A new year's visitor

Realizing that I've lived here nearly 5 months now without even so much as visiting the local shelter, I made it my 2011 goal to start volunteering again. So, I trolled Petfinder and sent out a few feeler emails to local rescues that looked promising. You know, variations of, 'hey, I'm new in town, I work full time and can't do much, but I can do x, just let me know, etc'.

Thirty minutes later, I got a reply from one that was basically: "Funny you should ask: we have urgent need for temporary foster home."

And I was all, "Sure, when?"

Them: "Tonight."

Me: "Um... OK, why not?"

So, the day before New Years Eve, Tuffy showed up at my door.

All I know about her history is that she's a 6-month-old Yorkie mix who's been in foster for 3-4 months. She's a very nice little dog. Quiet, sweet, cuddly but not too clingy, bold enough to play with Zelda, who tends to intimidate other dogs, but doesn't try to kill the cats.

We had a rough first night; Tuffy cowered under the couch and growled when we approached. We kept the dog and cats away and let her sit there for awhile, occasionally tossing treats which she ate eagarly enough. Eventually, I forced the issue and we had a gentle but firm discussion about how growling and nipping were not acceptable (during which she realized that these new people were not, in fact, going to eat her), and since then we've gotten on great. She is supposedly more shy of men, but has taken to Tom (it may have something to do with the bacon he keeps slipping her). I've been feeding her rice, ground beef and cottage cheese which she gobbles down. No stomach issues so far.

Not surprisingly, Tuffy already has several applications in to adopt her. The rescue is just waiting for her to get spayed and a few days to recover.

The rescue, by the way, is called Mikey's Chance. I really like what I see so far, even though they go in for the pet "overpopulation" rhetoric. I hope to foster for them again in the future.