little mouse and meatball share their home with foster dogs of all kinds. recently, they have been working with dove, a little girl with a big heart.
little mouse here. i was a foster dog once. it's not an easy shtick at all.
one minute i was with my person- the next, sitting in a shelter wondering where he went...and where the hell would i hang my extensive wardrobe?!?
such is the case for millions of animals every year...many of them don't make it out of the shelter system. this is why mom and dad started motley zoo.
i am grateful i landed in a good place- and so did my foster sister, dove.
dove came from california, pregnant. she came with another mom (lucinda) and 3 puppies that were already bigger than she or lucinda- but who looked so much like them.
mom thinks they came from a "hoarding house"- one where animals have been living without structure, rules, guidance or socialization- and have not been spayed/ neutered.
this means there are lots of animals who are usually scared of people- they only know the other animals and the home they grow up in...often they have not been handled or even been outside.
this was pretty clear in dove's case.
dove shied away and halfheartedly nipped at mom when she handled her- and she barked at dad. she would run away and hide- or when mom went to pick her up, would roll over on her back submissively. she was never aggressive, mom and dad just had to go slow to earn her trust.
what complicated things further is that dove was pregnant. she had a really terrible birth and subsequent emergency c-section where all but 2 babies died. dove herself nearly died post-surgery to boot...mom was very stressed.
“mom thinks they came from a "hoarding house"- one where animals have been living without structure, rules, guidance or socialization- and have not been spayed/ neutered.”
dove was so sick for a while so mom had to bottle feed the babies, but thankfully she started to feel better and began taking an interest in being a mom...she was able to make milk and eventually take over fully, which was good for mom because she was SO. TIRED.
dove started to open up as she began to feel better.
despite being so undersocialized, dove has a lot of personality and she's really sweet. she loves mom and does a little circus routine any time she sees her- she even smiles submissively just like my late sister, zelda, used to. not a lot of dogs do this, so this certainly endeared dove to mom and dad even more...
but mom and dad are fosters more than adopters. as amazing as dove is, mom and dad want to share the love and help her find her forever home.
dove has come a long way and she is currently living in a foster-to-adopt home. this isn't always the case, but in dove's case, this is a good opportunity for her if she proves to be the right match for the family.
stay tuned to hear more about dove and her progress.