Answers, Part 1

So, I told everyone on Friday, if they had any questions, feel free to ask them! I got a lot... so, I'm going to break this down into two blog posts.

Post 1, today Mom and I will be answering the foster questions. Here goes!

Q) Our Waldo Bungie asks: I want to know if you have always been so welcoming to other fosters or if there was ever a time where you didn't like having canine guests.

A) I'll take this one mom. Mom tried bringing home a foster dog shortly after I was adopted. His name was Reese and he was a 20lb parsons terrier mix. He was a cute little thing, but I was NOT happy that my new furever momma brought home another dog. I bullied him a bit and refused to sleep (or let mom sleep) while he was in my house. After a few days, mom realized this wasn't going to work and Reese went to another foster home. He was real happy because I think I scared him a bit. We all learned something from that experience and mom hired a behaviorist trainer to work with us. He taught mom and dad a whole lot about dogs, dog/dog interactions and how to respond to certain situations. Mom and dad practiced their new skills on me for a while before we tried fostering again. After that, our introductions were done after side-by-side walks, face to fanny introductions (avoiding face to face), and leashes were left on until mom trusted we got along okay. Sometimes mom has to bring a dog home and doesn't have a second body to help with intros... these situations depend on the foster dog. Sometimes mom will put the foster dog in the crate until someone can come over to help if she thinks there might be an introduction issue. Other times, after watching the foster dog interact with the other dogs at clinic, mom will tie their leash to the kitchen door, get me out of my crate, put a leash on me, walk me into the kitchen and let the new foster sniff me, then I get to sniff the new foster... If all of that goes smoothly without any indication the foster is scared, intimidated or showing signs of aggression, mom unties the leash and lets them explore, keeping me on the leash so I don't knock them over or upset them with my excitement. Sometimes I can get a little rambunctious and fosters don't react well to that, so it's all on a case by case basis, but I'll touch on the rambunctious next.

Who the heck are you and what are you doing in my house?

Q) Daisy, Bella & Roxy asks: Have you ever had a fight with your fosters?

A) I'll also answer this one, mom. There have been quite a few occasions where meet and greets could have definitely turned into a blood bath. I was supposed to have one foster sister named Tessa... Mom fell in love with her and was super excited to take her in, but when she arrived... she was not happy with my high energy level and went after me... thankfully, we had leashes on and mom and Heather we able to control the situation... but if we had just let Tessa walk into the house, no leashes or proper introductions, it could have been really bad. That was a time when Heather didn't have a foster dog and she took Tessa home to Emmett, who is much calmer and less playful and intimidating than I am to some dogs. Mom can usually judge which dogs will work best in our home and thankfully she works with a rescue that has many great foster homes and resources in case things don't work out at any foster home. However, sometimes we can recognize that a new dog just needs time to adjust, which is why we let Brookie stick around after she scratched my nose. But we try to avoid any instances for aggression as much as possible.

Do you think someone would want to beat me up?

Q) Kitty & Coco asks: We would like to know if you have ever gotten SUPER duper attached to one of your fosters. We know you love the ladies and all, but we are just curious if you ever asked your mom to keep one as your sister.

A) Corbin answering, again! Mom will get her turn. The short answer? YES! The long answer? YESSSSS! I did ask Santa if I could keep Bethany last year for my Christmas gift. But, just as my luck would have it, Grandpa Jack and Grandma Nancy decided that they were going to adopt her... so what's better than me getting to keep her as a sister? Me getting to see her just about EVERY weekend AND still being able to have foster sisters! I also fell in love with Brookie last month and was very sad when she left for her new home. I usually don't have much time to be sad though, because a new foster sibling is always right around the corner!

Can't I keep her?

Q) Benny & Lily asks: How do you not want to keep all those fosters?

A) Corbin again, well... do you know how crazy my house would be with 19 brothers and sisters?! BOL! There's also this other issue... I have a 2 week period for foster siblings. 2 weeks is okay for them to stay, but after that I tend to get bored with them and itching for a new furiend. So, depending on the foster, I can get a little bullyish and bossy after that 2 week marker. I didn't mind that Brookie stayed longer than her 2 weeks though, she was super fun to nap with.

ZzzzzzzZzzzzzzzzzzZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Q) Puddles askes: When is ya'll gonna be foster failures?

A) Oh, Puddles... don't you know I'M their foster failure?! Mom has already hinted around that Lexie just might be a failure of fostering... but shhhhhh, don't tell her I over heard that.

Bwaaaahahaha, me... a foster dog!

Q) Pip asks: How do you not break down and keep one of your fosters? Have you been tempted to adopt any of them?

