Might be my last post for Joy.

I wanted to get one last post in before she possibly goes to her forever home.  I wanted to share some of the pictures I took of her from doggy daycare the other day.

 Here she is playing with Dozer. They play hard and tire each other out. Tucker is on the left side.

  He is also a great dog who loves to play.

                                                    Joy taking a break at doggy daycare.

                                          Here they go again. 

                                          Resting again with Mr. Frog.

I love taking her to work with me. She has so much fun and gets everyone running because she just has to have a toy in her mouth and of course its the only one that all the dogs want. She just loves playing chase.  I will miss this girl so much.  I took care of her and her liter mates when they were only a few months old so have known her almost her entire life.  She has grown into such a sweet, kind, loving, smart, silly girl.  I will forever miss my Joy puppy.  Who is going to wake me up with kisses and stuffies?  It is always bitter sweet.  

Thank you for falling in love with her story and pictures Forever Family.  I know Joy is a lucky girl but not as lucky as you are. She is one of a kind.

Joy was the perfect party goer.

We had a good size 4th of July party here at the Funny Farm. I would say about 40 people.   I was a little nervous about all the dogs and all the food and all the people but everyone did great. Well, except for Badger who helped himself to some roasted lamb and rice krispie treats. I would have to say that Joy was the best behaved and loved.  All the kids loved to pet her and she loved the attention.  She gave many kisses and would lay on her side for belly rubs.   Almost every person mentioned how they couldn't believe no one had adopted her yet and how adorable and well mannered she was.  I don't think she jumped on a single person.  She just sat by either my side or anyone's side who had pet her.  Unlike Copper my Viszla who begged for food. I had to put Copper away because Great Oma was feeding him potato chips which of course he loved but is not part of his normal diet. 

As you can see I had a long leash attached to her because we kept the gate to the pool open for people to go in and out.  We do not have a fenced in yard. We have an electric fence but the collars we have are too big for Joy. Plus it takes a few days to train her on it and every time I think about doing it someone is interested in her. That's just the way it works. There was a family interested in her but they thought she was much smaller.  She is a medium sized dog weighing in at about 30lbs.  I personally think she is the perfect size.  My other dogs are 50lb- 70lbs.  I wish I had taken more pictures of her on the 4th but I was busy hosting and talking.  She even stayed down by the pool when my neighbors let off some huge fireworks.  I had put her inside when they started and it didn't seem to bother her so I let her follow me down to the pool for the rest.  She was a little nervous but laid down under the table and was fine.  I caught her looking up and tilting her head to the side like, "Wow, that's different."  
Forever family, you are getting a gem of a dog. Don't get me wrong, she will need some work but she is a total sweet heart and love.  She will be a wonderful family dog.  I am so excited for you all.

Thanks for thinking rescue!
Stephanie

Everyone Needs a Little Joy in their Life

It's true. Everyone needs a little Joy in their lives.  We certainly do here at the Schultz Funny Farm.  She is adorable from the minute I wake to the moments before bed. We, here at the Funny Farm really like our sleep so Joy sleeps best on our bed with Mr. Pumpkin the cat. She doesn't take up too much space and settles down nicely at the end of the bed.  She only wakes me up with kisses when it is time to eat in the morning. Then she jumps off the bed and runs to her kennel.  After breakfast she goes outside and then runs back and joins me in bed again. My husband is a morning person and gets up at 4 or 5 am. Ya, not me. Not at all. I crawl out of bed mostly at around 7 or 8 if I don't have to work.  

Now that the weather is warm I will drink my tea outside with Joy and watch her sniff or play. She is learning not to guard people or possessions. She's even started to play with Theo and Kinsey. She would rather get the frisbee but will let the other dogs get it and will chase them. I have to say she's pretty mellow for being a puppy. I believe she is 8 months old now.  

Last Saturday we had our Boy Scout Troop over for their swim tests before camp. There were a lot of people here. She did very good. She especially liked it when the little girl was petting her. She sat nicely and didn't bark or wasn't scared.  She actually settled down right next to me and just watched all the boys swim.  She is such a good girl.  I would keep her if I could but I have my own pack already and that's not what it's about. I save one dog at a time. That is all I can do. 
Please consider this sweet girl who is almost totally potty trained, loves kids, gets along with cats, and other dogs. Until then, I will love her and teach her how to be a good dog.

Thanks for thinking rescue!

Joy is Truly a Joy

What a sweet dog! She is great with my kids and greets them with kisses when they come home from school or when they wake up or when they enter the room.  Her first meetings with my cat Pumpkin went very well too. Although she was a little nervous when Pumpkin was rubbing up against her. She looked up at me like, "What is happening right now? What on earth is this dog thing doing?" After a few minutes she got some confidence and tried playing with him by play bowing and bopping him on the head. Pumpkin let her know that he didn't appreciate the paw to his head by smacking her a little and then when she didn't get that he bit her ear a little. Then it went back to sniffing by the both of them and Pumpkin rubbing on her. I told Joy it was ok and what a good girl she was being.  Now they snuggle on the bed at the same time.  If you have a cat, I can't promise the same will happen. My cat is used to dogs and isn't afraid of them since he thinks he's a dog himself.  If your cat runs I'm pretty sure Joy or any dog would chase. You would need to train the dog not to chase the cat. Sometimes it just takes a few swipes from a clawed cat to let the dog know that chasing isn't an option or possibly a spray bottle but it is work. Constant work. In my case I am lucky because I have a cat that isn't afraid or is just so used to dogs. My other dogs do chase him and we remind them that is not acceptable. He is also declawed so that's why he felt the need to use his teeth a little.

