Getting to know Sprite

Getting to know Sprite... 

She has mellowed a bit since bringing her home... I think she built up a lot of energy and being in the crate and it just had to work itself out...

That being said... She does love to play... She will play by herself and she readily found the toybox on her own last night and brought all the toys out one by one to test their play-worthiness.  All were winners for a least a minute in her book!  

She also loves to play with you and isn't super mouthy and enjoys getting the belly rubs.  She  also tried to entice my Sasha last night into play but running at her, getting a growl and then running away..repeat repeat repeat...Sasha is quite tolerant of her when she is calmer, but doesn't like those shenanigans. ;) 

Right now she is napping in my lap, sorta under the laptop.  She slept quite as a peep in her crate last night but happy and excited to get out this morning. 


We have started her on her housetraining and will be working on teaching her the doggie door.

Sprite Makes it to Yakima!

Sprite is here!  She is about a year old and super cute!  She's had a busy couple of days being transported up from California, overnight in Seattle and then a nice volunteer Alex met me up in CleElum and then on we went to Yakima!

Considering all the transporting, she is in good spirits and sure enjoyed getting out the crate!  She immediately ran up to everyone, giving kisses and she's a bit of jumper, wanting to be held. 

A bath at home, meeting my dog Sasha and getting to the know the place, she ran around checking everything out and now she is napping!  She is showing herself to be pretty sweet and she sure wants to be buddies with Sasha though she already shown that she is not above stealing a toy if Sasha is not watching.

Sidney Update

Sidney, aka Aela, is growing up so fast!  This cute little girl is now 7 months old.. She gets to go hiking and running which is good cause she is busy with lots of energy!  She's also a fan of the good ol' rip all your toys to shreds!  It sure is fun to watch her grow up. She was such a little thing and only 4 months when I fostered her and now look at her! 

I'm Adopted!!!

Yep, it happened, Sabrina got herself adopted by a great couple and will be livin' life over in Western Washington... Her new dad is planning on taking her to work everyday with him and she's got herself a cat sibling to boot. 

I'll miss this sweet little thing, but she's got such good things in store for her, I couldn't be happier and excited for her new beginnings!

This was my morning with her after her bath... She was helping make the bed... 

Two weeks and another little girl, Sprite will be heading over to sunny Yakima for fostering.. until then...

Two Baths!

Gave Sabrina a bath and what does she do?  Yep, find something nice and smelly to roll in... Here comes bath number #2!  This seems to be the spot, a lot of fosters like to roll in the spot.

Even my Sasha got in the action in the same place... It was fun to see her all wiggly.. haven't seen it in a while!

Lots of Baths are in order today! 

De-Coned!

Well that didn't last long (to me at least, we'll have to ask Sabrina) but she's all healed up and no longer needs her cone...

What she does need is neck scratches

Though she prefers someone do them for her

And she is a happy girl!

She did amaze well with the cone barely missing a beat.  She right now is enjoy nibbling on her nails which she has not been able to do since Monday! 

Ms. Cone

Poor Sabrina - a trip to the vet today... a little owie where she was healing from her spay (3 months ago) just kept opening up... A search for a left behind stitch that didn't dissolve, irrigation and some antibiotics and she is back on the road to recovery... However, she will be Ms. Cone for the next week while her owie heals up... 

She did great though - body wiggles and offers of kisses to anyone who got near her.  One young woman gave her lots of head and neck scratches and she was in love with that!

While she didn't enjoy the vet messing around with the owie, not a peep out of her and her tail barely stopped wagging the whole time.  He even offered the vet a kiss!

Sabrina at the vets

 She was however a bit perturbed at me and wouldn't look at me in her booster seat on the way home.  The vet, the cone, back in the car in the booster seat, she was probably wondering what was next... so foster mom guilt stepped in and I stopped by Starbucks and a coffee for me, a PUP cup for her and we were BFF's once again!

She is doing great... she can use the doggie door and eat with her cone.  I am hoping for a fast recovery now with a clean owie, antibiotic, a cone and no more licking! 

Sabrina Fun Fact:  She nibbles her own toe nails, yes... However, she will also nibble your nails and toenails if you let her!

Lemme See!

I was out of a town for a day and went I came back it was lots of greets from Sabrina who wanted to sit on my lap and get kisses... Or so I thought!  She sure is pretty though!

 Turns out she was just interested in what was outside and wanted to see out the window.  She climbed over me on the chair to see outside... Cassie said the day before she tried to same maneuver but without someone in the chair, she couldn't quite manage it... So while I'm happy to help her, I figured a butt shot was in order!  I think it was worth it for the both of us!

Pillowcase=FUN

New fun fact of Sabrina - she loves to snuggle IN pillowcases...

She also likes to play with you from inside them!  

 

 And she will poke out from them for some kisses!

The Ears Have It!

So rat terriers are known for their ears... Some are upright, some are down, some are big and some are small... Sabrina has cute little "button' ears...   that being said... She got a thing for her toys with ears and insists on chewing them off!  What is up with that? It doesn't matter to her is they are upright, down, big or small - ALL are chewable to her!

This red dog toy is about to lose his ear or ears!

Why the left ear and not the right? 

