Nerve Endings Firing Away

Elsa, a dachshund mix was our first foster dog. We recently started fostering dogs with Impact Animal Foundation after we read this heart-wrenching story about the animal rescue shelter in College Station. Our biggest worry was how would Lucy react to the new dog in the house. We tried reading up as much as we could on properly introducing Lucy to our new foster. But apart from a couple of tense and snappy moments, the girls loved each other. Elsa (named after one of my dogs in India) was the playful friendly pup who quietly bore Lucy snarls and aggressive style of play. For a couple of days, we had to follow the girls armed with a water spray in case they went at each other. A few sprays and they realized that a bitch fight wasn’t in their best interest so they better find a way to be friends. Toward the end of her stay, Elsa and Lucy were great friends and ran amok inside and in the backyard chasing each other. We still Lucy still misses her.

Although we had decided to steel ourselves and not consider Elsa as a permanent pet since that would make her adoption easy, she found her way into our hearts. Her pitiful look and extremely waggy tail didn’t make it easy for you to hold back your affection. She could not just wag her tail but in fact wag her ass, if that makes sense. Compared to Lucy who can be tempted only with walks, all you had to do to get Elsa’s attention is be around. She would follow you everywhere; so much so that you started to get an idea of what Mary had to endure with her little lamb. Ash would comment that it was a funny sight to see two dogs follow me everywhere around the house even if I was going to the kitchen to get a glass of water. After being the sole object of our attention, Lucy suddenly understood what it was like to compete for our attention.

But there were certain boundaries that we enforced with Elsa. When we were away at work or anywhere else, she was kept in her crate. Lucy had the run of the house, on the other hand. This was done basically for toilet training and to keep her teething jaws away from our furniture. Of course, we had a few accidents but grabbing her as soon as she crouched down and rushing like crazy to the yard helped get the point across. However, one thing we could never train her out of – sleeping alone at night. She was fine sleeping in her crate in the living room for the first few days. But then her whining and yelps kept us up most of the two night we had decided to ignore her (as most experts will advise you). Finally, we got her in the bedroom, crate and all and the four of us could sleep in peace.

She was too cute and adorable not to be adopted quickly. After only two visits to adoption day, she received two applications for adoption. Impact processed them both and decided that a young college student in town was the best fit. I dropped her off on Tuesday while Ash stayed back and bawled her eyes out. Although we knew this was going to happen, we (and Lucy) had gotten used to her presence in a matter of three weeks. We will always remember her as our first foster. I hope she stays happy and enjoys her new home.

PS. We just heard from Impact’s foster coordinator. She has two dogs – Scooter and Lobo – under consideration for our home. We are ready whenever they are :)

Update:Lobo is now renamed Bolo because apparently Impact had a dog called Lobo who had to be euthanized. Bolo arrives today at 5:30pm. We can’t wait.