I am Woman, Hear me roar!

The spay date came. Little Fecks (another nickname by one of my besties, Alison) seemed to sail through like a champ. The vet said it was "text book" perfect. WHY DO THEY SAY THAT????? Seriously folks, anyone that has a clue how my life rolls knows that this story is going nowhere good...The statement by the vet would be known to people in the story writing business as "foreshadowing"

The first few days were fine. Her incision was looking good. Actually it was looking "textbook". She slept a lot the first few days (hey wouldn't you if someone yanked an adult-sized Babymaker out of you? Textbook or no, this is a big ordeal!). By day four she would have little bouts of whiny-ness. She was also hoarding all of the stuffed toys into a pile and guarding them from the other dogs like they were her babies. She would carry as many as she could fit in her mouth at one time around the house. I must admit, it was adorable, but I was also concerned by her atypical behavior.

While I have worked in a lot of vet clinics and had LOTS of dogs, many were boys (snip snip and off you go, little man!) or girls that were spayed as pups, so I was not sure what was going on with our girl. The next morning , we woke up and she was whining and frantic. I though "Oh my god!!! Shes in pain!!!" I had a work meeting, so Gary stayed home and took her do the vet. He wasn't sure what was going on. As with most dogs, they always look really sick until the guy in the white coat comes around...then they make you look like an idiot! Dr. B. looked at her incision area : Textbook. Temperature : Normal. Palpation of the abdomen: Normal. When he put her on the floor, she was hunching a bit, so he x-rayed her abdomen, just to be sure: Normal. Fecks went home with some antibiotics (just in case) and some pain pills (just in case)...but by that evening, what was going on with Fecks became very evident: the nesting, the toy-babies, the whining, aggression towards any dog that came near the toy-babies...Fecks was having a pretty mild pseudo-pregnancy (the only thing she wasn't doing was milking). Not to point any fingers, but I guess her dopey mom didn't properly estimate 6 weeks post her heat cycle to schedule the spay and the hormones made the little girl think she was having babies! Jeesh, sorry girl! My bad!

Home, home on the range!

I decided that it was time for Freckles (also now know as Freckie Macfee, the Freckinator and Frecks Magee) to go the the farm and meet some Non-Beagles. This was a rather interesting day. I tried to plan things out (although, in the end, one must recognize that things of this nature often become calamity even with the best of planning). I packed up the car with towels and put adjusted my Handy Dandy Doggie Hammock in the back seat. I brought extra water bottles and some training treats (Ha! Training! Yeah, right!!!). I also decided to bring Cooper with us because, in the worst of situations, Cooper is an unflappably good guy. Around our house, he is considered to be doggie valium. At the very least, he is a sort of Doggie Buddah.

I scooped up Frecks Magee (No snickering- it was almost St. Patricks day when we named her that!)and Coopee Buddah and piled them in the back of the car and off we went. One does not really understand the error in their planning until one is powering down the road in a manual transmission car with one little beagle whining and peeing all over the Handy Dandy Doggie Hammock and another, larger, less than zen like beagle trying to climb on your head to escape the peeing and whining...Anyway, things finally settled down and we made it to the barn. Throwing training treats over my shoulder as people do with the lucky pinch of salt turned out the be a very helpful maneuver.

We got out of the car and the dogs acted like they had arrived in Heaven. Although Cooper has been to the barn many times before, he is pretty easy to please and the smell of horse pooh put him is a very Zen frame of mind. We rounded the corner to find the resident pet goats. There are about 10 of them, varying in shape, color, size and degree of obesity/aging decrepitude. Frecks was amazed by these odd, waddling beasts. She didn't seem to know weather to make friends or run away, so she did a little of both. Oddly, when she met my horses, she went right up and kissed them on the nose- it was all very cute. Coopee Buddah was becoming one with the goat and horse pooh- so he really wasn't assisting Frecks much on her spiritual journey. I guess I could've left him at home!

At some point, my friend Laura's dog, Bravo came in (he apparently decided to cut his portion of the trail ride short and high-tailed it back to the barn!). Frecks and Coop were enthralled. Bravo is a very large (70 lbs?) English Fox Hound. He had the good sense to want to hang out with the fox hunters rather than chase down the foxes in the hunt field, so he was promptly retired and got to come live with Laura...Smart dog! If you didn't know, fox hounds basically look like giant beagles. This particular fox hound looks like a giant Cooper, a fact which did not appear to be lost on my two little hounds. They were like long lost buddies. I corralled the Three Amigos into a stall so that they would not frolic off together into Parts Unknown.

My friend Laura showed up and thanked me profusely for corralling her galloping galute. Everyone in the barn cooed over the three silly hounds playing in the fresh bedding. It was all quite cute.

