Monday, August 27, 2007

Jade Was Adopted! And We Have a New Foster!

Yes, Jadey-girl was adopted this weekend by a wonderful family that includes a canine sister for Jade! Congratulations Jade, we'll miss you!


Now, Jade left our home a few weeks back to spend some time at the doggie daycare where we board some of our dogs. She did great there and enjoyed all the puppy playmates she had all day, everyday. It was a great environment for one so playful. So while she was gone, we got a new foster.

Meet Jimmy!




This picture was taken on the day he came from Animal Care and Control (aka. The Pound), Friday August 10, 2007. He was a little shy, nervous, and scared that day, as you can see from his face. He was also quite skinny. He's put on an ounce or two since then ;D. We hope to have some new pictures of him soon.


Let me tell you a little bit more about Jimmy-Jimmy, as we call him. Jimmy is about 9 months old, and still quite the puppy. He's a chihuahua, and he's tiny and barely weighs anything. He loves stuffed squeaky toys. We bought him a little one, its about 2.5-3 inches tall. Its a ducky. He loves it. But he surprised us and started to play with one of the "Big-Dog" stuffed toys, a stuffed bone with rope hanging off each end. He just loves to chew on the stuffed part. He'll even throw the little ducky around a bit. He does like to nibble on fingers, pillows, carpet, and wires, so we do have to keep an eye on him and keep stuffed toys handy to distract and redirect him. But he listens when we tell him no, so that's a good thing.


Jimmy may be small (probably about 5 or 6 lbs) but he has no problem getting up onto the couch or the bed. He just takes a flying leap and up he goes. He loves to snuggle close, whether it be in your lap, or next to you with him muzzle under your arm or behind your back. He often buries his muzzle under things besides us, including pillows and between couch cushions. He's so sweet and adorable though! He loves to be held and he loves his belly to be rubbed. He is a bit submissive overall, he'll flop over onto his back and give you his belly regularly. He'll also give us the nervous grin, but we're seeing that less and less as he gets more comfortable.


Jimmy is still a little bit skittish and will start if you move towards him too quickly. He also is nervous while eating. He'll take a mouthful and carry it to a "safe spot", eat it, then return for more. But he eats well despite this. We just make sure none of our other animals are around him while eating. He seems to prefer kibble to soft food though. Usually, its the other way around.


Jimmy does great with our Min Pin. He doesn't bug her to play with him nor does he seem to mind her being around. They basically exist in the same household, but don't interact much. We do see them playing in the back yard now and again when we've let them out to potty, but otherwise, the two stick to themselves. Jimmy is much more interested in his humans. So he could definitely live with another dog, but he'd also do just fine by himself. I'm sure if our Min Pin was more the playful sort, that the two would play together more. But he respects her and doesn't push her. He also is great with our two cats. He was curious about the bigger cat (our Maine Coon), and did get in a few sniffs, but as our bigger cat weighs almost three times as much, and is almost twice as tall as Jimmy, so he pretty much ignores the cats.


Jimmy needs work on the leash, I'm fairly certain he's never been on one, or at the very least, its been a while.


He also is NOT housebroken. He does fine while in the crate now, no accidents in there, but he's proving to be a little more difficult to housebreak than our average foster. Most of our fosters have been adult dogs, and they're just plain easier to housebreak. Its the reason I really don't ever want a puppy, I'd prefer the next dog we adopt to be an adult.


But overall, Jimmy is a wonderful sweet little puppy. He needs a little bit more work, he needs some time to grow up, but he'll make a wonderful addition to a home.




And last night, our Min Pin proved she is the Great Black-and-Tan hunter. She's proven time and again that she is an excellent fly hunter, a not-so-great bee hunter (we are thankful for that), a fabulous cricket hunter, and a fair lizard hunter (though we try to discourage that one, eww). But now we can add "toad hunter" to her illustrious list. Last night, I went to let the dogs back in after their pre-bed potty time. Jimmy came in but no Min Pin. I called her but she didn't come running. Concerned, I went outside to look around the yard for her. Then I heard her bark. She was on the side of the house near the gate. I went down to the end of the walk and she starting pouncing on something on the ground. To me, it looked like a chunk of rock or concrete. Jade had found a few of these in our yard and had spread them around. I figured it must be one we missed. Then it moved. Turned out to be a toad, or more specifically a Couch's Spadefoot Toad. Cute and fat little thing. Scared out of its mind. I picked Marie up, carried her into the house and then we humans went back outside with a flashlight. We escorted said toad out the gate and into the front yard, hopefully sending her on her way to another yard. Don't really want the Pinscher playing with toads.


Other than that, its been pretty quiet in our zoo. See you at the dog park!

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