Our Rescue Pup's First Week - Kathryn Knight

Tomorrow (Friday) will mark one week since Otis arrived (his initial story here).  Last Friday morning my husband met the transport van in a parking lot in Vermont, and Otis began the last leg of his 24+ hour ride to his forever home.  He had experienced car sickness on short trips with his foster mom, but he did remarkably well on his long journey.  After some get-acquainted play time, I gave him a bath.  Then he curled up with my husband for a rest.

We started out the first night with crate training, something I've never done before but now can't imagine why not.  He was a bit nervous at first, but I had the crate in our bedroom, and he could see my husband and myself, along with our older dog Winston.  He did really well and slept through the night.

The crate is invaluable in terms of keeping Otis (and our house) safe while we're not at home.  Now he will go right in and lie down without a sound.  Dogs do not like to make a mess in their "den" and he has had no accidents in his crate.

Potty training has been a bit of a struggle this first week, but we are getting in the grove.  He absolutely understands peeing outside (he's a mix of some smart breeds).  The other part is a little more complicated, but he's getting it. 

Winston & Otis

So far he is very attached to our senior dog Winston (another rescue, Winston came to us when he was about 2 years old and is now about 11 or 12).  Unfortunately for Winston, Otis enjoys trying to rough house with him.  But Winston is making out well for himself...more walks, extra treats, lots of attention. 

The cat is not quite ready to make friends.  But when Winston arrived 9 years ago, he chased our cat everywhere.  Another older adopted dog did the same.  And eventually our cat put them both in their place.  So I'm confident the two of them will work out a truce soon.  Right now they are about the same size - which is actually not always a good thing, as Otis can crawl under a bed or fit through a cat door!  The cat is mostly taking refuge up on beds...Otis can't jump that high.  Yet.

Our #Rescue Pup's Journey - Kathryn Knight

Otis's Petfinder Profile Pic

Meet Otis, the puppy we are rescuing!  It's been a long time since we adopted a puppy - usually I try to adopt older dogs, as they have a tougher time finding forever homes.  But when I saw this guy on Petfinder.com, I fell in love.  As of Thursday night, the time of this post, he is riding the rescue transport from Alabama to New England.

He and his brother, Milo, were found running down an interstate with their mother.  A kind soul stopped and herded all 3 dogs into her car before they could get hit and took them to a vet's office.  Otis and Milo (lol) were estimated to be about 8 weeks.  Their poor mamma was in very bad shape, extremely malnourished and sick.  But the puppies had been nursing, so they were faring OK.  The mother stayed at the vet's to recover, and the puppies had to deal with an immediate weaning as they went off to a foster house to await adoption.

The guess is that Otis and Milo are part Border Collie, part Retriever, and possibly something else.  I've always wanted a Border Collie--I've heard they are super smart.  And since right now I have a senior dog and an older cat in the house, I know my 2 sons are anxious for an animal that will play with them.  The timing seemed right.

The puppies at their Foster Mom's house

Otis is the smaller dog and was getting picked on a bit by Milo.  We had already completed the paperwork and were anticipating his arrival when we got some bad news.  Milo got a very high fever and was diagnosed with parvovirus, which is very contagious in dogs.  It is dangerously fatal if untreated, but Milo was immediately put into the vet's care.  Now we had to wait to see if Otis would come down with it too.  As they spent all their time together, I feared the worst.

He spent an additional 2 weeks with his foster mom, and amazingly, he did not catch parvo.  Thankfully, Milo recovered and went to another foster house until Otis was cleared for transport.  On Monday he got his clean bill of health, and early Friday morning, we meet the rescue van in Vermont to pick up our new sweet boy. 

I'm so grateful to Sheryl, the foster mom who took such great care of Otis, and continues to love and care for Milo and the 13 other dogs at her house awaiting adoption.  I imagine it must be very hard to love, feed, and sometimes nurse dogs back to health, and then let them go.  People who do this kind of thing to keep animals out of high-kill shelters and increase their chance of adoption are truly special and selfless.

I envision a lot of moments in the next few months where I question my sanity, but mostly I anticipate all the laughter, joy, and happiness Otis will bring.  And I'm already trying to come up with ways to gain forgiveness from both my calm senior dog and my domineering cat.  Wish me luck.

(See "Our Rescue Pup's First Week") for an update!)



Otis's foster mom sent me pictures and videos while we waited