The two beagles slept like logs the whole ride home.
Laboratory retiree checklist:
Car ride: check
strange dog: check
goats: check
horses: check

Way to go Freckles! She's getting more acclimated every day...now if only she would stop peeing on my Pergo!

Time flies!

Boy- I had EVERY intention of blogging about little Frecky (yes, we call her Frecky now. Also Frecky Wecky, FrecksMagee, the Freckinator...) every week, then all of this life-type stuff started happening and I flaked.

It looks like I'm going to be having major back surgery in June. In order to make the decision about this surgery, I had to make about 4 trips down to Philadelphia from Upper West Jabip New Jersey. Oh, I guess I didn't mention that we put a bid in on a farm as well. Our current house is not quite finished yet, but the farm was too great to pass on.

So once again...AWAY WE GOOOO!!!!! For financial reasons, the horses will have to come home right away if we get this farm...which will likely occur around the time of my back surgery...AND we will be carrying 2 mortgages for a while. I think Gary and I have mental problems. Do normal people operate like this? Anyway, the above is my reasoning for neglecting my Freckles blog, but NO MORE! I am back and I promise to be posting away on our little heroine, Freckles.

She is a sassy little thing! Fe loves her now because Freckles is the only one with the courage to steal toys from her. Housebreaking is coming slowly, but it's coming. She LOVES stuffed toys and she is the only dog in the house that will take a toy outside and bring it back in with her. Basically, she thinks retirement is GREAT!

Biological Clock- I think not!

"When are you going to have kids?" "Your dogs are taking the place of children!" "You treat your dogs like your children!" Gary and I hear this from family and friends all the time. Frankly, it is sometimes annoying and sometimes insulting. Don't get me wrong, we have lots of friends and family with kids and we love them, but why does our decision to not have children mean that we are somehow filling our "empty lives" with our dogs (and horses)?


Maybe it has to do with people having a general need to compartmentalize things and compare them to what they do in their own lives. Growing up, I always had a lot of pets. I was OBSESSED with them. I was always the kid that was taking home ducklings, garter snakes, or stray dogs. Did that mean that I was "fulfilling my maternal need with pets" as a young child? I think not! I was a total tom boy! I climbed trees, made mud pies, and played with Star Wars toys. The only thing I would use a baby doll for was to pull its' head off use it as a bucket catch tadpoles!

When you get right down to it, people have a lot of love to give. Plenty of people have kids and are still great "dog parents" and no one accuses them of fulfilling a subliminal need with their animals. Why do we as a society equate our desire to reproduce with emotional health and well being? Why can't we just want dogs (and horses) without it meeting some otherwise unfulfilled need? Why can the animal BE the need?

Anyway folks, that's just my Non-Freckles related rant for the day. Freckles, by the way, is doing fine. Her girly urges are fading. She is adjusting really well to life in the outside world. Stay tuned!

Love is in the air...

Did I mention that Freckles came to us during her...um...time of the month?  Unfortunately, this means we can't spay her for six weeks.  I haven't been around an female dog in heat for a while.  Boy, if women acted this way, we'd have to lock ourselves away for a week or so every month!  She's been...REALLY friendly.  She's humping the boys and the girls and she desperately wants them to reciprocate!!!

Yes folks, the Kowalski household is like a National Geographic special right now. On the bright side, her natural, hormonal drive to want to reproduce has really aided her in getting over her general feeling of being overwealmed by her new environment.  Nature is telling her "MAKE BABIES!!!"  This primal edict has overidden her shy, submissive demeanor.  Our girl is ready to PARTY!!!! She's trying her hardest to comply with Natures demand for reproduction and she not sure why none of these other beagles seem very interested.  What the hell does she know about spaying and neutering?

Coley is beside himself.  He has given his heart to a bisexual floosey.  He spent much of the evening verbally admonishing her for latching on to Cooper's neck and humping him like a jackhammer!  Ah, Love, she is a fickle mistress!  Any day now the hormones should be settling down and I might just gain control of my household again, but you never know!

A nasty cold, the Fun Police and the Oscars...

Freckles must think that all we do around here is sleep.  Since her arrival Thursday night, both Gary and I have been quite sick.  I worked from home on Friday and Gary came home early.  The rest of the weekend was spent in our pajamas on the couch or in the bed. 

