I AM ADOPTED!

BIG, BIG News....I am ADOPTED!!!

Two nice people named Jessica (she's very pretty, like me) and Brian are adopting me. They found me on Petfinder...I guess they must have liked my sweater or my sleek sexy body, but anyway, The Foster Lady and I met them in this garden on Saturday and I did my best 'snuggle' with them and Brian's brother. I might even be able to go to work with Brian...I love the car! They also have a backyard and they like to run on Kelly Drive, so I guess that I am definitely going to be exercising.

The Foster Lady is excited for me and she's going to get me 'fixed' so I don't have to worry about puppies anymore and she told these nice people that I could come back to her for visits, like at Christmas. So I will still get to see Stan sometimes.

I also heard the Foster Lady tell someone that Pooh was also being considered for adoption by someone...soon, it will be just the Foster Lady, Stan, Lily and Cherie (who is a little pain in the rear, but that's boxers for you!)

I've been at the Pit De-Stress and Relaxation Center since March 8th. The Foster Lady says that a new house, with new people will be an adjustment, but she is sure I can do it and will be there for me all the way, she promises.

It has been incredibly busy here at the Pit De-Stress and Relaxation Center in the NW Burbs. We had a great time up in the mountains this weekend, though the new pipsqueak, Cherie (BB) did not get to come. The Foster Lady said that she felt she was loading four kids into the car for a vacation across country! I got to ride shotgun and Pooh was in the middle in his crate (we were hoping he did not get 'car sick' the way that he usually does) and Lily and Stan in the back. We made it and no porky quills!!!

The Foster Lady decided that it was high time to let Lily and Pooh meet and meet they did as you can see from this video! hahahaha. Lily is a 75 lb. girl and Pooh is a mere 45 lightweight from what I hear and today, he will probably be a pound less as he was going to be neutered! I don't know what that means. He is home now and relaxing in his crate. I hear I am next!!!!

Here's some video of Pooh and Lily (the Porky one) as well as one of my guy Stan taking a dust bath and me and Stan playing.

Bullies can be friends, especially if it is an opposite sex pairing. Lily for instance, will probably never like me, or me her, but Stan....well, you know that story! Same goes for Lily with Pooh...
This is called dog-selectivity....and about 60% of pibbles (The Foster Lady's new name for us) are this way.

This is Pooh here. The Foster Lady is too lazy to let me have my own blog, and she knows how much you all are waiting to see more pictures of me and a video of me and The Foster Lady with the bike contraption. Leni will just have to deal with it! We're leaving for the mountains for a few days...hope I don't get carsick!

Yeah, yeah, it's been awhile...so much happening at this Foster Lady house. I'm worrying that she might turn into a hoarder...lol!!!

Really, she brought this teenager named Pooh (see picture of white dog, NOT as handsome as Stan, but Stan takes it all in stride) and seems hell-bent on taming him of his humpy habit (he will NOT be humping me, I can assure you!).

Then this past weekend, she brings ANOTHER dog home...some dog with two names, Cherry and Busy Bee, I can't keep it straight anymore.That is another one who needs manners, but she is learning them here fast!!

Oh, and I forgot, we had ANOTHER one here as well, a big American Bulldog named Elmer who had NO HAIR...not a pretty sight for a sleek, sexy girl like me!! He was only here for a short time at the Pit DeStress and Relaxation Center!! Then some crazy lady with a crowd of girls (min Pin, Great Dane, English Bulldog, Chinese Crested, Mastiff, and Chi) said she would act as a Foster Lady for Elmer.

And to top it off, my main man, Stan, got nailed by an animal that has these sharp porky quills when we were in the woods three weeks ago!! I was on a leash, thank God, or I would have run to help Stan. He got it good and the Foster Lady took me back to the house and proceeded to take this thing called a plier and pull those suckers out, one at a time!!! She couldn't get the ones in the back of his mouth, because he wouldn't keep it open for her, so off he went to the vet!!! The Foster Lady says it's his 2nd time to be 'quilled'. Lily as also gotten it twice. The Foster Lady now says she will sell the house in the mountains for a nice acre someplace that she can fence, put up a spring pole and continue with the Pit DeStress and Relaxation Center.Here's some pics of that Teenager Pooh, the other new dog Cherry/BB, Stan and his incision and finally one of me and my guy Stan.

