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Post by emilys on Feb 1, 2013 11:51:38 GMT -5
I just got a rescue Stafford from a private org. in Denver. The owner dumped her when she needed some surgeries. This rescue paid for the surgeries and kept her for almost a year, sort of in hiding. The director kept her in the office and spoiled her rotten. She and her husband fell in love with her and actually talked about moving out of the city so they could adopt her. They thought she was an APBT until someone from the All Breed Rescue/Training group (whose director Lauren Fox is an old buddy of mine) recognized her and contacted the SBT club. Because Staffords are comparatively rare in rescue now, the club is able to get almost all of them into fosters and then permanent homes. I offered to foster is we could arrange a transport up to me (I'm about 700 miles from Denver). A SBT friend asked a virtual friend she knew lived in Wyoming and he agreed to help (though he owns elkhounds, not pit bulls). So the transport was yesterday.. the rescue drove her up to Wyoming about 200 miles and Kevin picked her up and drove her up to Billings (about 120 miles from me).. heroically, because he had a horrible stretch of bad weather/icy roads to go through.
She is completely adorable and incredibly overweight! They sent along a bag of her food... Pedigree, one of the worst pieces of crap food you can imagine ! (corn is the FIRST ingredient)... mind boggling that they cared about her so much and yet fed her this garbage. I'll be switching her to Mr P's food (Wellness) with very little transition.
So: introducing "Sparkles:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwMHzIChjB4&feature=youtu.be
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaTTCevt8dk&feature=youtu.be
[/youtube]
I have her on a modified "2 week shutdown" but more like a crate/rotate. She has very good house manners, seems to be house trained and knows a few commands. She and Mr P have sniffed each other through the baby gate and crate, with gentle tail wags. I don't anticipate any trouble when they get introduced more closely.
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Post by suziriot on Feb 1, 2013 11:57:29 GMT -5
Yay!!!!! She's such a cute chubby little thing, lol! I saw everyone teasing you on FB about her becoming a foster failure, but I won't even go there. You've done enough just fostering her, and whatever happens I know she'll end up in a great home. And I know Mr. P insists on always being the center of attention!  |
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Post by emilys on Feb 1, 2013 12:44:29 GMT -5
no, I am not going to adopt her, really, sweet as she is. I can't permanently manage more than 1 dog. I hope I don't even have to keep her long enough for her to lose the 5-10 pounds she needs to lose!
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Post by catstina on Feb 1, 2013 12:49:09 GMT -5
She is too cute! I love the Mr.P sounds in the background of the first video! |
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perseus
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Post by perseus on Feb 1, 2013 12:59:17 GMT -5
Yay!!!!! She's such a cute chubby little thing, lol! I saw everyone teasing you on FB about her becoming a foster failure, but I won't even go there. You've done enough just fostering her, and whatever happens I know she'll end up in a great home. And I know Mr. P insists on always being the center of attention! Ha ha, well i will refrain from teasing you although i do know a thing or two about what happens when you take em in and well dammit they just end up staying. Regardless , good on you Emily. All the small victories we can get w our breed you know.   |
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Post by michele5611 on Feb 1, 2013 13:28:33 GMT -5
I have been following this on facebook and was anxiously awaiting her arrival! She is a cute little butterball of a thing. Looking forward to updates.
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daves
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Post by daves on Feb 1, 2013 14:03:15 GMT -5
Congratulations! What an adorable little tubbie.
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Post by emilys on Feb 2, 2013 11:02:19 GMT -5
first brief meeting between MrP and Sparkles went well... Mr P really has been a gentleman, not doing anything other than an occasional sniff through the baby gate or crate and Sparkles is very relaxed about him. At 6AM this morning when Sparkles started vocalizing, I assumed she needed to go out. I got up and Mr P did as well wanting to go out. I was pretty sure that they would be OK going out at the same time (and I wanted to go back to bed and not spend a lot of time outside!) . Mr P went out first, did his business, then I let Sparkles out, she alerted to him, started wagging her tail and then went to sniff his butt. Mr P wagged his tail with his "OMG a girlie is sniffing my butt" expression. I called him back inside, Sparkles did her business and then came inside. So all is well so far!
