Lost & Found

Last night Dave and I were watching TV and Lizzy was starting be a pain.  She's not normally barky, but we had the front door and windows open, so she could see a lot of stuff going on outside on the street.  We try to train our dogs not to bark at every.little.thing. outside, so we ran through the commands to get her to stop and when she didn't, she lost her viewing privileges. (We closed the front door and the blinds.  Once she calms down, then we open them again.  It often takes several times of open and closing, but this was how we've taught all our dogs not to bark as passersby and it works.)

Then the dogs next door started barking and Lizzy was occasionally joining their chorus.  This was becoming a nuisance.  Dave got up and went to the side door where he heard our neighbor say something to her daughter about a loose dog.  So Dave went to the front window and looked out.

Dave: A lost dog?  I'll bet it's that fluffy white thing. (She's gotten loose before.)

Me: Oh, we should go out and help grab her.

Dave went to the front door, opened it and step outside while I tried to keep Lizzy in the house.  Sure enough a fluffy dog came gently meandering to our stoop.  But not the little 20 pound dog we were thinking of.  No, this guy was a big white and grey sheep dog, most definitely over 100 pounds.  He was so docile and came right up to Dave, allowing him to check his collar and keep a hold of him.

Lizzy thought this was awesome; no wonder she'd been barking.  I'm certain she was thinking, "You guys brought me a dog to play with!  Oh boy!"  The two played gently through the screen door, but Lizzy was emphatic about getting outside with him.  I grabbed Lizzy's leash and handed it to Dave, opening the door just a bit since I had two good sized dogs on either side that wanted to be where the other one was.  Dave found a phone number on the tag (and the dog's name, Sylvester), read it to me and I called the owners.  While I was on the phone, I let Lizzy out the back door and Dave brought Sylvester into our fenced in yard.  Unfortunately, the number was no longer in service. 

Not sure what to do next, I looked up the number for Animal Control, hoping we could find someone with a scanner to see if Sylvester was microchipped.  While I did get through, it was too late and the office was closed for the day and I had to leave a message. 

Lizzy and Sylvester played very well together.  Sylvester was a sweet boy and let us pet him and lead him with the leash.  It was clear that he just escaped from home somehow and wasn't just left to the streets.  In fact, his fur was so neatly trimmed and soft that I think he may have just been groomed in the past few days.

As Dave and I wondered what to do next, I suddenly heard a very small, but loud, voice calling for Sylvester. With the two dogs playing and jumping and only one on a leash, getting out the gate proved difficult.  I ran back in the house and out the front door only to see a Jeep turning the corner.  I called after them to wait and ran down the street.  I thought for sure I'd be hoofing it all the way to the next stop sign.  But luckily they heard me and backed up.

Me: Are you looking for your dog?

Little Girl: Yes.  His name's Sylvester.

Me: We found him.  We have him in our yard.  I just tried calling you.  We're just down here, follow me.

The mom turned the car around and followed me back to the house.  Somehow Dave had managed to get Lizzy back in the house (without Sylvester going in too) and brought him out into the driveway where he was very excited to see his family.

Mom: Thank you so much.  I'm so glad it was you who found him and not someone else.

Me: It's fine.  We foster dogs, so we know that they just get away from you sometimes and it can be hard to get them back home.  He's a really good boy, well, other than getting away from you and all.

I told the little girl it was a good thing she was loud because that's how I heard her.  Dave said Sylvester's ears perked up when he heard the girl call his name.  As Sylvester struggled to climb into the back seat, the mom helped scoop up his (big) backside to get him in.  It was nice to see a family reunited with their lost friend.  I don't think he was missing from them for very long but I'm sure it was stressful.

But the true lesson here is, if you're going to change your phone number, don't forget to change it on your dog tags too.  Hopefully no one ever needs it, but even good dogs like to wander.

PS: Sorry I didn't get a chance to take a photo of Sylvester.  I really wanted to because I knew I'd be blogging about this, but everything just happened too fast. 

Lizzy at the Pond

On Sunday morning, Dave and I took Lizzy for a little car ride to a nearby pond.  We'd taken Chiquita and Taco there, and it's always a good place for a walk and to just sit and relax.

