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!