Making Room at the Inn

Since we have a trip coming up soon, we had planned on keeping the number of foster kids to just one. But when the call came in that there were two puppies in Louisiana who needed rescue, we decided we could find room at the inn for one more. Little did we know what a sweet, wonderful little guy we'd have as our guest. Little Chipper is a pup of about 11 months old and a tiny 7.7 pounds. He moved in and make him self right at home, getting along splendidly with his foster brothers and sister, being a polite little gentleman who is learning the routine and rules of the house so well in just a week's time. He has the sweetest disposition and eagerly seeks out attention and love. Whenever he sees a person looking in his direction, he gets all happy and runs to them with a smile on his face.

Chipper is not the typical full-of-boundless-energy puppy - while he does enjoy playing and running, he also has quiet times when he wants to just lie down and rest.

Dixie took a liking to Chipper from the get-go. She was the first dog to show a keen interest in him. They have a gentle relationship more of closeness than rough play. Frequently I'll find them lying together, often with some body part of Chipper on top of Dixie. She's such a good dog - she doesn't mind if another dog lies on top of her.

Both Dixie Darlin' and Chipper are looking for their forever homes. Even though their personalities are different, they both have such wonderful attributes and are really great dogs who will make welcome additions to their new families!

Dixie Darlin' - Our little Alabama Southern Belle

What circumstances caused this Southern Belle to be on her own wandering the streets looking for a kind soul to take her in? From investigative work, we were able to find a home where she had tried to set up residence, but the woman who lived there was not kind to Dixie, so after trying for several days, Dixie left there and walked over a mile to end up at the store parking lot where she was picked up by a kind lady who wanted the best for this genteel gal and contacted New Rattitude.

Dixie is a "Teddy" rattie. Since Dixie is our first "Teddy" rattie, we are learning about this type rattie and are finding out that Dixie is typical of these short-legged ratties - awesome personalities, loving, sweet, and people oriented. Even though Dixie gets along great with other dogs and plays & shares space with them well, she prefers to spend her time with people. Just sit down and she's immediately up there with you, either lying against your leg or in your lap.

Dixie came into rescue with a irritated skin condition that caused small sores and loss of hair in places. With good nutrition and some meds, her sores have cleared up and is no longer inflamed. Some of the places of hair loss may never regrow fur, but the skin is as soft as a baby's behind and I find myself petting these areas a lot since they feel so nice to the touch.

Dixie is a wonderful calm rattie who likes to spend most of her day lounging on the sofa. She's completely housetrained (!) and such an easy dog to have around. She likes to be in the same room as her person, but she's not needy for attention.

Dixie is approximately one year old and weighs 16 pounds; stands 12 inches tall (at her shoulders) and is 15 inches long (spine length from base of neck to base of tail).

Dixie would love for you to visit her photo album where she'll tell you all about herself. http://imageevent.com/newrattitude/dixiedarlin

Gus Gets a New Family and a New Name!

Gus' journey to his new family was a short one. In fact, the transport was non-existent since he didn't move from his foster home - we adopted him!

Ever since we lost Beener to cancer three months ago, we knew we'd eventually get another rattie and that we'd 'know it' when the right one came along. And then Gus entered our lives and our hearts.

Along with a new family, Gus got a new name - Toby. The name Toby means "God is Good" and is the perfect name for our little boy.

Toby is friendly and confident and will be a great foster brother for future incoming rescue ratties. It'll be interesting to see how he takes to his new role of mentor to the foster kids.

Toby's rehab from his hip surgery is rolling along. He prefers to hop along on three legs and is resisting my efforts to get the other leg working and on the ground. He's continuing his swimming, which is one place he does use his leg. I'm also having him walk on a softly inflated air mattress - it moves so much as he walks across that it's hard for him to "three-leg" it. Lots of treats helps keep him moving and sometimes makes him forget about holding his leg up. Rehab is a long process and any little improvement is encouraging.

We are thrilled to have "Gimpy Gus" as a member of our family and thank New Rattitude for the opportunity to foster, and then adopt, this great little guy! Another dog saved with rescue . . . now on to the next rattie who needs us.

Post-Surgery - Donut neck for "Gimpy Gus"

Post surgery time was not fun for Gus. Besides earning the nickname "Gimpy Gus", 1) he had to endure the pain of both the FHO and neuter (done at the same time); 2) for the first 10 days his view was out the bars of a crate, as he was on limited activity: and finally 3) he ended up with the indignity of having to wear an inflatable E-collar to keep him from licking his incision.

Breaking out of crate-restriction couldn't come too soon for Gus - from day three he was feeling pretty good and didn't think he needed to have all that rest and inactivity. The othe dogs were running around and playing and he wanted to join them. It's hard to keep a good guy down.

The inflatable collar is much better for a dog than the traditional hard plastic cones - it's comfortable and doesn't hinder their vision and sense of space. Actually I think Gus was wondering where the beach was since he was wearing his flotation device.

Now we're into Gus' rehab period of recovery. The main job is to try to get him back to using the leg. In his opinion, he's getting along just fine on three legs, so he sees no reason to put the fourth on the ground/floor. My job of convincing him to use it is proving to be a challenge with this smart little whipper-snapper. Every little 'trick' I try to get him to put his leg down, he comes up with a counter trick to get around it. He's quite adept on only three legs.


One of the things we're doing to help strengthen and build back some muscle on his leg is hydro-therapy - swimming. Even in the water he manages to swim well without using the leg, so we're manipulating and pushing on the leg to get him to push back. We see improvement as he's paddling more with his gimpy leg.


Gus' rehab will take months, but it'll be so worth it when he is finally running again on all four legs!

Our Little "Gimpy" GUS

Poor little Gus has had a hard start in his short life. He was found wandering the streets as a stray. At only one year old, he was diagnosed with heartworms, so underwent treatment and is now HW free. All during the time he was being treated, he was suffering from a broken hip, which nobody noticed. He hid the injury well, as he'd run like the wind with the other dogs and never indicated he was in pain. Sure he lifted one leg occasionally, but other symptoms went unnoticed. A vet examined him and said his limping was due to a short hamstring in the leg.


After his HW treatment was finished, he came to New Rattitude and into our home. What a delightful little guy! He loves all people and most dogs he meets. Big dogs can be intimidating, but Gus is fine with them if they don't tower over him.


A couple of days with us and we noticed that Gus had an odd way of sitting with his hind legs straight out to the back, which told us his problem was more than a "short hamstring". So off to a different vet who took xrays and confirmed that Gus had a broken hip. Poor little guy! To be so loving while in pain - what a dog!


Gus had Femoral Head Ostectomy (FHO)surgery, which involves removing the head (ball) of the femur. In time, new bone will form and he'll be back to normal. Stay tuned for updates on Gus' therapy and recovery.

Bonney is Adopted and Two More have Come & Gone

It's been too long since I've updated this blog. In the time that has elapsed Bonney was adopted and two foster gals have come and gone.

Fiesta came after Bonney. She was a lively youngster who kept the action going at our house. She loved to play with the other dogs in our household and, if she had had her way, they would have been playing almost nonstop all day. Fiesta is now being fostered in Florida.

Our next little girl was Foxy - a sweet calm petite gal and our smallest foster to date at only 8 pounds. Such a loving girl who wanted nothing more than to please her people and snuggle. That was her calm side. Her other side came out occasionally and was polar opposite - she was a masterful huntress!! She so much enjoyed hunting for chipmunks, moles, and squirrels! Foxy was adopted into her perfect family and now has a JRTmix sister and loving mommy.

Let sleeping dogs lie

Or "Sit" or "Bow".

Training sessions have started for Bonney. She fairly food-motivated, which is really helpful when teaching a dog. I clicker train and the sound was a new experience for her, but now she lives to hear the clicker and get the treat.

The first thing I teach new dogs is "sit". Bonney just would not put her bottom down. One time when she was getting tired of not being able to get the treat that was in my hand, she backed up and did a semi-bow. CLICK! & treat. I wanted to give her a treat for a sit, but figured any desirable behavior warranted a reward.

After being rewarded for her bow, I could see the wheels in her brain turning as she figured out what was going on. In a minute or two, she again bowed as she looked towards the treat in my hand. Click&treat! Now she understood and turned into a "bow machine", doing better and better bows, until she had a perfect bow with elbows on the floor and butt in the air.

A few days of passed with her only offering up a bow. But my default required behavior is a sit. Every dog must sit before treats, meals, and other things they want. So a sit was my goal for her. I tried many different things to coax her to lower her bottom. Nothing worked. Someone suggested that I watch for her to sit at other times during the day and C&T when she does sit. So I watched and finally was able to catch the moment and treat. I think she knew immediately what she had done to earn the treat. Now, she will either sit or bow when she sees me with treats.

Today after a little thought she laid down to see if that would earn a treat. Smart gal!! I love it when a dog thinks on their own and offers up behaviors on their own.