One Month With Gremlin

...oh, how time flies.

Too much else going on right now, I've fallen behind on keeping this thing updated. So: it's been a month, we still have Gremlin, she now fits into our household routine quite smoothly. No more diarrhea carpetbombs, no more wailing in the crate, no more quarreling with Pongu. I can sleep in my own bed again instead of on the couch. We're past the initial getting-to-know-you stage, the secondary bumps-and-lumps frustration stage, and well into the third stage of fostering: comfortable routine. Hoo-ray.

We continue to take her out on adventures. She loves playing around in the water but swims about as well as a concrete balloon. Shallow water only for this little gremlin.

She likes to play with Pongu, too.

But she has not quite figured out "Fetch."

And that's where we stand, one month in. Despite going out on the town regularly with her stylish "Adopt Me" vest on, and drawing a fair amount of attention at an adoption event last weekend, Gremlin still has no solid commitment for a forever home. She seems to know it, too; poor little monster seems occasionally worried about the permanence of her home with us. (I could be projecting, but it does seem like she tries extra hard to be a Good Dog so that we'll love her and let her stay here forever... or, at least, give her more hugs. It is sad and adorable.)

Lots of people stop and comment on how cute the Gremlin is, but no one (yet) wants to take her. I've made some flyers to post around town, we'll see if those help. Until then, well, we've got our routine settled.

Friday Adventures with the Gremlin Dog

Yesterday we took Gremlin out for Adventures in the City.

The point of this is threefold: first, to get the foster dog out in front of as many eyeballs as possible, since you never know who's looking to adopt a dog just like yours; second, to socialize the dog with friendly strangers, new environments, and the general bustle of the city; third, to evaluate the dog and get more information that can be provided to prospective adopters. Can the dog sit quietly at a sidewalk cafe next to a table full of rambunctious six-year-olds? Does the dog spook when a horse-drawn carriage clatters over cobblestones 15 feet away? Whether the answer's a new selling point or an area that needs work, it's all useful to know.

So we got Gremlin dressed up and ready to go.

"How's my vest look?"

First stop: Washington Square Park, followed by wandering around the green spaces of Old City. Gremlin was fascinated with the squirrels and kept wanting to chase them up the tantalizingly low tree trunks in the Magnolia Garden.

"A SQUIRREL! Right over THERE!"

 Next: Dinner at Beau Monde, a lovely neighborhood creperie that is very welcoming to dogs. Gremlin behaved beautifully, sitting quietly under the table and nibbling on occasional morsels of French cheese (she was partial to the crumbly blue). The table of kids next to us was completely charmed, as were several other diners.

Finally, an after-dinner romp at the dog park, followed by glorious collapse upon getting home.

And that was Gremlin's Friday full of adventures. Tomorrow: Rittenhouse Square Park and the Saturday farmers' market.

Hard Luck for Gremlin Dog

Last Friday we handed Annie the Gremlin Dog back to the rescue organization so that she could participate in a big adoption event. (It was an afternoon event and I was working, or I'd have offered to go along and help.) Afterward, Gremlin was supposed to go out to New Jersey to run around in the cool green grass with some other rescued mutts.

Alas, Lady Luck is no friend to gremlins. Not only did Gremlin fail to land a home over the weekend, but she managed to catch a doggy cold while on vacation and had to take a quick trip to the vet. Nothing serious, happily, but it kept her out of commission for a couple of days.

She'll be coming back to us tomorrow. Here's hoping she catches someone's eye (and heart) soon.

Annie the Gremlin Dog

This is Annie, aka Gremlin Dog.

I wrote about her a little in my previous post, but quick recap: she comes from Brevard, North Carolina, where she was at risk of being put down because her gremliny little face didn't appeal to potential adopters. Volunteers helped her get to Philly, where she found a foster home with us. We've had her for a few days now. I've been calling her "Gremlin" rather than Annie, because it strikes me as an appropriate name (just look at that face!), and it makes her stand out to the people she meets. Everyone remembers the little dog named Gremlin.

Gremlin's first hours with us were fairly dramatic. She arrived around 10 pm after a long day of travel and meeting new people, so I figured she'd be pretty tired and bundled her off to her crate with some clean bedding and a tasty stuffed Kong.

Well, she loved the Kong, but she did not love her crate. Not too surprisingly for an ex-stray who hasn't had a lot of security in her life, Gremlin has some separation issues. She doesn't mind being in the crate if she can see a person nearby, and she doesn't mind being alone if she can snooze in the dog bed, but the combination of crating and having no one in sight seems to trigger a big flashing ABANDONMENT!! ABANDONMENT!! RED ALERT!! in her head.

