Tomorrow we say au revoir to a special dog that came to us through my nosiness and diligence. Chaz was a big mess when he came to us, but he’s turned out to be quite the amazing little Pompom. He’s healthy and so much better dermatologically now that he’s had some TLC from us. I think he’ll be the star of the show when he gets to Muttville. He’s become somewhat velcro with me, which means that I know he can bond with someone else well, even though he lived his entire life with a woman who died recently. He’s so full of personality. What’s most special to me is that when he whines and gets anxious, he sounds exactly like the dog I had for 15 years, who was named Montague, or Monte for short.

Last morning with foster Lana before her transfer to Muttville.

Today I noticed that I needed to help my foster Jackson. I tried to dig between his toes to see why he was not using one of his front legs as much. I thought maybe he slept on it wrong or had been rough-housing with one of the other dogs, but it persisted throughout the day. I picked out some extra hair and some old burs from under his foot, but I could not find anything new that should have been causing him pain. I saw what looked like a little red spot or scar on the top of one of his toes, but I thought to myself that surely he would not limp because of something on top. Well, after looking at it carefully, I saw a tiny beige splinter sticking straight up out of the top of the toe. I gently brushed over it with my finger. He squirmed, so it was obviously the source of pain. Without moving him, I asked Shea to bring me tweezers. I quickly and forcibly pulled it out. It was a foxtail of some kind and much deeper and longer than I imagined. He let out a loud but short yelp. Blood and pus emanated as it had become infected and swollen, but he almost immediately licked it and lay down to sleep on my lap because he was so relieved. The poor sweetheart hid the pain so well. I’m so glad I was able to feel and see what was causing it, because I would have taken him to the vet if it didn’t get better, of course, but I’m so glad to be able to treat him myself. I’ll also apply some antibiotic cream so it heals faster.

Fosters Cookie, Perry, Jackson, Ella, and our Snoopy and Bonnie are in these photos, so we currently have six dogs at the house while we try to find homes for all of the fosters. We’ll probably get Jackson to Muttville soon, but it was hard for both him and Cookie to remain in the shelter, so I’m glad we were able to make room for them temporarily.

We took in two more fosters, one of which is a senior we need to groom (Shea already gave him a bath), and then he’ll be a great candidate for Muttville. Therefore, he’s likely to be here only a few weeks if someone wants to adopt him from HSNB. Cookie is the small cream terrier mix who reminds me of recent fosters Marshall and Lana. Jackson is a salt and pepper schnauzer that reminds me of my first dog growing up, named Sugar. Red foster Perry makes a cameo in these photos, too.