Currently we're fostering a Basenji/Jack Russell mix that we have named River. Wow. She's a fantastic pup (at least for our house anyway!) She fits right in with Molly and Karmen . It's like someone took our two dogs and mooshed them into one dog. That would be, River.
Oddly enough, MOLLY is the one who loves this little pup. Molly is usually the one that is hardest to sell on our foster pups, but she gets along quite well with River. Yes, she gets irritated with River from time to time but for the most part they get along well.
Karmen, my generally good natured girl, is suffering from "middle child syndrome" and is taking a little longer to warm up to the pup. Usually she is the one all over the pups and wanting to be their big sister. Not so much this time. I think she is completely jealous over all of the attention River gets. So I've been making sure to evenly give out my attention to all three dogs (just like I try to do with my human children)!
Pretty sure we are going to be big ol' foster fails with River. My husband and mother in law are absolutely in love with this dog and do NOT want her going anywhere. My mother in law (who is staying with us now) has already agreed to pay for all of her vetting needs. I've made sure she realizes any dogs living in my house must be: Spayed, micro chipped and have all of their shots. She agreed to that.
It's odd how a dog comes into your life and your like WHOA...where has this dog been all of our lives? She's what has been "missing". Though I never ever intended on having a third dog to keep.
Paws crossed.
River is a smart little pup that's for sure. She acts like she has lived here her whole life and that Molly and Karmen are no big deal. Minus the other night where I made a mistake that caused Karmen to hurt poor little River (but she's ok)! Karmen has a few food aggression issues from the days before we got her where she was starved and beaten by her old owners, so scraps of food and dog treats she CAN become very territorial over. I made the STUPID mistake of laying a couple of dog treats on the floor while taking photos of Molly (her 3rd birthday photos), and well, River and Karmen went for the treats at the same time. I felt so bad. It scared ALL of us. Karmen was so scared about what she had done that she ran off shaking and had urinated herself (urinating is poor Karmen's thing that happens when she is TERRIFIED. Over the past year she has gotten so good at never having this issue). I felt so bad for Karmen, but even worse for the poor pup who didn't even know what had happened, or why! But things are back to normal and her and Karmen were paling around today sharing the tug of war rope and playing "tag". I must admit I watch the two of them like a HAWK and feel a bit anxious and on edge when they play which is NOT going to help them any, because my dogs (most dogs do this anyway I'm sure) feed off of my body language so I have to try and keep things calm and easy so as not to spook Karmen and make things tense.
When Molly plays tug of war she has a habit of taking it "too far" and "too seriously" which is something I do not allow. When they start taking it too far, I make them release the rope, and they are done playing for awhile. We've done this with Molly since SHE was a puppy. Apparently, it has paid off.
River loves to play tug of war, and Molly LOVES that River loves to play tug of war and they are tug of war buddies. Gives my arms a break! They will play tug of war all morning. Molly will be playing and will start taking things too far and before I get a chance to say her name as a warning...SHE drops the rope and walks away before she gets too riled up (letting the puppy have the rope, which is a HUGE deal in the whole dominance thing). Glad to know Molly's "anger management" as we've always jokingly called it has been paying off. Not to say that Molly doesn't still let River know when she is being an annoying little twerp, but she gets along with her pretty darn well. Now my dogs will NEVER be the type who snuggle up together and fall asleep using each other for pillows and stuff, they are like my children in that regard. You will NEVER catch MY children snuggled up together using each other for pillows either. Not happening.
At least they can all sleep somewhat near each other without wanting to kill one another. Which is how my dogs are. They can all be on the same couch, but Molly is spread out on the back of the couch, Karmen is at one end of the couch and River is at the other end (snuggled up with whatever human is sitting there). Even the cat will SOMETIMES join them when he feels it's safe and he'll sleep in the very center of the couch very carefully NOT touching anyone.
So much like my children. If they all 3 end up in my bed in the middle of the night they have to be VERY careful not to touch one another or it turns into world war three which is never fun.
Karmen has been very stingy with the dog toys lately. Karmen hates hard toys, she prefers her stuffed animals her "babies" as we call them. She'll snuggle up with a stuffed animal and suck on it, or at least fall asleep with it in her mouth. The puppy prefers well, any toy. We've been encouraging the durable plastic chew toys because she's a puppy and chewing is her 'thing' right now. So we only have a couple of those hard plastic toys because Molly prefers tug of war ropes and Karmen the stuffed babies. River was chewing on a plastic bone the other day and sat it down for a second, Karmen ran over grabbed it and jumped on the couch with it, dropped it on the couch and then proceeded to LAY on top of it shooting River a dirty look. River kind of sat there and then looked straight at Karmen and yipped quite loudly to protest this thievery!
I can tell there is going to be some sibling rivalry between these two!
Keeping my paws crossed that things work out and River can stay. If not? I know she will find a fantastic home, I already know of a rescue group that wants her.
It's never a fail to be called a "foster fail" the dog isn't missing out, because obviously the dog found where it was meant to be!
Now it's time to run the little yipper outside for a bedtime potty break!
Mahala
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