Foster faster

After waving goodbye to Smelly and Shenzi I had intentions of more time running and training at the gym during the week, leisurely holidays and plenty of outdoor sports on the weekends...  My break from fostering lasted a whole 6 days and was abruptly halted on Sunday afternoon, by the arrival of an African Tails rescued mum and her 7 puppies.  

We have an unoccupied granny flat on our property so the family are in there enjoying peace, quiet, warmth and plenty of food.

The pups are 3 weeks old, they can walk but don't go very far from the bed.  Mostly just to their mum when they want to feed.  I decided to weigh them so I can track their weight gain and make sure they are all getting plenty of food.  I used my housemates posh kitchen weighing scales and a plastic hat to put the dogs in.  It wasn't sturdy enough, the fat one squashed it... then one of them wee'd in it.

I weighed them on day 1 (Sunday) and again last night, here is the tale of the tape:  The fat one pictured above is 'Female - White, black stripe'.  Due to their quality breeding no two look alike, this makes the weigh-in easier...

AFRICAN TAILS PUPPY WEIGHTS - Approx birth date - 01 July 2011, Arrival 24 July 2011 SEX DESCRIPTION 24-Jul-11 25-Jul-11 % Inc Male Black, white toes 1584 1692 6.8% Male White 1256 1307 4.1% Male Grey / Brown 1595 1607 0.8% Male Grey, white stripe 1622 1650 1.7% Female White, black stripe 2065 2080 0.7% Female Black 1370 1384 1.0% Female Black, white face stripe 1533 1609 5.0% Average pup weight 1575 1618
(Dont laugh at my excel geekiness) - as the saying goes "you cant track progress without measurement"
Argh!  The spreadsheet has stuffed up my page editing, I have all of this white space and cant get rid of it.  I give in... Enjoy the pictures below, rest of the text at the bottom (f*cking excel!)

 

Deep breath.... and calm... right, back to it.  

The mum is very attentive and from my limited knowledge seems like a great mum, it is quite impressive to see her mothering the pups, she checks on them, rolls over to feed them, noses them along and over things, cleans the den, licks their bums clean etc.  She gets fed up of them every now and again and has some mummy time in Smelly / Shenzi's old kennel - a bit of peace and quiet from the needy youngsters, seems fair.  I have given her plenty of chewy things so she has something to do in-between her duties.

The mum is on Vets Choice small breed puppy food which is also designed for lactating dogs.  She has massive boobs which look like they have plenty of milk in them, but just to be sure I am giving the pups some milkopup formula 3 times a day to supplement their intake.  I tried bottle feeding one but it was a right pain, they are a week ahead of the vets recommendation and can lap / lick from a shallow dish so thats the chosen delivery method now.  They usually get covered in milk and lick it off each other, I dont really care as long as it gets into their mouth.

 

I didn't realise how much work they were going to be.  I get up in the morning and go into the flat armed with cleaning products and a cup of tea, clean all their wee and poo, change the newspaper, feed the mum, put down fresh water, make solution & feed the puppies, clean up some more poo.  Shower, change and go to work.  Come home, clean poo, feed all, clean more poo.  Gym.  Come home, clean poo, feed pups again, clean more poo.  Go to bed.  Repeat. A pattern is emerging...

My business partners 8 & 7 year old girls are going to name them on Thursday so look out for the announcement of their hilariously awesome new names after that!  They will be ready for their new homes in about 3-4 weeks. Put the word out.  Pure breed township specials, available in black, light brown, dark brown, grey, white or a combination of all colours.  Very nice natured mum, absent father/s.  Contact African Tails...  http://www.facebook.com/pages/African-Tails/115677453449 


Later.

Bringing you up to speed (its a long one)

Forgive my slackness, the blog hasn't been updated since April.  So much to tell.  Where to begin..?  Well, for starters Max has gone to a fantastic permanent home in Wilderness.  He recovered 99% from the mange and his leg is almost normal, he left a well behaved, obedient, happy and healthy dog.  Job done!