And when she thinks she's being abandoned, Gremlin howls. Loud and long and with great woe. Her sheer vocal range would almost be funny if we didn't have so many neighbors in close proximity who really need their sleep. But we do, and a yodeling foster dog is not a good way to endear yourself to them, especially since a) technically we're violating the condo bylaws by having two furry animals in our place (of course, so does everyone else, but still...); and b) Gremlin got one of the downstairs neighbors' dogs to sing along with her, literally doubling the problem overnight.

So this is where I sleep now. And this is where I will continue to sleep until we work past that particular problem.

Other than the crating issue -- which I'm pretty confident we can work through, and which wouldn't even be an issue if Pongu weren't such a brat that we have to keep the dogs separated for their own safety overnight -- Gremlin has proven to be an easy keeper. She walks beautifully on the leash, barely ever barks (it's more of a muted little "whuff," and even that's rare), and is almost perfect on housetraining, with just one accident in the time we've had her. She has very good manners at the dog park, playing enthusiastically but appropriately with dogs of all sizes. In the home, she can get snappy if another dog tries to steal something out from under her nose, but that's mostly Pongu being a jerkface and probably wouldn't be an issue with a more polite dog.

Overall, Gremlin is an inquisitive, fearless, quick-learning little mutt. I'd characterize her as "medium energy" -- she loves to play, and she sometimes has a few zoomies when she first gets out of her crate in the morning, but after a brisk 10-minute walk she's pretty pooped out. Sometimes on the way home she'll stop cold on the second-floor landing and give me this despairing look that says, very clearly, "oh god you mean I have to go up MORE STAIRS to get home? I can't do this, kill me now." This is definitely not a dog who'll want to run marathons with you.

As far as obedience training goes, she has an excellent Sit, seems to be vaguely acquainted with Stay, and has no idea what that whole Down thing is all about. We're working on learning the new concepts and reinforcing the old ones; Gremlin has proven to be very willing to work for cut-up hot dogs (although she only likes them hot out of the microwave and turns her nose up at cold leftover pieces). She will also work for praise and petting; while she isn't pushy about it, Gremlin soaks up affection.

Things that need work: besides learning to sleep quietly in her crate when no one's around, Gremlin can be a little impolite in her greetings. She gets very excited to see people, and then she likes to jump up and mouth them while flailing her little paws around like the world's drunkest boxer. This is a very common issue, and Gremlin's been making good progress even in the short time we've had her, but prospective adopters should expect to continue training on that point.

And that, so far, is Annie the Gremlin Dog. I'm hoping we can get her adopted fairly quickly, as there's another group of dogs coming up soon that will need foster homes, and it would be nice if we could offer one of them a space. But first this little gremlin has to find a family, so that's what we're focused on now.

What's the Value of a Pretty Face?

For a homeless dog, it can mean the difference between adoption and death.

Most people, whether they realize it or not, are looking for an idealized image of a dog as they walk along the shelter rows. Some are drawn to animals that resemble beloved childhood pets, some to ones that look like the furry stars of TV shows and movies, and some to any cute puppy whose wide hopeful eyes, peering through the bars of its enclosure, catches at their heartstrings.

There's no malice in this. There's often not even any conscious choice. It's just human nature to be drawn to adorable puppies and handsome adults. But it also means that good dogs -- stable, sweet-tempered, loving dogs who would make ideal companions -- get overlooked, even killed, because they don't fit that skin-deep ideal. The graying, the scarred, and the superficially imperfect are at a real disadvantage in the race for homes. Big black dogs infamously have it worst: no matter how great their personalities might be, many potential adopters just pass them by without a second glance.

If it happens long enough, a dog can give up hope. A shelter, even a good one, is a very stressful environment for a dog. After prolonged periods of confinement, dogs can become frustrated or depressed. Some begin spinning in endless circles, barking constantly, or chewing off their own fur. Some stop eating. While many of these problems can be reversed once the dog gets out of the shelter and into a patient, caring home, there may be no such home on the horizon for a particular dog. Thus, when a dog begins to show these psychological problems (commonly known as "kennel stress" or "kennel crazy"), shelter staff must make a difficult decision about that dog's fate. Especially if there are other animals coming in that need the space, a dog that is undergoing severe kennel stress often gets euthanized.

Annie, our next foster dog, might have met that fate... but thanks to some dedicated rescuers, she got a second chance.

Originally from Brevard, North Carolina, Annie is a pint-sized mutt with a funny little underbite. It gives her an extra-exuberant grin, but it also turned off some potential adopters, who thought the thrust of her chin looked too pugnacious. No one seemed likely to take her, and for a while her chances looked grim.

Fortunately, Annie captured the hearts of some rescuers who saw past her Popeye scowl and recognized that she was an exceptional dog. They couldn't give her a home themselves, but they could get her on the road to find someone who could. One by one, people stepped up to help, and soon Annie was well on her way, extra-big smile and all.

She'll be coming to our house next week. We can't wait to meet her -- and help her find a loving home with someone who's looking for more than just a pretty face.