Good bye sweet Adam

Little Adam went home with his new mom yesterday. It was so wonderful to hand him off to his new mommy and know he's going to be loved and will never again be homeless, lonely, and without anything ever again.

It's a bittersweet time when a foster leaves for their new home. Hugging and kissing them goodbye is the hardest part. Days prior to saying goodbye to one of little guys, I try to absorb as much of them as possible...holding them, hugging, kissing...and trying to give them every ounce of love I have for them. It cannot be done, of course, but nonetheless, I do it every time. And then the time comes to hand them over to someone else. This is a time of tears. But not in front of the dog...I wait until they drive away. The house is a little bit emptier without them. I pick up their bedding and put it in the laundry. I pick up their bowl and wash it. It will be clean and ready when the next dog comes along...

With Adam's leaving, it leaves us with Mattie as our only foster right now. She fits in so well with our ratties Beener and Tex. She's a quiet spirit who gets along with everyone, both canine and human. She doesn't play favorites...she likes men as much as she likes women.

She does have one nemesis...a pesky squirrel who taunts the dogs every day. For some reason the squirrel will stay in the same tree for hours...occasionally running down, then back up the tree, and barking at the dogs. It drives the dogs nuts!! Mattie will sit for hours under the tree watching the the crazy little tree rat, waiting for him to make a wrong move or come too low. She's very good at following his movement up high when he hops from tree to tree. If he ever misses and jump and falls, he'd better hit the ground running 'cause Mattie is waiting on the ground and she'll be hot on his tail!

Mattie

Mattie was dumped at a shelter with her five puppies. The pups were pulled by another rescue but Mattie was left. She spent over a month in the shelter. A volunteer worked diligently to try to find her a place to go because she thought Mattie was too sweet and didn't deserve to die. On the day Mattie was scheduled to be killed, the shelter volunteer pulled her out and got her to a temporary safe place. Despite the fact that we already had one foster, we couldn't leave her, so we brought her home to live with us. Oh, she was so sad those first days; her eyes reflected such a depth of sadness. Yet, she was so sweet and so willing to open herself up to the love we gave her.

Mattie has shown herself to be a truly wonderfully resilient dog...she's friendly to both people and dogs, she's tolerant as only a mother can be as Adam climbs all over her. I wonder if she is thinking of her pups as little Adam crawls and sits on her, and licks her mouth.

Mattie will stand as still as a statue as long as someone's hand is on her petting her. Seems she cannot get enough affection. And she doesn't mind sitting in our laps. Sometimes she'll settle down and sleep...and sometimes she jumps down and goes elsewhere to sleep. It makes me wonder about her past...what living situation did she come from? Was she an outdoor pet? Or indoor? When she first came here, she readily jumped up onto the sofa and chairs, like she was accustomed to using furniture for lounging. And she is completely housetrained which makes me think she's been a house dog. So if she was a house dog....and even if she wasn't a house dog... how could her family just abandon her in the night-deposit of the shelter???

Mattie loves to learn new things, especially when treats are involved! She's eager to learn and very attentive. Since she's getting only limited amount of food due to her weight-loss plan, treats or food of any sort causes great excitement and willingness to do *anything*. I love a food-motivated dog!

It's been so nice seeing Mattie come out of her sadness and embrace life! She can get down-right excited at times...jumping-in-the-air and doing-a-dance excited. This is how life should be for all dogs.

Adam

Adam is the very first dog of New Rattitude, a newly established rat terrier rescue! And what an excellent first dog he is for the new rescue. He's a great little dog...friendly, loving, sweet. He's as close to perfect as a dog can be.

First and foremost, Adam is a love sponge! He loves people and seeks human affection. Adam will launch himself into a lap as soon as a person sits down, and then snuggles down for as long as the person remains sitting. He is a "ragdoll" when picked up and will willingly conform to any position we hold him in.

Even though Adam loves to receive love, he also loves to give love. He will smather kisses unless told not to. And he "talks" so sweetly if we talk to him or laugh. He gets all wiggly and excited when we laugh.

He gets along great with other dogs and likes to be near them when outside runing around or hunting, or inside lying around. Adam had his own bed he slept in at night, but he ended up slipping into Tex's bed with Tex. It was quite crowded with both of them in it, so I gave Tex a bigger bed so they would have more room.

Adam is a delight! We are enjoying these days that he is here with us, knowing that he won't be here long. The family who adopts him his going to be blessed by this little guy.