To bring you up to speed on the bits in between.... The last post was about the arrival and departure of the big German Shepherd, she moved on, went to a family in the Strand, I believe it didn't work out and she went on to another home, sadly I heard she died of Billary a couple of weeks ago.  Shame.

Max enjoyed having some company, so I took in another foster in May, a 2 year old female 'Royal African Hunting Dog' called Shenzi.  She was a family pet and for some reason or another was dumped at the SPCA.   Here they are chilling in the kitchen.

 
Shenzi was very nervous when she arrived but settled quickly and got on nicely with Max, they had a bit of an issue about who was going to sleep in the big kennel but Shenzi quickly showed Smelly who was boss.  Thats how it stayed.

She had a few bad habits, like getting on the furniture and climbing up in the kitchen to nick food off the counter (including a delicious chorizo pastry from the Biscuit Mill which my housemate was looking forward to eating!).  These were resolved quickly.  Her digging and barking were not so easily resolved, my garden is trashed and I am in receipt of a letter from a whinging neighbour.  Shenzi barked at the builders next door (fair enough) and also barked at the neighbour and her ratty little dog.  The builders were terrified of Shenz and wouldn't dare set foot in my garden so she was good for security.  

Shenzi was the most unbelievable athlete and it was magnificent to see her running at speed, she was fast and agile and her hunting instinct was incredible.  She was happiest chasing birds, squirrels and occasionally small dogs.  

She was aloof when she first arrived but became very affectionate. Max and Shenzi absolutely loved each other, here are a few pictures...

Max's skin recovered really well and he had a good coat of fur when he left.  He has 3 bald patches, one in the armpit (is it an armpit?) of his front legs and one on his chest, it looks like these will stay bald.  Not bad considering how he looked when he first arrived! He had a few follow up appointments and the vets at Hillside were really happy with his progress.  I will take this opportunity to say a huge thanks to Duncan, Barry and the rest of the team at Hillside.  I will also take this opportunity to wholeheartedly recommend them... 
HILLSIDE VETERINARY CLINIC
WYNBERG, CAPE TOWN
021 762 2980
They did a great job!

The dogs had a good life, I walked them everyday after work in Keurboom Park and they got plenty of time on the beach and mountain (which Shenzi enjoyed immensely).  Here are a few pictures of their adventures.  The last one shows how good Smelly's fur ended up!

I was really happy to hear that a lovely family in Wilderness wanted to take them both.  As far as dog homes go it couldn't be better, a big garden full of wildlife for them to chase, access to forest trails, close to the beach and a family who genuinely love dogs.  They went last week (Monday 18 July), it was very sad to see them go but I am happy that they have gone to such a nice place together.  Their new family phoned me on the weekend and the dogs are having a jol! 


So... that wraps up Smelly's story... here is a final picture of me and the mutts on Noordhoek beach. 

I decided to take a break from fostering dogs.  Which lasted all of 6 days.  I now have a mum and her 7 puppies living in my granny flat.  I will blog about them too...  come back tomorrow for an update.

I will update this...

There has been a bit of interest in the blog again now after African Tails posted pictures of Max (and his new foster sister Shenzi) going to their permanent home in Wilderness.  I will update and put some pictures up this week.  Ta.

Smelly's girlfriend Part Two

Smelly's big girlfriend has moved on.  She was taken in by a family in the Strand.  As much as he enjoyed a bit of canine companionship I think he is happy to get his kennel back and some peace and quiet. He was completely covered in gob, slobber and mud from all their romping around in the garden, so after a bath got his indoor-rights back too, back to sleeping in the sun on the living room carpet (spoilt brat).


The time has come for him to move on too.  African Tails have put his picture on their website and newsletter, unsurprisingly someone is interested in taking him already.  It is going to be very tough to hand him over when the time comes...
 

Smelly's girlfriend

It was love at first sight for Smelly, as this big beauty arrived this afternoon. She was picked up by African Tails yesterday running around in Panorama. She is in good condition, a bit skinny and skittish, but really healthy looking and clearly used to belong to someone (unlike Max who is definately a street special).  She had no micro-chip or collar (the one in the picture is new) but is good on a lead and will sit on command.  Hopefully she can be reunited with her owners, otherwise she can stay here for a bit and keep Smells company in the garden.

