Meet the Fosters-The beginning.

A couple months back I signed up to foster dogs. I volunteer at the Anchorage Animal Care and Control Center where I interact with so many adorable dogs, some of whom have medical conditions that need a little extra attention. I figured  I have enough room in my house and enough love in my heart to take care of a dog who needs me for a couple months, so I bit the bullet and signed up to be a foster parent. I got my first call to foster a dog around June 21, 2010. Megan, AACCC's volunteer coordinator, called me and said something along the lines of, "We don't usually ask this of first time fosters, but what would you think of fostering a momma dog and her five puppies?" I was a little shocked! My condo association only allows two dogs per condo, and I had only ever intended on fostering one dog at a time, which would already mean three dogs in my condo. I justified three by telling myself that it would be for a good cause and for a short period of time... but this would mean eight dogs total! Megan knew I had an out-of-town event that weekend, so I had a little time to think about it.  I went back and forth for a day or two, but ultimately decided I had to do it.

I went to the shelter a few days before I was supposed to pick up my foster family. I wanted to meet momma and let her get familiar with me before I brought her and her puppies home. Megan brought momma, who was introduced to me as Heidi, and one of the pups out to meet me. Heidi was brought in as a stray with five puppies. Someone from Fort Rich claimed he found Heidi and her pups and brought them into the shelter. I wish I knew more, but I am still very unclear about the details. Sadly, one of the puppies had already died since being brought to the shelter. As Megan handed me the puppy she brought out to meet me with Heidi, and as I was falling in puppy love at first sight, the shelter's vet tech, who was walking behind me, immediately grabbed the pup and said she would be right back. Apparently, there was a globby white discharge coming from the puppy's nose, and the tech wanted to take her to the shelter's vet for a quick check up. I continued to interact with Heidi, petting her, talking to her, and assuring her the puppy would be back. The puppy never came back.  Instead the vet tech came back and said the shelter's vet wanted to talk to me personally. The vet informed me that the puppy had an infection and had to be euthanized. She explained that puppy's immune systems are super delicate and that it's very difficult to bring them back to health without the risk of infecting momma and the other puppies. She told me that they would monitor the other puppies over the weekend and that I might not have to foster the family, after all, if it ended up that the other puppies were also sick. If I did get to take the puppies home, she wanted to make sure I understood how important it is to bring a foster animal back to the shelter if I notice him/her getting sick. She explained that a lot of foster parents get really attached to their foster pets and have a hard time bringing them in knowing that the result may be euthanization. Although I was sad, and a little shocked at what had just happened, I told her I understood and that I would respond to any situation I encountered appropriately.

I went back to the shelter three days later, and all three of the remaining puppies were doing just fine. The vet packed the trio into a tiny carrying crate, and I loaded Heidi and her pups into my car. I hadn't had time to clean out my garage or make the living situation more comfortable for the fosters, so I found a hug box that once housed my 40-ish inch television, I filled the box with blankets, and that was the puppies' first bed. At this point I hadn't even seen the puppies yet, so I took them out of the crate to meet them and put them in their new bed.  I picked them up, one by one, to see their sex. Puppy #1: boy. Puppy #2: boy. Puppy #3: BOY?!?!? As much as I wanted to play with and get to know these sweet, adorable little boys, I knew that my first task was to introduce Heidi to my two dogs, so I left the puppies all snuggled up in their new bed and got myself prepared.

