Looking Back At 2015

Happy New Year! This post is a little tardy but comes with the same good wishes for a wonderful 2016 to everyone. Life happened in our world last year and 2015 was one of those years that had a lot of changes for our family. These changes kept Dave and I plenty busy and I wasn't able to do a lot of fostering or blogging. Thankfully I was able to keep up with the other volunteering I do for New Rattitude.

Last year we fostered Tesla and Kia, two fun and adorable girls who both got great adoptive homes!

Tesla now Nova has a fur sister named Ella Bella (Nova is brown and white). Look at how these two sisters love each other. You can see them and their antics on Ella Bella's Facebook page here

Here are Nova and her sister being silly terrier sisters. We are so happy for them to have each other.

Here is Kia with her furbrother Oso out having a blast with their moms. Kia has grown so much! Not such a puppy girl anymore.

Kia's moms report that both dogs get to sleep in the bed with them and they are one happy family.

Our wonderful volunteer and adopter Darin Eng Suthapong put together a wonderful end of the year video showcasing all the Ratties that were adopted in 2015. Hope you enjoy it! Northwest Adopted Ratties 2105

Wishing everyone a healthy and happy 2016!

Why Is Tesla Leaping For Joy?

Because Tessi wants everyone to know..................

Tessi will have a whole family to love her, a mom & dad, 2 human sisters, and a rattie sister too!  She is in for a full life with so many people who will love and cherish her. Happy Tails to this sweetheart of a gal. 

More Tessi and Tim Sweetness

Tessi loves to play with stuffed toys! I can put them all away and before I know it they are strewn about all over the house! I don't feel like I ever see her get them out but then there they are and she is quietly nibbling on one or another depending on her mood.

Ummm foster mom, why do you always point that thing at me? (Notice Skip got into this photo? He looks like one of the toys waaay in the back. :)

Nom nom nom.....

 Timken and Tesla playing bitey face on the big bed. They do this a few times a day and they make the cutest noises. Tim really likes Tessi, she is just the right speed for him.

This warms my heart to see these two together. Two sweethearts!

I love their little paws touching.....awwwwwwww....

Today was the first day Tessi jumped into a chair to take a nap! Good girl!

I just put this blanket here today, I guess she thought it looked really inviting. How adorable is she?

Tesla's Favorite Thing To Do...

If there is one thing Tessi loves and that is to go for walks in the woods. I think she would do it all day every day if she could. I can't say I blame her! We would love to spend our waking hours walking around in nature too. It is so fun to see her so interested in everything. Of course our dogs love it too! Today was a very beautiful day for a long walk. Nothing like a 2 hour springtime walk to facilitate relaxed doggies for the rest of the day, well at least part of the day. <wink>

Off we go...there were some mud and water puddles today from recent rains, but that didn't seem to slow anyone down.

Tessi follows Tim and walks on the side to keep out of the puddle.

Jenny photo bombed me!

Skip rather loved rolling in the grass in the sunshine.

Liza was just soaking up the warmth on a crisp morning.

Liza loves to explore too, especially when there is water involved.

There is something about this tree Tessi is sniffing, all the dogs always sniff this tree when we go by, maybe a scratching post for another animal?

This decomposing log always gets a lot of attention too, then usually some pee-mail is left from the boys. Good shot of Tim's "heart-spot"

Tessi figures out how to cross the stream...How lucky are we to get to walk here nearly every day in peace. Such a magical place.

Hey mom, look at me!

Tessi is so curious about everything, we just love that about her. She is checking out the water environment with Skip.

What a fun girl she is....

Tim n Tessi Love....

Anyone who reads my blog knows about our sweet Tim and his struggles and progress as he continuously blossoms before our eyes. When we decided to foster Tesla we were hoping that Tim would have as much fun with her as he did when we fostered Neon. It is so good for Tim to have these great experiences with dogs and he and Tessi really have been hitting their groove in the last few days, playing in the morning, lying next to each other. I am very grateful to Tessi for her sweet self and for giving Tim another dose of confidence. The pictures tell the story....

Tessi Sunspotting With The Gang

I think seeing dogs relaxing in a spot of warmth from the sun has to be one of the most comforting visions I can think of...

Sleepy sunspotting girl...

This bed is always popular when the sun shines in the window. No room for Birdie so she just has to sleep standing up.

Tessi photo bomb!

