our foster dog

We have been talking to Delores for a while about BFF Rescue finding Shiloh a more suitable dog foster home. I think that he would make someone a wonderful foster dog or “regular” dog. I don’t, however, think that we’re a good fit as dog foster parents for him.

Anyone who has come to visit over the three and a half weeks that Shiloh has been here has liked our foster dog. Everybody loves the fact that he is so playful. I like that he is playful, too, although I don’t like that the playfulness causes lots of scratches on my legs and arms.

This foster dog loves attention, and it is hard for me to divide my attention between the shih tzus and him. He also loves to ride in the car with me, but pet-friendly places are out, since he barks aggressively at other dogs. I like the fact that he wants to sleep with us, since the shih tzus haven’t shown that desire, but it does make for tension in the morning when I am trying to play with the shih tzus when they come upstairs and he jumps into the middle in his clumsy and playful way.

Delores agrees that the girls have waited for a good forever home for a while, and that things might be better without a foster dog around. She suggested we take him and another BFF Rescue foster dog, Oliver, to the farmers market in Golden and walk around, with the foster dogs in their “adopt me” harnesses, to see if anyone might be interested in adopting one of the rescue dogs.

It was a good idea, but Shiloh was the wrong foster dog to bring. He exhibited dog aggression, barking at random dogs. Delores suggested he might be barking at non-neutered dogs, and it did seem like that was mostly the case, although not all the time. We decided our foster dog wasn’t making many friends and ended up putting him in the car for a while. I think Lia is right in that Shiloh could benefit from discipline classes. Oliver, on the other hand, displayed a sweet disposition, and a few people stopped to inquire about him.

Dotty fights the leash again

Being at the farmers market and seeing all of the amiable dogs wandering around made me more determined to teach the shih tzus to walk on a leash. I brought Dottie out back and put the leash on her. She did go a few steps, in her attempt to get away from me, and then fought me. Candy was next. She actually ran around the yard a little, again, trying to escape, but making me believe that she might be the first leash dog. If it had been cooler out, I would have tried a little more, but I thought that was enough practice for the day.

Since Candy was nicely groomed and all ready on her leash, I picked her up and carried her next door, where the neighbors were having a post-wedding party. I didn’t set her down on the ground while we were there, but I did keep her there for about ten minutes. She didn’t seem to be nervous or afraid. I set her down when we got ready to leave, and she trotted back home behind us. Too bad I didn’t have my camcorder or camera handy.

When we came back home, I noticed that we had a call. Delores had talked to another foster parent and she was willing to take Shiloh in for a while. She came by and picked him up at 6. She asked if she could take the safety gate back that we had taken from Barbara’s. We had hooked it to ours to keep the dogs from climbing up the landscaped area in back and getting out of the yard, but we realized that Shiloh was the only one who could or would try. We unhooked it and rearranged the fencing

When Delores left, John cooked up the rest of the steak from last night’s dinner and used it for quesadillas. We shared a little of it with Candy and Dottie. For some reason, Flower wouldn’t come to get any. She is acting afraid of John again. When he called them, they ran right to him; she ran out of their safe zone with them, but ran right past, and then turned around and ran back to Shih Tzu Central. Some times I wonder if she’s just a little bit off — in a very cute way, though.