Cubby is up for adoption with the lab rescue now

After several talks and emails with different people, Cubby got accepted for the local lab rescue group. They put him online here. They renamed him "Percy" for the website because they just adopted another Cubby out two weeks ago and want to avoid confusion. The description of him is still very basic but that is to be changed this week. (Update: the new description is up now, so go check it out!)
I really hope that we can find him a good home this way. I'm already sad for the day he has to leave. But I just try to keep focusing on the fact that I helped him a lot by taking him in in the meantime.

Murphy and Cubby are still very good friends. One night when I was in bed, Cubby was laying at the foot end all by himself, so Murphy walked over to him, lay behind him and cuddled with him, it was sooo cute! Cuter than the picture is letting on. Also they started licking each others ears and faces and they are constantly on top of each other somehow. It's a joy to watch them both.

Also, last weekend when we went on our walk at the lake, we discovered that the lady who had him in her backyard had come home. She was to thankful that we had taken him because the neighbor did not take care of him as he was supposed to. She was really nice and gave me some money so I can buy him whatever he needs and she gave me heart worm medication for Cubby too. She really is amazing. I am so glad that Cubby was rescued from the Highway by her. She is a very good person with a very good heart. You can tell that she was good to Cubby because he was happy to see her again.

I'll keep you updated.
See ya soon!

First "official" foster dog - Cubby

About 3 weeks ago my friend and co-worker Linda told me about a dog in her neighborhood. A lady had rescued him from the highway and tried to find a home for him. Her husband is very ill so she left her home to be with him - leaving the dog behind in the back yard. She asked the neighbors to play with him and to feed him. That didn't go quite as planned and he as mostly left by himself in a tiny back yard. Even trough a tornado that just hit and destroyed homes less than a block away!! Anyway, we decided to find out more about this dog and rescue him from that back yard. So we talked to the neighbors and found out who was taking care of him. He told us that he watered and fed the dog every day, that his name was Coal (previously Rosco), that he was about a year old and very wild. He also told us that he was in phone contact with the lady in whose backyard he was living and that she was happy to find somebody to take him.
So I took him home with me that same day.
As soon as I got home Murphy was really excited to make a new friend and play with him. And they did play, for hours and hours with no end in sight.

Every weekend I take him and Murphy out to the lake and go for a walk with Linda and her dogs. They all enjoy it so much. And I discovered that Cubby (we renamed him) loves to swim and retrieve things.
Also he is incredibly clumsy!  It is so funny to watch him try to walk onto he bed or anything else for that matter. But he is having fun and enjoying live. We've had him for three weeks now and are working on getting him on the website of the local lab rescue to find him a good permanent home.
A couple of days ago the lady who had him in her backyard came home and is giving us all the help she can with finding him a good home. She is amazing. She gave Linda a bag full of treats and chewies for me so I could give them to him. She had also taken him to the vet and gotten him his shots and she got him neutered. I think that is quite a lot more than many many people would be willing/able to do when they find a stray dog. This weekend we're going to go by her house so she can see him.

I hope that sometime next week Cubby gets put on the website. We (Linda and I) sent the application today, so we will see what is gonna happen now. As much as I love him and going to be sad when he's gone, I can't wait for him to have a good permanent home.
He has made so many improvements since he came to us. At first he was pretty wild and didn't know any commands. Now he listens to his name, comes when called and sits when told. He also has calmed down a lot. It is such a joy having him.
He still is a little mischievous at times but it is so neat to see how happy and appreciative he is of having a home and being given attention every day.
I will keep you up to date on how the process of finding him a new home is moving along!
See you soon.

Murphy (left) and Cubby (right) sleeping together - isn't that cute?

Harley's weekend stay with us

Remember, I introduced you to Harley a couple of months ago, he's my parent-in-law's dog. They are gone for the weekend so we are watching him.
Both Murphy and Harley are having a blast. At times it seems like Murphy is overwhelming poor little Harley with all his energy and playfulness, but Harley finally learned to talk back and at the end of yesterday this little dog was chasing my Murphy through the yard. It was hilarious to watch!
I tried to put Harley in Murphy's pool, but he didn't like it too much, he jumped straight back out. I guess he's just not a water dog.
At one point I saw the two cuddling each other sleeping on the bed, but by the time I had gotten my camera they of course had already woken up and moved. It was too cute though!

Harley chasing Murphy!

Harley in the pool :)

Harley and Murphy in bed.

Tomorrow morning we're taking him back home and then we're going to take Murphy to the lake to have a cookout with Linda, her husband and her dogs, so that'll be a fun day. I will try to take some pictures and write an entry about it within the next few days, so stay tuned for that!

Doggie Easter Egg Hunt

getting ready for the egg hunt

This Saturday Murphy and I went to a Doggie Easter Egg Hunt with my friend Linda and her dog Sparky. It was held at the Canebrake which is a local resort/restaurant out by the lake here in town. Murphy was so excited to go out there and honestly, so was I. I had never heard of a Doggie Easter Egg Hunt before, so I was excited to see what it would be like. Last year was their first year and Linda had been and told me a little bit about it so this year I just had to go for myself.

