Swizzle and Dusty update 30 July 2012

Dusty

Swizzle

DUSTY AND SWIZZLE UPDATES    This family adopted Dusty and Swizzle to join Zia, their other dog. Dusty is the dog that recently had surgery for cancer.   She also has a problem with her hip but you can see she is doing great.  Here are three updates from them.  We got lots of pictures too.  Love those pictures.

We been having a few thunder storms and Dusty has gone out to the back porch and watched after prancing a little but not enough to really get damp. Swizzle stays inside now if it's rainy out even if we are outside. Zia of course hides in the closet.  Dusty is getting a bit more energy now that it's cooling down. Dusty likes the Futon and the dog bed with the pillow as her favorite sleeping spots. Swizzle tends to sleep with me unless she gets too warm and then moves to the  couch where Zia has been sleeping. We have a fan hooked up to create a little extra breeze.   A couple of pictures are  Zia and Swizzle playing inside. Also a trip to the dog park (near ABQ airport - 25 acres) it was early,,, I think we got there at 6:45 am and stayed til just after 8.

Second email:  This is a afternoon at the park. It was still quite warm but a few other pups where there. Dusty sat right beside mom all the time. They made a couple of loops and Dusty did get up to happily greet dogs that came by to say hello. Swizzle sniffed around and socialized a bit but then hung out with us. She would go get some water a couple of times and greet people who walked on the path in front of us. When we got home everyone was a bit tired from a fairly long hot day. So we lounged and I caught Dusty being all supper cute with Byron and Mom. When Byron left to shower and get ready for bed Mom took his place and Dusty seemed to be a bit happy to have her person pillow replaced.

Third email:  We went to the Sandia mountains last Sunday  and then up to the hiking trail. It was cloudy and indeed helped make the day a lot more enjoyable. Dusty took the lead for the first third of the hike, she fell back and paced herself after that. Swizzle had a difficult time not running ahead or chasing lizards that crossed out path. Dusty saw a chipmunk and wanted to take off after it but stopped when mom called her back.

The creek was much colder than expected so I was surprised that Dusty was so freely wading at times. She sat near it at rest stops and watched the bugs around it. Swizzle was not happy about trying to go into the water so she sniffed around the edge and took a couple of tentative steps into the edge then pulled back. Zia and Dusty played a bit in the water.   When it cools down a bit more we are going to be taking them up to the foot hills and seeing how things go there. It's only about 15 minutes away and paths are from easy to moderate so we can select the trail based on the ability of the pups. I am really looking forward to it!    Hope all is well, Samara, Paralee, Byron and Chris.

Bob adopted 27 July 2012

Bob

BOB ADOPTED     Friday, July 27, 2012

Bob was adopted and moved in with a dog companion named Evie.  She was adopted from FFAA in September of 2010.  We always like it when people to get a second dog from us.  Here is the first update on Bob:  Bob and Evie are doing good! So far so good. Bob is very good and I think he is a good fit for our family.

Ace & Nina adopted

Ace

ACE ADOPTED on Saturday July 28,2012

Ace is a young puppy.  He moved to the Quemado/Red Hill area with an older gentleman that just lost his dog to a car accident.   Willie wanted a puppy and one that would sleep on the bed with him.  What puppy wouldn’t like that?   Laurie called Willie and got a glowing report on Ace aka "Lucky". It is going superb, he says Lucky is the perfect dog.  He stays right with Willie,  sleeps in the bed and goes in and out to go potty. He has taken him in the truck 3 times.   Sounds like a match made in heaven.

Nina

NINA Adopted Saturday July 28, 2012

Nina was adopted and moved to Gallup/Ramah, NM.  The family has a place in Gallup where Paul is working but they have a ranch in Ramah.  Janet wants Nina to be a companion on the large ranch.  Again, what a life for a dog.  Laurie talked to Janet on the telephone and here is the report:  Nina fits in perfectly with the whole family.  This family includes a daughter and three children.  Nina even does well with the three year old.  The first night, Nina slept on a pad next to the couch where Paul slept.  the second night Paul moved the pad next to the bed and slept in his own bed.  Both nights Nina laid down on her new pad and slept till morning.