 Skittles brought a mouse with him when he was visiting,  Sabrina ate its ears!

She is really loving her crate these days.... She goes in it when she wants to nap, hide a toy or just to chew on an antler in private (without anyone staring at her - umm..sasha!)  and she stays in it at night without the door being closed (though you can close it too and she is fine with that too).   Now she is more than happy to come for a nap or a snuggle under the covers too but just at ease with napping in the crate.

Lots of people have opinions about if they likes crates or not.. My own dog, I never crated except when I first brought her home and was potty training about 8 years ago.  I couldn't wait to have the potty training done so she wouldn't have to be crated.  But through fostering these past two years,  I have learned the positive of crates, not just for potty training and while they are learning the household routine.  It's great to give them safe comfy space that is their own... It's really great when they see their crate as their own little bedroom to keep things, hide things or go to when they are tired or even scared of something.  

Doggie Door Master

She will snuggle under blankets when it's cold! 

Cassie worked with her on Wed - and guess who mastered the doggie door?  That's right!  SABRINA!  She just needed to be shown a few times how it worked and now she is a doggie door master and can come and go as needed... 

She got a day of beauty also (thanks Cassie!) and got her nails trimmed and a bath with some nice oatmeal shampoo... She's not a fan, but she does okay with both.  She was quite goofy afterwards by rubbing herself all over the place.. especially scooting around on the rug which is hysterical and little does she know, guarantees lots of baths (haha)!  See the below videos for goofy cuteness!

Sabrina After her Bath!  and one more Sabrina after her Bath 2

Visiting the Pet Store

 First stop - try on a hat!  OMG - cute!  She didn't really like but kept it on long enough to take a picture! 

She was excited to check out the pet store... lots of amazing smells for her I am sure.  She wanted to meet all the dogs so we had to hold her back a bit from going directly up to them.  She meet all people with wags and enjoyed all the attention she got.    We also got a harness for her that fit better for her!

She did like to check out what is UNDER the shelving, in case there was more interesting things under there!  Maybe she knows something we don't!

She is really friendly and just loves to go out wherever and whenever she can...  She got a pizzle stick for being so good for the trip home and she was happy girl!

Gimme a sit!

So, whose got "sit" down pat?  That would be Sabrina!  Immediately on cue when Cassie asked for a sit - she's knew exactly what's to do... It's like a light bulb went off!
                                                       
                                                          I just love this picture of her! 

Oh and she does loves some feet! Almost (but not quite) as good as a treat!

 
We are working on teaching her the doggie door.   She is house trained and goes to the door but hasn't figured out the in and out of the flap to the doggie door yet. 

Sabrina's Weekend Travels

So we bid Skittles a fond farewell as we drove him up to Cle Elum to reunite back with his mom this afternoon.   I sure enjoyed him this past week... It was good to see him and hang out with him!  Sabrina enjoyed him too and even Sasha didn't mind to see this little man back again.

Sabrina is great in the car, both in the crate and in the dog booster seat.  She tolerated a lot of road trips this weekend like a champ - 300 miles at least!  

She is also learning to "sit" and is getting that is gets her a treat!  We are going to continue to work on that :)

Another fun fact.. She likes to nibble her own toenails!  Maybe that means we won't have to clip her nails as often!

 Now how sweet does she look?  LIke an angel I think.  These pictures were from yesterday after the fun trip to see Jake and Milla... Sabrina was so worn out from all the playing!

Road Trip and Meeting Old Friends!

What a busy day!  Down to Pasco to visit a former foster Sammy, now Jake and his sibling, who was another NR foster Chevette, now Milla.  Jake and Milla are doing so great and are best buds.  Jake is the big brother and Milla follows his lead, but he is also a push over for Milla and plays with her whenever she wants.  They are adorable together.  It was good to see Jake.  He's so confident these days and you can tell he is home.  Milla, a little shyer of the two, has gotten so big and once she had time to take in the new visitors, she came out of her shell and was quick to join in all the play.

Milla with her two ear poses, folded back and dropped.  Mom says sometimes an ear goes up but usually they are down.

Gary was quite the dog whisperer.. 

Sabrina was quite enamored with him and visited him often. 

 Skittles too, came by regularly to visit and get pets from him!

Of course Jake and Milla had to get their pets in too!

 All the dogs had lots of fun chasing each other and doing rattie runs.   I think they good have gone on for hours more... Jake and Sabrina had a lot of interaction and play by themselves but at various times some or all of them got in on the action.   was a beautiful day and they had a big yard and just enjoyed the weather and playing...   Mostly Skittles held back preferring lap time, but even he had to join in for a few chases and rattie runs and of course got some back rubbing in on the grass in... I do think that Jake and Skittles (who were my former fosters at the same time for quite a few months) recognized each other since Skittles had no problems interacting with them from the moment we arrived.  It was cute seeing them together again and seeing how they have both gained so much confidence in themselves.  Yeah for their people!  I couldn't be happier for them.

 While Skittles was a bit of a whiner on the trip down (took about an hour), he immediately crashed out in the booster seat on the trip home and not a peep out of him for the whoe trip back.  Sabrina, while quiet on the trip down and back, was so tired that when we got home, she didn't want to come out of the crate, preferring to continue her nap!