Lollie the carpenter

At the risk of pointing out the obvious: resident dog + foster dog = twice as many dogs as we had before.

And at Casa Fosterfamily, clutter is always lurking in a dark corner, waiting for us to stop paying attention so it can leap out into the open and take over everything. In its presence, we are so weak. It’s much easier to turn a blind eye and just bake a pan of brownies than it is to deal with the evil clutter monster. But, we try to combat it in small ways whenever we can.

Over the weekend, Lollie helped get the Dog Walk Station under control. We have this nifty vintage mail sorter by our side door, and when Chick was our one and only we used it to store dog walk related things: his leash, a spare key, poop bags, sunglasses, and gloves. With two dogs, though, it was getting a little unwieldy. Leashes, harnesses, collars, hats, and gloves were hung all over the poor thing, like some sort of ill-conceived, industrial holiday decoration.

So Lollie the brainiac helped us come up with a simple solution to keep things tidy. We went to a home restore and found some vintage brass cup hooks, took some simple measurements, and fastened them to the underside of our mail sorter.

Here is Lollie conceptualizing the project . . .

And figuring out the specs . . .

Just a few minutes later, voila! A two-dog solution! Nothing fancy, but it’s these little things that keep us sane while sharing our home with an extra dog.

out on the town

This weekend we bundled up and took Lollie Wonderdog out to a busy pedestrian area in Silver Spring to strut our stuff (well, mostly her stuff). It has a pretty urban vibe, with lots of people and tall buildings, but no squirrels or rabbits. This kind of landscape always bodes well for Lollie’s gentlelady-like behavior, and she really hammed it up big time. Despite the strong winds and chill, people just flocked to her in her cute “adopt me” vest, which was recommended by our friend and mentor Maria of Tia’s Promise Animal Rescue. No applications yet, but we are hopeful. With her dashing good looks, perfect manners, and blockbuster personality, how can people resist?

Here are a few shots of fostermom and fosterdad with little miss thing.


return of le cone

When she got her stitches out from her spay a few days ago, Lollie was dismayed to learn that while she is healing up nicely, she will have to wear her embarassing bandage and le cone de shame a little longer. Here is what she thinks about that:

skinny minnie

Doc said Lollie isn’t putting on weight fast enough. In fact, she came to us at 53 lbs, and now weighs 51 lbs. The weird thing about that is that we’ve been feeding her A LOT of a high quality, high-protein dog food, and plenty of peanut butter throughout the day. Apparently it’s not good enough.

Lucky for her, this means she gets to start having treats and fatty snacks in a totally unprincipled manner. Not as a reward for good behavior, but at every. meal.

Vet strongly recommended that we buy Lollie some cottage cheese to mix in to her food for a few weeks. It’s super high in protein, and should help her bulk up a little. The funny thing about that is that with the exception of dog food and treats, fosterdad and I run a vegan household. Still, for the good of our fostergirl I happily trotted to the co-op and got her some fancy cottage cheese. It looks so funny in our fridge alongside our soy milk.

Lollie seems to love it, as you can see. She chomps it up as fast as she can, and just for good measure, licks the outside perimeter of the bowl, lest a nugget of cheesy yumminess escape her tongue’s reach.

soccer dreams

 

Lollie wants to inform you that in her past life, she was a soccer player. She still dreams of soccer when she sleeps, and sometimes, she sleeps with soccer when she dreams.

 

 

lollie shakes it!

Just a quick video to show off what a genius-wonderdog Lollie is. I taught her this in about three minutes last night, after our evening walk. It’s incredible, how fast she learns.

Also- notice how her butt and back legs subtly slide backward as she sits in concentration. Think we should get her some rubber booties for traction?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw7157Ruk0o

Adoptability factor 1: Snugglability

In the spirit of helping Lollie find her forever family, we thought it would be smart to spend a little more effort sharing what makes her so very adoptable. Although there are endless adoptability factors we could list, we’re going to try to make this a weekly series so we don’t overwhelm you too much.

Lollie loves to snuggle. Sitting, standing, laying down; on the bed, on the floor, in the car, in the yard (ok, maybe not in the yard); morning, noon, and night; in a box or with a fox; with or without a pillow and blanket. She will gladly drift off to sleep covered up with a blanket in her room after a long walk, or curl up with her face in your lap as you read or watch a movie. She has a knack for finding the softest possible spot to lay and curling herself up into an impossibly small jellybean shape, with her nose tucked under her back paws, which are extended over her face in a diver’s full-pike position. Sometimes, her little paws and nose twitch while she sleeps, as though she’s dreaming of running through a field, chasing Max the rabbit.

back to the grind

After a long, long weekend out of town, we are picking up both wonderdogs tonight. We can’t wait to get them back home! Lucky Chick has been boarding at his grandparents’ house with his best friend Tex the lab, and Lolita has been boarding at the vet’s so they can look after her as she recuperates from her spay surgery. The vet told us this morning that Lollie is doing great and everything is healing up nicely. Naturally, the receptionist lit up at Lollie’s name (just like everybody does) and offered many enthusiastic words of love and admiration for our little girl.

Her stitches will have to wait a few more days to come out, but soon enough she’ll be rid of le cone de shame and back to her regular routine!

giving thanks and a dance party

Lollie has plenty to be thankful about this Thanksgiving, not the least of which is her recent reincarnation as a spoiled house pet. But rather than continuing to focus on her sad past, Lolita would like to share the three things she is most thankful for: butt-scratches from her fostermom, her sweet dance moves, and her excellent taste in music.

a poem for you; well-wishes for lollie

Concentration is scarce among the Fosterfamily today, because our little wonderdog is at the vet getting spayed. In keeping with MCHS rules, our own values, and of course logic and reason, Lollie is putting the smackdown on pet overpopulation.

For today’s entry, I’d like to share a snippet from a poem that we stumbled upon while vainly searching for our fosterblog on Google (no luck finding it, by the way). It’s called “Walking the Dog,” by Howard Nemerov:

Two universes mosey down the street
Connected by love and a leash and nothing else.
Mostly I look at lamplight through the leaves
While he mooches along with tail up and snout down,
Getting a secret knowledge through the nose
Almost entirely hidden from my sight.

We stand while he’s enraptured by a bush
Till I can’t stand our standing any more
And haul him off; for our relationship
Is patience balancing to this side tug
And that side drag; a pair of symbionts
Contented not to think each other’s thoughts.

There is more, but the poet’s musings turn to poop scooping, so I thought I’d refrain 😉

Send well-wishes to our darling foster wonderdog while she undergoes surgery today!