Pikachu, aka Pika Update

Pika

She's been awesome. We've done several mountain hike/runs, and we just started doing bike rides and she's been perfect on those (herding dogs tend to nip tires). I have to go pretty fast to get her out of a gallop but when she gets up to full speed it's pretty neat. She runs like a Greyhound. Well, nobody does but it's pretty cool! That's our morning routine, I ride down the hill then straight into the mountain preserve where she does her thing.

-Chris 

Trooper, adopted 26 July

Trooper

Trooper has moved near Reserve, NM.  He was so happy, giving all of them kisses and he jumped right into the car.
Can't wait to get an update on him!

Supplies Needed!!

AT THIS TIME WE ARE GOING THROUGH LARGE AMOUNTS OF SUPPLEMENTS AND PRESCRIPTIONS. IF YOU OR ANYONE YOU KNOW WOULD LIKE TO ORDER SOME SUPPLIES FOR FFAA, HERE IS ONE SUPPLIER AND TWO SUGGESTIONS.

Also, if you ever have any medicine that your pets no longer need, please save them for us. For example, my niece's dog died and she sent us his medicine for diabetes. A few months later we ended up with a diabetic cat that needed the medicine. We like to keep our pharmacy stocked. Right now we have three dogs that have eye problems and even more that have joint problems. Today, a count of our dogs born before 2008 was 24. Not all of them have health issues. We don’t think about the animals, both dogs and cats, as being young or old.  We just focus on their personalities and their needs and enjoy them and love them.

Eye support tabs #43788 (We have four blind/partially blind dogs that need this)

Joint and hip combo pills #43079

You could ship items to FFAA PO Box 555, Pie Town, NM 87827 A donation would really help.

KV PET SUPPLIES www.kvpet.com

Thanks for your assistance!!

SWIZZLE AND DUSTY UPDATE

Dusty

Swizzle

Dusty has her check up last Wednesday. A few x-rays were taken to ensure the cancer did not spread, as well as blood work. It looks like there is No Cancer to be found!!! :) :) :) We went and got her a new toy to celebrate. She also has lost just a tad over 4 pounds. She is walking over 1 mile each morning with Byron and a slightly faster pace. She is slowly walking a bit with mom in the later mornings and socializing with the other neighborhood dogs but stays with mom pretty closely. She tries to play now with Swizzle and Zia but they tend to run a lot so usually one of us will jump in a play Tug with her. She really likes tug toys. We have quite a few ropes around her know. She also loves it when our parakeets and cockateil sings. She will make a point to go watch them when they are singing for more then a few minutes. However she usually gets distracted by me entering the room so have not got a photo yet of it. :( She likes to go for rides even short ones when she can and has calmed down now that mom is home more. She still whimpers a few minutes when Byron leave for work if Mom leaves for her activities. Dusty's energy level is rising. We are planning on getting her an appointment for acupuncture here in a couple of weeks. The vet who does it is away for a family event and not taking any new appointments until she returns.

Swizzle has accepted the bottom of the pecking order so I tend to baby her a bit more. She gets nervous sometimes eating with the others so I've been putting a dish of food in my room for her to eat when we are getting ready for bed. She is still nervous with other dogs but likes to meet them and then tentatively play. I gave her a bath for the first time on Wednesday, mainly she got herself covered in dirt while we were turning some soil for garden and that included some fertilizer so for a while she kept hiding with Chris. She also loves greeting Byron in the morning. I know when he is stirring because she gets all excited and won't settle down much until he comes out of his room. She also has found that she likes trying to walk/lay in the front window sill to look out. We also know when our neighbor to the north come homes. She will recognize the van they have and get all happy and go look out the window until she sees her pull in and park. She is getting better on the leash for everyone but she enjoys running if possible. She likes chasing me around when I am rushing around and usually will watch whoever is cooking until dinner is served. Swizzle is growing into her own independent self. She is getting better at riding too with a car full of people and animals.