Max thinks it is Christmas and after some serious bum sniffing and chasing round the garden even tried to get some action.   Horny little bugger.

And now I have two.... anyone want a dog!?

 

Beach Bum

Max spent Saturday morning on Hout Bay beach.  He had a good run around with his lady-friend (my friends black dog in the background), we even popped over to Dunes for a drink afterwards, not a bad life for an ex street dog.

I have been walking him in Keurboom Park most days too.  I keep him on the lead until we get to RBHS fields and then let him go.  He walks with me until he sees another dog, then goes off for some intense bum sniffing and tail wagging.   He sometimes comes back if I call him but most times I have to go and fetch him, which is a bit annoying, especially if he has gone a long way. 

I take treats on the walks so I can reward his good behaviour but he has no interest in them whatsoever and just spits them out (these are the same treats that he will practically do somersaults for at home).   This makes incentivising his recall much more difficult.

He is very friendly to other people and dogs, and much more tolerant of annoying aggro kak starters than I am.  He is super chilled and I think other dogs see that as their opportunity to dominate and bully him, if they go too far I step in and sort them out.

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As you can see from the pictures his fur is getting better all the time.  His general health is much better, he has more energy and is more playful.  He also seems to be getting more confident and will bark when someone knocks on the door or pops their head over the back wall, which is natural I think.  There has been some shrinkage of his empty nutsack so this looks a little less weird now.  Next vet appointment is in two weeks, think that will be his last one for a while.



Thats about it for now.

Squeaky toy

Max got a new toy for being so brave at the vet (read that as 'Max got a new toy to ease my guilt of taking him to be neutered').  He hasn't seen a squeaky toy before and his reaction to it was quite funny.  This is the most noise I have ever heard him make...

The neutering was fine, obviously I knew his balls were going to be removed but I didnt know that they leave the ball bag.  He just runs around with an empty nutsack swinging between his legs now, and Max has a big (empty) nutsack.  The vet says it will shrink.  I hope so, its gross.

He also had some vaccinations and another mange injection, mange mites thrive on a weakened immune system so the injection was a precautionary boost rather than treatment.

In other, unrelated, news...

He met a couple of cats the other day.  One was really mean; hissing, trying to scratch him and generally being nasty.  The other cat was even more chilled than Max, just let him sniff and sniffed back.  Max isnt much of a chaser and can't be bothered with birds in the garden or hadedas in the park so I guessed he wouldn't be bothered about cats either.  This is a bit of a pity because I don't really like cats and think there is something entertaining about a classic dog vs cat chase.  Of course, I don't want the cat to get hurt or anything, but do enjoy seeing them go from being cocky and obnoxious to running like mad with a dog in hot pursuit.

Max has been doing really well on his walks and the vet thinks that the strengthening of his leg muscles has helped with his knee problem, which is great as it means he is less likely to require surgery.   

I am a long way from letting him off the lead in the park though as his concentration and attention span goes AWOL when he is out walking.  When he meets other dogs he stands still, wags his tail, and has a glazed look on his face.  A bit like Kylie from Fantastic Mr Fox...  "Give me a signal if you are there Max!"

He doesnt really know how to play with other dogs yet, but knows that he wants to play.  Here he is meeting a friendly Golden Retriever.

A lot of people have asked if I am going to keep him so here are my thoughts:

I am not a home owner and work full-time, at the moment I am working from home while building work is carried out at our office and can be here to keep Max company (and visa versa).  I am prepared to keep Max for as long as it takes to find a 5 Star, 100% perfect, permanent home.  I am not prepared to put him into another foster home, or hand him over to someone who isnt ideal, he needs company, and would really enjoy having other dogs around.  He is going to make a fantastic pet and obviously I love him but it isn't practical with my lifestyle to keep him permanently.


If you fit the bill, want to take him, or know someone who does, chat to Kelley at African Tails...