A) I'll let mom take this one... Mom? Hi Mr. Pip! We have wanted to keep a few of them, but we have to take a lot of things into consideration before making the decision to adopt another. We live in a semi small house, so two dogs all the time would be a lot, and 3 dogs when we have a foster would be a bit hectic. Also, the money for 2 bags of dog food, 2 bags of treats, 2 sets of toys, 2 special collars, two life jackets and 2 vet bills. And more importantly... when we decide to adopt a second dog, we need to be considerate of them and how they would feel about our lifestyle. Boating is something we do just about every weekend, and although our boat isn't huge, a smaller dog might work. But we have to make sure the boat will be something our second dog would like. This was a big impact on our decision to not adopt Oreo. She has anxiety in the car, and we knew that the boat would put her over the edge. And it wouldn't be fair for her to leave her with a friend every weekend. The boat was also a reason we didn't adopt Brookie... a second big dog is out of the question for our home and boat. Now Donnie... I sure did fall in love with him, he would have loved the boat and he would have fit perfectly! But I know Corbin wasn't fond of having a full time brother. The perfect dog hasn't come around yet, which is fine with us, because as much as we love these dogs, we know they're going to make another family even happier!

She has made her family VERY happy and is changing so many
views on pit bulls in her new life... Go Hannah! -Now known as Ruby!

Q) Brandon asks: would love to know how you feel about all the new foster siblings that come in

A) Truth is... I love it! It's always fun to have someone else in the house. And if we're fosterless for a while, I get pretty sad and depressed. But if some of them overstay their welcome, I can get a little clingy over mom and dad... but that only happens sometimes.

I have to foster TWO of them, Mom? Do I get a raise?

Q) KB asks: Have you ever had a foster who you didn't get along with?

A) YES! Mom brought home a beagle girl named Morgan. She hated me and I was scared to death of her. She stayed under the kithen table, and anytime I was in eye site - even on the couch! -she would growl and bark and bite at me. So she had to find another foster home. I think my size and rambunctious attitude put her off a bit... but man, was she scary!

Who could be afraid of this face?

Q) 24 Paws of Love asks: Do you get along better with the lady fosters or would you rather hang out with the dudes??

A) GIVE ME THE LADIES!!!!!!! Now, truth be told, I do get along with dudes too... but I'm always a little more on edge when the dudes are over... I have to keep my eye on them all the time, just to make sure they're not doing anything naughty. I relax a lot more with the ladies.... which makes mom relax a bit more. I've been much more accepting of the dudes lately though... mom thinks it's because I'm getting older and wiser... I think she's crazy.

Ladies like to kiss the Corbin.

Q) Sprinkles asks: 1) How do you not fall in love with all of the fosters and keep them? 2) Do you get along with all of the fosters? Do you ever get jealous of them?

A) 1) We do fall in love with each and every one of them, and we'll love them for the rest of our lives. We know we can't keep them and that there are so many wonderful souls just like them waiting for their second chance, so that helps a bit. Plus, mom keeps in touch with all of our previous fosters. 2) Eventually... sometimes the first day or two is a little hard because I get pretty excited to have a new furiend, but after we get used to each other, things go pretty smoothly. I'm not usually a jealous guy, I let them play with my toys and chew my bones and snuggle with my parents... but all bets are off when their 2 weeks are off. Sometimes I get jealous of their time with my humans then... or I'll take all my toys back.

This is my car, Oreo... You sit down.

Q) Two grad students and a Pitty: I feel as though you very quickly adopt out your fosters. Can Corbin do a post on how he feels he succeeds at this?

A) Indeed, we're going to do a WHOLE post on this because my response got pretty long. There are a lot of factors that go into that. Look for this post sometime next week!

This is Ashton... I didn't even get to meet her bc she got adopted an hour
after she was turned in.

Q) Molly (A beautiful follower with beautiful chocolate furs without a blog!) asks: Have you always been confident and happy with other dogs?

A) Molly wrote this question in an email, and we answered her with a super long answer... I'll shorten it bc this blog post has gotten pretty long! In all honestly, no... I haven't always been great with other dogs. I was taken away from my litter at 6 weeks, so I didn't get a lot of play time and learning time with my siblings and my mom. At 8 wks I had my leg broken by my owners other dog. Once my leg healed, I was at the shelter and then to rescue. Mom made sure to keep me in a separate corner of the adoption clinics so I wasn't crowded with dogs... I would get so excited to see other dogs, I'd jump towards them and they wouldn't like that, so they'd growl and snap at me, and I'd get defensive and snap back. After 2 months, mom and dad adopted me without really correcting this issue... then it became that if any dog came up to me face to face, I'd growl and be a meanie. Mom and dad hired a behaviorist who came in and taught a lot of things to mom and dad, like how to communicate with me, proper introductions and warning signs. Without this, I doubt I'd have been a foster brother. When new foster siblings come in, we do a no introduction, side by side walk around our block. Then we do a "face to fanny" introduction, still outside, leashes on. If the fur on my back or the other dogs back goes up, we walk again until we're both comfortable. Once intros are done, we go inside and leashes stay on until mom is confident we're both calmed down and used to each other. Sometimes, new fosters are so exhausted from clinic or their transport, they don't want to be bothered with me, so mom lets them sleep it off in the crate, and we try intros again after everyone has calmed down and gotten used to scents. That's how we corrected my issues with other dogs.

Now I play in big groups, daycare, big dudes, small dudes, and all the ladies.

WOW! Who's still reading this???

Tomorrow I'll answer all the personal questions some of you asked ;-) You don't want to miss that!

Does anyone have any new questions? If anyone missed last weeks opportunity, feel free to ask now!