Foster Fail!

Meet Ginger. A 5 year old beagle. I consider Ginger to be the biggest bait and switch in animal history. We got her from a person who was re-homing dogs. Her family had abandoned her. When I first met her she was sweet, sedate and obedient. She was also 8 kilos overweight. Which for you and me, an extra 8 kilos may be a dress size up or down - it may be looking a bit lumpy around the middle instead of svelte and sleek. For a female beagle she was actually twice her recommended body weight.

So we bought Ginger home. We loved her. We walked her. In fact, all the older Freckles would run her up and down the park every afternoon. We loved her and put her on a weight loss regime. Little did I know that Ginger, like anyone who is carrying around twice her body weight. Had a true beagle inside her, just waiting for the kilos to come off and the real beagle to come out.

She began to act like all beagles. Inquisitive, overly friendly and with a sense of smell that means that if she gets a whiff of something she was off...... the first time she escaped she was picked up about 6 km's from our house. So myself and Miss Freckle set about fixing the fence again, and again, and again. Every time we patched up one hole, she found another. One time we were even at church when Miss Freckle and I saw a brown and tan lightning bolt dash past the window, sure enough another hole in the fence and another scent to follow.

She was eventually picked up and taken to the RSPCA. There she endured what for most dogs would be a sad and sorry overnight listening to the howls of other dogs. But for a beagle trying to re-live the adolescence she had never enjoyed, it was her version of heaven. So when the lovely ladies from the RSPCA suggested a companion for her, and in fact it just so happens they had a little pedigreed dog with grief issues. when I hesitated they said, just try him for the weekend and bring him back.

So I left the RSPCA with a hyperactive beagle, a fence to be fixed at home, torrential rain and a cavalier king charles spaniel on Prozac (I kid you not!).

We now have two dogs.....

We have officially failed as foster dog parents......

And now Ginger and JJ are huddled up contentedly in their kennel. JJ is being weaned off his Prozac and his anxiety only surfaces when he leaves Ginger's side by more that 30cm. And Ginger is happy because JJ still smells like RSPCA.

For the Freckle Family animal management chart:

http://www.felicityjd.com/#!footsteps--freckles/c207w

Watch this space and later in the week I'll go through how we organise the organisation of our fur babies!