Black cats are the best

<3 these cats

Don't know why the pictures are showing up in such terribly quality. They look great before I upload them!

A FAQ for Quinn, already?!

Thanks to Mary Shannon Johnstone's Facebook page Landfill Dogs, Quinn has suddenly gotten a surge of interest. I'm seeing a lot of the same questions, though, so I figure I can answer some of them here.

How is he with other dogs?
I've only seen him at length with three dogs: Honey, Baxter and Sienna. He's totally fine with Honey, who is a slightly dominant female from his pack. They're about the same size and his play drive is higher than hers and he plays a bit rough for her, but he's just a puppy at heart.

With Baxter and Sienna, two boxers, intros went well and play was fine until someone got up on the furniture, then Quinn became very possessive of the furniture and snarled at the other dogs when they got close. That was not at home. Here, he is not allowed on the furniture for that reason.

I suspect he would not do well with unaltered animals.

How is he with cats?
I didn't realize how stupid our 6 month old kittens were until they ran up to a strange dog with no introduction. He sniffed them and wagged, but didn't initiate play, didn't lick them, didn't chase them. Since he's been here, he has followed cats into corners and gotten slapped, but no major confrontations and he's just fine letting them be.

Is he good with kids?
I don't know. He hasn't been around kids, to my knowledge. If kids are anything like kittens, yes.

Is he trained?
He is house trained and crate trained. He has not pooped in the house, but he did pee in the kitchen for some unknown reason. It's the same exact spot his sister peed a week or so ago, so maybe he smelled it. He also peed on the porch a couple times; I suspect the neighbor dogs come onto our back porch when we're not looking and pee on our planters. He was just letting them know that we don't appreciate that.

When he's not playing, he needs to be in his crate, otherwise he can't relax and he just wanders around looking for something to do. He does not mind getting in the crate. We're working on transitioning from "crate" to "blanket", and there's already been improvement. He paced a lot his first night but slept soundly on his blanket the second night.

He hasn't had much in the way of obedience training, but we're working on "Come here", "Sit" and "Down". He very quickly learned to sit at meal time (like his sister) and lay down when he goes in the crate for a cookie. Otherwise, he's eager to please but not too bright.

Will you transport?
No. If an approved rescue pulls him, that's fine. Adopters can apply to the rescue and go that route. Otherwise, I will speak with potential adopters directly and do what screening I can on my own. Anyone not comfortable with lots of questions should not inquire.

Other fun things:

• He understands and pays attention to mirrors more than any other animal we've had. He will watch you in the mirror if he can't see you directly. It's not creepy at all.
• He went off-leash at his photo shoot and did just fine. He recall isn't great, but he eventually gets the idea. He likes to chase a ball but his endurance isn't great because he's been kenneled so long. His sister was the same way when she came out of the kennels, but now she runs like a champ.
• Being from a family of dogs I'm very familiar with, he gets more leeway than a new foster dog would normally get. Some of the family traits are: Good with dogs, good with cats, good with kids, good off leash, rare barking, rare jumping, not mouthy, friendly kissers, eager to please. So I assumed he would be house trained fast and assumed that he would be fine with the cats. I can't make those assumptions most of the time but he has not let me down.

Quinn

Quinn is a very special guy.

He has been in the shelter for 523 days. That is over half his life. Today was his last day in the shelter, if I have any say.

Quinn, formerly known as Pound, was part of a cruelty case involving him, our Honey, her seven puppies, one other adult and two puppies, plus Honey's seven pups who were born at the shelter. The case finally resolved one month ago and we immediately adopted Honey. All the dogs in the case were spayed and neutered and made available to rescues. Foolishly, no rescue stepped up to take these amazing dogs, so they made their way to the adoption floor.

All have been adopted except for Quinn, Kilo, Milli, and three that have spent most of their lives in foster, Buster, Boots and Bandit. Milli has been in foster for about 8 months, Kilo went into foster as soon as he was neutered, and the last dog from their group was adopted today. I want to emphasize what a big deal this is: These dogs spent a year and a half in their kennels, with rare walks outside. Honey was losing her mind in her kennel for six months before we took her last December. Pound and Kilo were the only dogs who never left the building for more than a day trip. No one wanted an unneutered male in their house, and who can blame them?

