Pack Emeriti - Everyone Else
Below members of the pack that have come and gone or are just away. We love and miss them all very much.
Sketch
Sketch is a miracle of sorts. Sketch came to us in the winter of 2010 and lived with us for nine months. He stayed with us and another wonderful foster mom for sometime after that. Sketch was the only dog that was so skittish, hence his name, that animal lovers we knew who never advocated putting a healthy animal to sleep thought that might be the only option for Sketch.
Sketch was born a stray and was not captured by animal control until he was approximately two years old. He was both terrified of humans, especially men, and at the same time very street savvy. The normally skittish and shy dog would never contest a human’s authority, but if cornered by another dog could fight his way free with no problem.
When he first came to live with us he was terrified. He found what he considered to be the most safe and defensible position on the loveseat and only moved to go outside for brief periods of time. We even had to feed him on the loveseat until he was conformable enough to eat standing on the floor.
Eventually Sketch blossomed. Over the months he became more confident with his surroundings and devoted to us. He learned how to play for the first time in his life and destroyed countless stuffed animals. Eventually, we found him a hard rubber purple squirrel kong that he thought was the greatest thing in the world and could not rip to shreds.
Eventually Sketch, who was tall enough that Lily could walk under him with no trouble, began jumping over our six foot privacy fence and had to be kenneled when we were gone. Sadly, we came to the realization that with our crazy schedule there was no way we could keep Sketch locked in the kennel for hours on end. City code only allows six foot fences.
Thanks to a good friend of Sketch’s he was able to find a home in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with a new woman who lives in the country and takes care of abused and neglected animals. As of June of 2011 we heard that Sketch had put on a healthy weight and is doing great. We miss him immensely.
Chloe
Chloe was our first foster. She has been dumped in the country and was brought to the shelter. She was clearly a puppy mill dog that had been bred and bred until her owners had not use for her. Although she was clean and well taken care of when we met her, the abuse she suffered was evident. Her tail had clearly been broken at sometime and never set. It looked like it had been slammed in a door and was crooked at the end. Some of her nipples had been ripped off and her belly was grossly extended, most likely from continuous breeding and feeding of pups. Although she had been clean and bathed for many days her fur on her underside and tail were still stained yellow from sitting in urine.
Chloe had no outward fear of people, but she also seemed to have no fondness for them. Other dogs where her true companions. The first time we met Chloe at the shelter she showed little response until we got up to leave. Then she sat up straight. When went to leave a second time she stood up. It was then we knew we had to bring her home.
When we brought her home Chloe experiened life in a real home for the first time. Although a little apprehensive of her new world, she was filled with wonder. She found a comfortable spot on a dog bed in our bedroom and made that her home base. She would then spend the evenings running out into the hall and back to her dog bed, each time making it a little further down the hall. She always had what looked to be a big grin on her face.
After less than a week we got a call about a possible new forever home for Chloe. Her new owners fell in love with her, just as we had. She now lives with three elderly golden retrievers and a young pug in the county. She, of course, is filled with all the wonders of her new life.
Molly (Other Molly)
Molly was found by animal control and was taken to a shelter that had a kill program. She was transferred to another shelter to save her from being euthanized. She was a young basset of maybe two. She was as dominate as Lily, as high strung as Darwin, and as cute as Wallace. She stayed with us for a few weeks where we saw her through her spaying and through a number of dominance battles with Princess Lily. She was a tough cookie and could take almost anything.
When she met her prospective forever family she wooed them completely. She now lives in Waterloo most certainly choosing which of her people’s beds she is going to sleep in each night. And most happily for her…she is an only dog.
Angel
Angel was just that, an angel…until left alone. Angel was truly a delight ninety-nine percent of the time. She was a terrier mix that was obedient, quite, well tempered, and loving. For the first few days we had Angel everything was great. Then one Sunday afternoon we left for a couple of hours with our BBSB little and Alicia's parents. We came home with the intent of introducing Angel to our visitors and she was not there. Now the dogs have a doggie door, but the yard is surrounded by a six foot privacy fence and a locked gate. After an eternity of looking under beds and in closets, we asked our neighbor across the street if she had seen a terrier mix. They had and… oops…they called animal control not knowing she was the new dog we were fostering. The next day, Monday, Ian graciously stayed home from work and sprung her from the pound. Tuesday we put her in a wire crate and everything went fine.
Wednesday Alicia received a call from animal control saying that Angel was loose and running in the neighborhood. Alicia frantically called her dad who left work to look for Angel and herself rushed back from Cedar Rapids to look for Angel. We found Angel a couple of blocks away. When Alicia returned to the house she was dumfounded to see that Angel had somehow escaped from the crate without opening it and then again escaped a six foot high fence with a locked gate. From then on Angel spent the time when we were away in a securer plastic crate, in a shut bedroom with the cover on the doggie door to a back yard surrounded by a six foot fence and locked gate.
Angel was adopted by a family with a young daughter from the Quad Cities.
Pomeranian
We don't actually know this little guy’s name. Ian saw in running in front of the house drench from rain one morning. Ian ran out and got the little guy, brought him home, and dried him off. He went from a shivering little terrified puppy to a fluffy pooch with Wallace like enthusiasm. We took him to the shelter when it opened and called later in the day to find out that his owner had picked him up. He wasn’t technically a foster, but he was so adorable that he had to be added.
Molly (Proper Molly)
Molly’s person is a very good friend of Alicia. She is a frequent overnight visitor. She is always well behaved and has much better manners than the hounds.
Brady
We found Brady on the corner of Miami and California in Iowa City's southeast side. We took him to the animal shelter and received a call from the shelter a couple hours later saying his owner was relinquishing him to the shelter. We came very close to fostering him, but he was so cute and friendly he found a forever home in less than a week.
Walter
Walter was Alicia’s best friend and partner in crime in her childhood. They were inseparable.