Foster Parents

Okay, so, I thought of something I could post about that would include some fun/cute pictures!

Michael and I have been foster parents for the past 5 days, but not to people babies - but to puppies! Michael and I can't have a puppy right now because well, financially it wouldn't work with a baby unless we keep our expenses as low as they are right now and Michael gets a raise. BUT, that doesn't mean we can't have a puppy in our house all the time!

The other day, I was looking at puppies on KSL (just to look and get my puppy 'fix' I guess), and I saw that two shelters were visiting the PetSmart near us on the same day, and I really wanted to go and just walk the shelter dogs and just give them some love. I knew we couldn't adopt one, but that didn't mean it wasn't tempting! But, it's puppy season, and when someone's dog has puppies and they can't give them away, they bring them to shelters... SAD. So there were a bunch of puppies there to play with. So, Michael and I stayed for... quite a long time. We walked almost all of the dogs, and sat in the runner (kind of like a play pen for dogs) with the puppies and just played with them. It was about 8 o'clock and the shelters had to start packing up their things, when one lady came over to us and asked us if we would want to/be willing to take a puppy home over night! Just so it could get some love and attention and exercise and what-not. She told us she would give us everything we needed, a leash, a collar, food, a place for the dog to sleep, treats, etc., as long as we would take good care of the puppy and help it learn things (like basic house training, how to be okay with being separated for a little while/sleep through the night, come, sit, how to walk on a leash etc.). So, I just looked at Michael and I could tell by his face he wanted to do it to. So, of course, we did! PUPPIES!
Haha


LuLu

So, last Friday was the first day we had a puppy in our house for quite some time, but it was SUPER FUN! We had a little puppy named LuLu Friday night and Saturday, but she got adopted, so we couldn't keep her longer. :(
She was the sweetest thing! She would just curl up in your arms and let you know she loved you. Michael and I thought she was the BEST puppy we could have imagined! She didn't have an accident at night at all! And she was a VERY fast learner. She was able to learn how to walk on a lead very quickly (only took a little bit of walking around our apartment). She was the happiest little pup and so content to do anything. She would follow us around, or watch us sweep/clean. It was so cute! She was a really good puppy, so it wasn't much of a surprise when she got adopted first.

But, Saturday, Michael and I went back to PetSmart (we had to bring her back so she could have a chance of being adopted), and ended up staying for four hours! Just sitting and playing with these puppies! There were three at this point (including LuLu) and she was the only one to get adopted that day. The other two, weren't as well behaved and didn't learn as much from the fosters they stayed with. But, the lady that was working there with the pups really liked us, and let us take the puppies out of the store for a walk and to teach the other two how to walk on a lead, and it was just a really good experience.

We both learned A LOT with Trixie, and now we actually know what we're doing... and we've both got a bit more patience. Having a puppy now would be so much easier than it was before, because we both know more about them (and I'm not dying in bed all the time)... oh well.


Bubba

Anyway, we got to take another puppy home with us! His name was Bubba. The night before he was with a bunch of college roommates (guys) and did not learn ANYTHING. So, he was a little bit of a handful at first, but he turned out to be even better behaved than LuLu! We honestly didn't think it was possible! He only woke up once during the night to go potty (pretty incredible for a 10 week old pup.. they're kinda like babies like that)! And he let us sleep in until our alarm went off (also super impressive...). He did not have ANY accidents either! Talk about wonderful!


Lucky

Then, last night we had a cute little guy named Lucky. We remembered to take some pictures of him this time. :)
We had planned on taking pictures of all of the puppies/dogs we foster, just as a fun memory keepsake type thing, but didn't get a chance to with the first two. But, we do have pictures of Lucky! He's the last puppy left (but Margo, the lady we're helping, said she's got a bunch of labs coming) of the litter. He's adorable, but was VERY spoiled with the people who fostered him before. They were planning on adopting him, but things with their landlord/roommates or something didn't work out, so they stopped fostering him. Anyway, he was SO SPOILED. He would whine just to get attention (most puppies do, but he would do it the second you weren't looking at him). Ugh, talk about annoying! He just wanted his way no matter what and could NOT be left alone. But, as a puppy it is VERY important that they learn to be okay alone (whether that be while you're out of the house, or while you're in the other room), so Michael and I did our best. Surprisingly, he learned really quickly that it is okay to be alone sometimes, and that the people WILL come back. It only took him about an hour. And after that, he was a MUCH happier puppy! Although, he did pull a muscle in one of his legs. Poor thing. But, we helped him work it out a bit, and exercised it, and then let him rest and sleep. MUCH to our surprise, he was the best puppy yet! He slept ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE NIGHT! WITHOUT AN ACCIDENT! AHH! It's CRAZY!
Maybe Michael and I are just getting to be a lot better at training dogs? Or, maybe they just were super good puppies.

Anyway, Michael and I are hoping to have another one tonight, but I guess we'll see. That's the hardest part about this, there is no guarantee we'll have a puppy every day... unless Lucky doesn't get adopted, then we'll have him again for sure. But, we WANT him to be adopted, because he's so cute and so good! Anyway, here are some pictures of us saying goodbye to the cute little thing! And there's a picture of my pregnant self Michelle! :)