Dogs are the best antidepressant, even if a dog is the reason you're depressed. For me, being surrounded by multiple dogs helps ease the loss of one. I've said before I don't know how people cope with the loss of a dog if they only had one. I am lucky to have nine others around here to help me process Maya's death in a somewhat healthy manner.  The walk yesterday helped a lot, and the sunshine the past two days has helped as well. Today I added gardening to my canine therapy. I went out and bought plants and began planting the container gardens. Dogs and dirt. They go together like, well ..read more

I want to thank everyone who expressed their concern and shared our grief over losing Maya. Things are different around here today, and we all know it, but no one seems quite sure what the changes will mean.  I took up the two beds that Maya used, the one under my desk and right next to my side of the bed. I couldn't stand to see them empty and also didn't want to see anyone else occupy those spots just yet. While I was at my desk working today, I still kept my feet tucked under my chair as I did to avoid having them in Maya's space under the desk. That's an old habit that may take a whi ..read more

She was trouble from the start. Her prior owners had surrendered her to a shelter because they couldn't contain her and she got in trouble for chasing their landlord's cows. She was extremely frightened, scared, and shut down in the shelter and wouldn't even have been put up for adoption. She came here as a foster since she had no hope of getting out of the shelter. She escaped from a kennel during the first week we had her and was on the run for the next four weeks before we finally trapped her and brought her home. Eventually we decided to adopt her because sending her to a new home seemed t ..read more

I haven't posted anything in a couple of days because I haven't been doing anything dog-related. I've been doing lawn and garden and maintenance stuff, not very interesting in photos.  We've got ten dogs here now, which sounds like a lot, but they are a pretty good group. Everyone gets along and I can switch them around between Daneland and the dog yard and the house so there's a bit of variety in the play groups. I leave Norman in Daneland most of the time because he has shown that he can and will go over the four foot dog yard fence whenever he wants to. Bailey can do the same. Mercy ..read more

Monday was far too warm too early in the season, but today was lovely, particularly by comparison. I was working of course, but slipped outside pretty often for strolls around the yard and the still empty gardens. I have the fountains all running, but nothing planted yet, although that is about to change. We always make a point of having all the dogs inside before anyone goes through the gate, whether coming or going. I don't want to risk anyone slipping through the open gate. Paisley, however, has her own ideas and will often steadfastly refuse to come indoors. Sometimes I can get her out t ..read more

With Norman and now Odie, I probably have the two largest Green Dogs fosters at this time. Today, however, I also transported one of the smallest, little Lucy, all eight pounds of her. I took Odie to get a heartworm test and parvo/distemper vaccine, and I took Lucy to a second meeting with a potential adopter. Lucy's foster home is just around the corner from me so she rode along and met her adopter at Green Dogs while Odie was getting poked with needles for science. Even smaller than Lucy, these are her two puppies, probably half her size. Lucy was pregnant when she came into ..read more

Ford's adoption didn't take and he was back Saturday morning. He was a bit too much for the other dog in the household. That meant that Ford was available to attend the Green Dogs adoption event on Sunday along with Mercy. That wasn't what went wrong, in fact the dogs did everything right. It was Mercy's first public outing and she was as friendly and outgoing as Ford, and even a bit less jumpy. They were both happy and friendly with other dogs and all the people we met. It was a good experience, especially for Mercy because it was her first. She didn't want to get out of the van when we first ..read more

Mercy's first walk was late Friday afternoon, at Pleasant Grove with Elvis. She wasn't terrible on the leash, but my back, arms, and shoulders got some good exercise.  Mostly she was just happy and excited to be out and about. She didn't drag me along, but she didn't know how to walk a straight line. There was lots of back and forth from side to side, and (what I really hate), too much crossing behind me, which wraps me up with the leash. A lot of the issues we had wouldn't occur if we had been walking on a narrow trail rather than a wide roadway through the park. But still, all things c ..read more

Ford's adoption happened after all, and it happened today. I am glad. It's a great home with one of my former fosters. These pictures are from a get acquainted walk around the pasture late this afternoon. To the extent that Ford vacated a spot around here, it won't be empty for long.  ..read more

She's a 10 month old female German Shepherd Dog. I don't know much backstory and at 10 months of age, how much could there be? She's pretty, she seems sweet, very quick to warm up and trust, and she seems fine with other dogs. The most remarkable thing I can say about her so far is that she ate dinner this evening; no German Shepherd hunger strike from this girl. She met Paisley when I got her out of the van. Then I started out with her in the a/c yard by herself at first, letting Della, Maya, Elvis, etc. meet her through the fence. Then I brought Ford over from Daneland and put them together ..read more