Still working on pictures and a goodbye...

Well, we still haven't quite got the camera set up to this computer yet, so I don't have the final pictures.

Yes, the FINAL pictures. We ended up having to bring the puppies and Maida back a little early because I threw out my back and knew I wouldn't be able to continue caring for them their last two weeks.

It was hard, but they were getting very close to adoption time and I'm sure that they ended up in another great foster home for their last two weeks!

In fact, they are already up on the Humane Society website!! To check them out, click here.

We appreciate all of you who followed us in our fostering experience. We appreciated being able to help out this family of dogs, and we might even consider fostering again in the future. :) Our animals have settled back into their routines, though it did take them a few days to figure out that the foster dogs were no longer here. I think our own dog, Finley, appreciated being the only one again though. So perhaps next time we'll try fostering kittens and a mama cat.

We'd love to have you share your foster experiences with us! If you send them to us we can post them here on the blog. Just drop us a line at this link.

Thanks! And good luck Maida, Senga and Sorley!!

Everyone's ready for Pre-Adoption!

The puppies went in for their vaccinations, and are now available for Pre-Adoption! That's right, Senga and Sorley can now start being considered for their forever homes! Maida is also able to be considered, and is doing better every week!

To find out more information about adopting one of the puppies or Maida, please contact Kara, the foster care coordinator at the Nebraska Humane Society. You can email her at fostercare@nehumanesociety.org or call her at 402-444-7800 ext. 264.

Sorley and Senga turned 5 weeks old on Friday. They are almost completely weaned and enjoy eating Maida's "grown up" food. They enjoy playing with each other and with humans, though Senga is still the more outgoing of the two for the most part. They got their first experience outside this week and had a lot of fun once they got over their fright of having collars on and a leash attached (not for walking, just for making sure they didn't leave a safe area). Sorley will probably outgrow his leash sometime later this week, he is growing so fast! Senga still has some time to fill hers out before switching to a larger collar.

We only have them for two more weeks before they all head back to the Humane Society! If you are thinking of adopting one of them, contact Kara and then we can try to work out a time for you to meet them.

Also, we are still looking for some guest bloggers to take over during the holidays! Just leave us a comment here or send us a message at our online store, www.javajesspublishing.com

Thanks! I'll add pictures later, as we are in the process of moving our camera software over to a different computer.

4 weeks old! Only 3 weeks to go!

The puppies turned 4 weeks old last Friday! They have really become adventurous and playful, although they still stop suddenly for the much needed nap in between games. :)


Sorley is still the bigger of the two, and his fur has become quite thick and a little wavy! We have no doubt he'll have similar fur to his mom Maida, if not a little thicker. As most people have commented when they meet him, he really looks like a fat little panda bear right now - super cute!

Senga has become the outgoing one, and she loves to play with humans! She even gives kisses already, and has started demanding belly rubs just like a big dog. She is still about half the size of Sorley but still at the right size for her age. Her red and white fur is still shorter except for around her mane, which is starting to get a bit longer.

Maida is progressing well - we now get at least one or two tail wags from her each day!! She started going to the bathroom on her walk last week (that's a big first step!) and enjoys going out into the yard now. After one adventurous leap over the fence, though, she has decided not to stray too far from the side door (I think she could tell how panicked I was that she had gotten out of our yard and was playing around in the field behind our yard). She still isn't too keen on men, and has a habit of assuming that every hand that comes toward her has food in it and when it doesn't she isn't terribly interested in being petted. She is a quiet dog for the most part, and has only barked once when we forgot to feed her (so she had every right!). We worry the most about her, because even though puppies can learn quickly, a dog like her that came from such a primitive situation has a hard time learning to be a good housepet.

Overall, it has been quite the experience for us! My husband has made me promise that we won't foster another dog again, though I really think it is more the messy puppies that has turned him off. Boy do they stink up a room fast!! They are still too little for housetraining or we'd give it a try. Then again, he has developed quite the attachment to little Senga because of how attached she is to him... so that could be part of it, too... I think he is going to hate seeing her go!

I think this has taught us quite a few things, and we are now a little over halfway through our first foster experience!

If you currently foster dogs, and would like to do a guest post here, please let us know! We will probably not have another foster experience until after the holidays (we want to be able to reclaim the guest room for people), so I'd like to have submissions from other foster families to help keep this blog going! I think that the more education there is out there about what fostering a dog is like, the more people may consider trying it themselves. Just leave a comment here, or you can email us through our online store: http://www.javajesspublishing.com , go to the "Contact Us" page and fill out the form. Thanks!

Another "pupdate"

First, these are a few photos from when the pups were about 16 or 17 days old.




