Poor Piper! She wonders if anyone got the license plate of the truck that hit her!
But don’t worry, she got him back.
The *real* incoming will most likely be this fella from Animal Control.
Meet Skip:
Skip is a middle aged border collie fella with a serious ball-lust.
I have room for Skip because Faith is outgoing … actually, Faith already outwent, this afternoon (insert pouty face here).
I’m sure going to miss her like crazy … I already do. No more deaf dog tap dancing on my laminate floor :( Faith said she was tired of the Great White North and she went back to the United States, to live with her new brother Trevor, a springer spaniel X BC, and her other new brother Alexander, who is 6 years old and human.
I sure hope she’s happy. Sometimes it’s easy to let a dog go, and sometimes it’s hard. Faith was hard, cuz I love her.
Piper is not sad though. This morning she and Faith got into it twice, and Faith bested her both times, so Piper is now psychologically scarred for life … and twice as bitchy.
Tweed’s sad too …
… but not because Faith is gone. Rather, he mourns his freedom. He is once again relegated to on-leash walks only, because we can’t seem to clear up that strained shoulder he’s suffering from. Dr. Bowra didn’t think (after $400 of totally useless x-rays at the other vet, whom I will never use again) the problem was his foot at all, but rather a strained shoulder. I suspect he thinks this, because he made Tweed scream twice while messing around with it (I’m what you call “observant”). But even with limited exercise, his shoulder is still giving him problems.
He’s an old man dog, so I understand things take longer to heal … but it’s been three weeks! I feel like I’ve been down this road before, somehow.
Anyway, incoming Skip joins incame already Mingo, a handsome blue and white dog that is NOT, as this photo suggests, a giant disembodied head stuck on another, smaller dog’s body.
He’s actually a pretty normally proportioned tall dog, who likes to carry his red teddy bear on walks.
And this is his sister Tippy, who would like me to get the camera the fuck out of her face and who IS, as the photo suggests, a ball of hair with some dog in it.
They are two shy dogs from an isolated farm who were surrendered to the SPCA when the owner got ill. The SPCA took immense pains to socialize these dogs and get them back into decent conditions, but eventually figured they needed to be in homes to make any more progress.
Mingo is mostly scared of people, but doesn’t seem phased by new surroundings. Tip is nervous of people, but seems more to fear environmental newness. Together they are a startled dog mass of spook. But both are coming around splendidly and will each make someone a nice pet with a bit more time and patience.
As for me, I’m still driving the Waggin’ Wagon. Part of me really wants to get a vehicle that crates will fit into, so that other drivers will stop pointing and laughing at my car-o-dogs at stoplights! But part of me is really appreciating having no monthly car payments, so I am taking my time finding something new. I am thinking about taking out the back bench seat and replacing it with more crates. In the meantime, it gets me to and from work reliably, and also to and from physio, where the nice man tries to make the pain in my shoulder and neck go away. Ouch.
Liz says
Let me get my math straight… 1 dog Faith left (sad but happy!)… and 3 dogs Skip Mingo Tippy came in?? Full House!
The Food Lady says
Oops! Oh gosh no! Mingo and Tippy are in other foster homes … only Skip may be coming here! ;-)
Claudia says
Buh’ Bye, Faith. Hope you are happyz in your new forever home. Hello, Skip!
clairesmum says
Glad you cleared that up, FL – I was thinking that Piper would not do well with a net gain of 2 dogs, esp. if you had another female. She is “the one who must be obeyed” (well, she shares that title with you, but not with any other females, two or four legged!)
Hope Faith is happy in her new home – being deaf may be a gift in a house with a 6 y.o. boy.
Welcome Skip – now you gotta find your place at Casa de Food Lady for a while – you can give Dexter a run for his money in the ‘dumb ball’ department.
Pamela says
Wow, you get the most amazing action shots!
SweetCeana says
Maybe Tweed is having sympathy shoulder pains for you. Here’s hoping you both feel back to your normal selves soon.
nicole says
i appreciate the car-o-dogs thing. I have shrek and fiona in the back of my ford focus wagon and taz sits in the front seat where she likes to stare everybody down like she’s looking in to their soul. most people just laugh when we stop at a light beside them, others try to best her at the staring contest.
another fun thing is not being able to have human passengers in my car as it’s always covered in dog blankets, leashes and harnesses (and a large amount of dog hair).
Adrienne says
Whew! I was thinking the same thing. I mean (hang on, let me count — Woo, TWoo, Tweed, Piper, Dexter so five) FIVE dogs plus another THREE dogs. Well, I thought maybe you’d done flipped this time. Glad to hear it’s just Skip!