As I write, Joy is napping on a rug near me. 

 We have been outside a few times already today and every time she has gone potty outside. She is almost totally potty trained. Her signal is when she starts sniffing around a lot. So pay attention or take her out every few hours.  She loves to be outside and will go from the sun to the shade all day.  I had off from work yesterday and she was a great helper with weeding. I pulled and she either laid on the pile or sniffed and chewed the pile.  She's a good girl in that she sticks around and comes when called. Peace puppy knew when he wasn't hooked up to the rope and loved to just run. He wasn't too hard to catch though.  

Joy loves to snuggle just as much as her brother did. She also loves playing "fetch" with the frisbee. Sometimes she runs back to me and it's covering her eyes. It's a pretty funny site.  I took her inside the pool fence area and started teaching her that she can not just go in when she pleases and that the solar cover will not hold her.  We will work on that more as it warms up. Dogs are not allowed in the pool since we got the new liner. Claws and liners don't agree.  

She also loves to chew on hooves. She will just carry one around until she finds a good chew spot.  She is also learning pack mentality. She doesn't mind the other dogs and will run with them but I feel like she has started to guard me. We are teaching her that the other dogs can get pets from me if she is sitting at my feet. Peace puppy was this way too. He seemed to have a strong connection with me and didn't want me giving affection or attention to anyone else. He had to learn and so will she. I don't think it will take much but if you are thinking of adopting her and you have another dog you will want to be aware of this and work on this.  It takes time. Sometimes a lot of time and hard work. So be prepared. 

Enjoy the pictures and the video of Joy playing frisbee fetch and thanks for thinking rescue. 

Tuckered out after playing frisbee.

Morning tea with me.

Welcome Joy Puppy!

I have learned that I prefer chaos. My house was too quiet so I had to bring home Peace Puppy's sister, Joy Puppy. They look very similar but are actually quite different. For one, she's a female(lol). She is alike in the fact that the other big dogs scared her at first. The first meeting was not the best. She had "lesson time" as Lisa at the daycare says. She had to learn that charging at a dog when you first meet is not an appropriate behavior. She is still a puppy and has lots to learn.  The first few days are always a struggle. Especially for new adopters. You can not just think that the new dog will come in and absolutely love their new home. It takes time to get used to all the new smells and rules.  Many of the dogs we get are strays and have never either been in a home or had rules. It's just like if you move. Every city has their own set of rules and who knows, maybe you met your new neighbors and don't like them. Or they don't like you. After time you learn to live next to your neighbor and put up with whatever they do that annoys you. 

So less than 24 hours later Joy is pretty much an excepted pack member. Though everyone is tired because she whined for a while in her crate last night.  She settled down after about 10-15 minutes though. She is crate trained but won't go in until she sees that you've thrown the treat in. Smart girl. No fooling her. Only one accident too. Probably my fault. I should have taken her out like I first thought but wanted to relax for a bit after a long day.  My plan is to take her out every couple of hours to the same spot and tell her to "go potty." She should catch on fast. 

Here are a few pictures I took of her yesterday with one of her foster human brothers.

Kinsey is showing her the wood pile.

Theo is telling her where to find mice and sometimes rabbits.

Below Badger is keeping an eye out for her. 

Peace Found his Furever Home!

So happy for my little snuggle bug, Peace Puppy! He will absolutely love his new home. He will be spending a lot of time at a lake this summer where there are many friends to play with and adventures to be had with his Dad and human brother. This is why I foster. Saving one dog at a time. It's the best feeling in the world. 

Where is my forever family?

Peace Puppy has been with us for 4 months now. He really is a great little guy. Well, maybe not so little anymore. He weighs 24# now. He is such a sweet puppy. A little sassy sometimes but mostly sweet and super snuggly. Don't get me wrong, I'd keep him if I could but the bigger picture is to save,foster and love them then go home to their forever family and save, foster, and love the next. He is finally getting that we don't pee and poop inside. It seems that I have to ask him if he has to go potty and the answer is always yes. I just have to make sure to ask him every few hours. I think part of the problem is that we literally have five doors to our house. We used to have everyone go out through the mud room but it's a small space and not everyone is patient. We are working on it but it is difficult when there is a puppy involved that has to go really bad. So we switched doors for letting everyone out and in to reduce the crankiness a bit. I can tell you that I do not crate him when we leave. He is very good and has never had an accident when we are gone. He is also still sharing the bed with his cat friend at night. So here are a few cute pictures of him and Badger just hanging outside enjoying the weather and the couch.

Thank you for thinking rescue!