Unfortunately the weather was not too good but at least it never rained heavy, just a little drizzle. Gave me a chance to take Murphy out in his raincoat and everybody just adored it! And I do believe Murphy loved it too. He just doesn't like to be rained on. He was the only dog there that actually was wearing a little raincoat. Some of the dogs were wearing little Easter costumes, but no dog was actually wearing weather-appropriate gear.
Once we got there, we had to register our dogs and pay $10 - money that would all go to WAGS, the local animal rescue group. For that $10 we got a little bandanna to show our dog was registered for the hunt, a little gift package donated by PetCo I believe, and the chance to win some nice prices in the hunt or other categories.
Along the registration several different organizations had set up little pavilions. There where several dogs out there waiting to be adopted. I in particular loved a little black lab puppy they had there but I just can't take on another puppy right now. Maybe later.

I did talk to someone at WAGS (Wagoner Animal Guardian Society) and told her that I would like to help out. So I told her that once we move to our new home I would like to foster some dogs and she was thrilled! So I can't wait to get involved there. :)
Once everybody had there dogs registered, I believe there were about 80-100 dogs there. Murphy had such a blast being around them all. A photographer came out too and took many pictures of all the dogs. I'm waiting on him to put them up on Facebook to see whether he put one of Murphy online. If he does, I'll let you know.

Before the actual hunt began, they had a little bit of program. They had my vet talk about spaying and neutering. Also somebody from the school I took Murphy to (TDTC) came and did a little Obedience Rally demonstration with his dog. It was quite neat. Most of the dogs actually made it quite well through all the program without whining too much. Last they had a lady and her two Collies there who did a little dance with them. It was quite nice but honestly I had expected a little bit more than that. Maybe it was just too rainy for the dogs to give a 100%.
Finally we went to a field that was marked all around with red flags. Inside it were lots of plastic easter eggs that had treats inside them. Every dog/owner team was allowed to pick up up to 10 eggs. On top of the treats some of them also had prizes in them. Murphy and I went up there and he actually sniffed out the eggs and pointed them out to me so that I could pick them up for him. I was really proud of my little boy :)
Well we didn't get lucky, but my friend Linda had a number in one of her eggs. She ended up winning a little gift basket that had treats for her dogs and $25 in cash. She was so amazing as to take the money and donate it to WAGS. Isn't she great?
Further you could win prices for biggest, smallest, cutest, best egg hunting dog. Murphy didn't win in either of those categories either, but that's alright. Both of us had a lot of fun and I'm sure we're gonna go again next year! :)

Have a great week!

Walk at the lake last Sunday

Hey everybody,

this Sunday when we went to the lake for our weekly walk I talk some pictures of all the fun everybody was having. Enjoy :)

 I have a friend who lives very close to the local lake. Her name is Linda. She has three dogs and then she fosters for a rescue group, too. Her dogs are Sammi, she's also a Lab Mix (different from Murphy though; also there is a special story about Sammi and I but I will post that seperatly), Sparky who is a white Westie and then there's Eddie; I don't know what breed he is, I'm gonna have to ask her one of these days. Right now she doesn't have a foster dog though.

In the back is my friend's dog Sammi. Murphy is all over Sparky and in the front is Eddie.

Murphy is slightly confused.

Murphy and Sparky love playing together. They play rough!  Again here is Sammi in the background.

Murphy just looking around. 

Well...

Well...when I got home from work today, Aussie was gone....I had to leave him in the yard because he was sick. My neighbor says she was outside all day and didn't see anybody take him. So I guess he must have gotten out somehow...I really hope he found his way home.
We already miss him terribly. I'm really sad that he is gone. He is such a good dog! I hope he is ok.

Aussie stays - for now :) and Charity

Hello again!

Well... I talked to my husband and he agreed to letting me keep Aussie (that's what I named him for now) until we find his owner or otherwise a new loving parent for him.

Also I decided that I will start my own charity. I don't like giving to others because 1. We don't really have much money 2. You don't know where your money goes. So for now I don't think I will become a legally incorporated charity, but maybe one day in the future. For now I will just shelter lost dogs until we can find their owner or a new home if no owner can be found. We do have enough money to feed and water the dogs. The only thing that we cannot afford is to take them to the vet for things. For that we will need donations. But over time I will work on that.
We are about to move to a new house soon and that will be perfect for sheltering lost dogs. It sits on 0.6 acres that are completely fenced in, so tons of room to run around and play! :)

If you have any pointers or suggestions how to go about doing that, PLEASE let me know. I need all the help I can get so that I can help man's best friend. Especially how to go about getting donations so I can keep helping those poor animals.