Freckles really likes Fe's pink tufted bed.  Luckily, unless we are at work and Fe is crated, she has no use for it so Freckles is welcome to it. She comes out of Fe's crate for short spurts, trots around the house or the yard with the other guys, then retreats back to her little pink tufted bed for comfort.  She first approached Fe as if to say "Hey!  Your my size!"  But Fe was far too busy doing "Fe stuff" to be bothered.  Fe is the center of her own universe: a welcoming comittee, she ain't! Cooper follows her around and would love to interact with her, but his big goofy play bow was met with a cocked head and a quick dart off to the pink tufted hiding place. I think she afraid he may accidentally fall on her.  He's a bit of a clutz! Angel is shy by nature, so she's been quietly observing our newcomer from her cat-like perch on the back of the couch, her lofty position does not allow for much face-time with little Freckles.

Then there's Coley.  We call him The Fun Police.  He is a mad cuddler when it comes to people, but he is definitely intimidated by other dogs.  This tends to come out as a need to "yell " at them when they frolick together or try to get him to play.  He is a very serious and regimented little man, but I remember when he first came out of the lab, that his demeanor was much like Freckles.  He cowered in a submissive stance and looked to people to give him comfort and support, just like Freckles is doing now.   I doubt that Freckles' first interaction with The Fun Police went as she would've hoped. She sniffed him and he stiffened up, so she turned to dart off and accidentally bumped into him.  Both dogs were startled and in typical Coley fashion, he verbally admonished her for her transgression (how DARE she bump him!).  Normally, Coley's admonishments are met with apathy...most dogs realize right away that's he's got nothing behind the bark, but she cowered and something odd happened:  Coley backed off and his demeanor changed.  He seemed to notice that she was scared.  I went to the floor to comfort her and Coley stayed with me, as if to tell her it was OK.

The Oscars were on the TV.  I scooped Freckles up in my robe and had her on my right side on the couch.  Coley took my left side.  He kept looking at her.  She was shaking.  Maybe he remembered that feeling of being overwealmed and alone.  He started to strech out his body.  With every strech, he wiggled and wormed himself a little closer to Freckles.  I couldn't believe it!  My little kermudgen!  While many Americans were shocked that the Best Supporting Actress winner Michell Leo dropped the F bomb on national TV, I was shocked that Coley was now actually cuddling with Freckles. Once he was touching her, his head on hers, she took a deep breath and relaxed for the first time since she had been in our house.  He told her it was OK, and she believed it!  THAT was my Oscar moment!

Freckles is here! Day 1

Thursday evening, Gary made let long drive down to PA to pick up Freckles after work. I was starting to get sick and I had a feeling Gary was too, but none the less we were very excited for Freckles arrival.  Cole was our original laboratory retiree and he was the only one that we had gotten directly from the lab, rather than from a previous foster home, so I wondered what to expect.

Gary finally arrived home and let Freckles out in the yard to have a sniff around and get her barings.  She's so small!  Not what I expected.  She has tiny dainty features and big soft brown eyes.  In typical lab dog fashion, when you put her down, she takes a submissive posture and looks at you as if to say "pick me up, please!"  I knew that if we let the dogs meet her right away, they would all be very appropriate.  They actually tend to ignore newcomers.  I was worried that if we left her behind the baby gate, they would continue to bark at her.  We decided to let Freckles decide.  We put her down in the kitchen and she went right up to the barking crew behind the gate in a attempt to meet, so I let Cooper and Angel in with her and they were all fine together.  Then I allowed Coley and Fe to enter.  It was all very anticlimactic.

Freckles spent the next 20 minutes sniffing around and getting the lay of the land.  The changes in her 4.5 year long little life are monumental.  They finally overwealmed her.  She made her way to the pink tufted bed in Fe's crate and cuddled the tiniest ball she could manage, then she slept through the night.  I peeked in on her.  Poor little girl!  She was so unsure of everything. I wished that I could explain to her how much better life would become now.  Instead,  I just whispered "Welcome, little sweetheart!"  and turned off the light.

Life (and death) happen

It's been a crazy week.  Good and bad...emotions have hit both extremes.   First, we found out that some wonderful person donated the money to care for the seven young laboratory beagles that we would've otherwise had to turn away.  The generosity of this person is amazing to me.  They stepped up anonymously and donated the money to board these dogs and pay for their healthcare.  This is no small amout of money.  We're talking about thousands of dollars!  This gesture is overwealming and it re-invigorates me to want to raise money for the rescue as well.

Sadly, one of our rescue's founders, Carolyn, lost her dear Rosie this week.  I would imagine that none of the lives that have been saved over the years would be possible without the connection that Carolyn made with Rosie so many years ago.  Rosie was unwanted and lost and Carolyn found and loved her.  In turn, Rosie saved Carolyn, too.  Rosie now lives on in the lives of all of the dogs that find their way due to Beagle Rescue League, and organzation that was visualized out of that love. 

