Dear Trooper,

The past few weeks caring for you and bringing you into my family have been wonderful. I felt such a connection to you right away and the need to protect you. The way you looked at me with your big brown eyes, I knew you needed me and I was happy to provide for you.

Saying goodbye was so hard. I knew it would be and even though I thought I had prepared myself, handing you over to your new family broke my heart.

It was hard for all of us to say goodbye. Jay still talks about how much he misses you and Maizie, for all her indifference, was definitely sad to see you go too. Our house is so quiet now. I miss my little shadow.

But our job wasn't to be your forever family, it was to prepare you for the next step. Our job now is to do the same for another animal in need. I don't think saying goodbye to our foster babies will ever be easy but hopefully we'll get used it it.

My wishes for you, Trooper:

• A lap to snuggle in every evening
• A window to sit in and watch the world go by
• Long walks where you can sniff to your heart's content
• The loving attention of adults and children alike
• Full food and water dishes
• A variety of toys to play with and bones to chew
• A family that will love you and care for you everyday for the rest of your life

So many people wanted to give you this kind of home, Trooper, but unfortunately, we could only give you to one family. Because of the forever family we chose, I'm overjoyed to say that all of my wishes for you have been fulfilled. And so even though it was hard to say goodbye to you, it felt OK in my heart.

So what's next for us? After a little break, we hope to keep fostering animals. You were such a wonderful experience that we want to continue opening our home to animals who need us. And I'll keep writing about it too and hopefully inspire more people to become foster parents for the Hamilton/Burlington SPCA.

Until we meet again Trooper, you'll remain in our hearts always.

Love,
The Marino Family - Meredith, Jay and Maizie

New Experiences Everyday!

Today, Trooper got his stitches out AND had a bath! The time for him to find his forever home is coming, so we're getting him all gussied up!



I'm not so sure about this!



Tag team!


For anyone who is interested in adopting Trooper - Our adoption staff tell me he'll be available for adoption sometime over the next few days. We don't know the exact date yet. Anyone who is interested should fill out an application here at the shelter by Friday, May 11 and our adoption team will be in touch with the applicants sometime after Friday to discuss the next steps.

Unfortunately Trooper can only go to one home, but we have lots of other GREAT dogs who need homes too!! Please check them out here: http://hbspca.com/adopt/view-dogs.

Play time!

Look who figured out what his bunny is for!

Trooper & Maizie

Who would have ever thought a 8 month old Jack Russell Terrier would have so much in common with a 12 year old Basset Hound?

Not me! But they are amazingly simillar. There's a theory that when you add a dog to your family, the older dog will "train" the younger dog about the culture of your home. Trooper seems bit strong-willed to let Maizie train him so maybe it's just that their personalities are so similar.
 

• Cuddles and tummy rubs are the best things ever.  

Very demanding dogs.

• Both have a tough time climbing stairs due to an injury (Maizie has a slipped disc in her back so we limit her activity, especially stairclimbing). Trooper can climb stairs and is improving every day. His barrier is mostly maneuvering around his conehead, but I'm sure he'll figure it out any day now.
• Loud snoring. (Adorable!)
• They agree Maizie's beds are super comfortable. Trooper's bed - Not so much.

Uh oh, Trooper's here! I'd better give up my bed for him!

• Accidents out of spite. Trooper - when he's not getting all of your attention. Maizie - when she she's at home alone and she knows she's missing out on something super fun. Potential adopters: Don't worry, we're working on this and it's very infrequent.
• Neither is interested in chewing or gnawing on shoes, furniture, etc.
• Both love sitting in the window and barking at passersby.
• They love to follow me around, especially when I'm in the kitchen.

Won't you please drop something?

• Both can be trusted not to get into things they shouldn't - garbage, etc.
• They both sleep. A lot.
• Neither is really into toys. They both have toys but they really don't play like other dogs do.
• They are both very well-behaved in the car.
• The couch is the perfect spot for a nap.



THIS is the life.



Thank Goodness for the Crate

After the night of no sleep, it was obivous that we needed some help. Luckily I work with a bunch of trained professionals!

So for Operation Get-Trooper-To-Sleep, my first order of business was to get Trooper his very own crate!

My co-workers are awesome. When I came into work the next morning there was a cozy crate waiting for me at my office door. Soon after I got a lesson on how to use it:

• Put him in the crate, shut the door
• Cover the crate with a blanket so it's dark and cozy inside
• Firmly tell Trooper to be quiet when he cries or barks and then ignore him
• Get him used to the crate by putting him in there for about an hour at a time

Following this lesson and keeping in mind the night before, I obtained some ear plugs to make the ignoring process easier.

I'm happy to report the crate made a huge difference immediately!

Here's how the crate training progressed:

Night #1 - Trooper cries and barks for about 1 hour after we put him to bed and intermittently throughout the night. At one point we hear a weird banging noise along with the barking and crying, which we ignore because of our excellent foster parent training. Turns out the banging noise was Trooper moving the crate across the dining room and rotating it about 45 degrees. The crate is about 20 pounds and Trooper's less than 10 - an impressive feat for such a little guy! This activity really tires him out so he sleeps soundly for the next 3 hours. Trooper wakes up for good at 5:00 am barking and crying until I get him up at about 6:30 am.

With his Hulk-like strength, Trooper moves his crate across the dining room and rotates it approximately 45 degrees.

Night #2 - Barks for about an hour after we put him to bed, sleeps through the night, wakes up barking and crying at 5:00 am until I let him out of the crate at 6:30 am.

Night #3 - Barks for about 15 minutes after we put him to bed, sleeps through the night, wakes up barking and crying at 6:00 am until I let him out of the crate at 6:30 am.

Night #4 - Barks for about 5 minutes before settling down, sleeps all night long, we wake him up at 7:00 am when we let him out of the crate.

Rejoice!!! Thankfully, every night is now like Night #4 except he now sleeps soundly until 7:30 am. I'm such a proud mama. He is a sleeping champion!!!! And Jay and I are well rested, productive and happy once again!

He likes his crate so much he now goes in there on his own while we're at the office! What a smart guy!