31st August

When I returned from holiday I was determined to cut down on the dogs we have in and Val said she would only help out by keeping Tara as a 'longterm foster,' as long as I didn't take in another dog in her place.

This has to be looked at in the light of how many phone calls and emails I receive asking me to take dogs in.
This week alone I have had thirteen calls and two emails and most I tell we are full and cannot help but yesterday I hesitated whilst answering , one reason was the lady was so determined the dog should go asap, the other was the age, 3 1/2 months, the reason, she had bitten a child, plus it was local and a female. I was seriously tempted!

I rang Val.
Val pointed out it could be a disaster with Jesse, to which I had to agree, I began to think of other rescues I could ask to help. As soon as I put the phone down from Val the girl rang back. She said she could not trust the dog anymore, she wanted it gone! Still not promising anything I agreed to 'have a look' the next day.
In the morning I contacted Sam Keen and asked if she could foster a pup. She had no boarders for a month so said she could help from Monday and agreed to come with me to see her.

You never know what you are going to find on these occasions and I have had many times, especially in the early days when my heart sank, the 'small' 'puppy' you had been told of turned out to be the size of a Labrador and have a habit of leaping to eye level and grabbing at your arm!
Other times you were pleasantly surprised by finding a very nice puppy marvelling that they were just giving it up, but I have never seen anything quite as tiny as this little girl.

There were four children in the house and the mother told me that the older boy had turned against the dog since she had bitten her daughter and was pushing her away!
The little pup was cowering and hiding in her bed.
 They had taken her to the vet and she had had both vaccinations but she had a skin condition which had not  been dealt with.

In short she needed out of there and I have NEVER been quite so pleased I said 'YES!'

Once out she was a different dog, wriggling and squirming with affection, Sam's boyfriend came to meet her and was smitten!
I will keep her for the weekend and Sam will take her on Monday as she has commitments on Sunday, she will just be fostering, so she tells me!

Pup was called Sniffles but we have changed her name to Chloe. So far she has been a dream. Little Jesse looks huge next to her. She plays with him through the crate just as he used to play with Chance.
He is a bit rough with her but they are best friends.