They have adjusted wonderfully. I am looking forward to when we can take them camping. It look as if CNM is only going to let Byron teach 1 class this next term and although he will be taking a class and with Chris and me both in school this fall there won't be as many weekday trips out but we are in hopes of having a few weekend trips when it cools down. We are looking at also going to a few new areas that allow primitive camping if it doesn't rain too much over the Autumn. The Rio Grande Bosque opened again a few days ago so we are going to see about taking them on a riverside walk soon. Sam

Smiley Update

Well, we have decided to keep his name. Officially: Smiley. He's a good dog. He adjusted well here and we recently purchased a dog house for him. He spends his time equally indoor and out. The girls run him and when he gets tired he sits down. He doesn't want to move. Maysun loves him too much. She let him chew a hole I'm our couch which isn't a big deal. Well get it fixed. He already part of our family. The cats still don't approve. Just a little quick update.

 peterson Bunch

EVAN now Boomer - Update

EVAN now Boomer ADOPTED SUNDAY, JULY 15,2012

We are pleased to tell everyone that Evan was adopted and moved to Los Lunas. This is a cute story. Richard’s girlfriend, Cristy, contacted us because she wanted to give him a dog for his birthday. Richard pretty much fell in love with Evan from the pictures on the internet and the ones I sent them. When Richard met Evan it was a great match. We just got a short update about Evan: 

'Evan is doing great he slept good and didn't have any accidents last night. He also got along great with my parents dogs. Thank you for all your help'

Another update:

'Everything is going good! He did good this week. I would drop him off at my parents house so he could play with Ruger and Mac during the day then I would take him home with me after work.

We found out he likes water! Lol he jumped into the pond at my house and just swims around he did the same thing at my parents house too. Lol

Cristy and I decided to change his name to Boomer. He already responds to it well. Right now boomer, Cristy and I are on An adventure together in Chama, NM. So far he likes deer and won't bark but he's not too sure about Turkey's. Haha when we get back to town I will send some pics to you. Have a good day!'  

Playtime

Laurie wanted to show you how much our furry friends enjoy toys. After a new dog settles in, they delight in playing with a toy. This week Mama Mia and Dandee were taking turns with a new blue toy.

Snickers is playing with one of the favorite types of toys—an empty water bottle inserted into an old sock with the end of the sock tied. When they chew on the sock the plastic bottle makes wonderful crackling noises. Of course squeaky toys are wonderful fun too. All the young puppies need lots of things to chew on.  

We have many styles of ropes for them to chew or play tug with.

Consuela is so cute. Even if she can’t come up with a toy, she’ll find a piece of a toy or a piece of fabric and then prance around with it joyfully. She tries to get another dog to play tug.

Like the dogs, cats are creative too. On the Ronda Romper, there is a security door that has a counter weight to make certain the inside door stays closed. The cats love to go watch the counter weight go up and down as people come and go through the door. Of course, the kittens love to use people as play toys. Here is a picture of our volunteer, Kristen, playing with many of the kittens. And then there is the picture of Ed being a climbing pole.

As you can see the dogs and cats love toys. We try to give all the animals a good quality of life until they move on to their forever home. We are always looking for volunteers to walk the dogs or just come and play with the animals. Life can be such a joy. We hope you have a good day today.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.268418139933817.54443.100002968993585&type=3

PIKACHU aka Pika ADOPTED SATURDAY JULY 21, 2012

 PIKACHU aka Pika ADOPTED SATURDAY JULY 21, 2012
She moved to Phoenix, here is the latest update:  
Hi Laurie, sorry I didn't email you. I've been a little "busy" to say the least :-) but she's doing great. She was scared to go up my stairs, fixed that with some treats and positive encouragement. Down was another story, but I think she just did it without thinking when she was following me. Now she goes up and down no problem. She's been great off leash, until this morning. Now that she has met my neighbor's dogs she wants to go to their homes. The dogs across the street bark at anything and everything out the window, and she hears them as soon as they see her in my driveway. Working on positive "Come" training now, more so than before. 

I put her in the crate when I left last night, but she doesn't like going in, even using treats she heads back out after she grabs it, but that may come with time, too. Small pee accident this morning, but I think it was stair-fear when we were working on going down (figured it out mid-morning). Doing GREAT with other dogs. My neighbors have a basket case dog named Duke. He has cigarette burns and tattoos if that gives you an idea about his meth-head owner's twisted ideas during his childhood (with a great family now) and I think he and Pica are now boyfriend-girlfriend. She is a master at dealing with scary and mean dogs. She was wrestling around with him and he's built like a great dane/pitbull cross. It was pretty funny. It's like she thinks "Oh, so this is your personality issue, I know how to handle you, I've worked with 50 other dogs." She's like a little Freudian matchmaker.

