Fostering experience - Buddy - day 2

The fostering experience is continuing and still great!
Yesterday evening Buddy was tired after playing for hours with a 4 years old girl!
He is so gentle!

Today we went to Bark in the Park, a walk in aid for the Irish Blue Cross.
Buddy had the chance to meet many other dogs, big and small, crazy and quiet, and he never had any problem! He didn't mind the confusion, all the people there, the kids approaching and he enjoyed the walk!
The only thing that still scares him are the cars.
He is very stressed when he hears a car, he tend to stop and lay down.
But we are working on that, and being together with other dogs is helping.

At home he is much more quiet than my hyperactive Jago, but he loves his walks and playing with the tennis ball!
He is really affectionate and loves cuddles a lot!

Here a photo of the two doggies tired after Bark in the Park!

20:00 Update!!
My main concern was Separation Anxiety.
Both friday morning and saturday evening when I left even for a while the flatmates told me that Buddy was crying a lot!!!
Today I left the two guys together and alone for a couple of hours and video recorded with my PC
No crying, no barking, no fighting, everything perfect!!
Ok that they were tired from the walk, but I am super happy!!!
Well done Buddy & Jago!

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Fostering experience - Buddy - day 1!

Everything is happening quickly these days.
Two days ago I found a dog and in 12 hours I found the owner thanks to the facebook page Lors Lost dogs.

In the afternoon I saw on Dog in Distress webpage that there were few dogs in the pound that would need urgent fostering.
I applied months ago for fostering, but I never had the real chance to take a dog.

So I called and yesterday Buddy came at home with me!
He is an 8 years old border collie, that has been surrendered by the owner because he couldn't take care of him due to an illness.
When I first took him he was scared and stressed and he didn't want to go out from the car.
He is not aggressive at all, and he let me pet him and bring him out.

I took my dog Jago and we went all three for a first walk outside!
Jago and him are not playing a lot at the moment, but they are fine together!

Buddy is a very sweet dog, he ate food and slept quiet last night.
Today I had to go to work, so I brought Jago to daycare as I didn't want to leave them unsupervised for the first day.
Unfortunately my flatmate just called me to let me know that Buddy started crying as soon as I left home.
:(
I will go home in a hour during my lunch time to check him, I have toys and a very nice bone.
Hopefully he will settle down a bit.
With me he was very nice and quiet yesterday, but I can understand that he is stressed and needs to adapt to the new situation.
I will be home all these evenings and weekend and I really hope that next week the company of Jago will help him to not feel alone!


You can see here some photos..
As you can see my rule of "no dogs on my bed" had some problems last night :P

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Petition: Wicklow County Council and the ISPCA

I am sharing this petition found online because I heard that the situation in Wicklow Pound is a bit difficult.

All dogs entering the pound should be photograhed and given the opportunity to be reunited with their owners, rehomed or offered rescue help. Currently only dogs deemed fit for rehoming by the wardens are allowed to be photographed and dogs are regularly withheld from volunteer’s sight at Wicklow Pound. There should be no hidden dogs.

Stray and surrender information is information in the public domain and can help reunite a dog with an owner (specific areas can be targeted via social media and poster campaigns) and in the case of surrenders ensure that a dog appears on our page as an urgent case. This is vital to saving lives and positive outcomes for the dogs.

Confirmation of availability date is also vital to ensuring a dog is effectively promoted and profiled for rehoming.

Currently opening hours are not conducive to reclamation and rehoming and there is no service to leave a message when you telephone as recommended during opening hours.

https://www.change.org/petitions/wicklow-county-council-and-the-ispca-provide-improved-public-records-accountability-and-service-at-wicklow-pound

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What to do if you find a lost dog?

For the second time I found a dog in Dublin and I found the owner as well, so I am becoming expert?
:)

Please feel free to add in the comments if you know more resources or if you have any tip or experience to share.

So what to do if you find a dog?

First of all thanks for trying to help him!
- Usually I walk in the area and I try to ask people if they recognize him or can give me some information.

- Keep the dog safe at home and don't let him wander around or he can get injured or cause accidents!

- If he has no tag or written number anywhere bring him to a vet to check if he is  microchipped.

- Take a picture of the dog and post it with the details on the following websites:

Lors lost dog facebook page (I found the owner of the last dog found here)

www.lostdogs.ie (I found the owner of the first dog found here)
 www.lostandfoundpets.ie www.lostandfound.ie www.munsterlostandfound.com www.lostdogs.ie www.IrishDogs.ie www.irishanimals.com http://www.rescueanimalsireland.ie/lost-and-found

- Contact Dublin SPCA by emailing them at lost@dspca.ie with photo,details and contact no.
https://www.dspca.ie/LostAndFoundPetAdvice

- Put some posters with the photo in the area you found the dog.

- Contact the local pound and the nearest garda station and give them your details.

THE LAW STATES THE FOLLOWING- from Irish Control of Dogs Act 1986 Section 13.

(1) Any person, other than a dog warden or a member of the Garda Síochána, who finds and takes possession of a stray dog shall, forthwith—

( a ) return the dog to its owner, OR!!

( b ) deliver the dog to a dog warden, OR!!

( c ) IF YOU CAN KEEP the dog SAFE WITH YOU, give notice in writing containing a description of the dog, the address of the place where it was found, and the address of the place where it is detained to the member in charge at the nearest Garda Station to the place where the dog was found, or to a dog warden.

If you take the dog in you can keep it for 28 days without a licence, then the animal must be licenced and if you decide to keep/rehome the dog, ownership of the dog is not yours until a year and a day have passed. This does NOT apply to dogs adopted/rescued from pounds, only those taken in as strays

I found the owner of these two lovely dogs in 24 hours.

It's very good to be able to help and to see people and dogs happy reunited together!

With these experiences I learn more how important is microchipping our pets!

http://adogpaw.blogspot.ie/2013/09/national-chipping-month-competition.html

Please feel free to add in the comments if you know more resources or if you have any tip or experience to share.

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Fostering dogs - today experience

I have fostered a dog before and it has been a very nice experience.
She was a 6 months old golden retriever and Jago was 6 months as well.
Quite frantic weeks with two puppies but I could learn a lot and I am glad I helped her to find her new home!
I will write about her soon :)

Today I knew that a female german sheperd has been found alone, but unfortunately the owner could not keep her.
She is in the restricted breed list, so she would have short life in the pound as far as I know.
I went with Jago to meet her.
Unfortunately I couldn't take her and it has been a very difficult decision.

She is very nice, friendly and she was ok with Jago.
But he was like scared.
We brought them for a walk and they never tried to play together, they were ignoring each other and Jago looked like a bit stressed.

At the moment I am working full time and I unfortunately I could not leave them alone, without supervision.
I do really hope that they will find a foster home for her :(

I will consider fostering in the future for sure, obviously I would need a suitable house for that and make sure that the dog would get along well with Jago.

If you can, consider fostering please, you could really save the life of dogs!

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