Welcome, Callie!

To tell you the truth, we were ready to say "no" to taking Callie for fostering before we met her. We've had our hands full with our other puppies lately, and a pregnant mama dog is big commitment lasting at least 3-4 months with lots of hard work and sleepless nights between now and then.

But our family drove up to our rescue vet, Compassion Animal Hospital, to meet her anyway. And we met her three sweet 5 month old puppies (who reminded us so much of the beloved sheltie-mix litter the group rescued last year!) and we saw her xray (6 puppies!) and learned that she is healthy and heartworm negative (YAY!). Still, our resolve was strong. The *last* thing we needed here is another dog (or 7!!).

But when I saw her, it was love at first sight. She ran right over to me and put her paws on my legs and looked into my eyes with her gorgeous eyes, and I knew we were hooked! Next she snuggled up to my husband and then to our little 6 year old, Ben (who had voted "yes" all along!), and a few minutes later we were piling her into our car to go home.

Callie fit right in immediately. She walks well on a leash, goes into her crate without complaint, is very friendly with other dogs and cats, and is super gentle with Ben. As an added bonus, she is apparently housebroken as well, as she hasn't had an accident in the house since she arrived on Monday. She likes to be in the same room we're in and sits at our feet much of the time (though she does enjoy sitting on the couch as well!!). In these few days she has already gained a "full-access pass" to the whole house and is now only crated when we leave the house. Soon she will be confined to the whelping area when we need to leave for some reason.

Last night we took her to Mud Puppies to get a good bath before the pups arrive. She tolerated both the bath and all of the various procedures (ear cleaning, teeth brushing, nail trimming, blow drying) fairly well... you could tell she wasn't a fan but she let us do it. On the way home we stopped to buy her a new pretty pink collar and put a Forgotten Friends ID tag on. She is officially one of the gang!

Today I have been watching her closely so that I can get to know her habits a bit. Hopefully I will know her well enough by the time she goes into labor that we will notice the early signs and be ready.