Bye for now.

found dog

Hey everybody!
Today I found a dog in front of my house. He's a really sweet guy and loves to play with Murphy. I think he is an  Australian Shepherd (let me know if I'm wrong). I'm working on finding his owner but I decided that I will keep him here in the meantime. He's too sweet to give away. He has his tail cut off and one blue and one brown eye.
If I can't find his owner and I can talk my husband into it, I might keep him :P
I'll keep you updated on what is going on with him!
Enjoy your week!

Meet Harley!

Good Morning everybody!

I'd like to introduce you to Harley!
Harley is a new addition to our family. My mother-in-law got him for Valentine's Day a couple of days ago. He's about 9 weeks old and a little Chihuahua. He's the cutest little dog. Even though he doesn't live with us, I do get to babysit him every now and then. In this picture he's sleeping in my arms while I was watching a movie. He loves to sleep in people's arms. Harley is very playful and attentive; so much so that I was able to teach him "sit" within ten minutes!

For now it is hard to have him and Murphy at the same time because they both want to constantly play with each other, but Murphy is simply to big and playful for him. When Murphy just nudges Harley, Harley goes flying trough the room. But I hope once he gets a little bit bigger those two will be good friends :) For the picture on the right I finally managed to get those two next to each other without being all tangled up. Aren't they a cute couple?
Well, while we're anxiously waiting on Harley to get a little bit bigger, Murphy and I are continuing to go to Obedience Class and using our book "101 dog tricks" (see last post). This week in class we learned "stand" (which we still have to work on a lot!!) and we went trough the first couple of pages of the book. The first tricks were all quite basic and Murphy already knew them ("sit", "down", "stay", "come" - though we are still working on the "stay" and "come" so they become more reliable). He also already knew "shake hands" (left and right) and it turns out that distinguishing between both hands is not as hard as I thought it would be. Now we're working on getting the "fetch it" , "take it", "drop it" and "give it" more reliable and Murphy is having fun practicing all of that each day.
Later today we'll drive out to the lake where a friend of mine lives (she has 3 dogs permanently and fosters dogs every now and then) and go on a walk. I think that is Murphy's highlight of the week, he really enjoys himself out there.
Have a great weekend everybody and I'll catch up with you later!

Hello and Welcome!

Hello and Welcome everybody to my new blog. This blog will be all about dogs and everything related.
I want to tell you a little bit about my background and the dogs in my life.When I was about 13, I finally convinced my parents (more my mom) to get a dog. We went to the local shelter "just to look at the dogs". Well my mom saw one and said "either this one or no one". So that same day we ended up with a dog. On the car ride home we all tried to find a suitable name for our little friend. The one we finally agreed on was Max. Max is a Terrier Mix and is originally from Spain (at that point I lived in Germany). I love him a lot and I taught him a few tricks. Well when I was 19 I moved out and went to college. Unfortunately there were no dogs allowed in my dorm so I had to leave Max behind at my parents house. I went home about once every two weeks to visit. In my second year of college I had the schedule that allowed me to have a dog, so we sneaked Max into my room where he lived with me for about 6 months. It was so much fun! After that I had to give him back to my parents because my schedule got to hectic to try and hide a dog in my room. In the summer of 2010 I had to leave Max behind at my parents house again, because I moved to the United States to be with my now husband. It was hard to say goodbye to my beloved dog.

Once I got here my fiancé (now husband) saw how sad I was, so after me being here for 1 week, he got me a little puppy that we believed to be a full-blood Labrador as a "welcome-home-gift". I loved that little guy immediately and we decided to name him Murphy. Raising Murphy was great and at times frustrating. As soon as he was 10 weeks old I started taking him to puppy classes and he loved it. Now Murphy is 8.5 months old and fully grown. Well, it turns out that he was not 100% Labrador. Instead of getting taller he just got longer and longer. After doing some asking around about his parents and looking at him, we now know that his mother indeed was a Labrador but his father was a Basset Hound! Either way, I love the little fellow to death. In the meantime we finished puppy class and discovered his love for water. Also, for Halloween I made him a little bandanna, turns out he also likes wearing scarves and the like. And, much to my liking, he loves to cuddle with me! Two weeks ago Murphy got to experience his first snow and as you might already suspect, he loves snow! It's very cute to watch him play in it. Also a couple of weeks ago we started our second class. This is the Obedience Beginners and I hope to move all the way up and then start Agility with him. We're having so much fun together.
I am so thankful for my husband that he gave me this dog! Just today I got a book I ordered: 101 Dog Tricks. I can't wait and start to teach him some of those and have him help around the house. This book looks great and I will let you know how it works out once we start learning the tricks. You can buy it at Amazon if you click to the left.

I guess that is all for today. I hope you liked our story and will keep coming back for more. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions!

Murphy in the snow at 8.5 months old

Murphy in the lake at 4 months old

Graduating Puppy class in October

Halloween Bandanna mommy made

sleeping on mommy!