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!

Day 1

Getting to know each other... and cuddling

Yesterday was our first evening together. I was so excited to bring Trooper home and see how everyone would get along. I was also feeling very nervous. I have never fostered an animal before, I don't know much about Trooper's condition and I had no idea how Maizie would react. But off we drove to St. Catharines to see what the evening held in store for us.

Let the adventure begin!

The first thing I learned about Trooper is that he loves to be held, cuddled and patted. So that is what we did for the majority of the evening. It's amazing how attached to me he's become already. He cries whenever when I leave the room.

My sister-in-law came to visit us and meet Trooper. She adopted a golden retriever from the shelter last year and loves dogs. With Trooper's sweet brown eyes, it's hard not to fall in love with him right away and my sister-in-law was Trooper's next victim.

Maizie reacted surprisingly well to Trooper's presence. She let him sniff her and after that, they pretty much ignored each other. My fear was that Maizie would be terrified. She's never been aggressive with other dogs. She's just scared and wants to hide. I don't think Maizie was thrilled to have Trooper in the house but she wasn't especially nervous or jealous.

You stay on your side of the living room, I'll stay on mine and we'll get along just fine.

It was a very lovely evening until we went to bed.

I've never fostered before so I have to say, I really didn't know what I was doing. I didn't have a crate; I didn't remember what it's like to put a puppy to bed. I really did not have a strategy and believe me, we all paid for it.

Here's what I did (Warning! Do not try at home):

I set Trooper up with a little bed on the floor in our bedroom on my side of the bed. We all got tucked in and turned out the lights and immediately Trooper started to cry. And he would not stop. I really tried to just ignore him but it went on forever with no end in sight. So then I attempted to move his bed to our guestroom. I tucked him in again, shut off the light and when back to my bed. Unfortunately this move made the crying escalate into a heart-breaking yelp-cry.

I'm not proud of what I did next. Usually, I wouldn't say I'm this clueless when it comes to animals. I'm sure my co-workers were ashamed of me.

I left my bed for the guestroom, propped myself up with pillows and held Trooper all night.

This was a terrible solution. He continued to cry throughout the night and neither of us got any sleep. 
When I gave Trooper his medication in the morning, he promptly fell asleep but I had to be up for the day.

Trooper's been through so much in the past few days - he was hit by a car, lost his family, find himself in a scary place all by himself, had major surgery and woke up missing a leg and then found himself in a totally new place all over again. Of course he's terrified and needy and needs a million loves and cuddles. But I also have to think about the fact a puppy needs structure and training in order to be successful in its forever home. It's my job to set him up for success in the next stage - adoption.

So with that, we have a new strategy to try for Day Two that I hope will balance the need for TLC and the need for training. Cross your fingers for us cause it will be a long 2 weeks if this Foster Momma doesn't get any sleep!

Sleep finally!

About Me

A first-time foster mom for a puppy named Trooper

Hi, I'm Meredith. I'm a full-time staff member of the Hamilton/Burlington SPCA in Ontario, where I have worked for the past year and a half.

At the shelter, the temptation to adopt an animal is always there. Dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs - we've got them all and they all need good homes. A pretty significant roadblock is my 12 year old Basset Hound, Maizie. She's afraid of other dogs and since she's in her golden years, I usually feel that she's earned the right to have my husband and I all to herself.

But my attitude changed yesterday when our Veterinary Technician, Lesley, came to my office with Trooper.

Trooper is a sweet little Jack Russell Terrier puppy who was hit by a car last week. He was surrendered to us and our vet determined his right hind leg needed to be amputated. Trooper needed to stay at least overnight with a staff member or volunteer to ensure he got his pain medication on time. I just couldn't let this poor sweetheart go without pain meds when he's already been through so much. So I warned Maizie and my husband, packed up the medication and off we went to Trooper's temporary home - my house!

Trooper will likely need 2 weeks to recover before he's ready to go up for adoption. I hope you will follow our progress as my family adjusts to another furry friend and more importantly, as Trooper adjusts to life on 3 legs!

Meeting Trooper for the first time in my office