Archive for the ‘Argos’ Category

Barnie was the originator of the Invisi-Cat Shield, but he seems to have outgrown it. He made good use of it in his day. He was an expert at slithering in the shield, ready and waiting for his next victim.

Quincy has now inherited the Invisi-Cat Shield, and he utilizes it just about daily. He takes the job very seriously. He still has a few things to learn, though.

The first thing would be how to enter the shield. I have yet to catch him with the camera – but he uses both front paws, his face, a back paw and his tail to rumple up the shield and find an entry port. Barnie wins finesse points here.

Quincy also needs to learn that Barnie might not be the best attack subject, being a cat and being wise to the ways of the shield and all, but… he tries.

(sorry for the photo quality on some of these – cell phone photos!)

Meanwhile, Barnie ignores Invisi-Cat Quincy and hops up to the windowsill above.

Finished surveying the outside world, Barnie hops down from the sill and walks right past Invisi-Cat Quincy.

Apparently another cat is too smart for this. Dogs are better subjects.

One annoying and cute thing the dogs do is crowd in the bathroom when I am getting ready to leave. It was OK with one dog, a little cozy with two, and now with three plus an Invisi-Cat, it is pretty crowded. It did make it a little easier for Quincy to pick his victims, though.

Burro the foster Greyhound has been with us 2.5 weeks now. Just a few days ago, she was brave enough to walk on the scary kitchen floor. Go Burro! She doesn’t love the scary floor, but is navigating fairly well, especially when a treat awaits her.

She has a voracious appetite and is filling out nicely. I need to weigh her. I have been avoiding car rides until she feels more comfortable with “everything else” at this point.

She does love eating. I had to put an upside-down bowl in her dog dish this morning (my version of a Brake-fast bowl) because she inhales her food.

Burro has also discovered something else…

… and she is fast!

Another dog to chase and be chased has taken Argos by surprise, but they are getting used to running together. They had their first ‘big run’ together yesterday. Up until that point, Burro would gleefully run by herself then freeze if Argos came running up to her. She is gaining confidence.

Today is the day – March 15 – PetFinder’s Adopt the Internet day!

I have two posts:

One on About.com:

• Pet Adoption and Fostering – My Stories
  Probably ‘old news’ for those of you who visit this blog

One on K9Cuisine:

• 5 Fabulous Reasons to Foster
  From me, who always said “I could never foster!”

Sophie says: Go forth and adopt! (or at least help out)

Burro the foster Greyhound has been with us just over a week. Oh, the strides she has made!

This girl was afraid of her own shadow, one of those squat-and-pee types. Now she is bounding around, stealing toys and TV remotes, and giving Argos a little run for his money in the backyard.

She stands and waits to be petted, or wriggles in between Sophie and Argos – no more of that fearful squatting. Today she greeted me with a play bow! (giant step forward)

Despite these humongous positive strides, Burro still has a thing to learn about Sleeping Arrangements. Today’s lesson was a continuation of an earlier discussion with Quincy.

Barnie is not as much of a stickler as Quincy, but he does love a comfy bed.

The big picture…

Hmmm! This reminds me of Quincy.

Any comfy bed will do. Oh look! This one is heated, too.

It has been 5 days since Burro the foster Greyhound arrived. She is about 1.5 years old, and a petite little girl who is scared of her own shadow. Welcome to our busy household!

Our biggest concern here was actually Argos. He is very mellow, and he adores Sophie, but can have a curmudgeonly ‘get-off-my-lawn’ attitude with the boisterous types. He tolerated our first foster, Hammer, but it wasn’t like they were BFFs.

Our adoption group coordinator brought Burro over on a Saturday afternoon. We cautiously introduced them. Sophie, beloved Sophie, welcomes all with open paws, so no worries there. And… happily, Argos was Mr. Mellow around the new arrival. This was great news!

Burro gravitated to Argos. He basically ignored her, choosing instead to lay on his favorite bed. That was OK. An hour later, all three dogs were hanging out like they had been together forever. Encouraging.

Then we took our first walk

It took me 10 minutes to go 10 yards. Burro, who may appear stubborn, was actually too terrified to move out of the fenced yard. I brought some yummy treats (she is a food hound!) to entice her. Argos and Sophie were beside themselves; a walk AND treats?! It was too good to be true. They enthusiastically and repeatedly showed Burro how yummy the treats were.

No go.

Finally, Burro had to check the treats out, she moved, but slowly. By now Sophie and Argos wondered if we would ever get going on the promised walk. Burro finally got over her reluctance, and off we went.

These photos are all from the first walk – a typical sunny, windy, warm, cold and rainy spring day.

Argos takes the lead (exuberant Sophie took her own path)

Walk Followup

We have had several walks since that first day, and I am happy to report that Miss Burro is now pushing her way to be first out the door and trots along on walks like her housemates.

She wasn’t in love with the coat I put on her for yesterday’s downpour, but she bravely went on. We had walking to do!

Related: Adopt the Internet

Remember the Invisi-Cat Shield?

I was talking about this amazing invention on Twitter recently, how I have missed several shots of Quincy, who activates the Invisi-Cat shield daily in hopes of snaring a dog. (Credit to Barnie for inventing the original Invisi-Cat Shield.)

Twitter pal tjw003 said “love invisicat shield pics!” — this one is for you.

Quincy’s new item of interest: our new foster dog Burro

This caused much snickering from the humans.

In other news

Somebody got a new dog bed…

Much happiness ensued.

We had a busy day today. We met someone new who needs to learn the ropes.

Barnie remembers a similar incident, and shares his perspective.

We love you, Barnie. ♥

Last year we fostered Hammer the Greyhound, who went on to find a perfect forever family (Hammer archive).

This post is a sneak peek at “Burro,” a young brindle female Greyhound we are fostering for our Greyhound adoption group. We just met her today. Love!

More details and story to come…