Before I let Heidi come into the house, I decided I needed to walk her with my dogs. It's recommended that you introduce dogs on neutral ground so there isn't any reason for either dog to be territorial. Jon and Jamie Lang came over to help me handle the dogs since I now had three big dogs to deal with. They also brought their two little dogs, Pennie Lane, who had just had puppies herself, and Mimi. I don't remember exactly how things went when I first brought Titan and Nova out of the house, but I think Jon was handling Heidi, and I don't remember the initial meeting going too badly. As we started walking out of the neighborhood, though, Heidi did make aggressive advances at Pennie Lane and Mimi. Those dogs are usually the instigators, but in this case I think Heidi was stressed out and confused and on edge and she took it out on the poor little dogs. As our walk continued, I had Jon trade leashes with me so I could have various combinations of my three dogs walking together. Halfway through the walk, things were going so well that I decided I would take all three leashes and walk all the dogs together to really establish my new pack. Heidi and Nova hadn't had a good chance to really sniff each other and feel one another out, and their faces touched the wrong way, or they made eye contact out of the corner of their  eyes, and that's when Heidi and Nova's first fight broke out. Jon and I were able to pull them apart, so no harm was done, but it was a little scary to think my dogs may not get along with the new addition. When I got back to the house Heidi immediately ran to the garage door, knowing her puppies were just on the other side. It was probably the longest she'd been away from them, which made her a little nervous, I'm sure. I decided that was enough of trying to establish our pack for one day, so Heidi just hung out in the garage with her babies for the rest of the night. I did the same thing.

And now it was time to name the boys!

Max... my little chubster

Even though I knew they would be adopted in four to five weeks, and the owners would want to name the pups themselves, I had to call them something while they lived with me. Momma is some sort of German Shepherd mix, so the shelter named her Heidi (which was intended to be a German sounding name). As we were walking I told Jamie and Jon I wanted to give the boys German/European names just like their mom. The Langs threw out a few ideas, Max being one of them. I love the name Max, and I knew that's what I would name at least one of the puppies, I just didn't know who it would fit best yet. When I got home I decided to put all the puppies on the garage floor to let them do their thing. The black one climbed up on me and just snuggled in my lap. I almost named him Max...he kind of looked like a Max...and I was this close to making the decision, until I looked over and saw this cute, chubby little guy staring at me--I knew instantly that he was Max. 

Leif... my little explorer

Next I looked around to see what the other brown dog was up to. The pups were only three weeks old when I got them and they had just opened their eyes two days before I picked them up. Every move they made was really slow and deliberate and clumsy... it was like watching a drunk person trying to function, except a lot cuter and funnier.... and yet here was this puppy walking around sniffing out everything in the garage. His eyes were barely working, and he bumped into something with every clumsy little step, but there he was, the first one to explore the whole garage. Being the little explorer that he was, I decided to name him Leif.

Otto... my little snuggle bug

So that left the black one, sitting in my lap all snuggly and cuddly looking like a little bear cub. I thought about naming him Bernard or Barrett, which are variations of the word "bear" in German, but nothing stuck. At this point my friend Lindsey had come over and she and I were going back and forth on the merits of the different names I'd been considering. Finally I decided to let Twitter help me out. I took a poll asking what I should name the little black dog. A  few funny and cute names were thrown out, but for some reason, when someone said "Otto," I couldn't stop thinking about it and that became his name!





 So by the end of day one, my little foster family was created: Heidi, Max, Leif, and Otto.

Heidi and the puppies refueling after the big move.

What do you do when Twitter is down?

First I panic and think my phone is broken, so I move to my computer. Then I panic and think my computer is broken, so I get online to see if the internets still work. When I find that the internets work and realize my phone and computer are both OK, I realize Twitter is down and I die a little inside.

Ask me anything

Where would you go on vacation if you could pick anywhere?

If I could pick anywhere, I would pick everywhere. If I have to narrow it down, my top choices would be Ireland, England, Greece, Italy, France, Japan, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand... and I'm gonna live in Morocco for one year. Do you wanna come?

Ask me anything

Why are you still single?

If I knew why I am still single, I probably wouldn't be. I guess I haven't found the right guy, or he hasn't found me.

I don't get hit on or asked out very often, so I'm sure that contributes to my being single.

Also, I usually don't put myself out there unless I already have pretty strong feelings about my connection to a person.

I thank God I didn't end up with any of the guys I dated in my past. There are one or two I can still see myself being attracted to today, but I am such a different person now and I can see why those relationships didn't work, or why I shouldn't have held on to some of them for so long.

Ultimately, I'd like to think I'm still single because I'm still waiting.

Ask me anything