Tarra and Bella

Happy 7th Birthday to Chie

How can 7 years pass by like that, in the blink of an eye? Happy birthday to that sweet, sassy, beautiful girl who has taught me some of the greatest lessons in life:  Know your priorities. Keep your eye on the ball. Do what you love every day. Don't whine. Share. Take it like a big girl. Be hopeful. You can charm the pants off almost anyone. Drama is overrated. Everything is wonderful and amazing. True leaders are kind, gentle, and fun. Tennis balls rule. 

Hero Dogs of September 11

Cover Boy

Finn is featured on the cover of this month's Bay Woof newspaper! His photo was taken by the world's greatest pet photographer, Tonya Perme.

Finn's Turn

At last...Finn is ready for adoption! It has been my great privilege to foster this amazing dog; I wish that I could be half as good as he is. Please visit Indi Lab Rescue to read Finn's bio and for more information.

Finn Wins!

Finn's photo came in 3rd in Pampered Puppy's February photo contest! We won a Nina Ottosson dog puzzle, which is something we've been wanting to try out. Pretty cool!

Another One-Year Anniversary

Happy Permanent Foster Day to Henry! One year ago, Henry came into our lives...and what a year it has been. Here's a look back at just some of the highlights...

 

Henry started by opening up his own neuter in the car on the way home from the shelter, leading to more days in a cone than should be legal.

Henry's weapon of mass destruction took its toll on the walls, legs (human and canine), and the paint on the fence. During this time we also caught our first glimpses of Henry's Frustration Intolerance and its trusty sidekick, Redirected Aggression!

We also noticed that Henry has cat issues and dog-dog fear issues. Oh, and squirrel issues and gopher issues. And duck issues...and geese issues. Also, probably, animals-he-hasn't-met-yet issues.

A traffic-stopper on the Indi Lab Rescue web site, twice Henry was placed into an adoptive home and twice he was returned. We started Difficult Dog and Nose Work classes at the humane society and Henry proved to be an oustanding worker. In order to avoid scary encounters with unfamiliar dogs, we started taking "private" walks in areas with low dog traffic. Here's one of our favorite walks, with Mt. Tam in the background, on a glorious day.

 

Henry even made friends with some carefully selected dogs like Lakona (middle) and Vesper (right). He also fell in love with his foster sisters and his foster brother, Finn.

He swam, hiked, and managed to have a pretty good time (and practiced posing for calendar photos).

Day by day, he wormed his way into my heart. Henry can be one big ol' Bad Boy, but he can also be the sweetest, wiggliest, most adorable Stay Puft Marshmallow Man (as my friend Maria calls him) you ever did see! We celebrated our one-year anniversary with an official ID tag of his very own...

 

Happy Birthday, Viela!

Queen for a Day

This is Viela (left) and her brothers, Vader (right) and Vesper (bottom), three years and 45 weeks ago.

Today we celebrated with half a banana for breakfast, a hike (with a heart-shaped puddle just for V!), a bully stick, and scrambled eggs for dinner for the whole family.

Happy 4th Birthday, Baby V!

One Year

It's hard to believe that today is the one-year anniversary of the day that Viela, Yvonne, and Rocky ate snail bait and almost died...a most terrible and terrifying experience that had the happiest ending imaginable. Sometimes bad things happen and we do not understand why. Sometimes good things happen and we are simply, humbly, eternally thankful.

Frenemies

The pain medications that were supposed to be helping Finn recover from bilateral knee surgery turned out to be wreaking havoc on his liver at the same time. The liver biopsy and bile acid tests show that he is in liver dysfunction...we are back on all-too-familiar ground. If goodness had anything at all to do with who got better and who did not, this sweet and good boy would be guaranteed a speedy and full recovery.