the chicken

With great sadness

Sweet Alice aka Honey Buzz got her wings on Saturday.  She had such a short time on this earth. Now she is chasing bunnies in the sky. Run free my Sweet Alice....

">Memories of Alice

Alice through the looking glass

Alice is outside, never mind the state of my windows...

She wants to be inside..

After a few fruitless but comical attempts to climb through the window she came back in through the old fashioned door thing for one last night at Chicken Manor.

This morning she went to another foster home. Usually this would result in Patch throwing a sulk.

Not today! With Alice safely in the car I magically produced a greyhound I had prepared earlier.

Ginger had actually been in the laundry since I picked her up last night.

Before you think that I am horribly mean for keeping her there while the other two were inside I must explain a few things about Ginger.

Firstly, when I picked her up it was a matter of physically removing her from the furthest corner of the Ute that she was hiding in. Then half an hour of coaxing to get her OUT of the car at the other end. She is basically petrified of everything that moves, makes noise or looks at her sideways.

I didn't think unleashing Alice and Patch on her would be fair. I want her to settle in and feel safe. That would have been too much for her. So she spent the night in the laundry. I found her this morning with a little penguin soft toy next to her head... small comforts for a scared puppy.

We have had some interesting dogs. There was Blaze the Lazy

So laid back I kept checking that he was still alive.

And Little Dory, the pretend greyhound. She was quiet but nowhere near as timid as Ginger.

We have had over the top dogs, Banjo who made me laugh so much I pulled something.

And a whole range of those in between. They have all had their own little personalities and quirks, all have been gorgeous dogs. Giving up fosters is always hard, some more than others. I think Ginger will be a tear jerker. She has such a long, long way to go, and each little milestone will be rewarding. This is going to be hard work and require patience. If she comes out of it with a waggy tail then it is all worth it.

Ginger's journey will be an experience, for all of us. Patch is doing her bit by being sweet and kind and showing her that life here is pretty good.

She is even allowing her to have her toys. This makes me proud as she DOES NOT share toys.

Given time I think Ginger will be just fine.

Run Chicken Run!

Alice is a bit slow on the uptake. Some days she remembers that she must not chase The Chicken, other days she forgets.

Everyday is a good day to chase Patch though. We go to the dog park, Patch plays with another dog and Alice is in there like a shot. Not to join in, simply to claim Patch as hers and direct her away from the other dogs.

Alice does not share well. She is a sleep barker, if Patch stretches in her sleep and bumps Alice there is barking.

Good news is that she has worked out beds!

And found the toy stash... not so good. Patch is very protective of her toys, especially her helicopter. Ally finds the helicopter a little disturbing, she will be throwing it around and mouthing it and all of a sudden it will make noises. (like a helicopter, funnily enough!) At this point she looks at it like it is venomous and backs waaaay off.

Maybe I should put one of those into Chicken and set it to go at random intervals, that should deter her, then again, some of them love to make the toys squeak so could end in tears!

Speaking of The Chicken I found a picture of his mum the other day.

Isn't that just the cutest thing?

Alice The Camel had Two Humps..

Then Patch had had enough and told her in no uncertain terms "NO means NO! Get off me!" 

Sulking cause she got told off

A bit sad really, she is just misunderstood

and wanted to make a good impression!

Highly amusing for me, not Patch. From what I have been told it is not a sexual thing, it is a dominance thing. Alice is trying to screw her way to the top of the ladder.... don't think it's going to work out. Patch has firmly stamped herself on everything, and everyone here.

She has even managed to nose her way into Pete's heart. I mentioned that Alice may not just be temporarily staying. He looked at me and said "Are you kidding?" Just as I prepared to tune out while I got the standard lecture about "You can't just keep them all, blah blah blah" I heard something that made me almost choke in astonishment. Went a bit like "But she bites Patch! You can't keep a dog that bites Patch"

Fortunately what he means by that is that Alice's idea of playing is to nip at Patch's back legs to stir her up. Works wonders and they romp around until Patch has had it with being thumped by a bigger, sillier dog and growls at her. This is ok too, they then settle down and all is well.

They are really quite ok with each other, Alice just plays rough.