The puppies turned 3 weeks old on Friday! Boy have they grown! Sorley is now the more quiet and shy one, though he is usually more amiable to being held by humans. Senga is now the louder, more adventurous one! She loves to yip and run around the room, and is very interested in exploring outside of her room... well, at least out into the hallway so far. She doesn't like to be held as much and usually starts wailing for her mom. Thankfully Maida seems to understand that we aren't hurting her, just holding her.



Sorley has grown more into his body, but is still about twice the size of Senga. It could be because he's a bit more lazy, though! And he is looking cuter every day. Senga has developed a fun playfulness and loves to run and wag her tail. The two pups love to play with each other, especially playing "pounce" and biting each other's tails!! They are currently exploring with their teeth more than anything else, as puppies are prone to do.


Both are also eagerly "trying" their mama's food!! They can't chew it yet, but they like to lick it and pick it up in their mouths and then drop it on the floor outside the bowl.



Maida is also making great progress - smiling more, enjoying being petted, and even wagging her tail! She is still very jumpy and doesn't like fast movements or loud noises. She has quite a bit of curiosity towards the cats but hasn't shown any aggression towards them which is good. She has decided that if Finley, our resident dog, does something then she can too. So he has helped her learn more about going out into the yard to play and go potty, and how to get in and out of the car (we're still working on that one). She shows a bit of a herding instinct, though, so we do make sure to keep an eye on her as she tends to try to "herd" Finley (and he, being quite the submissive one, goes right along with it). She had her first shots on Friday, and did very well considering the long drive to the Humane Society (they are across town from us, about a 30-40 minute drive or so).

Big step forward...

No pictures in this update, but wanted to brag a little more on our latest accomplishment. Maida is such a sweet dog but you can tell she came from a rough spot. She is making small steps forward - responding to her name, eating her food - but now she has also made a big step of going potty outside two days in a row!! She was just holding it in so much the first week, and even most of last week, but now we seem to be getting her relaxed enough that she is doing what she needs to do!!

We are sure she will make an excellent pet by the time she leaves us to go back to the Humane Society. :)

Even for puppies, S*&t happens

lol, ok I didn't want to put the actually word into the title, but you'll definitely catch my drift once you see the picture. This picture was taken when the puppies were 11 days old. Little Senga decided she was going to crawl over her brother's head to get to her mama, and apparently on the way over decided she'd leave him a little "gift". Chris and I were both in the room that time cleaning, so we saw it right away and just burst out laughing! The funniest part was poor little Sorley didn't even realize he had a head full of poo until his mama started cleaning him, and then he awoke and began screaming his little puppy scream louder than we had ever heard! Poor thing! ;) Senga didn't seem to care one bit, she was already having her dinner during the bathing process.

As gross as it is to see Maida licking poo off her pups (and anywhere else they leave it at this point), I think we were both a little relieved that we wouldn't have to figure out a way to clean him up.

On another note, our dog Finley was seeming to do fine with the fosters, until right before this. We had FINALLY gotten Maida to go potty outside (she'd been holding in the #2's and peed twice in the house already), and Fin decided he needed to roll around in it. A day after we had given him his bath, of course. So we gave him his bath and headed to bed that evening, and around 2am Fin woke me up begging to go outside. Now, for most dogs that's probably normal, but Fin NEVER begs to go out at night. I let him out and let Chris know what was going on. After a bit we called him to come back in, which he did. But then 3:30am hit and the next thing we hear is Fin vomiting everywhere in the bedroom! :( And the SMELL... this was no ordinary vomit, this was full on "Poomit".... apparently, he had not only rolled in Maida's poo but also eaten it for some reason! Super nasty!! He vomited several more times over the next 24 hours before he got it all out of his system, and we made sure to get outside and clean the little bit that was left of her poo.

Now we are trying to get her to go again, but once again she is holding it in (it would have been soooo much more helpful if Fin hadn't gotten into her poo, because then she'd be more likely to go in that same spot knowing it was hers). We are also taking her to a different portion of the yard where Fin doesn't have priveleges, in case we can get her to go again, so she gets used to going outside in her "spot" without him being able to get into it.

Who knew fostering would be this crazy!?!

More Pictures, at 9 days old

Here are pictures from day 3 of fostering, when the puppies hit 9 days old! :) Already Maida was showing improvement and relaxing more. She began eating a little more, and my brother even got her to go to the bathroom outside in our yard which was a huge first for her! The pups were getting more adventurous and started showing signs of leaving the baby pool, too.

Just a reminder: The little brown pup is the female, Senga, and the little black pup is the male, Sorley.