

We think Suri is probably about six weeks old. Mama is a Dachshund mix who is probably about 25 pounds and roughly 2 years old. Suri looks nothing like mama. They both have super funky, fairly unusual double rear dewclaws. If it wasn't for that, I'd almost wonder if Suri was mama's pup. She's still nursing, but we're trying to help mama wean her because she has teeth and is rather rotund. Suri's really a little boss...she eats everything in sight (even if she has to shove mama out of the way) and she loves to chase the Chihuahuas. Bunkin, Flea, Oliver, and Pickles are pretty scared of her. It's hilarious. We spend a good deal of time playing in the backyard so she gets plenty of fresh air and exercise. Suri is running faster and steadier every day. Yesterday she sailed over a log at the end of the driveway mid-stride and kept right on running without stumbling! She even

conquered the very bottom step of the outside stairs and the slightly raised threshhold of the backdoor. Mama Katie is super spunky and likes to play pretty rough with little Suri. She'll shove her around, roll her over, pin her down, chomp on her ears, and run zoomies around her until she starts to cry uncle. Then she'll back off and Suri will resume chasing after Flea and Pickles. Yesterday she sent Oliver bounding away in terror and Bunkin decided he'd be safest hiding behind my legs. What a goof troop!

It seems like Mama Katie was a house dog at some point. She's completely house-trained and is even trying to teach Suri where to go potty. When we're out in the yard, Katie grabs Suri by the ear/leg/arm and drags her into the grass where she fusses at her until Suri goes potty. It's like she's saying, "Look here, this is where we go and we're not going back inside until you do!". It's super funny. Katie is VERY people friendly. She loves to crawl up into your lap and give kisses, even if she's just met you. She made herself right at home from day one, cuddling with us during tv time, leaning against our feet when we're standing in the kitchen, and squeezing in alongside me when I sit in the recliner to study. She's super tolerant of all the other dogs, too. Normally mamas with young pups are slow to warm and a bit protective, but Drew is a champ and seamlessly integrated Katie and Suri in with the rest of our pack in a day's time. In short, she's a really well-behaved girl. It makes you wonder what happened for her to wind up in this situation. My guess, for what little it's worth, is that mama may have be owned and loved but was never fixed, escaped her yard/house, got knocked up, birthed her pup as a stray, and wound up in animal control. No doubt she's a flea bitten mess, but she seems to be in good shape other than that and doesn't seem to have any emotional scars. It's really sad, no matter what their story may be. The great news is they're both safe and loved, mama will never have to go through this again, and Suri will never have any babies of her own. The hard part of their journey is over for good.

We will probably have Katie and Suri for three weeks or so. Suri has to gain a couple pounds before she can be spayed and Katie's got to be fixed once her milk dries up. Hopefully I can get Katie's skin in better shape during that time before they head to New Jersey. I really have nothing but awesome things to say about these two girls. They're both fantastic little dogs and I know they will make somebody very happy. We're certainly enjoying having them around! Huge thanks to See Spot Rescued for committing to take them and also to Friends of DeKalb Animals for transporting them to NJ. Stay tuned for more cuteness! I'll be posting occasional updates with lots of pictures over the next few weeks.