Life with a new friend

Well, we have made it through another week, and in the blink of an eye, it's mid-February.  I guess that's what happens when you are busy with life.  This week our focus was on helping Ryder settle in to life as a foster and allowing him to decompress from his time in the shelter. 

The first few days, and even weeks, with a new foster can be exhausting and stressful. Even if they come with some history, you don't really know anything about them and their past life.  It takes time for everyone to adjust to having someone new in the house and to figure out all of the dynamics of multiple dogs, their personalities, and learning to live with someone new.  Routines change, and the girls are put in a situation where they are sharing their home, their toys, and their mom with a stranger...a stranger who will be living with them for an undetermined amount of time and will basically be treated just like another member of our little pack.  And for Mina, this foster gig is still a really new experience.   She's doing well, but it certainly doesn't come without a few bumps along the way.

Meanwhile the new foster has its own set of issues.  Imagine the confusion they must face, especially when their lives have been turned upside down like Ryder's.  He is processing the loss of his owner, the confusion of being thrown into shelter life, and then coming into a new, unfamiliar home with people and dogs he just met.  It's a lot.  He is handling it pretty well, but it will take time for him to really feel comfortable. 

I started the week nervous about how I'd be able to get everyone enough excercise to keep us all happy.  Ryder is such a big, strong boy and I wasn't sure I'd be able to comfortably and safely walk him at the same time as the girls.  So Monday, I decided to start with an after work trip to Soldan's just to see how he'd handle on leash walking with another dog.  Mina is so good that she got to be my practice dog.   They did great!  

As a matter of fact, they did so well that we did a 1 mile walk in the neighborhood adjacent to the pet store.  

When we got back to the car, I decided we'd do another loop around the neighborhood with Peaches along for the walk.  We'll just say that walk didn't go quite as smoothly, but we made it back to the car without any major incidents.  Peaches likes to keep me on my toes.

I ended the evening with three very happy dogs. Ryder crashed after his dinner and didn't even move when I left the room.  It had been a successful first walk.

Tuesday was sunny and beautiful, so I was excited to get everyone out for  walk around the neighborhood before I left to visit my dad at the hospital.  We didn't get in a long walk, but we all enjoyed our time in the sun.

Wednesday the dogs spent a decent amount of time outside while I worked, although Ryder preferred to be inside napping close by most of the time.  He is my constant shadow and I can't move without him right on my heels, nudging my hands for attention.  It can be a little annoying, but I know he just wants love and reassurance, and eventually he'll settle in and know he's safe and I'm not going anywhere.

We had a really great Wednesday night dog walk at the shelter.  Captain Crunch and Dan Campbell were especially happy to get out of the shelter for an adventure.   We were able to get five dogs out for some excercise. What a great feeling.  Dan(pictured below) was definitely my favorite dog on our walk.

When I got home from the shelter, Ryder was especially happy to see me and I got watched very closely the rest of the evening.

Thursday's weather was beautiful and sunny, but my day was extra busy.  I made an earlier than normal visit to my dad because I had several late afternoon meetings at work and needed to be home for them.  So I ate lunch with dad and we had a really nice visit and then I headed out to get home for all of my meetings.

By the time my work day ended, the sunshine was gone and rain clouds were moving into the area.  But I really wanted to get everyone out for an extra fun walk, so we headed to Fenner.  I was very pleased with how well everyone did, especially with all of the added excitement from the smells and all the critters we saw.  We had a great 3 mile walk and got back to the car after dark, and luckily, before the rain moved into the area.  Later that night we had some heavy rain, hail, and thunderstorms move through the area.  What crazy weather for February!

Friday, I was able to get the dogs out for a quick walk on my lunch break.  It was nearly 60 degrees and we had to take advantage of it.  Then after work we took another 2 mile walk around the neighborhood before I fed everyone dinner and then headed out to watch my nephew Mason's basketball game.

It was the first game I made it to this year, and I really enjoyed watching him play.  The team remained undefeated on the season with a win that night.  Mason's having a really great senior year.

Saturday morning we were joined by Vanessa as we headed out to Paw Paw to start Ryder on his journey to Illinois where one of the rescue's veterinary partners will be performing his hernia surgery this week.  He'll be staying in Illinois for two weeks before making the trip back to our home for the remainder of his time in foster. 

This trip gave us the opportunity to get out on some geocaching adventures with Vanessa, something we haven't done in forever since we've both been so busy with work and life.

We had an excellent lunch of breakfast food at The Hot Skillet in Paw Paw, explored some interesting old Cemeteries, found a nice little wooded trail for a hike and a cute park to do a little walking to let he girls expend some energy.  Then we weaved our way home doing some geocaching along the way.

The girls especially loved our stop at the Bow-wow-tique in Richland, which we found completely by accident.   We saw that they were having a Valentine's Day event as we drove by, so we had to stop.  They had turned off the open sign by the time we parked, but were nice enough to reopen the store for us and made sure the girls each got a pup cup.  Of course Vanessa and I both bought them some goodies too.  It was a good final stop on our trip.

I made a quick stop at the store after we got home, and then the girls had dinner and each got their gifts from Vanessa.  They were both very happy with their treats.  We then had a very quiet evening at home.  Boy was it nice to get out on an adventure!

Since I didn't get to the hospital yesterday, I went to visit my dad today.  I was so excited that his doctor approved him to take a spin around the hospital in the wheelchair and I got to show him all of the exciting sites- the elevator, the surgery waiting room, the cafeteria, and the deli where I've eaten several lunches, and we even took a quick trip outside for some fresh air.  We sat in the atrium on the first floor for part of our visit which was a great change of pace.  We had a really good visit.

We are hoping that he'll be moving to rehab sometime later this week since it has finally been approved by his insurance, so who knows, maybe this will be my final trip to the hospital to visit him.   It will be strange not going there after 6 weeks of visits, but I'm excited for him to build his strength in rehab so he can get home soon.

The girls rode along with me to the hospital so we could stop somewhere new for a walk on the way home.  I decided to head to Holly and take walk around town.  What a cute little downtown.

We were happy to see the sun come out on our walk and enjoyed our little tour of this historic area.

We took another quick walk when we got home, had dinner, and I am finally resting for the remainder of the night.  

I'll end with a smiley Fiona who got to try her first Paczki this week.  She ate the whole thing and loved it.  Just look how big she's getting!  Time needs to slow down.

It should be quiet around here with Ryder gone this week and we have some fun plans for next weekend that I look forward to sharing next time.  

Have a great week everyone!