A little birdie asked for a Frodo Report. Happy to oblige...Frodo - the shyer V-dog who suffered from isolation back in VA at just six months old - has been making progress in small but steady baby steps. At 22 months old, he's still dog social and spends a good part of his day romping with foster mom Kim's two dogs. Kim reports that he's starting to "act naughty" at home - a good sign! Pretending not to hear commands, sneaking into a closet to root around for treasure, chewing through a tie-down leash ... All healthy signs of a growing independence and newfound confidence. What a wonderful journey. We're so grateful to Kim for her patience and commitment to Frodo's growth.
Frodo makes a guest appearance in the upcoming Animal Planet Animal Witness Show that premiers August 24 at 10pm. We watched an early screening in order give a review. There were a few rough spots, so before we give our report, I want to wait to see how many last minute edits the production crew decides to do. However overall, it's well done and worth watching.
Here's the Animal Witness
promo on YouTube.
Overheard @ Oakland Animal Shelter:
Boy: "Mom! Mom! Lookit THIS one!" ...pointing to a wriggly white pit bull in the adoption runs
Mom: "Hmm. She's cute. But white gets dirty."
Challenged by Reality
This tiny-sized girl joined "gray area status" at Oakland Animal Services when shelter life jacked her up and inspired a not-so-nice fence fighting habit. Hormones (she may be pregnant), constant noise, high energy levels, high stress, and never enough exercise makes for a tough time in the kennels. We look forward to finally having a trailer so we can help dogs like her chill out long enough to show us who they really are.
Thankfully, she lucked into a rare breed-experienced foster spot, so is resting up tonight. We'll scratch our heads about her once she's come back down to earth.
There are SO many dogs just like her that won't be so lucky. Gray is quickly becoming our least favorite color.
12 comments:
Just fell out of the nest and what a delightful surprise....FRODO!
Pretending not to hear???
You`re ready for marriage Frodo.
You can reach the highest peaks with those baby steps.
It sounds like you`re well on your way.
Gotta go,here comes a cat.
Part of the flock keeping an eye on this shining Star.
We`ll be watching for your debut Frodo.
Hugs
Yay, Frodo! I was just starting to wonder what became of this handsome dude. Three cheers for his dedicated foster home.
I love what you guys are doing! How can you know fall in love with those big smiles and those loveable big eyes!
PS. As the owner of a white pibble, he stays cleaner than any other dog I know. Pass it on!
Wow, What a handsome boy Frodo is turning out to be - his newfound confidence is really starting to show. That solo photo of him is a knockout! Kudos to Kim for your patience and dedication to our guy Frodo!
Marie
Gotta question, hope it isn't a stupid one... but what do you mean by "gray area status"? And what kind of dog is she, that she needed a foster home experienced with rare breeds?
I'm new to your blog, and love, love LOVE it!! BAD RAP rocks!
Hi Barb
Not a stupid question at all. We call dogs 'gray area' dogs if they're - plain & simple - not succeeding in the shelter environment, but are not so outwardly damaged that euthanasia is warranted.
Some might be acting highly reactive to other dogs, some might be spinning out in their kennels - others might be shut down, etc.
These are the toughest cases because many do settle right down and drop their dicey behaviors in a home environment, but those breed-experienced foster homes capable of helping them are usually full.
In some cases, the 'gray' dogs that go to foster care do not* improve well enough to be right for adoption programs, so the volunteer caretaker has to be savvy enough to discern and resilient enough to - if necessary - let go and let those dogs be put to sleep. That's exceedingly hard to do when you've already invested a certain amount of TLC. But so necessary if you want to keep your adoption program moving forward.
It's a topic that needs much more discussion and I'm pretty sure that we'll be doing that here as we march forward with helping Oakland suss out their never ending population of homeless pit bulls.
Thanks for asking, btw.
Donna
Thanks for answering! I understand now - we run into the same thing in Dane rescue. I have a lot of experience with this breed so have taken in quite a few of them over the years. It is SO awesome when they calm down and you see what wonderful dogs they really are. Those are my very favorite success stories and I'll never forget any of them. But it's really heartbreaking when you have one who is too damaged and too dangerous and you have to euthanize him/her. I'll never forget any of those, either.
Oh, and I get it - duh! It wasn't a "rare breed" experienced foster home, but a rare spot in an experienced foster home!! LOL
Great to hear how Frodo is doing! Are there any updates to how Maya/Spyder is doing at Best Friends?
1) Yay Frodo! You're doing so well sweetie (not to mention - *wolf whistle* what a pretty boy you're growing into).
2) White gets dirty?! What does this lady think she's doing - buying, a sofa? Among the many virtues of pitbulls is the fact that they're washable! (Plus, I'm a softie for white pibbles, especially Homer - he reminds me of my Ghost!) *sends Homer special love and snuggles - though he's welcome to share them with the other pups*
Any updates on this sweet girl? Her sweet little face reminds me so much of my rescue pit's and the pic just breaks my heart.
She's settling in at her foster home, anon. She was just spayed (not pregnant after all) and is now recovering.
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