Its a dog's life!

Oh, somedays I wanna throw in the towel. But, I don't have any clean ones left. A normal morning in my household starts as my husband leaves for work and my two foster dogs come in from outside, my nose clenched up as I smell Jazzmine who obviously has been rolling around in poo and eating dead things. So after feeding Joslyn a quick breakfast I grab Jazz and head to the tub. I hoist her in, nearly pulling out my back and turn the shower on. While holding her with brute force one handed, I scrub her down with shampoo. I make sure to keep calling Joslyn's name the whole time, praying she isn't getting into the trash or eating the dog food again, or dumping the dog's water bowl again. After I rinse her off and dry her off I let her go and get Joslyn out of the dog food. Jazzmine then runs to the couch and proceeds to rub every stray wet hair on my couch. I yell at her to get off the couch and then yell at Piper to put down what used to be one of Joslyn's board books and is now shredded wet slobbery cardboard. I pick up the pieces of the chicken book. Good bye chicken book, enjoy the trash! turn around and pull Joslyn out of the dog food again. Things settle down for an hour and then I look over and someone has left a poopy present in my livingroom. So out go the dogs and out comes the carpet cleaner. I am deperately trying to clean up the mess before Joslyn toddles into it. I throw away the mess and call the dogs back into the house and in comes Piper and Jazzmine who have found mud on this beautiful dry day. So I decide to put them in their crate to dry off a little and again pull Joslyn out of the dog food. I feel bad that I am sticking them in their crate without getting a chance to eat and drink, so I put a small bowl of water and food in there. About every five minutes I am going back to the crate to calm down fighting dogs. Piper is mad that Jazz is eating her food and Jazz is protecting her bone. Joslyn has found a new place to get dog food, by sticking her hand through the bars. Once dry the dogs come back out of their crates and again someone leaves a poopy present. Back outside go the dogs and back out comes the cleaner. Later, during naptime my red cocker starts shaking her head a lot. That is my cue that it is ear cleaning time. So in she goes to the bathtub, she is much lighter, and I proceed to clean her ears. I very messy procedure, where I get very wet and dirty. After the ear cleaning she runs around with her head to the ground, rubbing off the clean smell I just applied and leaving a fresh scent of wet dog on my furniture and carpet. So if I am lucky I then get a shower before Princess wakes up and maybe I get to do a load of dishes or laundry. The rest of the day is spent chasing my daughter around, making sure her needs are met and that she doesn't swallow something she shouldn't. Along with taking toys away from Piper and Jazz and throwing the ball for red dog and giving ear scratches to all. Piper comes in from outside smelling worse than Jazzmine did this morning and I absolutely have to give her a bath. I decide not to let them out again till nightfall, and once Joslyn went to bed I let them out and leave the door open so I can keep an eye on them. I finish the dishes start the laundry and make me small dinner as I never have time to eat with my daughter. When Joslyn gets a bath, I have to put up all valuables that I don't want eaten while they are unsupervised, and I usually get to clean up the trash that has been pulled out of the trash can. 

So, why am I telling you this? Do I love owning and caring for foster dogs? Sometimes, but most days are a pain. I am not the best dog trainer, but we take it one step at a time. I may not love the work, but I do love the dogs. Like human foster parents, our foster children have sorted past and have been left with the scars of being unwanted. Sometimes the scars are on the outside, where they have been beaten and abused or neglected. And some are on the inside where they are dealing with being abandoned, hurt, and feelings of untrust. We speak for those that can't speak for themselves. Some dogs were unwanted puppies from a mother who had babies and the owners didn't want the responsibility of more mouths to feed. Some animals had to live in hostile environments where the people took out there anger on them. Some were loved for awhile but the families situation changed and the animal got forgotten or left behind. Jazzmine and her brother, had a family once. We know this because they were patiently waiting buy the road where they were abandonded and left to starve for weeks before we found them. We don't know Piper's full story but we do know that the foster person that was taking care of her had so many other unwanted dogs and cats that Piper was boarded most of her life. Stuck in a kennel almost all day. Needless to say she doesn't like being in her crate anymore.

So what can we do? We keep moving forward. Slowly working with our foster dogs and the wonderful organization Best Friends of Pets. To make sure that these animals always have a loving home and that we do our best to inform everyone we can about their responsibility. Get your pets spade and nuetered, please. Don't let more animals die in shelters. I used to breed my cocker spaniels and I loved every minute of it. But I was ignorant to the thousands of animals that are needing a home already. I am not gonna harp on breeders, but please if you have a heart for animals check petfinder.com and see if there is an animal out there that is already perfect for your home. Or go to rescueink.com and see if you can donate to the wonderful cause of stopping animal abuse and putting the abusers behind bars. Together as a community we can put and end to this. Just like our children, we have to stand up and stop the abuse and the violence. God commanded Adam to take care of the animals, and now it is our turn. Wouldn't it be wonderful if animal shelters didn't have any animals in them. I think it would be great if breeders had to get a licence to breed and were required to take responsibility for all of their pets. That animal abusers would get strict punishment and each animal had a loving home. I wish it were true!

So no my days aren't easy, but I will not stop giving baths and taking toys away and cleaning up poop until I can do it no more. My house will continue to smell of wet dog (thank God for Fabreeze) and my furniture will always be shabby and chewed on. I am an animal lover. I am a dog foster mom! Love me as I am.

Well I'm off, Piper just peed in the hallway! Dang it!

Teresa