Okay, I haven't written for awhile because I have to confess: I, Leni the Foster Dog, recently of North Philadelphia, a former garbage-eating dog, have to say: I am totally, and absolutely IN LOVE with Stan. Of course, I am 'in heat' and I guess that does have an effect on me. But I finished with the first bloody part and I'm now in the 'hold-my-tail-aside' part and I did so and Stan, despite the fact that he is, well, without 'huevos', well, we were caught inflagrante delicto, by The Foster Lady and we got STUCK!!! I freaked and Stan freaked! We got 'unstuck' after a few minutes, but The Foster Lady was thinking we might have to go to the vet to get 'unstuck' !!!!

Honestly though, I didn't mind and as you can see from this video, all I want to do is be with the handsome guy! I know I'm a nudge, but I can't help myself. You would be too!

Week 6 This week The Foster Lady took me to the Pet Expo in Hamburg, PA. Even though other strange dogs scare me, I did fine sticking by The Foster Lady. And it was crowded! I participated in something called 'My Dog Will Eat That' contest which benefits the HillsideSPCA where The Foster Lady volunteers.



Here's what happens: all dogs sit in a circle and each one is first given some yummy people-food called 'lunch meat'; of course, we all at that...I even wanted to eat the plate! Next we were given another type of lunch meat; no problem, keep it coming!! Then we were given a piece of cheese! Yay, I love cheese! So far, all the dogs are still in; Next comes the small dog biscuit. I could not believe it, but some dogs actually would not eat the biscuit!! and they were disqualified. Fine, more for moi, The Foster Lady had to restrain me from taking those discarded biscuits! Then came the orange thing called a 'carrot'. I kept spitting it out, but finally, I did see that some other dogs were eating theirs, so I ate mine, but several absolutely put their paw down and refused! They were outta there! Next came the piece of food that undid me....a sweet thing called a 'banana'! It was slimy! I didn't mind the sweet taste, but it was that slime that finally did me in. I could not choke it down, try as I might. Several dogs did though and we had to watch from the side to see which dogs would eat the pickle!! And two did! One was a Lab and the other I can't remember. The Lab's owner said proudly, see I told you he would eat anything....and The Foster Lady thought I was bad.

Week 5 - Well, it finally happened. I got to meet the Meathead, nose-to-nose. I understand now why The Foster Lady is so crazy about him! This is after 5 weeks of what she calls 'crate and rotate' for us. I'm used to their smells now. She put a 'muzzle' on me .... did not like that one bit! Put one on Stan, why I don't know...he's such a pushover! Then after we did our meet, she took the muzzle off Stan, so far so good. Then she took the muzzle off me, still on leash...so far, so good. Then she dropped the leash and we chased each other all over the house, up and down the stairs having a great old time.

Stan is a very nice guy. Here's a video of me and him playing together!

Week 4 - Time is a-flyin’ in The Foster Lady’s house! I was ‘de-wormed’ this week, which means that I will be gaining weight faster, even though I don’t want to be like Tubby, picture of her in her harness to the left! I’m not heavy enough yet to go to the Weight-Pulling Contest tomorrow, but I heard The Foster Lady tell someone that Meathead Stan might be a bust at the contest. She got him a special harness and put it on him, attached something called a weight and he refused to move. Just sat down! Those dogs are really lazy bums! I also heard that The Foster Lady bought something called a ‘treadmill’ and it’s coming to the house soon; that all of us are going to ‘run’ on it. This should be interesting!

Oh, one more thing: I was out for a walk on my leash, and these dogs come rushing up to me, but they stay some distance away from me, barking like the silly dopey dogs that they are! The Foster Lady told me that they are on a property with an ‘electric fence’. I sure don’t see any fence and it’s really freaky that they just stand there barking at me. Go figure!

Week 3 – The Foster Lady Speaks. So okay Leni, I do get a word in edgewise here. I want the world to know what a wonderful girl you are and how far you have come in a short time. You are great on lead, you heel nicely. You are crate-trained and are happy to go into your crate, even when not required and the door is left open for you. You are still very much a puppy, despite your size, and the lucky person that takes you into their home needs to realize that you will need exercise and understanding that if you can’t be seen, you might be eating furniture, which means, you need to be in your crate while your family works or is busy doing something else where they can’t keep an eye on you. You love to run for a ball and a tennis ball is all that is needed to keep you happy. You can mouth it for hours. You enjoy a car ride with your head in my lap and also like to lie next to me on the sofa, ball in your mouth, upside down for a belly rub.

You still obsess about food and water, which leads me to believe that you did without these things for long periods of time.

All that was, for you, is in the past. Some remnants of people chasing you perhaps, or yelling at you, perhaps even throwing things at you to keep you from their garbage, will remain, but you are a resilient girl, showing no resentment or malice towards people. You have been tested with strollers, men in baseball caps, kids and none bring out anything bad. Yes, umbrellas are troublesome, but hey, so very much is new to you in the world, that I am not surprised. The person that I finally let you go to, will be a lucky person indeed as they will have a friend for life.

Week 2 – I have to talk about Loretta. She’s dead. The Foster Lady told me that Loretta, an older pitbull girl at the shelter, was sent on to dog heaven and The Foster Lady was very, very upset about it. She said that Loretta was a true breed-ambassador and she spent a lot of time crying over Loretta. In fact, she still cries when she thinks of Loretta (pic on the left). You see, she had gone in to bathe Loretta, the day before she died. She was fine that day and she was going to be shown at Petsmart in the hopes that she would be adopted. Two weeks before that, she had been at Petsmart and some guy had said he really wanted her, and he never came back for her.

The Foster Lady was planning on taking Loretta out for the day, the following day and we heard that Loretta was taken to the back, for possible pregnancy testing. The next thing she heard was that she was dead from pregnancy complications. The Foster Lady is sad, angry and sad again. She wishes she had just taken Loretta out of the shelter too, because she was fine the day before when The Foster Lady gave her a bath!!!

Loretta was very special to The Foster Lady because she was a very mellow, laid-back, red and white pitbull like Meathead. She had lived her life in a vacant lot in Germantown and everyone at the shelter loved her. I know that whenever The Foster Lady would come to the shelter, she would go to Loretta, me and Missy as her most favorite girls, give us treats and walk us first in the yard. I’m glad Missy got adopted and I wish The Foster Lady were not so very sad about Loretta. Loretta looked a lot like the Meathead and I think that makes it even harder for The Foster Lady.

Day 7 - We finally made it up to this place called ‘the mountains’, this time with all three of us in the car. Yesterday, it was a trial run with just me and The Foster Lady. But today, it was me in the gated way-back, Stan riding as ‘shotgun’ and Lily? Well, Ms. Tubby wouldn’t hang in the back seat cause she didn’t want to be near me. So she wedged herself onto the floor of the passenger seat, cause Stan would not give up his seat! After an hour or so, she gave in and came to the back, and I was a good girl and didn’t bark at her. The mountains are very, very quiet; none of those loud moving machines called 'trucks' rumbling by. As we do in the other place, The Foster Lady rotates us but this time, I have the run of the house and those other two bozos get to go and sit in the car. They like to do it; I think that Stan is practicing how to drive. I can see him in the passenger seat, Tubby riding shotgun.

Above is a picture of 'the mountains'....and when I say, no noise, I mean it

DAY 6 – Today I got major QT. The Foster Lady spent the whole day with me and we went for a long car drive, all by ourselves, no Meathead, no Tubby. The Foster Lady says I am very good in the car…and I am! NO ACCIDENTS! We got to a very quiet place, with lots of trees around. The Foster Lady calls it ‘the mountains’ and she spread out a blanket and I got to be a ‘snuggle bug’ with her in the sun. That was very, very nice. I went for a walk in ‘the woods’ with her; smelled something called ‘deer poop’. Guess I will get to see one of those ‘deer' sometime.

I wonder sometimes if people understand that for some of us dogs that end up at ‘the shelter’, that we have never been inside a house before? We might have lived in a little shed in the backyard, or tied to a doghouse with a 2 foot chain….some of us may have just been on the run for a long, long time.

We have no idea about things like ‘tv’, which I still find amazing, soft things called ‘sofas and chairs’, food that comes from a bag and not the garbage can. I keep seeing other dogs when I look out the window at night and I bark at them. ‘Silly girl Leni’ The Foster Lady says…that’s you…looking at yourself in the darkened window. All that kind of stuff; I do hope that people who adopt us understand that it will take a bit of time for many of us to adjust to a ‘house’. We may leap over furniture, be unable to settle down, but trust me when I tell you, once we get the hang of it, we are very, very happy dogs.

Day 5 – Well, it finally happened….THE ACCIDENT…but The Foster Lady told me not to worry, it was in my little house (‘crate’) and it’s her own fault for giving me people food….she said, ‘no more people food for you Leni…no more stale Christmas cookies, no more rich marrow until you are a bit healthier, no more dehydrated chicken strips from Buzzy Bow Wow Meow shop. The Wellness Diet and that’s it!’ I mean, I like that food, but boy, I’m gonna miss that people food. I mean, that’s all I ate when I was out there, scrounging for food! Oh well. I don’t like making messes in my crate either.

I got to play with this neat thing called a ‘flirtpole’ in the backyard today. It’s this long stick and The Foster Lady has something that looks very very much like a real SQUIRREL…and she puts it on the end. I guess I get a little confused because it looks so real and I chase and chase and chase it! The Meathead and Lily can hear me outside having a good time and they really freak out! They want to play with this thing too I guess. Particularly that Stan…he barks and barks and barks…and I can hear him, even when he’s on that nice cozy bed upstairs, being a total boring whiner!

The Foster Lady was gone for a long time today. Tubby Lily and I were in our crates in the dining room and Meathead Stan and this CAT called Zeke, get the run of the house.
I was so happy to see The Foster Lady when she got home!!! I gave her many kisses and she fed me, and took me for a nice long walk. The moon was out. I smell spring in the air.

Day 4 - Today I saw something small dash across the street when The Foster Lady and I went for a walk with her friend. It was called a ‘bunny’ and since it was running, of course, I wanted to chase it. I’m a terrier, remember? But, since I am learning leash manners, The Foster Lady kept me reined in. She says that I have to remember that she is taking me for a walk, not the other way around! A friend of hers called Jane came with us. Jane was a bit afraid of me, because I am one of ‘those dogs’, but at the end of the walk, I was giving her kisses.

We also took a ride in the car, cause The Foster Lady wants to see how I do with rides. She says she has a house in the mountains and it will take some time to get there and she wanted to see how I did. I loved it! She left me with my blanket in the wayback and did some shopping and came back and everything was just fine. I had not eaten anything I wasn’t supposed to! Next we got home and she brought Meathead Stan out to the car and put him in the front seat. I stayed in the wayback that has a gate across it; I wasn’t really afraid, cause Stan stayed right in the front seat, next to The Foster Lady, starring straight ahead. He never even turned around to look at me!!! I think that my barking at him when he walks past my crate has sent a signal. But what’s a dog to do? I had to fend for myself for a long, long time. I’m not too sure I will ever totally trust another dog. Time will tell I guess.

After we got home, I got a meaty marrow bone in my crate which was great. The Foster Lady puts them in something called 'the freezer' so it takes a long, long time to clean them out. Before bedtime, The Foster Lady called the Meathead and Tubby downstairs. She pulled the sheet back from the crate and she had this thing that squirted at in my face, if I barked fiercely at those lugs. Once I stopped that (I mean, those guys really, really scare me…they are so much bigger, like some of the dogs I had to run away from when I was on the run!), she made them sit next to the crate, and then she gave each one of them a treat and me a treat. Leni, treat, Stan, treat, Lily, treat. I guess she wanted for me to see that good things CAN happen, when we are together. Then they went upstairs to what I am sure is a big cozy bed where they sleep with The Foster Lady. It was our QT time and we watched some ‘TV’. I am learning how nice it is to get my tummy rubbed on the sofa. It was my bedtime. I did a fairly good imitation of a lone wolf howl, several times. Nothing happened; I figured, might as well get some shut-eye.

Day 3 - Well, the big Meathead Stan (on the left there) got into big trouble last night. I loved listening to this! He came downstairs and went to give The Foster Lady a kiss. She smelled something called ‘Toothpaste’ on him when he kissed her and next thing I know, she is running upstairs and saying ‘Stanley, did you take the toothpaste again?’ And I guess Meathead Stan has a thing for ‘toothpaste’ as well as bonies and ropies because I heard her saying ‘bad, bad dog’. I listened to hear what the fatter older one named Lily had done too, but I guess that if she liked the ‘toothpaste’ she hid her involvement in the little adventure. I can hear her running around with this thing called a ‘ropie’ upstairs….she leaves long pieces of it wherever she goes. Big Meathead Stan gets to run all around the house with something called a ‘cat’ whenever The Foster Lady goes out; but tubby Lily and I get to be in our ‘crates’ in the same room. The Foster Lady says that will help us get used to each others’ smells. I really barked at Lily when she tried to sniff at me through the cage door. I really don’t want to have to take these guys on, I have to be careful. I mean, it’s two against one here. But I don’t think that Meathead Stan will be much of a problem, judging on what I have seen. Besides, The Foster Lady told me to ‘knock it off’ and said ‘there is only one boss in this house…and it’s me…The Foster Lady’, so maybe I don’t have to worry after all. We’ll see.

After The Foster Lady let me out (still no ‘accidents’) and we had some QT on her sofa, she told me that it was bedtime and put a blankie that smelled like her into my ‘crate’ and said ‘night-night’. I really did not like this. I started to cry, long, moaning howls that I thought would break her heart and bring her downstairs. Hey, she says she wants me to become a ‘snuggle bug’ the same way that Missy is…and I am…and now she leaves me!!! Doesn’t she know that all bullies want to be with their people, ALL THE TIME??? A bully that doesn’t…well, that isn’t a real bully. Even when people are bad to bullies, their bullies love them, which is rather pathetic really, but we were bred over years and years and years, to LOVE,LOVE,LOVE people and not like other dogs. I mean, hey, look at Jack Russell Terriers. A lot of the time, those dogs, terriers just like me, don’t like other dogs…………….but nothing, not a JRT, not a Cairn, not a Wheaten, a Rat or Yorkie, loves its persons as much as a bully. Well, I tried the crying thing for a bit and it didn’t work, so I just went to sleep.


Day 3 – Evening. Today I got my own ‘ropie’. Wow! And The Foster Lady took me outside and I was jumping in the air for it and tugging with her. The yard’s a little muddy, and I slipped on my bony rear end once, but I had a great time. When we came back inside, I got The Tubby One’s shredded ropie and showed The Foster Lady that I could shred it just as well as Lily!! PLUS, MAJOR NEWS! I am Dog of the Week in Philadelphia Daily News! Don’t that beat all??!! I’ll bet Meathead and Tubby were never Dog of the Week. The Foster Lady was pretty excited and brought home several copies of the paper to show me my picture! She said she was going to get a blog together and pics so people can read about the Life of a Foster Dog. AND, I GOT PEOPLE FOOD TONIGHT! Something called ‘Swordfish steak’ with this green stuff called ‘pesto’ and these things called ‘sweet potatoes’! Good stuff…..beats the trash I used to root through, looking for food while I was on the run. Plus a mile walk and The Foster Lady says my leash manners are so very good, NOT one accident, so of course, plus my fame, and she gives me PEOPLE FOOD, the delight of every dog. I had heard about it but never lived anywhere where it was available in the house itself, not the trash! Finally, a snuggle on the sofa for QT while she watched something called ‘Jon Stewart’ and then bed. I think I’m too exhausted to do the howling-bit tonight.

I will show you Meathead .... you can decide if I'm right about his nickname!

Day 2 in my foster home – The Foster Lady was very excited when let me out of this crate this morning. She was saying ‘Good girl Leni, no accidents, what a good, good girl’. She gave me this yummy lamb and rice dog food and then took me to the place called ‘outside’ where there was lots of wind! I relieved myself and the The Foster Lady was sooooooooooo happy and told me ‘good girl’ so many times. But after that, I just wanted to go back into that thing called a house. It’s too cold out here and honestly, I’m a little scared, because it reminds of my time on the run in the big noisy city, after they took my puppies away from me and I was worried about them, trying to find them!

Back in ‘the house’, I wagged my tail to show The Foster Lady that I was happy and licked her face, which she calls ‘a kiss’. She put me back in the ‘crate’ and a few minutes later, those big doggies of hers come barreling down the stairs. This time, they ignored me and were very excited to go to that ‘outside’ place…very excited. Something about a squirrel! I’ll have to check it out the next time I go ‘outside’. Then they came barreling back in. They don’t look too much like me, though I know that they are dogs. They are red and white and much, much fatter than me, especially that big girl. Am I going to get that fat? I don’t know that I want to be as fat as that one older one! I want to be sleek and sexy. I guess it will take time. Next The Foster Lady took something she called a ‘ropie’ and gave it to those big dogs and they ran back upstairs with it. I heard terrible noises in the upstairs and The Foster Lady telling them to play nicely with their ‘ropie’. After a little bit, it got quiet and I could hear those big dogs working on their ‘bonies’. There are these ‘bonies’ all over the house. I have two in my ‘crate’ and they taste great.

End of Day 2 – The Foster Lady told me that she had to go back to PACCA today because she had found out that Loretta was adopted and she needed to say ‘goodbye’ to her. I told her to give a shout out to my girls at the shelter who were forced to have babies for people, just so they could sell them for cash and then dump us when they got tired of us. The girls in this little Maternity Club are currently: Lydia, Georgia, Lil Mama, Sweetie, Missy, Heather, Loretta and Bijoux. These people they call ‘backyard breeders’ and they make The Foster Lady crazy. I heard her say that she lies awake at night, trying to think of how to shut them DOWN. I only know that I had puppies a couple of times (actually I lost count) and sometimes they would take them away from me before they were ready to leave me and that was very, very upsetting. Puppies should say with their mommies for at least 6-8 weeks. I worried a lot about it and I don’t want to think about what might have happened to them. The Foster Lady said she got her first bully because her son went to a backyard breeder and paid $250 for a brindle bully like me. He was the runt of the litter! His health was always bad, and she said he died when he was 2 of something called ‘anemia’. She said that she had hated bullies for no good reason before that, and after having him in her life, vowed to do all she could for us. But back to this crazy house; the older fat one is called Lily and the big meat-head pushover is called Stan. I know he’s a pushover cause I watched from my crate and when he was drinking his water, that Lily pushed in and he just stood aside and let her do whatever she wanted to. I’ve heard that Lily was ‘on-the-road’ in New Jersey for who knows how long, but she never had puppies….so that one ups me on her. Now she’s living the plush life, eating people food even!, and sleeping in a bed with The Foster Lady and Mr. Meat-head. Wow. Anyway, The Foster Lady is so happy I have not had an accident…hey, who would want to…I mean, I’m in this crate when I am not outside with her. Tonight, she did put those big dogs upstairs and let them loll around on her bed with their bonies. She told me that we needed some QT…Quality Time. I ate a big dinner and then I got to explore around the downstairs and then I hopped on each piece of furniture to see which one was most comfortable. I ended up on the sofa with The Foster Lady, watching something called ‘TV’. One show even had a dog barking on it…I thought I was back at the shelter! But pretty soon, I settled down next to The Foster Lady after giving her lots of kisses, while she told me how beautiful and extraordinary I was. It’s so quiet here and I let out one of those big dog-sighs-of-contentment while The Foster Lady sipped her white wine. Feels good, real good.

Day 1 in my foster home – Wow. I had never had a ride in a car before but The Foster Lady who took me, and lifted me in, assured me that I would be fine. And I did find these neat bones in the back, so I do agree, rides in cars are super! Then The Foster Lady took me for a Sudsing at the Salon. I had never done that either, but she put me into this big metal box and this other nice lady wet me down and put some nice smelling stuff on me. They called it ‘shampoo’. The Foster Lady got me dressed again in this thing called a ‘ski gaiter’ which is black and really makes me feel very sexy, and took me home. We went for a long, long walk and we got really, really, really wet because it was raining. I know that the Foster Lady knows that I do not like rain; she assured me that she did not like it either, but this had to be done. Something about ‘leash manners’. She took me back to something called a ‘house’ and put me in a littler house, called a 'crate', so I would not be afraid of those big doggies of hers, and gave me a frozen marrow bone and I am very very happy. Those big doggies came around and sniffed but after a bit, The Foster Lady told them to 'quit it' and she covered the 'crate' with a sheet to they wouldn't bother me. No more noisy big place with always the lights on! Yeah!