Forever Is A Long Time, Right?

I looked up the word forever; it means for all future time; for always. 

I sure do hope that's true because guess what? I just got my very own forever home. Yep. I hit the jackpot this week, and my foster mom is now my Forever Mom! Awesome, huh? Hip hip hooray for me! And it's none too soon in coming, I tell ya. Given my rough start in life and all the foster homes I've had, it feels awfully good to be somebody's dog at last. And guess what? I even have a forever "registered" name: RumRiver Rescue Me. Wheeeee!

It's no secret that I have some annoying behaviors, which is why my foster mom . . . oops . . . I mean my Forever Mom thought long and hard before adopting me. She finally decided that with all I've been through, and with how much potential I still have, I deserve a chance. 

Again I say hip hip hooray and yippee for me! 

What have I been through? A lot, apparently. At least that's what my Forever Mom learned over the past several weeks as she worked with three different animal communicators (yeah, she was thorough) to find out about my past. Now, I know many people don't believe in that communicator hooey, so I may lose some of you here, but the truth is that once I started talking, I had a lot to say (as you can imagine), and my Forever Mom feels like she understands me so much better as a result. 

One of the things I revealed is that I was kept in a small outdoor pen with lots of other dogs and a big, black one picked on me mercilessly because I am such a shrimp. I even had to scrape for my food! Pretty wild, huh? But that explains why I’m such a horse’s rump around dogs I don’t know and haven’t been able to meet up close and personal. I’m afraid I will get picked on until I can find out they are nice. It’s not my fault! I suppose I just need to learn that not every dog is going to do me harm. I hope that’s possible!

I know my Forever Mom still has her work cut out for her, but I feel much better now because all that unpleasant stuff is behind me. Yep, life started improving for me once I became part of the rescue program and it just keeps getting better and better. Three foster homes later and an eye-catching picture of me on www.mnsheltierescue.org that caught the attention of my Forever Mom, and wa la! Here I am with a new name, a new home, a new family, a new career (hopefully), a new life! 

So, I have a message for anyone thinking of adopting a rescued dog: yes, we can be a huge challenge but we also can be unbelievably rewarding. Give us a try! No doubt there are more irritatingly smart, overwhelmingly challenging, but adorable guys like me out there who will be just as grateful to become your dog as I am to be my Forever Mom's dog! It's their turn to learn what "for all future time" and "for always" really mean!

Here I am, in my new forever 

home, napping with Bounce, 

my new forever friend. 

Yipee for me! Shhhh. 

(Oops. Sorry. I mean, Yipee for me!)

Hey Mr. Trampoline Man

Boy have I had a lot of ups and downs this week - more even than the Dow Jones Industrial Average I think. One minute I was well behaved. The next I was naughty. Then I was the picture of perfection. Then, well, you get the idea. Up and down and up and down. I swear it was like I was jumping on a trampoline all week!

Last weekend I went with my foster mom to another outdoor agility trial - in St. Peter this time. The temperature was pretty toasty the first day, and I think the heat made me a little less reactive. I managed to sit ring side on my foster mom's lap and then stroll leisurely through "tent city" with as much self control as any guy would have while he's being fed tasty, lip-smacking, homemade tuna/pumpkin/garlic treats. I could tell my foster mom was pleased with my behavior and, of course, that made me as proud as a peacock. I even got to meet a Pyr Shep named Bono and another little, tiny Sheltie named Keeley. I was nothing short of angelic and, in fact, once we completed all our mutual sniffing, we were all kind of bored with each other. Bono's owner really liked me, too. She said she even would snap me up and keep me if I had a pedigree! (What's a pedigree?)

While trying to get Bono and Keeley to play, I spied a Border Collie a few tents away who was tugging on a toy, and that got me a little worked up. Fortunately, I settled quickly so no harm done. It was a good day!

I heard somewhere that all good things must come to an end and that definitely happened the next day that we went back to the agility trial. Oh boy. Was I a pistol! All those dogs jumping and running and having fun. It was just too much for me. I wanted to meet them all and join the reindeer games, but instead I went into maniac mode and sounded like I was going to attack them all. When one of them came right up and stared me in the face, I exploded with over zealous barking that must have made people think I was a killer Pit Bull (no offense intended to any Pit Bull friends that I might be so fortunate as to acquire in the future). 

I had to spend a good deal of time in my kennel while my foster mom ran courses with a couple of the other dogs (Darla, the superstar English Toy Spaniel and Busa, the baby BC), and that was hard on me. They did pretty well, I hear, but no doubt I could have done better because, in case I forgot to mention it to you, I am pretty small and darn fast. I can go over the A-frame lickety-split; I can race across a full size dog walk; and I can even do six weave poles. Count 'em - SIX! I sure do love doing agility. But in St. Peter my job was to learn to be quiet in my kennel while other dogs got to play. Such a boring lesson. I didn't do such a good job. 

So, back home we went with my foster mom wondering what in the world to do with me. 

I know my foster mom loves me lots and isn't ready to give up on me yet, but some days I can tell that I wear her out. Maybe some extra Sheltie kisses will help. I have lots of those to give her! And I will do my best to have better behavior this week. 

Meanwhile, I think I'll spend some time jumping on the trampoline where the ups and downs are part of the fun.

I love jumping on the mini trampoline with my foster mom. 

Hey! An athletic guy like me has to stay in shape some how! 

What For?

Do you know what a "what for" is? I do. Actually, it's more like a "what in the heck did you do that for?", and I know what it is because I got one the other day. "What fors" don't happen often around here; you have to be pretty naughty to get one. 

Well I was. Naughty that is. I know it's hard to believe that a small, clever guy like me isn't an angel all the time but, as I've told you, there are rules here and I'm still learning them. 

Apparently one of the rules is that you don't snap at the old, frail dogs, especially when any of them is on my foster mom's lap. As you can imagine, I really like hopping up and snuggling on my foster mom's lap because underneath my tough-guy exterior I'm a real softie and I love hugs. The other day I forgot to check and see if another dog was already cuddling up there, so when I made the leap I Ianded right on Miss Bea, a nearly 11 year old English Toy Spaniel. That wasn't the problem as there's definitely room for two of us since we’re both pocket-sized half-pints, but when Miss Bea moved around a little, I got crabby and I started to snap at her. Oops. Yep. You guessed it. I got a major "what for" and a quick trip to the floor. Bummer. 

Okay, so I have a few more rules to learn, and this one definitely makes sense. No, snapping at or biting the old dogs. I will try to do better, and I know my foster mom will help me because she really does love me. With any luck I will be old one day and it will be nice if no one snaps at or bites me!

Any lap will do. I love to cuddle. Here I am with Melinda, my foster mom’s daughter-in-law. 

She really likes me! But then, who wouldn’t?