Wednesday, April 25, 2007

FOSTER CARE AT A SPA?

Duncan Relaxing at the Spa with his new friends.
What a day.
Just when I thought that I was settling in to a new home, I find out that I am going to the Holden spa in Lake Geneva.
This is a nice place and I should be very happy to be here, but I am not.
I miss Bridget, Brian, and Kya.
I hope that I will be going back home soon.
Maybe someone in Madison will adopt me.
If you are thinking about it, you should just do it.
I have a lot to offer.
My great eyes.
My hugs.
The love that you know I have for you.

You know who you are.

Anyhow,
This afternoon, I wandered around the yard, took a swim in the pond, dang fish, (I do read the other blogs from the dogs that visit the spa), and made 4 new friends. They are Libby and Sherman. This is a fun place. They showed me all around the yard and house, told me the rules, and introduced me to the dogs next door. Their names are Lucy and Charlie. Boy are they little.

After all of the touring we decided to take a nap.

I hope that tomorrow is as much fun.

Duncan

Saturday, April 14, 2007

A Typical Day in the Life of Duncan


Duncan Sleeps.


Duncan gives up on his hardwood bed and moves to a more comfy spot with his buddy, Kya.


Duncan finds an even more comfy spot to lounge, on a human bed.


Duncan decides he needs some fresh air, and lies down on the deck.


Duncan can't stand not being near me so decides to sacrifice comfort and lie back down on the hardwood floor near me.


Duncan gives up on the hard wood floor again and decides that Kya has the right idea, and hops in bed with her.





As you can see from the pictures, Duncan, is still very much in recovery mode. He spends a great deal of his time lounging or sleeping, giving him plenty of time to heal. His respiratory infection is still hanging on so it will be a little while yet before we start his heartworm treatment but the good news is he gained 6lbs in the last 4 weeks. Way to go Duncan!! He still could use at least another 6lbs or more but hey, that's progress. He still can be a bit of a finicky eater but apparently he is eating enough to boost his weight.

He is such a joy to have around. He is a really easy dog. He has/had two minor flaws, one, he thought marking indoors was fair game when he first got here, but he quickly learned that was only appropriate outside and hasn't marked in the house for over a week. He even held back when we had another male dog stay with us for a week. His other issue is his lack of enthusiasm for his crate. He will willingly go in to the crate on his own and is actually pretty good about being locked in it when we are home with him but he barks if left home alone in his crate. Easy fix, we just let him have free reign of the house and he hasn't disturbed a thing. I will work on crate training him once food becomes more of a motivator for him and I can leave him with a kong in his crate but in reality he doesn't really need a crate.

He isn't allowed to go to the dog park (because of his bedrest restrictions) but he has had the opportunity to meet at least 5 dogs while he has been here with me and has done really well with them. He does seem to be top dog but is not at all pushy, he just has a very stoic way about him and other dogs seem to immediately pick up on that and leave him to rule the roost. Case in point, Duncan stayed at my parents house with me this past weekend. My parents have an off the wall hyper 9mo old bischon puppy. Normally little Beans (the bischon pup) will not sit still for a second but with Duncan their he miraculously turned in to a calm dog. Duncan never did any growling or any correction of any sort but Beans could read by the way Duncan carries himself, in his calm-assertive manner, that Duncan was the law and little Beans walked instead of ran and laid down instead of jumping up on every living thing and my mom was floored. We nick-named Duncan the "Regulator" he really helped Beans become a balanced dog, even if it was only for the short time that Duncan was in his house. My mom told me later that Beans seemed very upset after Duncan left. Duncan is a very special boy and anyone would be very lucky to have him as a member of their family.



Duncan is moving.....going to find another comfy spot to lie down at.


"Hey, you're in my way, I'm trying to find a place to sleep."