Holy cow, foster mom just pulled up my webpage and are you ready for this?  There is ANOTHER Christmas icon on my page!  Seriously, my own Christmas tree that every person will see when they go to my page, this just ROCKS!  Foster mom told me it's from my friend Peggy, we are extra good friends because one day she was holding my leash and I saw a bunny and promptly tried to dislocate her shoulder.  I have since learned that there are other ways to impress people, like showing them I know sit and shake, apparently the whole shoulder dislocation to impress was entirely unnecessary.  Peggy was a very good sport about it, and we became very good friends and will always have a special place in each other's hearts.  Thank you Peggy for believing in me and supporting me as I find my forever home!

On another note, I apparently have learned something new from watching the other dogs at this house.  Today one of the other dogs here, Rose, got in a bit of trouble.  She starting barking like a raving lunatic (foster mom's words, not mine) at some person walking in the park wayyyyyyy behind our house, and mom got this really stern tone in her voice and said "GO.TO.YOUR.BED."  I am kind of sensitive when people get mad so I didn't stick around to find out who was in trouble, I just did what she said:

As you can see, I'm a really good listener.

Anyway, I'm off to bed, goodnight everyone!

First and most importantly:  I just came back after spending 8 of the last 11 days out of town for a family funeral.  Imagine my surprise and COMPLETE happiness when I looked at Tank's RAGOM page and saw that he has a SPONSOR!  A wonder person, identified as "Rescued by a Golden" sponsored Tank "in memory of Tieran - my Tank."  What a wonderful way to pay tribute to a dog that provided someone with unconditional love.  Tank would like this person to know that he will do his very best to do the same for his family - he knows that there is someone out there who will love him so much they won't care about his bum leg because they are just too head over heels in love with him, and he plans to give them so much love they will never regret making him their dog.  THANK YOU to Tieran's generous owner for sponsoring Tank and realizing just how special he is.

Tank has had a busy few weeks.  He recently spent 4 days at another foster’s house while we were out of town.  I always feel horrible leaving my foster dog somewhere the first time because I worry they will feel like they have been dumped again, that I’ve given up on them.  I was worried he would get frantic again like he was when his family surrendered him.  Instead, he adjusted quickly when he got there and did great with their dog; the foster did not see any of the frantic or humping behavior we saw on his first night here.  She had a large fenced in yard and said Tank just loved going outside and would lay in the yard and take in the world.

When we returned after 4 days to pick him up, Tank’s reaction just melted my heart.  When we rang the doorbell the resident dog came and barked but Tank didn’t bother to come to the door.  We came inside, and when Tank heard our voices he came bouncing across the room and started crying and whining in happiness as he literally climbed into my teenage daughter’s lap and started licking her face.  He then ran back and forth between my daughter and myself, still crying and whining – he was SO happy that somebody came back for him.  This is why I foster:  when you love a dog enough, they start to understand the feeling of being loved forever and no matter what, and that starts to heal them. 

Now that he’s back home, Tank is all settled in with his dog and cat buddies again.  The other day we even found him and one of our resident dogs snuggled up in a bed together!  He loves to play with our Border Collie, and is very gentle in his play.  At night he has his bedtime routine:  after his last let out he comes up with the other dogs and hops on my bed while I read.  Once my daughter is ready for bed, she comes and gets Tank and one other dog and they go into her bedroom.  Tank waits for permission, then hops up on the bed and lays down by her pillow and puts his head by hers.  After she is asleep he’ll jump down to the floor and find a comfy spot to spend the night.

Medical update:   Today Tank saw a veterinary surgical specialist.  She was able to evaluate Tank's dislocated hip and give us very helpful information which I will try and summarize here but can provide in more detail to interested adopters.  In a nutshell, there is no way to tell if surgery will help or hurt Tank.  She was able to confirm that Tank's discomfort/pain from having a dislocated femur is minimal.  If he has high pain tolerance, she said he's still in minimal pain if it doesn't bother him enough to show it during everyday use.  He did let her know he didn't like the leg being fully flexed, but she said that could happen after FHO as well in the position she had pulled the leg into.  His muscle mass is 50% less in the dislocated femur since he doesn't put as much weight on that leg, either due to discomfort or just due to the geographic location of the bones now.  The good news, and really valuable information, is that by not doing the surgery we are NOT hurting Tank's good hip:  the strain on that hip would really be no different after surgery than it is now.  So if I boil it down here is what this means:  Tank doesn't need surgery right now.  Whether he will need it down the road is impossible to predict.  The specialist has seen the leg, and there is nothing in what she saw that tells her he will or won't need it.  If he did need surgery years down the road, the cost is around $3,000.  As a potential adopter for Tank, you need to be OK with the possibility of him needing surgery.  But, it is just as possible that Tank will live a happy life and not need surgery for his dislocated femur.

We will keep updating you on Tank’s progress.  If you are interested in Tank please contact placement, and just a reminder - he needs a physical fence in his forever home!