Awww sweet Tim so nice to see how far he has come with being able to relax.

Tessi soaking up the warmth of the wood floor.

Tesla n Timken Take On A Woolly Mammoth????

Tesla don't look behind you but there is a Woolly Mammoth in our yard! So what's our plan?...

Hey Tim! I just brought down the beast!

I don't think it's moving anymore Tim, what do you think?

Do you think we need to make sure it won't be going anywhere?...

Hey wait a minute that is mine!

Ok Tim go ahead you can have it, I have something to check out over here anyhow...

 Thanks to Tim and Tessi that Woolly Mammoth won't be a threat any longer, everything is safe and sound and the terriers prevail!

Who's A Silly Goose?

Tesla is that's who!

As she opens up and gets comfortable in her foster home she just gets sillier and sillier. She really is a joy forever type of girlie.

Here are a few videos to make you smile....

I love this video, it shows our progress with touch and petting with Tessi. Tessi is playing tug with me then Tim comes over for a pet and Tessi lets me pet her and scratch her rump too.

Here she is demonstrating her toy love nibbles. She has not gutted a toy.....yet, so far she just likes to softly nibble them and throw them around.

Tessi has decided she likes to show affection by mouthing and nibbling hands and fingers. She is very gentle and that is good news, but just to be safe we don't encourage this behavior. Here is an example of her doing this, and how silly she gets with it.

She loves to get in this Costco bed and spin and rub around in it. She does it about once a day. Then she will all of a sudden just crash and take a nap :)

Not only does Tessi like to nibble on soft toys, she also loves to throw them in the air and pounce on them. I have also seen her toss a tiny pebble she found on the floor and she had a blast tossing that in the air and hearing it ping down on the floor, she would find it again and repeat. She is just a very silly goose!

Stay tuned for my next post tomorrow, when Tessi and Tim take on a Woolly Mammoth!

Tesla's First Full Week In Foster Care.

Tesla has graced our household with her presence for 1 full week! What a week it has been. We have had a lot of good progress forward and things to celebrate in just 7 days.

1) Because Tessi is not housetrained we had to make sure we were setting her up for success in this dept. We have been covering a lot of ground in 7 days. We had accidents the first day, to be expected even from fully housetrained dogs, but I was missing cues and also not being diligent enough. That all changed by the second day, (because the humans got it together), and I am happy to say we have only had a couple other accidents in the house since, and as always, that was my fault, human error. But she is just a puppy and will need lots of reminders and reinforcement for going "potty" outside. She really is getting the hang of it though and knows once she is done to come to me for a treat and a "gOOd gIRL!!!!!!!"

This has nothing to do with housetraining. I just thought it was time for a cute pic of the little rascal.

2) Tessi was not comfortable to be picked up. Of course you saw in previous blog posts that she had gone for walks and hikes with us, so yes we did manage to get her picked up and into the car. But  we had to be slow and patient and we had to get creative. One thing that helped us was attaching a light line to her so that we would be able to gently pick it up, stroke the leash hand over hand, while walking slowly toward her. This helped a lot and although she did not like to be picked up (she uses all the stress signals, legs stiffen, trembling, lip licking, yawning), once we had her in our arms and were cooing and petting her she would snuggle in. She also will snuggle on our lap for an hour or more once she is there, and just yesterday she asked to be in my lap so this is nice progress. The last couple of days she is starting to come to us on her own for pets and will let us pick her up more readily, although she is still nervous about it. This will just take time and patience and I know she will learn to trust her people and be comfortable with touch and being picked up.

3) She is getting much more comfortable riding in the car. She was pretty nervous for a few days, the transport getting her here was long and she wasn't sure car rides were something she liked. But now she has learned car rides always end up with a walk, or hike, even if it is just a short jaunt! So she is beginning to settle in and will even chew on something now while she is riding to the next fun adventure. She still needs more good car experiences but I am so glad she is feeling more comfortable with riding in the car.

Tessi spying Tim just before she got down and got him to play with her a little.

4) Most importantly Tessi is learning how great it can be to be part of a family and live in a house. To eat healthy food and treats, and have safe human friends who always have her back. That is one nice thing we, as foster parents, can offer our foster dogs. Way to go Tesla!

Love her eyebrows and whiskers....

In a short 7 days she is really opening up and we are glimpsing what an awesome dog this lil gal is going to be. She just needs to go slow in some things and for her people to be patient and creative.