Lizzy was so excited from the second she got out of the car.  There were so many good sniffs, I don't think she looked up at all.  The hound in her just led with her nose and she was all over the place, tracing scents and seeing where they took her.  After a walk all the way around the pond, we decided to bring her back to the beach and let her in the water.


Note: I did not have my camera or my phone, so I used Dave's phone to take this video.  Dave and I have the same phone, and I don't know why the video is sideways.  I did the same thing with Dave's phone as I would with mine, but apparently my husband has funky settings on his phone.  I guess what I'm saying is that it's Dave's fault, not mine.  (Just kidding, I'm usually the technically incompetent one.)

Lizzy Update

Dave and I were thrilled last week when less than a day after listing Lizzy on Petfinder she received an inquiry for adoption.  Dave spoke with the woman, Diane, and her family seemed like a perfect fit.  Then the next day we received another application for Lizzy.  I called Diane, explained there was other interest and asked her to set up a meet and greet if she and her family wanted to pursue the adoption so that the other family could also move forward if Lizzy is unavailable.  Diane set up a meeting with Lizzy for this past Sunday and I forwarded the second family's application to some other foster families hoping to find a match for them as well.

I spent last week calling Diane's references and got resounding support for this family to adopt Lizzy.  Everyone had wonderful things to say about her and her family as dog owners.  We were very happy to hear this because in our conversations with Diane, we thought this would be the perfect home for Lizzy.

Well, Sunday morning came and I woke up to a voicemail from Diane explaining that she decided it wasn't the right time for them to adopt a dog (I'm not sure what changed in 4 days) and they were cancelling their meeting with Lizzy.  I was super bummed out because the second family was already pursuing other dogs both with All Dog Rescue and with another rescue group.

Poor Lizzy.  Unfortunately this is the way it often goes with fostering dogs.  People change their mind at whim and don't consider the impact this has on the dog, the foster family and other applicants.  Luckily over the weekend we received another email inquiry about Lizzy.  Dave followed up and hopefully they'll complete an application and we'll get Lizzy into her forever home soon.

Operation Baking GALS

As challenging as life has been these past few years, I've continued to seek ways that I can feel rewarded.  I truly believe in the good karma that comes from volunteers and giving of oneself in time, service or goods and money.  Since Dave and I have had to be careful with our budget during his unemployment, the checks once written to the causes we believe in have gotten smaller.  But my willingness to help has probably gotten bigger.

One of the reasons I started crocheting was so that I could give my friends and family beautiful homemade gifts, but also so that I could create items to donate to people in need.  So I've made  Comfort Scarves for women in domestic violence shelters and chemo caps for cancer patients at area hospitals.  We began fostering dogs for All Dog Rescue partly because of our desire to have a dog in our lives, but also to help save a dog and give it a good life while finding it's forever home.  We have the love, time and home to give so it made sense to get involved. 

About once a year my department at work has an opportunity to do a volunteer project.  We are given the opportunity to leave our desks for the morning and join a group of our coworkers to help out an area agency (as a group) for a few hours. Then we come back, have lunch and return to our desks for the afternoon, feeling fulfilled, at least in my part, because spending the morning sorting food at the Greater Boston Food Bank or organizing donated children's clothing at Cradles to Crayons puts everything in perspective and inspires me to be a better person and help those around me.

Even my baking has become a source of goodwill.  A couple weeks ago I was looking for recipes from a fellow blogger, Beantown Baker, and found a link to an organization called Operation Baking GALS (Give A Little Support).  The group is an all volunteer, web-organized effort that succeeds in getting groups of people to rally and bake homemade treats for service members.  The idea is that service members are nominated and each month maybe 5-10 teams are created to bake for one of the nominated individuals.  Team members bake up treats and ship them to their service member, who over about a week's time ends up with as many as a dozen or more packages full of goodies and other items from home.  The idea is to give these heroes a reminder of home and let them know they are supported, even if it's from a complete stranger.  I instantly loved the concept and had to join.

So this weekend I'll be baking for Denny, a first lieutenant in the Marines stationed in Afghanistan.  Denny grew up in Altoona, PA, not far from where I went to college and only a couple of hours from Pittsburgh.  When looking through the 10 nominated service members, I could have baked for any of them, but the almost-hometown connection sealed the deal.  I'll plan to make something yummy and add some extra store-bought comforts lacking in Afghanistan (apparently Denny is a fan of Cheez-its and Pringles).

