My Last Minute Teeny Weekend Guests

Well, what was supposed to be a nice, productive Saturday and Sunday turned out to be quite a busy and crazy weekend. After just celebrating the one-year anniversary of my fun side project, Thought Out Twinkles jewelry line, my plan was to spend the weekend diligently in my studio/guestroom/foster pet room working on new pieces for spring. But with a quick one word “sure” text response to a foster request on Thursday night, my plans quickly changed.

Because I’m in medical sales and drive close to 1000 miles a week in the Carolinas, I typically spend Friday afternoons working from home. But last Friday after working in Columbia, SC, I made the trek to the very sad animal shelter in rural Chesterfield, SC to pick up two itty-bitty pug mix puppies who had been surrendered by their owner. I wasn’t supposed to pick them up until Saturday, so I had left the house Friday morning without a crate. Now, let me tell you that over the 2 1/2 years since I started fostering and transporting shelter animals, I have accumulated five cat carriers, and a small, medium, and large wire dog crate because often it is a last minute trip, and I end up having to buy something to transport the foster babies home in. Well, I have now added a bright red nylon foldable soft-sided crate to my arsenal. After swinging through Walmart in Camden, SC to pick that up, I drove on to Chesterfield.

When I arrived and walked into the shelter trailer office, I am immediately started squealing the second I saw the two teeniest little faces staring out at me from a crate with their tails wagging.  After talking to the volunteers, and learning about how these two precious babies ended up at the shelter, I left with mixed emotions. Angry and upset that the person who surrendered the puppies refused to surrender the mom or allow the shelter to spay her for free, but very grateful that the puppies would not be spending a single night in that dilapidated, cold, dark shelter. The first half of the trip, Levi and Alexi stared at me, wagged their tails like crazy, and talked to me quite a bit. Second half of the trip, they were passed out sleeping like babies. Once we arrived home, I set up my large metal dog crate in my guest bathroom with blankets, and gave the babies food and water. Well, I will tell you that the babies did not spend much time in the crate over the weekend. I mean, honestly, how could you say no to these little faces.

I also quickly remembered about how small puppies’ bladders are because these two little ones literally peed and pooped every 30 seconds the entire weekend. I have three cats of my own who spent most of Saturday and Sunday sniffing under the door trying to figure out what type of cats those were because they looked so foreign and different. We had lots of visitors on Saturday who came to “ooh and ahh” and cuddle with the little babies. During a catch-up with one of my friends who brought her new puppy to meet Levi and Alexi, she turned me on to the fact that TJ Maxx, Ross, and Marshalls all have entire aisles of awesome treats and toys for pets so I headed to TJ Maxx (the closest one to me because the needy kids didn’t like to be left alone very long), and picked up some goodies for them. By the time I finally sat down to work on my jewelry Saturday night, I had two zonked out puppies on my lap. They were so sleepy that even when I set them in their crate for the night, they barely let out a peep.

Sunday was spent exploring the outdoors and having “berserkies”* in the quad in my development. Monday morning came quickly, and we started our trek up to Asheville to meet their two-week foster before they head to their rescue group in New York to find their forever homes. Levi and I had an intense staring contest for most of the drive. Again, the first half of the trip they bounced around like popcorn in the crate, and the second half they were spent and slept soundly until we pulled into the shopping plaza to meet their next foster. It’s always bittersweet saying goodbye to your foster babies whether you have them for a day or three months, but it’s such an amazing feeling to know you are part of the village who is working together to save their lives. If you love animals, I highly recommend getting involved because it is one of the most rewarding experiences and totally worth sacrificing a little free time to help those who can’t help themselves. And honestly, who doesn’t want to play with puppies and kitties from time to time!

 

*Berserkie: 1) when a dog runs around like crazy like they’re showing off for their friends 2) One of of the funniest things to watch ever

Add to favorites  

Youtube: