Our First Foster – One Year Later

The first dog we fostered through Agape Animal Rescue was Tucker.  But before Tucker, there was Barney.

Last year, Foster Dad and I were starting to kick around the idea of fostering dogs.  Oscar had been with us for a year by that time, and we were head over heels for this dog.  We always knew we were “dog people,” but turns out – we were full on “crazy dog people.” We talked about Oscar constantly. We plastered our Facebook pages with his picture.  We celebrated his birthday.  We always knew we’d want to be a two-dog house eventually, and we figured if having one dog was this awesome, than having two would be twice as awesome, right??

Photo by Barney’s Furever Family

We weren’t in a hurry though.  We knew that when the time came that we would rescue again,  because for us the most important thing about adding another furry member to our family was helping a dog in need.  With that in mind, we started talking about fostering.  Casually, nothing serious.

Photo by Barney’s Furever Family

Barney wandered into our lives a year ago this week.  Now, we see stray dogs in our area of town all the time. All. The. Time. But when I saw Barney running down the side of the road that early morning, there was something about him that I couldn’t ignore.  I just had to pull over and see what was up.  I had no idea if he’d be interested in me at all, or if he’d bolt.  I hadn’t planned on chasing a dog through South Nashville streets all morning, so I told myself if he didn’t come to me easily, I’d assume he was on his way home.

After I pulled a stop and got out of the car, I turned to face him, crouched down and said cheerfully, “Hey buddy!”  He stopped dead in his tracks, and only considered me for a moment before bolting straight towards me and climbing into my lap, tail wagging a mile a minute.  Well, it was settled.  He was coming with me.

Photo by Barney’s Furever Family

I called Foster Dad on the way home to tell him what I had gotten us into, and he was totally on board.  “Well, you couldn’t just leave him there! Bring him home!”  We did our due diligence….checked for a microchip (nope), looked on Craigslist, Petfinder, etc for lost dogs matching his description (nothing), and papered the entire area with FOUND DOG fliers to see if we would get any hits (not one).  However, when we posted him on the local Facebook page and asked our neighbors if anyone recognized him, we piqued the interest of Ted & Amanda. 

The recognized him, alright.  They recognized him as they newest member of their family.  They had been thinking about getting another dog as a playmate for their yellow lab, Bella.  When they saw Barney’s picture, it was insta-love.   One week after Barney entered our lives, he was off to live with his new family.

Photo by Barney’s Furever Family

Barney may not have been an “official” foster dog.  He wasn’t affiliated with a rescue organization, he wasn’t pulled out of a shelter, neutered, or vetted.  None the less – he was our foster dog.  Our first one.  We found him, sheltered him from the elements, and gave him food and water.  We bathed him and trimmed the matted hair from under his ears and belly.  We invited him into our home and loved him. And when the time came, we said goodbye. We’re counting him, and we’re adding him to the “Success Stories” column.  He really should have been there from the beginning. 

Happy Adoptiversary, Barney! 
And just like we say to all our foster dogs…we love you forever, and we’ll never forget you!

~

Oscar’s Pals, Part II

Hey guys, it’s me again, Oscar!  As you probably know by now, Tucker moved out and is now living with his new People.  I’m really happy for him!  He was fun to have around, but I’m glad to have Mom & Dad back all to myself – at least for a little while.   

Not to pat myself on the back or anything, but I think one of the reasons he got such amazing People to adopt him is cuz I helped him become such an awesome dog!  Remember when he first came home?  We was real scared and nervous and barked all the time…it was soooooooo annoying.  Enter: Oscar!  I helped him realize that we could have fun together and play and play and even share the couch together. 

Mom & Dad say that I helped “socialize” Tucker.  Well, DUH!  Obviously that’s cuz I’m so sociable myself.  Maybe this is a good time to introduce everyone to the rest of my bestest buddies, who helped me get all “socialized” as I was growing up.  Let’s see, where did we leave off?  Oh yeah….

Barney!  One day Mom got up and went out real early.  It was too early for me, I didn’t even get out of bed (I loooooove sleeping in the bed!).  So when she came home, she had this guy with her:

Mom said Barney jumped in her car after she saw him running down the road.  I asked him what he was thinking, running down the road like that, didn’t he know that was Danger?  He said he didn’t know, that he didn’t have any People to teach him about Danger.  *GASP* no people??  Well, I knew right away that I had to share my People with him to teach him about important things, like Danger, and Treats, and Cuddles.  And I could teach him Play!  Well turns out Barney already knew what Play was, and boy he was good at it! 

Barney had some things to teach me, too.  Like Wrasslin’:

Barney only stayed at our house for a week, cuz Mom & Dad found him some People of his very own. They still talk to them and they tell me that he is soooo happy with his new People and new Lab-sister Bella.  Round about that time is when I heard Mom & Dad start talking about bringing Foster home.  I don’t know what they’re waiting for, I can’t wait to find out what Foster is!

So, I saved my most favoritest bestest friend for last.  His name is Bandit…

(*sigh*) Bandit….Bandit’s People went on something called Vacation which means Bandit had to come and live with us for a week.  It was the BEST week! We had so much fun together. 

We Played:

We Snuggled:

We went to the Park:

And we just hung out.  Did you know that a Dog can have only three legs??  Well Bandit does, but he kept up with me just fine.  Mom called him the “Wonder Puggle,” whatever that means.  Man do I love Bandit.  I wonder when his People will go on Vacation again?

Of course I have some other friends too, who you already know about.  There’s Libby & Bailey, and of course, Tucker!  But you already know all about him since Mom blah blah blah’ed about him so much.  I wonder if Mom & Dad will bring anyone knew home anytime soon?  I love making new friends….

Find out soon!