Good for Faith! Hoefully they will send you updates which you will pass on to us. :-)
Does Dex ever look anything other than perpetually,
astonish(ed)ingly happy? You should do a whole blog entry of “Expressions of Dexter”. I sort of suspect there will be only one.
Lavi says
“startled dog mass of spook” You sure have a way with words. I love the second photo, it looks like it’s out of some version of an old martial arts movie. Only with dogs…
It’s always hard to let a pet go, even if to another home. I hope Tweed will get well soon.
Robin says
My ball dog, Mitzi, went through a similar thing to Tweed’s injury. It turned out to be her shoulder, too. So we went to a canine physical therapist, she prescribed “dog leggs” and Mitzi had to wear them for nearly three months to keep her shoulder from being pushed beyond its normal range of motion. We had on-leash walks and no ball, some exercises too. She’s doing great now. Back to playing ball again. Good luck to Tweed.
Robin
Sage says
We know all about ball-lust!! Hopefully your throwing arm holds up better than mine! Poor Tweed, he does look sad. We hope his shoulder heals quickly and he can get back to running and playing.
We’ll miss Faith too. I hope you get updates on her new home and life!
Olga says
Sorry to hear that Faith left. :( She was really cute and I’m happy she got a good home with dogs and children to play with. Maybe I was starting to like her too much. :( I will miss her, too.
Sorry to hear about your shoulder and neck and I hope you and Tweed make a full recovery. Though he’s quite placid in the photo.
Dexter is awesome! does he ever stop being that happy? Not even when Pipper is furious at him he’s angry, it’s a thing like “Good it wasn’t that bad, chill out Pipper”
Best of luck and best wishes. Take care of that shoulder and neck.:)
JoOaks says
My car, which is a teal blue Plymouth Sundance with big ol’ purple “Duster” decals on either side, totally beats your Waggin’ Wagon. Pre-child, I would fit anywhere from four to eight dogs in there at a time. It was a cluster**** of dog tongue and tail with only two windows in the summer and no air conditioning. At traffic lights my obnoxiously colored car and even more obnoxious passengers would draw looks from pleasantly surprised to absolutely appalled. Unloading was like watching a clown car at the circus. Now that I have my son, we’re limited to two dogs in the front and two dogs in the back. It’s hell.
Charlie says
Ha, glad to see you aren’t up 2 dogs.
How’s West doing, by the way?
Alice says
Quel dommage! I mourn the loss of the beautiful deaf dog. I was half thinking I’d come and meet her while I was out in BC and try to adopt her. Sigh. But it’s nice to see your beautiful creatures out playing and making mad teeth. Kind of like a dog’s version of making merry.
Is Mingo’s coat that short, or was he shorn when he came into rescue care? And he does look like a delightfully large, disembodied head. How marvelous! I look forward to hearing more about the new recruits.
Stephanie says
The allure of not having a car payment is incredibly enticing, isn’t it? I just got the word from insurance yesterday about what they think they’re going to give me–we’re having some discussion over that. But at the same time, I’m looking at cheaper cars than I really want to, just so I don’t have to pick back up a huge monthly bill. I’m just not sure how I should feel about going from a RAV, really wanting another RAV, to most likely ending up in a 10 year old Subaru Outback.
Yay for Faith! Sometimes it’s heartwrenching when your blog pleas are answered–be careful what you post for, someone just might answer!
Laura says
Charlie: You can see West’s progress here: http://www.cpetrescue.blogspot.com/
Beth says
I think you should take this oppurtunity and turn yourself into a business savvy car owner. What I mean is – you get a lot of hits on your blog and are very visable it seems on the west coast of canada. You should start hitting up car companies and see if someone would truly donate you a car with some advertising space….
I have no idea on how to go about that but if someone was able to put it off…it would be someone like you! Good luck :)
Rebecca C says
Oh wow, Tippy is gorgeous! They may be a pain to keep tangle-free (or mostly tangle-free), but the hairy ones can be awfully pretty.
Also, I’m glad to hear Faith found someone, even if it means her lovely self won’t be on Wootube anymore. :)
Jonathan says
Since Sheena has scrupulously respected my privacy, I suppose I need to “out” myself as the (very) lucky two-legs who adopted Faith. This finally pushed me over the activation threshold to start a blog of my own. Those of you who want to track how Faith is doing may want to keep an eye on the new blog, patterpatter.