Patch being the drama queen she is plays up the fact that she gets a bit overwhelmed to score one on one mum time with me. I indulge this cause I love it too.... shouldn't reinforce the behaviour but who could turn down this face?

Meanwhile Alice is in time out with a muzzle on so she will stop throwing toys around. This is what she has to say about the whole deal:

Arguing will get you nowhere my dear, the sooner you are quiet for a few minutes the sooner you can come out of there... 

Fine! But she started it and I did NOT bite her ear, she did that herself... wha? I don't know how she bit her own ear... No, she really did... It WAS NOT ME!

It's ok Alice, I still think you are lovely, you just have a screw loose and no impulse control, but we can work with that!

Night Raid!!!!

Alice had a few attempts at chasing The Chicken, then barking at him. She had not put together the evil spitting thing with claws and the fluffy running thing. Chicken has now seen to that and she doesn't dare look sideways at him, let alone utter a sound.

Usually I like to think I have a hand in making sure they are all getting on. I supervise, I muzzle just in case. Then sometimes I have to sleep. This is where they take it upon themselves to sort out what's what.

I woke up to a sad and pathetic whimpering, yelping kind of deal. From what I can gather Alice chased fluffy running thing, which then turned into evil spitting thing with claws. Startling realisation for her and much smugness from The Chicken.

I went back to bed. Odd noises got me up again.... the girls thought it was playtime! Is tough to pick things up when you are wearing a muzzle. You can still bat things around the room with your paws though! I found the T.V remote, the (luckily empty) water bowl and various other items strewn across the floor and two TOTALLY innocent looking dogs. Hmmm, removed all items that they could move with paws/jaws etc. Then spotted my new book, or should I say, what was left of it...

I kind of had to admit that was Patch's doing, there are some things that can't be achieved whilst wearing a muzzle.

I ended up fencing Alice into the small area with the fish tanks in the hope they would settle down and I could sleep. It worked and we had a quiet night after that.

Alice is slowly getting the hang of the comfy bed thing. She now rests her paws on them!

Patch is a creature of habit, she knows that everyday at the same time we go for a walk. Well, yesterday we didn't quite make it. I had the beginnings of a nasty migraine and didn't think driving with a bucket load of codeine in my system was a good idea. So Patch thought SHE could drive...

I felt so mean, she sat there for so long looking hopeful she ended up going to sleep.

On the positive side though I have now worked out that I can fit 3 dogs in the car since she can sit in the front!

Alice, Alice, who the %$&# is Alice?

Our new dog!

Phoebs went today, and Alice arrived in Chickenland.

I think I am seriously in danger of failing fostering 101 (the part where you give them up!) AGAIN....

She is just gorgeous. Our first fawn dog. She has the mascara and everything. If I attached her back half to Patch's front half I would get a perfect set of white go-go boots!

Forgive the muzzle and the odd light, first night and the cat muzzle doesn't fit her delicate little head. She is also sitting under the fish tank, making for weird light.

She is fascinated by the fish.

With any luck she will sit and watch them and be lulled into a sleepy trance...

Her first encounter with The Chicken scared her a bit. Hoping this will set the standard and she will learn to leave well enough alone. Patch wasn't too impressed with Alice's reaction as she backed away swiftly, turned tail and promptly hid her head under Patch's tummy. I was too busy laughing to disentangle them so poor Patch had Alice trying to use her as a greyhound shield. Alice is bigger than Patch so Patch was balancing on her front paws while Alice tried to hide.

She hasn't quite got the hang of the comfy bed thing yet, has chosen the floor over the beds so far.

I'm sure it won't take long for her to work it out.

She is dying to get to the toys, keeps looking at them and nudging them.

Patch watched this and then preceded to run round the living room with her helicopter. Her way of saying these are MY toys, bugger off. She has also moved to the large bed (actually a single mattress) in the main living area where she would normally be out by the fish. She hasn't been on that since she first arrived. I think she is trying to make a point.

There has been no growling or anything, just a blatant display that all that is here belongs to Patch and Alice is just a visitor. This is a change in Patch, before she would cosy up to the fosters and share everything, except toys! I suppose she has now realised that she stays and they go and is possibly a little commitment shy as we have had a few dogs lately for only a short period of time.

Well, hoping to have Alice for a reasonable length of time (like um, forever maybe?) so we shall see how it all goes.