This post is a little slice of life here as of late…with a few recipes thrown in for good measure!
A few Fridays ago, I had just finished lunch and was staring down a few hours of work at my computer. It was a beautiful day, a day that beckoned one to be outside enjoying it, not sitting inside gazing at a screen. A short walk felt like the right form of procrastination before hunkering down and getting to work.
At the end of the first block, I saw a neighbor, who was outside with a rescue puppy she was fostering. She said, “Ann, come meet Billie!” Who could refuse a visit with a cute puppy?
The puppy, a border collie mix with, the vet guessed, some black lab in her, was abandoned with her three siblings in Puerto Rico. They were quite literally starving when someone found the four puppies and left them in the parking lot of a veterinarian’s office, which contacted a rescue organization by the name of Safe & Sound Satos. (Satos, by the way, is an affectionate name given to abandoned dogs in Puerto Rico, one of the many places where the stray dog population is a problem. In the Bahamas and Turks & Caicos, the term is potcake－which, fun fact, comes from the practice of feeding leftovers, specifically the caked-on rice and beans from the bottom of the family cooking pot, to these dogs.)
Through an amazing network of volunteers, Billie made it to Lancaster, where she was cared for by a foster family－and I literally stumbled upon her on my walk! From the minute I held this puppy, who was estimated to be 10 weeks at the time, I was struck by her calm demeanor and sweet disposition, despite all the trauma and change she had experienced to date.
After our visit, I offered to take the puppy with me on my walk. Puppies may be adorable, but they are a lot of work, and I figured Olivia, the foster mom, might appreciate a short break. All the while, I was thinking, “This feels like my dog!”
So, I figured, why not bring the puppy home and introduce her to my husband…who looked at me with an expression that clearly said, “What on earth are you thinking?”
To shorten a long story, we spent time with the puppy over the weekend and by Sunday we had adopted her. I have a brother named Billy, and the puppy wasn’t yet responding to her name (she was Nita while at the rescue organization), so we renamed her Daisy.
These early weeks have been fun and rewarding, albeit rather exhausting! Daisy’s potty training skills were nonexistent, and the morning crate cleanup after the first few nights was no small task. She’s doing well during the day, but the only way to wake up to a clean crate is to set my alarm for 3:00am and take her out.
In the bleary-eyed moments (friends have reminded me－”It’s like having a baby!”－and they’re not wrong!), I remind myself that potty training is temporary and a good disposition is forever. I didn’t remember being so exhausted when I trained our last dog, but friends also reminded me how easy it is to forget. Perhaps Daisy was also a little behind, having been without a mother, severely underweight, and having experienced so much change. She’s been making great progress though, and the trying moments are outweighed by the joy this sweet little puppy brings us.
Also, it is worth noting that dogs force you to get outside, take more walks, and meet more people. My cousin once told me that people are much more approachable when walking with a baby or a dog, and this is so true. I have met and chatted with many delightful people in our neighborhood, people I previously greeted with a friendly but passing hello. I’ve also gotten an umbrella and walked in the rain on days I would have surely stayed inside. I like to think this puppy has already made me a little tougher!
If, by chance, you are interested in fostering or adopting a puppy or older dog, I have only good things to say about Safe & Sound Satos. While we adopted after seeing a puppy in her foster home, the organization works one-on-one with people who are interested in adopting the right dog for them. If interested, you can email them at safeandsoundsatos@gmail.com. You can also see photos of some of their rescues on their Instagram page.
A few interesting points I learned when talking with the people at Safe & Sounds Satos, the organization that rescued Daisy:
- The volunteers commented that rescue dogs are generally so forgiving of the horrible ways they have so often been treated and that behavioral issues are not something they typically encounter, no matter the age of the dog.
- The rescue organization uses flight volunteers to transport puppies to their forever homes. This is often a dog-loving tourist who is familiar with the organization. Safe & Sound covers their reservation to fly in the cabin of the plane and provides everything the volunteer and the dog need to fly – carrier, harness/leash, food, vaccinations required to fly, paperwork, etc. Safe & Sound coordinates someone to meet them at departure and destination, so the volunteer only has to physically bring the pup on the flight.
- Their biggest recommendation is that every dog owner get pet insurance. Many dogs are given up because of financial hardships, which could have been alleviated by pet insurance. Interestingly, my family never had insurance for our previous dogs, but several friends recently recommended insurance as well, and we got it for Daisy. When I did the math for the basics that insurance would cover, it made sense. And even if a dog doesn’t develop a major illness, “little” things like vet appointments, vaccines, spaying/neutering, and blood work, as well as potentially costly issues like skin conditions that require medication, accidents that lead to X-rays or stitches, or ingesting a foreign object that calls for a trip to urgent pet care, quickly justify the premium cost.
Few Fountain Avenue Kitchen posts feel complete without a recipe, so now to that! The first is a dog treat I made for our last dog, Angus. Made with dog-friendly ingredients and suitable for pets with a variety of allergies, Angus was a major fan. I made the second treat with a dog bone waffle iron a friend lent me. The ingredients are equally wholesome and dog friendly, and easy on sensitive canine tummies as well. No worries if you don’t have the cute waffle iron. You can make pancakes. (Pupcakes?!)
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