The leaves, the wind, the snow and rain all mean one thing to two of my dogs...they would rather get a root canal than go outside when there is weather of any kind.

I've told you all about Gizmo, but I haven't introduced you to Baxter and Pierre.

Several years ago, Mary was on the Maine Animal Emergency Preparedness Team. It was shortly after Hurricane Katrina that she asked me to go to Rockland to examine 30 dogs that were brought up by the staff of the Knox County Humane Society. It seems as though the executive director and several staff members were touched by the story of so many dogs in the south displaced by the Hurricane. The humane societies of the south were simply overpopulated, and with people displaced for what would become years, thousands of pets were in need of homes.

3 staff members took 2 vans and drove down to Lousiana to pick up 40 dogs. They drove back to Maine staying at friends and family's homes. Someone had a brother in Georgia. Someone else had a friend in Maryland. Another shelter had agreed to take 10 of the dogs on their way through Vermont.

When Becca and Daniel heard about the situation, they wanted to help. So we all got in the car with a cooler full of rabies shots and some examination equipment. When we arrived, they had set up a room for me. The energy of the group was amazing. They had found 17 foster homes for the dogs and we parked at the end of a long line of people who were waiting for their foster dogs.

One of the techs there helped me set up a system for checking the dogs out, taking blood to test for heartworm, fecal exams for intestinal parasites, and a place to vaccinate them. As they started unloading the vans, I was struck by the unhealthy look of many of the dogs. I remember there was a bulldog with mange, a mutt that looked like it was starving. Still so many of them seemed so happy.

Mary and the kids went into the main part of the shelter while I did my thing. I found out Louisiana had alot of heartworm. I also found out that the dogs had been brought to the shelter in a variety of ways. Some were caught running loose or saved from the flooding. Some were released by their owners.
On one of the release forms under "Reason for Surrender" someone had written: "No home to go back to"

After a few hours, we were wrapping up. I went into the main building to find my family. I asked the executive director if she had seen them, and she smiled and pointed into the run area. As I walked out Becca, Dan and Mary all had mischief in their eyes. Becca had a leash with a big dog that kind of looked like Gizmo. Daniel had a leash with a little dog that looked like a papillon.

I felt like maybe they had been talking about something in my absence.

"Ok, so there isn't any room for these two.

They both have heartworm, and there are only 10 cages available and 13 dogs. One of the technicians is bringing home one, but can we bring these two home??"
"maybe we could foster them?"

So you saw that coming. We are now 'fostering' Pierre and Baxter for the next 10 to 15 years. They both have some scars, physical and emotional from their past, but they are doing pretty well almost 5 years later.

I treated them for heartworm and now they are completely negative. Neither was neutered. I tell people that if a male dog gets to maturity and begins lifting their leg to mark, 85% will stop after they are neutered. That means 15% will continue to lift their leg to mark on vertical objects.
Baxter is a 15 percenter.
Turns out a couch is a vertical object.

Pierre is a little funny. He was one of the ones that was caught running wild. He was caught with a rabies pole and on his release form it said "Will bite"
He seems so sweet. He has cute little butterfly ears.
But if he feels threatened. He will bite...anything.

When Pierre was recovering from heartworm treatment he had a cough from the dead heartworms that had drifted into his lungs. I tried acupuncture to give him some relief from the cough. 
Turns out an acupunture needle is kind of a threat.
He bit the heck out of me.

But overall, they are a great addition to our family.

Except that I spent alot of today chasing them around the house and trying to encourage them to go outside during this, the first snowfall.
Baxter didn't pee on the couch
Pierre didn't bite me.
Today is a good day.