She did alert with a mildly intense stance to my neighbors' dog in their yard yesterday (there's a hedge and wire fence between our yards). They're pretty fence obnoxious, so I'm going to be cautious about this situation. She had her ears up and an alert posture, but didn't vocalize or approach. I think she's just unsure about dogs she doesn't know.
When it warms up later, I'm going to put Mr P out in the yard on a long tie out and then let her out to see if she wants to approach him.
She really is a super good girl, very responsive to direction and with very good manners, considering. She seems to be very well housetrained. She does want to jump up on people for attention, and I'm not allowing that.. I'm telling her "off" with a little push and when she sits, then I pet her. She jumped on the couch, but got off when I told her to. This morning I got her to sit and stay/leave it before I put her food bowl down...
I'm being more lenient than the "2 week shutdown" calls for, but I'm confident that reduced contact with me and Mr P will be more stressful for her than keeping her as isolated as that protocol describes. So I'm doing more like a crate/rotate/NILIF with her. She hasn't been anywhere other than my house and back yard. I'll test her comfort/confidence level (as well as leash manners which I understand are... not) with a walk down our alley where I can be sure there won't be any strange dogs off leash
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Post by melonie on Feb 2, 2013 12:46:30 GMT -5
Glad to hear things are going smoothly with Mr. P and Ms. S.
I think the 2 week shut down is a great guideline, but i don't think it fits everyone in every situation. You're not some newbie dog person, you know what you're doing with these pups.
Good luck on your walk today!
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Post by emilys on Feb 2, 2013 14:23:04 GMT -5
the short walk this AM went very well.. she did pull but I did the "be a tree" thing and she seemed to get it; by the end of our walk she rarely pulled! Here's some photos:  "]  |
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Post by melonie on Feb 2, 2013 17:31:43 GMT -5
I wish be a tree worked on Cleveland. lol Good to hear she did well.
She's a pretty little dog. Were these taken by you?
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Post by catstina on Feb 2, 2013 18:49:34 GMT -5
She is such a pretty girl!  |
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nyri
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Post by nyri on Feb 3, 2013 13:44:32 GMT -5
She's cute!
That was great of your friend to drive her through Wyoming this time of year... it's usually not AS bad here, but I still like to stay at home if there's a chance of ice. So glad everything went well and she made it home to you!
My mom feeds her dogs Pedegree... I try to convince her to spend a bit more for the Costco food, at least, but she seems to think that since her dogs are in good condition and since she's broke, that Pedegree is fine.
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Post by emilys on Feb 3, 2013 14:29:36 GMT -5
She's cute! That was great of your friend to drive her through Wyoming this time of year... it's usually not AS bad here, but I still like to stay at home if there's a chance of ice. So glad everything went well and she made it home to you! My mom feeds her dogs Pedegree... I try to convince her to spend a bit more for the Costco food, at least, but she seems to think that since her dogs are in good condition and since she's broke, that Pedegree is fine. any food that doesn't list corn as the first ingredient will be better, even the less expensive ones. |
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Post by maryellen on Feb 3, 2013 16:21:16 GMT -5
oh my she is adorable!!
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Post by emilys on Feb 3, 2013 18:16:09 GMT -5
update: she's a bossy little bitch! She has Mr P completely intimidated, poor boy, even with as little contact as they've had. I'm going to back off on the free time together so HE doesn't get stressed!
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Post by suziriot on Feb 3, 2013 19:35:07 GMT -5
update: she's a bossy little bitch! She has Mr P completely intimidated, poor boy, even with as little contact as they've had. I'm going to back off on the free time together so HE doesn't get stressed! Hehehe, poor Mr. P getting bossed around by a girl named Sparkles! |
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Post by RealPitBull on Feb 4, 2013 8:13:30 GMT -5
Sparkles is ADORABLE!!! Good on you for fostering. I will be enjoing the Sparkles updates. |
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I look forward to learning much here