It's so easy to be kind to people and help others.  Sort of amazing that in a time of financial crisis globally and a tight budget at home, I've found more ways to help people that I probably ever have before.  I plan on saving all these karma points for something big.

Meet Lizzy

Another heartbreaking story for you.  Laura, an animal control officer from Western Mass, came to us last Thursday with Lizzy, a wire-haired mix who was abandoned by her owners.  We understand that she was just dropped off from a car and a concerned neighbor called animal control.  She was with Laura for about 3 weeks before coming to us. 

She was described as a "black female wire-haired, mid-age, mid-sized, overweight" dog.  Yeah, upon looking at her we figure she's an Irish Wolfhound mix. Irish Wolfhounds are generally huge dogs (over 100 pounds and often up to six feet tall when standing on their hind legs).  Luckily whatever Lizzy is mixed with was smallish because she's small for a Wolfhound.  She's about 70 pounds (and probably overweight) and just about as calm as can be, possibly because we suspect she's between 5 and 7 years old.  She doesn't know a lot of commands, but she is house trained, so that's a plus.  And she's taking to crate training really well. 

When Laura brought her over, Lizzy was dirty, matted and stinky.  Really stinky.  Dave and I shampooed her twice but that only provided the mildest of improvement.  The poor girl was itchy and uncomfortable and really wasn't interested in much of anything.  So we got her an appointment for the groomer on Saturday morning. While she was there Dave and I thoroughly cleaned the house, vacuuming up any leftover hairs she sprinkled about the house (a lot of them) and scrubbing the floors.  Luckily she wasn't in the house long enough to make the house smell.    When she got back, she was a like a brand new dog.  She had a little extra pep in her step and even did a bit of running around the yard, which she loves.  She much softer and snuggable now.

She's still pretty mellow, but she does show a bit of personality every once and a while.  She's a lot like Rondo in that she's a bit lazy and doesn't really know what to do.  But she's a good girl and we know we'll find her an excellent home to make up for the terrible circumstances that brought her to us.

Press Play

So, by way of an update...

I did not get the position at School #2, although they had nice things to say and I was in the top 3.  I believe they went with an internal candidate.  No problem--it's totally them, not me. 

School #1 would not negotiate on salary, so I could not accept that position.  And that's ok.  It was a significant pay cut and for Dave to not have an offer at the same time, we couldn't run the risk.  The right position is out there and it's one that I will love doing and that will pay me enough that Dave and I can relocate and be happy.  I've applied to oodles more jobs in North Carolina and now am patiently waiting to hear back.

Dave has been busy.  He still hasn't gotten confirmation from Company W he's been working with since April.  So he's been applying and interviewing elsewhere.  He had a phone interview and a face to face interview with Company D last week and had yet another face to face today.  His third face to face with Company D will be tomorrow.  He also rocked another phone interview last week.  Progress is, hopefully, being made.

Having said all that, we definitely feel like most of our marriage has been a life lived in pause.  We have a lot we want to do and haven't because of Dave first being injured and then being unemployed.  And even now with him getting closer and closer to job, many parts of our lives have been put on hold until we figure out whether we're going to have the money to do them or even where we'll be living (here or in North Carolina). 

Yesterday we got an email from our rescue group asking us to take on a dog.  Dave and I talked about it and he was very hesitant, not wanting to take on the project if he's not going to be around during the day.  It just wouldn't be fair to the dog to be alone 12 hours a day.  I suggested that if he didn't want a dog at all, that's fine, but I wasn't willing to live yet another part of my life on pause.  It's so frustrating that we're coming up on two years of marriage but haven't really been able to live our lives.  It's no one's fault and we are definitely doing fun things and being happy, but at the same time, it's certainly not what I pictured our marriage to be.  I know our marriage is stronger because of it, but we need a break.

We decided to ask one of the group leaders if she would be a back up foster for us in the event Dave gets one of these jobs before we can adopt out this dog.  She agreed.  So some time this week we'll conduct the evaluation and see if we'll bring a new sweet dog into our home.  And the best case scenario would be that we'll only have her for a short time before she has to go to another foster home.