These dogs are now all in homes, either permanent or foster. This is a BIG DEAL. They are the sweetest, most obedient bunch of dogs you could ask for. They rarely jump or bark (outside the kennel), they are friendly with everyone, and they just have the best dispositions despite their situation.

We took a chance bringing Quinn home, and I'm very happy with our decision. He responds well to correction and has shown interest in the cats, but no aggression and he's been very gentle and respectful. He got a bit nutso playing with his sister, but they eventually settled down. He chewed on his blankets at first but quickly learned to lay on them, though we'll have to keep an eye on that bad habit. He smells terrible, but we can't fault him for spending a year and a half in the shelter and being a bit stinky. He'll be getting a bath tomorrow, hopefully.

He's adjusting pretty well and definitely has a love for belly rubs. I've never seen a dog flop over so much onto his back. He's a good dog, and I hope someone sees his potential.

Mamba

Space became a crisis issue at WCAC, so we took on another cat. Maui Wowie was at the center getting some exposure time, but I'm happy to say he made it into another foster home.

I brought home Mamba:

I prefer to let our foster animals freely mix and mingle with the rest of the family, but Mamba went on quarantine for the first few days. She's now out of her quarantine period but is perfectly happy to stay in her room, away from the pesky teenaged boys and the big scary dog. She doesn't even know that we now have two big, scary dogs...

Mamba is a terribly cute, petite girl at just 8 lbs and 1 year. She's extremely affectionate and loves attention. She's fine being held and loved on, and she entertains herself just fine. She's very, very happy to see anyone who comes through the door on two legs.

She doesn't appreciate the boys coming into her room and will play a little but mostly slap them around, showing them who's boss. She'd do okay in a house with other cats but they'd need to be laid back or willing to section the house out into queendoms. She is definitely bossypants.

Honey scares the daylights out of her. She scaled a nine-foot bi-fold door to escape the dog (who was just passing by), then couldn't think of a good way to get down. We got a stool to get her down, but we keep the dog away when she's out now. Her tail doesn't puff to four times its size anymore, but she is still very wary and prefers to keep to herself.

Regardless of her skills in the animal kingdom, Mamba would make a great companion for any person. She's friendly, active and playful, but also likes a good cuddle and attention from her humans. She's gentle during play, no matter how rowdy she gets (and she can get pretty rowdy). I basically fell in love with her immediately because of her big purr, her cute little round face and short little legs, and how happy she is to have a friend. I hope that she can find the loving, permanent home that she deserves. Please email me or comment if you're interested.

Full house

It's been a crazy few weeks here. We've moved and taken on more animals than anticipated. Haymitch and Elvis are still with us and in need of a home. We've adopted their sister Honey as a member of our family. We also added another cat, Mamba, a little spitfire female. Today I brought home Quinn, Honey's brother and fellow protective custody dog. There will be more entries to come, I hope.

Introducing these new animals, I'm seeing how soft our boys are.

They're great with Honey because she's a mommy, first and foremost. She's gentle and respectful with them, most of the time. They don't know how to handle Mamba, though, who is a scrappy girl from the streets who defends her bedroom like it's her little queendom. The boys just can't defend themselves properly; Haymitch is too fat and happy to be bothered to fight and Elvis is a gentle, loving boy. Neither know what to do with her when she gets slappy. And Honey has ruined them for dogs; they run up to new dogs like they have a new best friend, oblivious to the fact that they could get gobbled up. Lucky for them, Quinn is interested but not aggressive or too obnoxious.

I love these boys, but they need to get out of my house. Won't you take them?

Brotherly love

These two are best buds.

I'd love to see them go to the same home because they get along so well, but they would both do just fine in homes with other cats.

 

Please email me to meet them!

Meet Elvis

Elvis is an extremely handsome black kitten who is almost 6 months old. He came in as a stray but had such a sweet disposition that I had to bring him home.

He loves to play with his foster brother, Haymitch, who is also a 6 month old kitten looking for a home. They would make a great pair for adoption!

Elvis also likes the dog and is very tolerant of being licked. He loves people and will seek out attention, though he is not annoying. He sometimes hides when he is startled, but comes out quickly to greet his people. He is just fine with being held and loves to be pet.

Elvis is up-to-date on his vaccinations, neutered and ready to go home! Please email me with any questions or to set up a meeting.

Exposure time

Mr. Maui Wowie is back at the shelter to get some time on the adoption floor. Please go visit him and see what a great guy he is!