She was a dream in the car. She pulls like a sled dog on the leash! We start a training class Wednesday night to work on different things. Everybody seems to love her.

As far as keeping her name...I might change it, but for now I'm just calling her Pika for short! Thanks again, so far so good. 

Evan is adopted

Evan

Evan has moved with his new family to Los Lunas, keep checking back for an update.

Sandy is Adopted

Sandyi has moved to St. John’s, Arizona with Gerry and Gloria.
Here's an update:
Hi Laurie
     Just to let you know we really like Sandy. She is doing well and she seems to enjoy and like her new family. Thank you for taking the time to deal with us because you can see we really wanted a dog so thanks again. Ger and Glo

FOURTH OF JULY FUNDRAISER IN SOCORRO

Our special volunteer, Deb and Nancy worked a booth at the Socorro 4th of July festival. Here are some pictures. Laurie did manage to get there too but after the pictures were taken. Aren’t volunteers wonderful!

DUCHESS ARRIVES FROM ALBUQUERQUE

Duchess is a beautiful German Shepherd that has some eye problems. She is doing great and allows Laurie to treat her eyes. 

Moshe Update

MOSHE AKA CHACO UPDATE  Here is one of him while still at FFAA.

Moshe is doing very well. He is quite the cuddle muffin and glueboy.....He sleeps as close to me as he can get! It is cute seeing the little dogs chase him around...sometimes in play and sometimes they are mad at him...but he thinks it is all just fun! He is growing and has his own bowl and knows it is his. He also likes to play king of the bed with all the other dogs.

Sometimes it is hard to remember he is just a baby as he is so big and smart and then he does a total baby thing. .... not a mean bone in the cute big body of his! love him lots!

I have a 6 week orphan foal right now and he is always with me when we go out and feed. He is almost as big as the foal and always wants to eat his food.

We are going to sign up for puppy classes soon. I think he will excel and be a great student. Lisa 

Update July 1, 2012

LOUIE ADOPTED JUNE 30, 2012

Louie

Louie was adopted and has moved to Los Alamos. Christina fell in love with him on the internet and he seemed quite happy when he met them and got right in the car. We got this from the family.

We had a great time with all the animal and visiting with you. Our trip home was long but safe thank you. We stopped and let Louie stroll long the mountain streams and play for a while at the park. I'm sure he is really going to love going out exploring with us. He had no problem making himself right at home. :)

Mandy

MANDY OFFICIALLY ADOPTED JUNE 30, 2012

Most of you have seen a bunch of emails about Mandy the Kuvasz. She was being fostered by Rhea and it is now official. Mandy lives with Rhea and Andrew and a companion German Shepherd named Drake. Congratulations, Mandy and the rest of the family.

FINNIAN THE SIAMESE CAT  Adoption update (I don’t have a picture of Finnian)

Mr. Finnian has been with me for 6 months now. He and I have made vast strides since his early days of living under the bed and the ledge in my kitchen.

He now spends his mornings on top of my bed and afternoons in the den window. I describe him as a typical male--he leaps in bed with me each evening for 15-20 minutes of tummy rubbing and head scratching then stretches out on the pillow next to me.

Somewhere between 4 am and 6 am he starts nudging me as he is ready for breakfast. Around 5 pm he will track me down and let me know that he is ready for his dinner.

The rest of the day I am not able to pet him! Typical male--loves me in bed and when its time to eat-------------

He is learning to use a scratching post although the fancy condo I purchased is only used for that purpose and not for taking naps. He has little interest in catnip or other toys but I have a houseful.

My company truly does not believe I even have a cat though the trappings are visible everywhere. He has an elegant enclosed litter box that looks like a hope chest in black lacquer.

I have his canned Iams cat food delivered via UPS as Amazon is cheaper than Walmart plus no sales tax. Spoiled ? perhaps, but I love him and cannot imagine life without him.

I helped with the primary election and did not get home until after 7 pm. I was greeted by "attitude" from my bed buddy--he did not appreciate a late supper. In my defense he always has plenty of dry food should he dane to eat it :-)

Take good care, MaryKay