And so it's been a week of love and loss, kindness and rememberance... Freckles will come this Thursday instead of last.  That's OK.  She dosen't have a calendar.  This is a week to remember what we are thankful for:  Kind people with big hearts, and kind dogs that make people want to do more, give more and be more.

Freckles is coming on Friday!

We found out that Five Year Old Female Laboratory Retiree (Kowalski Dog #5) is named Freckles.  That's a cute name!  I used to think that their names should be changed when they come out of the lab.  I felt that they were starting a new life, and it seemed like their "slave name" or something.  But, when you really  think about it, the people that worked with these dogs probably really cared for them.  They actually cared enough to name them.  I've met quite a few laboratory retirees now, and every one of them is cautious with new things, but NOT afraid of people which leads me to believe that people were pretty nice to them under the circumstances.  So maybe it's not a "slave name", after all.  It's an endearing name given to them by someone who knows all to well what these dogs give to us by doing a time of service in the lab.  When everything else in their lives is changing, keeping the name given by the people who first recognized them as special and individual is probably a good thing (at least until she is adopted, then Freckles may get a new forever name...who knows!).  But Freckles is coming, ready or not!

Man, theres a lot to do.  Gary and I are paying for our foster's initial medical care, so I scheduled her spay and dentistry for next Wednesday.  I have been working as a Foster Coordinater for BRL, but never the less, I pulled out the foster manual and read through it again.  The shopping list is growing:
Another crate, which we wanted to buy anyway, so now we have a reason
a bag of Natural Balance food
some more kongs toys for stuffing
a few toys, since many of our are frozen under a mountain of ice!

When she comes, we will be prepared (ready is a different matter all together!).  Come on, Freckles!!! Can't wait to meet her and introduce her to the world!

The not so distant future!

Shes coming on Friday of next week.  I'm both excited and nervous!  Gary and I decided that we are going to take our foster dog to our own vet and pay for her medical care.  I guess it's our way of trying to help the rescue and minimize the stress on Random Five Year Old Foster Female (Kowalski dog #5).  It will be easier on the little girl if she is very close to our house for the spay.  She wont have to go through another long car ride.  She'll have been through enough.  I have so many feelings about this.  I hope she gets along with the other dogs.  I hope she dosen't stress them out.  As a control freak, I hope I get "a good one."...Isn't that awful to say?  You sign up to help and you don't really get to pick...but it's hard to let go of control and take who needs you instead of having a choice about it.

I just found out that we have to turn down some dogs in need at the rescue due to lack of fosters and funds.  It breaks my heart and makes me want to foster more than one...then I settle back into the feeling of general anxiety over fostering one and it think to myself, "Lets just see how this one goes for a while, shall we?"

What were we thinking?

What were we thinking?  I ask myself that a lot in the weeks that are leading up to the arrival of our new foster dog.  We must be crazy.  I mean, we already have four dogs-the most recent being Angel, our "failed" foster from about six months ago.  We failed because we kept her, so it was still ultimately a happy ending. 

I guess a lot of things led up to my husband Gary and me deciding to foster a dog for Beagle Rescue League (BRL).  We were volunteers for them before they split from their original charter and we really like the way the rescue operates.  We were initially drawn to them out of our love for dogs in general, and our like of beagles in particular.  Once we learned of their work to re-home laboratory retiree beagles, we were hooked.  What could be better than helping these dogs that do so much for human kind into loving homes for the rest of their days?  We have now adopted three laboratory retirees (Coley, Cooper and Fe), and I can tell you first-hand that the answer is: nothing.  Seeing these dogs learn about the outside world is an incredible experience.  They have never seen grass or trees or sunshine.  They have never had treats or seen other animals (except other beagles!). 

I gotta say, I'm a little nervous here!  FIVE dogs.  Five is a big number.  We have busy lives.  Gary and I both work over an hour from where we live and have very demanding jobs...and then there are the horses.  Did I mention we have two horses?  Yes.  Two...plus Five....big numbers here.  So why are we doing this?  I guess sometimes things are more imortant than they are inconvenient.  BRL was there for Gary and me when we went through an incredibly rough time.  In a way, they saved our marriage through these wonderful dogs they provided us.  Now it's our turn to step up.  The rescue is in need.  Eleven dogs are ready to retire from a laboratory with nowhere to go and BRL lost all of their funds when they split from the charter.  Eleven...that's a really big number.  It makes Five plus Two look kinda small.

I always regretted that we never really journaled the experiences Coley, Cooper, Fe and Angel when we adopted them, so here we go: Random Five year old Female Laboratory Retiree Beagle (Kowalski Dog # Five) will be coming our way very shortly and I plan on documenting her journey here as I repeat my mantra "Five plus Two is NOT a really big number...Five plus Two is NOT a really big number..."  Please say a prayer for us!