Bixby is really all leg, isn’t he? Love this dog. He’s maturing into a big sweet couch potato. He has his favorite tug towels and his favorite stuffies – he prefers the ones gifted to him by friends. We spend our days walking, working and visiting friends. As far as he is concerned a play date does not have to include another dog – he’s happy to tag along with any one of my friends.

His latest desire is for Jake (here) to play tug with him. He will bring his blue tug towel to Jake and go into play stance, tail wagging and trying like anything to get him to play with him. If cats could roll their eyes…

Tux (front) and Boots (back)

Our latest adventures include LFern. In the fall, LFern and Mr. LFern lost their beloved belgian tervuren shepherd. LFern decided that she wasn’t ready for a new dog and Bixby visits weren’t enough to fill the void, so she began volunteering at the local shelter. Walking dogs and cuddling kitties turned into fostering dogs in need. The two above are her second run at it. Her first one, Denali, was successfully adopted after a month of recovery from surgery with the LFern family. Denali and Bixby had a great play date and so happy she’s in her forever home.

Yesterday, it was time for a new play date with the two new fosters. Tux and Boots. Full disclosure, Tux completely stole my heart and if we were moved and not still in such a small place, I’d have few excuses not to bring him home.

These guys are very sweet, but very timid. Tux more so than Boots. A great big Dane was a little much for them. So we let Bixby do his thing and they sat around and watched him. I was pleased that Bixby learned their squeals of “get the heck away from me”, and he heeded them. He was happy to go play by himself. This gave them time to become comfortable with him. While they were never quite ready to play with him, they did let him give them a good sniff and they sniffed back.

Watching Bixby with curiosity

I was happily surprised that Bixby allowed me to play with these guys with nary a hint of jealousy. Which gave Tux plenty of time to win my heart. Both dogs are great – Boots is very outgoing and very intelligent – he’s going to be a great companion. He’s got a lot of Bixby energy. Which is probably why the quieter, more thoughtful energy around Tux drew me in. One can only have so many “Bixbys” in their life.  LOL. He will have no problem finding his forever home, either.

I’m hoping we get another play date before they go back to the shelter, but if not, we look forward to the next foster.

LFern and Mr. LFern are doing amazing work here and these are some lucky dogs. If you have room in your home, most shelters are desperate for fosters to help socialize animals so they are more likely to get adopted. Try it out. Another friend of mine fostered kittens for several months until they found two they wanted to adopt. In the process they helped many, many other kittens socialize and grow big enough for adoption. Her kids loved it.

Bixby and I are headed out into the big wind (gusts of 60+ mph predicted). He makes a good anchor. LOL. Until next time ….